Why Does Polling Show Canadian National Pride in Freefall?

People carry Canadian flags through a park in Edmonton on July 1, 2020. The Canadian Press/Jason Franson

Commentary

According to recent polling, pride in country is in a state of precipitous decline. Understanding the reasons for this trend provides considerable insight into how the Canadian public’s values have shifted through the past several decades.

Polling data published by the Angus Reid Institute on Dec. 13 compares how Canadians have answered the question “Which of the following statements best describes how you feel about Canada?” over the last three decades. The percentage of Canadians saying they have a “deep emotional attachment to Canada” dropped from 65 percent in 1991 to 62 percent in 2016, and finally plummeted to 49 percent this year.

According to this data, national pride has dropped significantly, but it has not been replaced by outright hostility to the Canadian national project. From 1991 to 2024, respondents answering that they would like to see Canada “split up into two or more smaller countries” or “join the United States” has remained low.

In 1991, 9 percent of respondents supported breaking Canada up into smaller countries, and 5 percent favoured joining the United States. Fast forward to 2024, and these proportions have altered very little: 8 percent support breaking Canada up, and 6 percent would opt to join our southern neighbours.

So although national pride has fallen, the desire to split up Confederation or become American has remained more or less stable. However, one statement has been gaining in popularity: “I am attached to Canada but only as long as it provides a good standard of living.” Just 19 percent of Canadians endorsed this statement in 1991, a proportion which rose substantially to 31 percent in 2016, and continued rising to 37 percent in 2024.

Pride in Canada is not necessarily losing ground to hostility towards Canada, but rather to a concept of patriotism which the Angus Reid survey describes as “transactional.” For an increasing number of Canadians, pride in country is predicated on the standard of living enjoyed by its citizens.

While Quebecers are less likely to profess a “deep emotional attachment” to the country (30 percent) than Canadians in general (49 percent), this measure of unconditional pride in Canada is also declining in English Canada. From 2016 to 2024, every province outside Quebec recorded a double-digit drop in those expressing “deep emotional attachment” to Canada.

Interestingly, there is far more variation across generational and gender lines than between the regions of English Canada.

Among those older than 55, large majorities of both men (63 percent) and women (66 percent) express unconditional pride in the country. In the 35–54 cohort, we see a rise in transactional pride, and the opening up of a 10-point gender divide on the issue, with Canadian women endorsing transactional pride at a higher level than Canadian men.

It’s in the youngest category, the 18–34 age group, that we see for the first time majorities of both men and women endorsing transactional over unconditional pride. Importantly, there is a startling 20-point gender divide: 63 percent of young women say their pride in country depends on the standard of living it provides, compared to just 43 percent of young men.

One other demographic with low unconditional pride is recent immigrants, with 51 percent of newcomers who have been in Canada for fewer than 10 years saying their national pride depends on the standard of living. This figure is the polar opposite among newcomers who have been here for longer than 20 years, with a solid majority of 57 percent endorsing an unconditional pride in Canada.

An increasing proportion of Canadians view their national identity as a transactional relationship predicated on economic well-being instead of a “deep emotional attachment” that endures even when times are tough.

This will be a considerable problem in future situations where the country must rally together to deal with economic depression, military conflict, or major national disasters. Even in times of peace and prosperity, low levels of national pride may contribute to the erosion of civic engagement and a retreat from public life.

One example of a policy that could foster national pride is to boost civics education in schools.

A survey released by Abacus in January revealed that 37 percent of Canadian adults don’t remember learning anything about civics in school. According to a nationwide survey of educators conducted by the charity CIVIX, just a quarter of teachers said they had received formal pre-service training in civics education, and over 70 percent of teachers identified “too much pressure to teach other content” as a barrier to teaching students about civics.

A reinvigorated civics curriculum would go a long way towards teaching Canadian students about this country’s rich identity and way of life. Most importantly, it would extend a sense of belonging in a shared national project to youth of all backgrounds.

If any issue deserves serious study by a royal commission, combating a three-decade precipitous decline in national pride seems to qualify. As the saying goes, a house divided against itself cannot stand.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.