Women, young people more supportive of land acknowledgments by NHL teams: survey
Women, English speakers and young people are more likely to support land acknowledgments by hockey teams, according to a new survey commissioned by the Association for Canadian Studies.
The survey of 1,512 Canadians, conducted by Leger Marketing between Oct. 22 and 24, found that support for land acknowledgments was strongest in Ontario, where 52 per cent of respondents supported the acknowledgments and 29 per cent opposed them.
Support was weakest in Quebec, with 31 per cent of respondents in favour and 47 per cent opposed.
People in Manitoba and Saskatchewan were most likely to oppose the statements, with 49 per cent of respondents saying they don't support them, though support for the statements was slightly higher than in Quebec, at 33 per cent, due to a smaller percentage of respondents who are undecided.
The survey comes after a controversy over the Montreal Canadiens reading a statement before home games recognizing that they are playing on unceded Indigenous territory and thanking the Mohawk Nation for its hospitality.
Quebec's Indigenous Affairs Minister Ian Lafreniere criticized the statement, saying it may have made a mistake when it named a specific people as it's unclear who were the first people to live in what is now Montreal.
That criticism was in turn denounced by the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake.
Grand Chief Kahsennenhawe Sky-Deer said in a statement that land is an essential part of Mohawk identity.
"It holds the knowledge of our ancestors, our history and our presence, now and for the future," Sky-Deer said. "Opinionated commentary that challenge and discredit our presence are not only insulting, they are taken as displaced attacks on our existence."
Following the controversy, a different version of the statement was read at a recent Canadiens home game, but the team did not respond to a request for comment about the changes from The Canadian Press.
The Edmonton Oilers, Winnipeg Jets and Vancouver Canucks are among the teams that also have land acknowledgments read before home games.
The survey also found stronger support for the acknowledgments among anglophones (46 per cent) than francophones (28 per cent) and among women (48 per cent) than men (38 per cent).
Broken down by age, support was strongest among people aged 18 to 24 (65 per cent) and weakest among those aged 55 to 64 (30 per cent).
In the Montreal region, the survey found similar results to the rest of the country.
Francophones were less likely to support the land acknowledgment (29.1 per cent in favour, 48.2 per cent opposed) than others (47.1 per cent in favour, 30.9 per cent opposed).
It also found stronger support for the acknowledgment among women (44 per cent) than men (27.9 per cent) and stronger support among people 18 to 24 than any other age group (77.8 per cent).
Surveys conducted using online panels cannot be assigned a margin of error because they are not considered truly random samples.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 28, 2021.
--
This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.