Views on citizenship vary across Canada, poll suggests

A new poll on Canadian citizenship suggests people in different parts of Canada feel differently about what the most important factors are of being a good citizen.

A group made up of five national organizations – CBC, the Environics Institute, Maytree, The Institute for Canadian Citizenship and the RBC Foundation – commissioned the public opinion poll, which asked over 2,000 Canadians what they think are the characteristics of a good citizen and other questions about citizenship.

The survey revealed that immigrants and native-born Canadians have strikingly similar views about what makes a good Canadian citizen, but there are some regional differences in which behaviours Canadians consider "very important" to good citizenship.

• Quebecers feel less strongly about respecting other religions (48 per cent considered it very important versus 65 per cent of all respondents), actively participating in the community (37 per cent versus 51 per cent overall) and displaying Canadian pride by doing things like participating in Canada Day celebrations or displaying the flag  (22 per cent versus 51 per cent) but more strongly about speaking both English and French (40 per cent versus 19 per cent).

• Albertans rank displaying pride the highest of any province (68 per cent versus 51 per cent overall) and also give more prominence than respondents from other provinces to respecting religion (81 per cent versus 65 per cent), volunteering (60 per cent versus 49 per cent) and being tolerant of others (92 per cent versus 81 per cent).
• Volunteering is most valued in Saskatchewan (63 per cent versus 49 per cent).

• Torontonians place a higher importance on sharing common values (61 per cent versus 51 per cent) and both they and Manitobans feel more strongly about learning about aboriginal people ( 52 per cent versus 40 per cent) than other regions.
• Respondents in British Columbia said feeling connected to others was more important than people in other parts of the country (73 per cent versus 63 per cent).

The survey of 2,376 adults was conducted between Nov.18 and Dec. 17 and has an overall margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points 19 times out of 20. Only households with landlines were surveyed.