A majority of Canadians are optimistic about human rights within the country — but it’s a different story when looking abroad, a new report from the Canadian Museum for Human Rights reveals.
The Winnipeg-based institution released a report Monday showing Canadians’ perspectives on human rights. Probe Research surveyed 2,500 people for the study.
Two-thirds of respondents expressed hope about the future of Canada’s human rights. However, just one-third held the same view when looking globally. War, violence, sexism and women’s rights topped the list of concerns.
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Isha Khan, chief executive officer of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, said it’s important to make sense of Canadians’ perspectives on human rights.
“Not a surprise in these times… It means that those issues matter to Canadians,” said Isha Khan, the CMHR’s chief executive.
Conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza and the latest United States presidential election likely contribute to the feelings, she noted.
“We have to look into this,” Khan said. “We have to understand where this is coming from.”
At least half of Canadians believed the country has seen improvements in Indigenous and asylum seekers’ rights, and gender equity, within the past decade.
However, more than half of respondents — 56 per cent — believed refugee applicants and asylum seekers to Canada receive too many benefits that would be better used for Canadians.
The CMHR received a similar response last year when it started the survey. It’s an area requiring further reflection, Khan said.
“Right now, (we’re) just trying to make sense of ‘What are the issues people are thinking about?’” she continued.
Aside from “other,” the most commonly chosen top human rights issue among respondents was censorship, freedom of speech and being “cancelled.”
Fourteen per cent selected the option, up from nine per cent in 2023. Just 36 per cent of respondents considered free speech protection stronger now than a decade ago.
Equality and fairness, racism and anti-Semitism, and housing and homelessness rounded out the human rights issues Canadians selected as most important.
Manitobans’ most pressing human rights concerns align with the rest of the nation’s, Khan noted.
More than 80 per cent of survey respondents figured the right to safe and affordable housing was worse protected than a decade ago. A majority also believed safe, adequate healthcare was protected less than in 2014.
A slight majority — 53 per cent — agreed rights that were important to them weren’t always taken seriously in Canada.
“People were sharing what they thought, and I think that’s what makes this survey… so important,” Khan said. “The more we can get out to folks and talk about this research, I think the better it is to advance our collective goals around advancing human rights.”
She spoke via phone from Ottawa’s airport Sunday. Her upcoming week includes conversations with parliamentarians, diplomats, government officials, human rights organizations and donors about the data.
Afterward, the CMHR will gather reflections to make sense of the information, Khan said.
Museums are among Canadians’ most trusted sources for human rights information, the report found. (Religious leaders, businesses and social media were deemed the least trusted sources.)
“If anything, it’s signalled to us we have a responsibility, we have a role to play,” Khan said.
The 16-page document’s findings will be incorporated into the CMHR’s exhibitions, education programs and storytelling, Khan added.
She highlighted the marked increase in people feeling “a collective responsibility to care for one another.”
The CMHR clocked an increase in upstanders, or people who recognize and take action against injustice. Twenty-eight per cent of respondents indexed as high upstanders, a jump from 19 per cent the year prior.
The report’s cost wasn’t provided by print deadline. No margin of error can be ascribed to the survey results because an online sample was used.
gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com
Gabrielle Piché
Reporter
Gabrielle Piché reports on business for the Free Press. She interned at the Free Press and worked for its sister outlet, Canstar Community News, before entering the business beat in 2021. Read more about Gabrielle.
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