Survey shows majority in province oppose treaty rights

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A new survey conducted by the Centre for Research and Information on Canada (CRIC) shows that people in Saskatchewan lead the country in their opposition to Aboriginal treaty rights.

While the national figures show that 42 per cent of those surveyed believe it would be better to eliminate treaty rights than to settle outstanding land claims and self-government issues. That number rises to 54 per cent if the figures for just the Prairie provinces are taken into account, and rises again to 62 per cent for Saskatchewan alone.

On the subject of hunting and fishing rights, the majority of Canadians are opposed to Aboriginal people having preferential access to hunting and fishing within their traditional territories, with 63 per cent indicating Aboriginal people should have the same fishing and hunting rights as non-Aboriginal people. In Saskatchewan, the percentage voicing opposition rises to 73 per cent, but it is also high in Atlantic Canada, where 74 per cent were opposed to special hunting and fishing rights, and in British Columbia, where 71 per cent were opposed.

The survey results suggest that many Canadians don't have a clear picture of the challenges being faced by Aboriginal people, and may have less sympathy for Aboriginal people living in poverty than they do for other groups.

The numbers show that 44 per cent of Canadians think Aboriginal people are worse off than other Canadians, while 51 per cent think their situation is the same or better than that of non-Aboriginal Canadians. And while 57 per cent of those surveyed said poverty should be blamed on circumstances beyond a person's control and not on the person themselves, that number dropped to 48 per cent when the same question was asked specifically about Aboriginal people. The same question asked about recent immigrants to Canada saw the figure jump to 70 per cent.

The survey was conducted in 2003 and is based on the survey of 3,204 people from across the country. The CRIC is the research and communications arm of the Canadian Unity Council, which works to give Canadians a better understanding of Canadian institutions in an effort to get citizens more involved in planning the future of the country.

The survey results can be found on the CRIC Web site at www.cric.ca.