Survey asked questions about values, beliefs, priorities, and identity
By Agnieszka Krawczynski
The B.C. Catholic

Twenty per cent of Canadians are “Faith-Based Traditionalists.”

That’s according to a new survey by the Angus Reid Institute and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The two organizations teamed up to ask what makes us Canadian.

They asked questions about values, beliefs, priorities, and identity, and found a vast range of views. They identified five main categories. The largest, at 25 per cent, was Cautious Skeptics.

Then there were Free Enterprise Enthusiasts (22 per cent), Faith-Based Traditionalists (20), Public Sector Proponents (19), and Permissive Reformers, (14).

Faith-Based Traditionalists “are most likely to be either a first-generation immigrant (both parents born outside Canada) or to have immigrated themselves (26 per cent),” the Oct. 3 report says. “They are by far the most religious cohort.”

The survey does not, however, put all religious people under one roof; an Angus Reid country-wide poll released this year said 36 per cent consider religion “very important” in their day-to-day lives.

Faith-Based Traditionalists also “take a more traditional view of social issues.” Seventy-five per cent of them said doctor-assisted dying should have greater safeguards and less accessibility, while 64 per cent wished their country would focus more on recognizing the importance of traditional families.

Those in other categories differed in their views about the economy, health care, the environment, support for aboriginal people, the trustworthiness of the media, and gender issues.

There were “significant divides on important political, economic, and societal issues,” the report found, including a sense of national pride. Seventy-three per cent of people over 65 had a “deep attachment” to the country, but only 45 per cent of those between 18 and 24.

People were divided about multiculturalism; 68 per cent said they would like minorities to do more to “fit in,” though just as many said they are satisfied with the ways immigrants and others are integrating into society.

Seventy-nine per cent agreed that economic and employment issues should take priority over immigration and refugee policies and helping people in crisis abroad.

The full report can be viewed at at www.angusreid.org. There is also a quiz readers can take to see where they fit on the “Canadian Values Index.”