Canadians’ Opinions on False Claims of Indigenous Ancestry

December 14, 2022

On behalf of the National Post, Leger surveyed Canadians to explore their perspectives on false claims of Indigenous ancestry from November 25 to 27, 2022.

SOME OF THE KEY HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR SURVEY ABOUT FALSE CLAIMS OF INDIGENOUS ANCESTRY INCLUDE…

  • 33% of Canadians recall reading, seeing or hearing anything regarding the issue of people falsely claiming to be of Indigenous ancestry when they were not of that heritage.
  • 43% of Canadians think these types of false claims are very serious, amount to ethnic or cultural fraud and undermine progress in the truth and reconciliation process.
  • 50% of Canadians think there should be a Canadian law that makes it a federal offence to claim to be of Indigenous heritage falsely.

SURVEY METHODOLOGY

  • A web survey was conducted among 1,522 Canadians, 18 years of age or older, via Leger’s online panel, LEO.
  • The data was collected from November 25 to 27, 2022.
  • As a non-probability online survey, a margin of error is technically not reported. If the data were collected through a probability sample, the margin of error would be ±2.5%, 19 times out of 20.
  • Using data from the 2021 census, the results were weighted according to age, gender and region within Canada, as well as by education and presence of children in the household in order to ensure a representative sample of the population.

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