The Canadian Flag as a Symbol of National Pride: A question of

Shared Values

Jack Jedwab Association for Canadian

Studies November 28th, 2012

Introduction

• On Wednesday, the 28th of November the Quebec National Assembly will vote on whether to remove the Canadian flag from the Red Room of the Quebec National Assembly. A survey commissioned by the Association for Canadian Studies from the firm Leger Marketing reveals that some 66% of Quebecers regard the Canadian Flag as an important source of personal or collective pride in Canada. While two-thirds of Quebecers have an affinity with the flag, some ninety percent feel such pride over the flag elsewhere in the country.

• The following question was asked: How important are each of the following as a source of personal or collective pride in Canada? Are they very important, somewhat important, not very important or not important at all?

Methodology

The findings were collected from a survey of 2200 Canadians conducted by the firm Leger Marketing during the week of November 5th, 2012 and commissioned by the Association for Canadian Studies. Done by web panel, the margin of error for an equivalent telephone survey is 2.9 percent 19 times out of 20

Two-thirds of Quebecers regard the Canadian flag as an important source of pride

How important is the Canadian flag as a source of personal or collective pride in Canada?

Total French English OtherMari-times QC ON MB/SK AB BC

TOTAL YES 84% 65% 90% 86% 88% 66% 90% 88% 90% 90%

Very important 54% 28% 63% 55% 58% 29% 63% 64% 59% 62%

Somewhat important

30% 37% 27% 31% 29% 37% 27% 24% 31% 28%

TOTAL NO 15% 34% 9% 12% 9% 33% 9% 11% 10% 8%

Not very important

10% 23% 6% 8% 5% 22% 5% 10% 8% 5%

Not important at all

5% 11% 3% 4% 3% 10% 4% 1% 2% 3%

I don't know 1% 0% 1% 1% 0% 0% 1% 1% 0% 1%

I prefer not to answer

1% 1% 1% 1% 4% 1% 0% 1% 0% 1%

Even amongst those Quebecers saying that they are Quebecers first then Canadians some62% attach importance to the Canadian flag as a source of personal or collective pride

Quebec People have different ways of defining themselves. Do you consider yourself to

be:

Importance of

at all / The

Canadian flagCanadian only

Canadian first but also from your province

Equally Canadian

and from your province

From your province first but also from

From your province only

Very important 54.3% 49.1% 37.3% 17.9% 1.5%

Somewhat important

20.0% 37.9% 44.1% 43.9% 11.9%

Not very important

25.7% 10.3% 16.7% 26.0% 41.8%

Not important at all

2.6% 1.0% 10.2% 41.8%

I don't know 1.0% 1.5%

I prefer not to answer

2.0% 1.5%

Quebecers over 60 most proud of flag but youth close to Quebec average

How important as a source of personal or collective pride in is the Canadian flag

Quebecers

Very importantSomewhat important Total Pride

Not very important

Not important at all

I don't know/ I prefer not to

answerBetween 18 and 24

31.0% 31.0% 62.0% 19.0% 16.7% 2.4%

Between 25 and 29

28.1% 34.4% 62.5% 28.1% 9.4%

Between 30 and 34

20.8% 29.2% 50.0% 41.7% 8.3%

Between 35 and 39

23.0% 42.6% 65.6% 21.3% 6.6%6.6

Between 40 and 44

25.7% 48.6% 74.3% 20.0% 5.7%

Between 45 and 49

31.7% 26.7% 58.4% 31.7% 10.0%

Between 50 and 54

23.0% 39.3% 62.3% 27.9% 9.8%

Between 55 and 59

30.0% 32.5% 62.5% 22.5% 15.0%

Between 60 and 64

26.9% 46.2% 73.1% 19.2% 5.8% 1.9%

65 years of age or older

37.1% 37.9% 75.0% 12.9% 12.1%

Is Values Discourse Understood by the Canadian population? The talk about shared values needs to be accompanied by specifics otherwise it is a source of confusion and gives rise to ambiguous responses as reflected in the next two slides

The values driving Canadian society are similar to my ownTotal pondéré :

Total 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+ French English ROC QC

TOTAL YES

63% 65% 59% 54% 56% 69% 62% 45% 69% 68% 47%

Strongly agree

14% 19% 15% 10% 15% 11% 8% 9% 15% 15% 10%

Somewhat agree

49% 46% 44% 44% 41% 57% 54% 36% 54% 53% 37%

TOTAL NO

27% 20% 27% 28% 29% 24% 30% 45% 21% 22% 41%

Somewhat disagree

20% 14% 16% 17% 23% 21% 25% 35% 16% 17% 31%

Strongly disagree

6% 6% 12% 10% 5% 3% 5% 10% 5% 5% 10%

I don't know

9% 10% 13% 14% 14% 4% 8% 9% 9% 9% 11%

I prefer not to answer

2% 5% 0% 4% 1% 3% 1% 1% 1% 2% 1%

More Quebecers agree than disagree that Canadian values are similar to their own

However majority of Quebecers agree they do not share the same values as other Canadians

Quebecers and other Canadians share the same valuesTotal 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+ French English Other ROC QC

TOTAL YES

38% 43% 40% 35% 31% 45% 37% 28% 41% 41% 41% 28%

Strongly agree

8% 14% 8% 9% 7% 12% 6% 4% 10% 9% 10% 4%

Somewhat agree

30% 29% 32% 27% 24% 33% 31% 24% 31% 32% 31% 24%

TOTAL NO

53% 43% 46% 48% 62% 48% 56% 66% 50% 51% 50% 65%

Somewhat disagree

34% 30% 27% 27% 42% 30% 37% 45% 30% 31% 30% 44%

Strongly disagree

20% 13% 19% 21% 20% 19% 19% 21% 20% 20% 19% 21%

I don't know

7% 11% 13% 13% 6% 4% 6% 5% 8% 6% 8% 6%

I prefer not to answer

1% 3% 1% 3% 1% 3% 1% 1% 1% 2% 1% 1%