The socio-demographic profiles of the seven host communities may be elaborated further by drawing on some of the relevant results of the public opinion surveys which have already been described in Chapters 2 and 3. This section focuses on how the residents of the seven host communities evaluate their own community of residence (Table 4-21); perceptions of community openness to cultural diversity (Table 4-22); opinions about immigration, immigrants, and refugees (Table 4-23); and perceptions of whether immigrants or refugees are accepted and treated fairly (Table 4-24).
Table 4-21 shows that the overwhelming majority of the respondents from the seven host centres either agree or strongly agree with the statement that their community "is a good place in which to live." The relevant proportions in Calgary (94%), Red Deer (92%), Medicine Hat (94%), and Grande Prairie (92%) are slightly higher than in Edmonton (88%), Lethbridge (89%), and Fort McMurray (82%). It is interesting that the respondents who "strongly agreed" with the statement were most prevalent in Calgary (73%) and Medicine Hat (74%), followed by those in Lethbridge (63%), Red Deer (66%), and Grande Prairie (60%). The percentages of the respondents who agreed with the statement very strongly were lowest in Edmonton (57%) and Fort McMurray (54%).
Table 4-21 also shows that respondents who "agree" or "strongly agree" with the statement that "There are good job opportunities here for me" are most prevalent in Calgary (87%), Grande Prairie (83%) and Fort McMurray (82%). Good job opportunities are perceived to be present by a smaller proportion of respondents in Edmonton (60%), Lethbridge (51%), and Medicine Hat (42%). Red Deer’s residents fall in the middle as 69% of them agree or strongly agree with the statement. However, the community residents’ perceptions regarding job opportunities in 1998 do not exactly correspond to the 1996 unemployment rates reported in Table 4-17.
Despite the reservations that some community residents may have about job opportunities in their own city, the overwhelming majority (81%-95%) either agree or strongly agree with the statement that "(City) is a good place in which to raise a family." A slightly lower proportion of the respondents in Fort McMurray (77%) similarly agree or strongly agree with the statement.
Table 4-21 also shows that the statement ‘The people in (City) are very friendly and welcoming’ attracted mixed reactions. While the respondents who either agree or strongly agree with the statement ranged from 71% in Edmonton to 84% in Calgary and Medicine Hat, city differences were particularly wide among those who chose the ‘strongly agree’ category. For example, only 26% of the Lethbridge respondents strongly agreed with the statement, compared with 49% of the Calgary respondents. The comparable proportions for Edmonton, Red Deer and Grande Prairie ranged from 32%-34%; while the percentages for Medicine Hat and Fort McMurray were decidedly higher (45% and 46%, respectively).
A majority of the respondents in the public opinion survey agreed or strongly agreed with the statement that "(City) is very open to newcomers", with notable variations among the centres. For example, 80% of the residents of Fort McMurray and 74% of the residents of Calgary perceived their community to be open to newcomers, while slightly lower proportions of the residents of the remaining communities felt likewise (60%-68%).Table 4-22 provides information on perceptions of community openness to cultural diversity and immigrants. Four items were used to measure openness to cultural diversity.
The first item was worded as follows: "A mixture of different lifestyles and cultures makes (City) a more attractive place to live." About two-thirds of the respondents either agreed or strongly agreed with the statement. The same statement was used in a 1994 national survey conducted by EKOS Research (see Suzanne Peters, Exploring Canadian Values: Foundations for Well-Being. Ottawa: Canadian Policy Research Networks, 1995, p. 137). However, they used a 1-7 scale while we used a 1-5 scale. The EKOS survey found a mean score of 5.4 on the 1-7 scale, while in the Alberta survey we found a mean score of 3.88 on the 1-5 scale. If the two scales are standardized by calculating a score out of a possible 100 points, the EKOS national survey would have a score of 78 out of 100, while our public opinion survey would have a score of 77 out of 100. It appears that Alberta, or at least urban Alberta, is not all that different from the nation at large.
Three additional statements, phrased in an opposite direction from the preceding one, were asked of the respondents. These statements read as follows:
Only the first of the above statements attracted a large minority of the respondents to either agree or strongly agree with it (37%). Differences by city, in general, are neither large nor statistically significant. The remaining two statements were endorsed, in terms of "agree" or "strongly agree", by about 2 out of 10 respondents. Judging from the percentages reported in Table 4-22, it appears that the smaller centres (Lethbridge, Red Deer, Medicine Hat, Grande Prairie, Fort McMurray) are more open and less threatened by immigration than are the larger centres (Edmonton and Calgary).
It would be interesting to compare the responses to the last statement with those obtained from the aforementioned 1994 national survey conducted by EKOS Research. In the EKOS survey, the respondents were asked to agree or disagree with: "I worry that the traditional Canadian way of life is being threatened by high levels of immigration." EKOS obtained a mean score of 4.23 on their 1-7 scale, while we obtained a mean score of 2.18 on our 1-5 scale. When we standardize the two scales, the national EKOS survey score is 60 out of 100, compared to our score of 44 out of 100. It appears that urban Alberta respondents are less worried about the way of life in their community than Canadians as a whole are worried about the "Canadian way of life."
Table 4-23 provides additional information on community attitudes toward immigration, immigrants and refugees. Again this table is made up of several structured questions with predetermined response categories. The first question reads: "In your opinion, do you feel there are too many, too few or about the right number of immigrants coming to Canada? (200,000 to 225,000 per year)." The response categories provided are "too many," "right number," "too few," and "don’t know." The results show that 39% said "too many," 44% said "right number," 12% said "too few," and 5% said "don’t know." The same question was included in a 1994 national survey conducted by Perspectives Canada (see Suzanne Peters, Exploring Canadian Values: Foundations for Well-Being. Ottawa: Canadian Policy Research Networks, 1995, p. 135). They found that 51% said "too many," 36% said "about the right number," 8% said "too few," and 6% said "don’t know." It is clear that the Alberta survey, conducted four years after the Perspectives Canada survey, reflects more favourable attitudes toward immigrants.
The second question in the Alberta survey was: "Does Canada’s immigration policy provide a good balance of people and backgrounds coming to Canada, or does it allow too many people of different races and cultures into Canada?" The results show that 66% of the respondents said "good balance," 24% said "too many races/cultures," and 10% said "don’t know." The same question was used in a 1993 and a 1995 Decima national survey (see Suzanne Peters, Exploring Canadian Values: Foundations for Well-Being. Ottawa: Canadian Policy Research Networks, 1995, p. 137). In the 1993 Decima survey, 54% said "good balance," 41% said "too many races/cultures," and 7% said "don’t know." In 1995, the comparable figures were 46%, 46%, and 8%, respectively. Again, the Alberta survey, compared to earlier national surveys, reflects more positive attitudes toward diversity.
Table 4-23 also shows that about 8 out of 10 respondents are in agreement with current immigration policy as they feel that immigrants and refugees should be allowed to sponsor immediate family members (spouses and children). Conversely, 18% feel that immigrants and refugees should not be able to sponsor immediate family members. Also, 76% of the respondents feel that Canada should admit immigrants who speak neither of the official languages; 19% feel that immigration should be restricted to those who speak English or French, and a further 3% would restrict immigration only to those who speak English.
Before concluding this chapter, it will be worthwhile to provide additional evidence from the public opinion survey concerning the residents’ perceptions of whether immigrants and refugees are accepted and treated fairly in the community. Table 4-24 shows that a large majority of the respondents (79%) agree with the statement "that most people in (City) accept (refugees’ and immigrants’) cultural differences." City differences on this questions are not large.
The same table shows that about two-thirds of the respondents concur with the statement that "refugees and other immigrants are treated fairly when they look for jobs in (City)." However, there are significant city differences in the responses to this statement. Considerably more people (8 out of 10) in Medicine Hat, Grande Prairie and Fort McMurray concur with the statement than in Edmonton, Calgary or Lethbridge (where only about 5 out of 10 concurred). Red Deer is in the middle, with about 7 out of 10 feeling that immigrants are treated fairly when they look for jobs. With reference to housing, about 7 out of 10 respondents believe that refugees and immigrants are treated fairly when they look for housing. There are minimal city differences in responses to the question on housing, with the exception of Fort McMurray where a high of 82% of the residents concurred with the statement.
The evidence provided thus far indicates that the majority of the residents in each of the seven host communities under study are positive toward and accepting of refugees and diversity. Nevertheless, there is a minority of residents who are not as open or as welcoming of immigrants, or who perceive that there are "too many" immigrants and refugees coming to Canada.