Almost half of Canadians say they have seen systemic racism in their province: poll

OTTAWA — Almost half of Canadians polled say they have observed evidence of systemic racism in their province, a new survey suggests.

The Leger poll of 1,627 people, conducted between Aug. 29 and 31 for the Association for Canadian Studies, says 49 per cent of Canadians reported having observed evidence of systemic racism — racism embedded in government and social systems and laws — in their province.

The poll, which was conducted online and can’t be assigned a margin of error, suggests that 37 per cent of those polled said they hadn’t observed evidence of systemic racism in their province, while 14 per cent said they didn’t know or preferred not to answer.

Jack Jedwab, president and CEO of the Association for Canadian Studies, said the number of people reporting systemic racism was “a bit higher” than he had expected, because he wasn’t certain that Canadians had a good understanding of systemic racism.

Citing the number of people who said they hadn’t observed systemic racism — or weren’t sure if they had — Jedwab called for more education about what systemic racism means and how it affects people.

“Clearly, 49 per cent, even though it’s an important percentage of Canadians … doesn’t mean there’s a systemic perception of it,” he said. “If the perception were systemic, it would be higher than 49 per cent.”

Kanika Samuels-Wortley, Canada Research Chair in systemic racism, technology and criminal justice and associate professor at Ontario Tech University, said it’s promising to see more Canadians identifying forms of systemic racism.

Samuels-Wortley said it’s likely the percentage of people reporting systemic racism in this poll is higher than it would have been in previous years. She said the murder of George Floyd in the U.S. opened up conversations about racism in public and in the media, while workplace training could be giving people the tools to identify systemic racism.

“To know that we are seeing Canadians identifying forms of bias that are having an impact on some of our citizens speaks to the fact that there is a growing consciousness of what it means for those who experience forms of systemic racism in our country,” she said.

The poll suggests 56 per cent of women surveyed reported having witnessed systemic racism, compared to 42 per cent of men.

While 57 per cent of people between the ages of 18 and 34 said they have observed evidence of systemic racism in their province, half of those aged 35 to 54 years old and 44 per cent of those 55 and older said the same.

Fifty-three per cent of respondents in Quebec and 52 per cent of Ontarians said they’ve witnessed evidence of systemic racism in their provinces. Those figures were 41 per cent in Alberta and 42 per cent in B.C.

Samuels-Wortley said she was not surprised to see the highest percentages of respondents reporting systemic racism in Ontario and Quebec, two provinces with large Black and Indigenous populations.

She said she was surprised to see the lower percentages reporting systemic racism in Alberta and B.C., two provinces with large Indigenous populations.

The poll suggests 73 per cent of those identifying as Black reported seeing evidence of systemic racism, compared to 49 per cent of other non-white respondents and 30 per cent of white respondents.

At 52 per cent, poll respondents born outside of Canada were only slightly more likely to report evidence of systemic racism that those born in Canada, at 49 per cent.

The polling industry’s professional body, the Canadian Research Insights Council, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2025.

Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press