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7/31/2019 Discrimination in Edmonton
1/11
EXPERIENCESANDPERCEPTIONS
OFDISCRIMINATIONINEDMONTON:
ASURVEYOFEDMON
TONRESIDE
NTS
7/31/2019 Discrimination in Edmonton
2/11
Edmonton is morE divErsE and
inclusivE than it has EvEr bEEn.
but wE havE a grEat dEal o
work to do. this rEport is an
invitation rom Edmontonians:
to act on what wE havE bEEn
told, to continuE our stratEgic
work to idEntiy and prEvEntdiscrimination. this work
calls or couragE and, abovE
all, partnErshipand wE know
that wE havE strong support
or it. racism rEE Edmonton
is guiding our bold vision o
bEcoming a municipality whErE all
rEsidEnts havE Equal accEss to
participation in EvEry aspEct
o liE in our grEat city.
Amarjeet Sohi, Councillor and Multiculturalism Initiative Liaison
ndings rom a 2011 Population Research Laboratory
niversity o Alberta) Public Opinion Survey
arvey Krahn (Dept. o Sociology, University o Alberta)
andolph Haluza-DeLay(Dept. o Sociology, The Kings University College)
ril 30, 2012
Experiences and Perceptions o Discrimination in Edmonton: A Surveyo Edmonton Residents 3
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
6 Executive Summary
7 Research Methods
8 Edmonton as a Welcoming City
9 Belies about Discrimination Occurring in Edmonton
10 Reports o Discrimination Against Dierent Groups
12 Reports o Discrimination in Dierent Settings
14 Personal Experiences o Discrimination
16 Conclusions
18 Key Findings
Racism Free Edmonton
PARTNERS
RFE is a collaborative group o 16 Edmonton Organizations that have come together
to build a racism ree, inclusive community. RFE partners include:
Aboriginal Commission on
Human Rights and Justice
www.racismreeedmonton.ca/about-
aboriginal-commission-on.asp
Alberta Human Rights Commission
www.albertahumanrights.ab.ca
Alliance jeunesse-famille dAlberta Society
www.ajas.ca/rancais
Centre for Race and Culture
www.crac.com
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
www.cic.gc.ca
City of Edmonton
www.edmonton.ca
Edmonton Catholic School Board
www. ecsd.net
Edmonton Chamber of Commerce
www.edmontonchamber.com
Edmonton Homeless Commission
www.endedmontonhomelessness.com
Edmonton Police Service
www.edmontonpolice.ca
Edmonton Public School Board
www.epsb.ca
Grant MacEwan University
www.macewan.ca
John Humphrey Centre for Peace
and Human Rights
www.jhcentre.org
Norquest College
www.norquest.ca
The Kings University College
www.kingsu.ca
University of Alberta
www.ualberta.ca
4 Experiences and Perceptions o Discrimination in Edmonton:A Surveyo Edmonton Residents Experiences and Perceptions o Discrimination in Edmonton: ASurvey o Edmonton Residents 5
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Executive Summary
The City o Edmonton is a member o the Canadian Coalition of
Municipalities Against Racism and Discrimination(CMARD). In
2008, Racism Free Edmonton was established to help identiy
and address institutional barriers to Aboriginal People and other
racialized groups. Racism Free Edmonton is a collaborative group
o 16 Edmonton organizations that have come together to build a
racism-ree, inclusive community that respects cultural diversity.
One o the guiding documents o Racism Free Edmonton is the
Racism Free Edmonton Action Plan. This Action Plan assists
the Racism Free Edmonton partners to identiy the barriers
that negatively aect the opportunity or equal participation in
economic, social, cultural, recreational and political lie.
An item outlined in the action plan is the development o
monitoring mechanisms that: 1) measure the incidence o racial
discrimination in the region; and 2) track these trends overtime.
As a result o this action plan requirement, the City o Edmonton
approached the Population Research Laboratory (PRL) at the
University o Alberta to conduct a survey in 2011 to assist in the
development o the monitoring mechanisms.
Research Methods
City o Edmonton Community Services contracted with the Population
Research Laboratory (PRL) at the University o Alberta to include questions
about experiences and perceptions o discrimination and related topics on the
Edmonton portion o the PRLs annual Alberta Survey. Between May 25 and
June 22, 2011, 400 adult (age 18 and older) residents o the City o Edmonton
were surveyed by telephone, using random digit dialing (RDD) techniques. All
respondents were asked to sel-identiy as having: (a) visible minority status;
(b) Aboriginal status; and (c) immigrant status. Responses to these three
questions were used to create a new race/immigrant status variable with
the ollowing distribution: Visible minority immigrant (11%); Visible minority
Canadian-born (8%); Aboriginal (5%); White immigrant (14%); White Canadian-
born (62%). This variable was then used to break down total-sample responses.
The survey response rate o 28% is several times higher than the industry
standard. Even so, it is likely that the survey (slightly) under-represents less-
educated Edmonton residents.
Five general patterns were observed in the survey data:
Most study participants consider Edmonton to be a very welcoming city.
Visible minority (both oreign-born and Canadian-born) and Aboriginal
respondents are more likely to report perceptions o discrimination in
Edmonton.
Discrimination on the basis o race, ethnicity, immigrant status and related
variables is perceived to be more prevalent than discrimination on other
grounds.
Compared to other settings, Aboriginal and non-White Edmonton residents
are more oten perceived to be treated unairly by the police, when looking
or jobs or housing, and when shopping.
Most study participants agreed or strongly agreed that Aboriginal residents
o Edmonton requently ace discrimination.
6 Experiences and Perceptions o Discrimination in Edmonton:A Surveyo Edmonton Residents Experiences and Perceptions o Discrimination in Edmonton:A Surveyo Edmonton Residents 7
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Edmonton asa Welcoming City
Overall, survey participants consider Edmonton to be a very welcoming city.
Seven out o ten (71%) agree or strongly agree that people in Edmonton are
very friendly and welcoming and that Edmonton is very open to newcomers.
Even more respondents (76%) agree or agree strongly that having people from
many racial backgrounds makes Edmonton a better place to live, and 85% agree
or agree strongly that [they] have good friends from other racial backgrounds.
For each o these our questions, dierences across race/immigrant groups
are not statistically signifcant.
Less than one-third o sample members (29%) agree or strongly agree that
people who come to Edmonton should change their ways to be more like other
community members ( Figure 1). Interestingly, both visible minority (41%) and
White (42%) immigrants are signifcantly more likely to agree with the above
statement.
- igurE 1
People in Edmonton are very
riendly and welcoming
Percent Agreeing
Percent Agreeing that [group] frequently
experiences discrimination
People who come to Edmonton
should change their ways to
be more like other community
members
VisibleMinority Immigrant
VisibleMinority Canadian-born
Aboriginal
WhiteImmigrant
WhiteCanadian-born
Total
7276
57
70 72 717477 7 6 7 6
41
1519
42
27 29
70
86
Belies about DiscriminationOccurring in Edmonton
Despite these very positive opinions about Edmonton as a welcoming city,
survey respondents nevertheless still believe that discrimination takes place.
When asked how much they agreed or disagreed that (a) Aboriginal residents
o Edmonton, (b) non-White residents o Edmonton, and (c) White residents
o Edmonton experience discrimination, 59% agreed or strongly agreed that
Aboriginal residents o Edmonton requently ace discrimination, compared to
36% who answered similarly regarding non-White (visible minority) residents
(Figure 2) . Only 12% agreed that White Edmonton residents requently ace
discrimination. (For these set o questions, dierences across race/immigrant
groups are not signifcant).
- igurE 2
VisibleMinority Immigrant
VisibleMinority Canadian-born
Aboriginal
WhiteImmigrant
WhiteCanadian-born
Total
Aboriginal residents o
Edmonton
Non-white residents o
Edmonton
White residents o Edmonton
5458
68
5863
59
3429
43
36
1412 11 11
1612
41
50
Having people rom many racial
backgrounds makes Edmonton
a better place to live
8 Experiences and Perceptions o Discrimination in Edmonton:A Surveyo Edmonton Residents Experiences and Perceptions o Discrimination in Edmonton:A Surveyo Edmonton Residents 9
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Reports o DiscriminationAgainst Diferent Groups
When asked more specifcally whether they had personally seen or heard about
dierent groups o Edmonton residents being treated unairly in the previous year,
sample members were most likely to report discrimination on the basis o race,
language and poverty (between 16% and 20%), compared to people being treated
unairly because o disability, weight, sexual orientation or age (Figure 3). Only
3% reported seeing or hearing about discrimination against White Edmonton
residents in the previous year.
- igurE 3
...they were white
...they were young
...they were people with disabilities
...they were old
...gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered
...because o their weight
...they were non-white
...they were poor / looked poor
...english was not their frst language
...they were aboriginal
9
3
20
18
18
16
13
12
12
10
Visible minority and Aboriginal respondents were signifcantly more likely to state
that they had seen or heard about Aboriginals, non-English speakers, and non-
Whites being treated unairly quite oten or very oten (Figure 4).Interestingly,
visible minority sample members born in Canada were signifcantly more likely
than visible minority immigrants to state that they had seen or heard about
discrimination against various groups. Perhaps members o visible minority
groups who have been in the country or a generation or longer are more likely to
recognize discrimination in subtle ways that recent immigrants might overlook.
- igurE 4
they were Aboriginal English was not their frst
language
they were non-White
VisibleMinority Immigrant
VisibleMinority Canadian-born
Aboriginal
WhiteImmigrant
WhiteCanadian-born
Total
21
3635
15
1820 2121
14
18 19
30
24
19
12
16
33
24
Percent seeing/hearing quite often or very often
in past year that someone was treated unfairly because...
Percent seeing/hearing quite often or very oft en
in past year that someone was treated unfairly because...
10 Experiences and Perceptions o Discrimination in Edmonton:A Surveyo Edmonton Residents Experiences and Perceptions o Discrimination in Edmonton: ASurvey o Edmonton Residents 11
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In another set o questions, respondents were asked i they had
seen or heard about visible minorities and Aboriginals being
treated unairly in the past year in diferent settings. Sample
members were more likely to recall incidents involving the
police, job search, shopping and housing (18 to 25%), compared
to discrimination within educational institutions and by those
providing municipal or provincial government services (Figure 5).
Visible minority group members and Aboriginal residents o
Edmonton were more likely to recall seeing or hearing about such
instances o discrimination in each o these settings:
For these questions, all o the dierences across race/immigrant
groups are statistically signifcant. In general, visible minority
group members (both immigrant and Canadian-born) and
Aboriginal residents o Edmonton are more l ikely to answer yes
than White respondents (immigrant or Canadian-born).
- igurE 5
Reports o Discriminationin Dierent Settings
attending colleges / universities
services rom the City o Edmonton
services rom province
attending schools K12
looking or housing
shopping in stores
looking or jobs
desling with police
9
25
21
21
18
15
14
12
Figure 6 highlights dierences across the fve race/immigration groups or the
our settings (police, jobs, shopping, housing) where Edmonton residents are
most likely to report seeing or hearing about Non-White or Aboriginal Edmontonresidents being treated unairly.
It is important to mention that some institutions (e.g., the police) are much
more likely to be in the public eye. As a result, more people may hear
about incidents involving them (compared to other municipal employees,
or example). However, perceptions o being treated unairly can have
consequences, so it is important to recognize these perceptions as an
important basis o peoples behavior when interacting in each setting.
- igurE 6
shopping Edmonton stores looking or jobs dealing with Edmonton police
VisibleMinority Immigrant
VisibleMinority Canadian-born
Aboriginal
WhiteImmigrant
WhiteCanadian-born
Total
32
24
29
18
14
18
22
34
16
21
37
31
39 40
33 33
24
30
15
2021
25
34
29
looking or housing
Percent seeing/hearing in past year that Non-White or
Aboriginal residents of Edmonton where treated unfairly when....
Percent seeing/hearing in past year that Non-White
or Aboriginal residents of Edmonton where treated
unfairly when....
12 Experiences and Perceptions o Discrimination in Edmonton:A Surveyo Edmonton Residents Experiences and Perceptions o Discrimination in Edmonton:A Surveyo Edmonton Residents 13
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Personal Experiences oDiscrimination
When asked about their personal experiences o discrimination,
a small number o respondents (16%) reported that they or an
immediate amily member had been treated unairly (i.e., been
discriminated against) because o who they were, or whatever
reason, in the past 12 months(Figure 7).
Visible minority and Aboriginal respondents were signifcantly more
likely to answer yes to this question. As observed earlier about
responses to a dierent question, Canadian-born visible minorities
are more likely than their immigrant counterparts to report
experiences o discrimination, perhaps because they are more likely
to recognize more subtle orms o discrimination.
The most common reasons or being treated unairly (36 out o 81
reasons provided by the 16% o respondents who reported that they
or a amily member had been treated unairly in the past year) had to
do with race, ethnicity, religion, and country o origin.
More than one in fve (21%) o visible minority/Aboriginal sample
members provided one o these race/ethnicity/religion/country of
origin reasons or being treated unairly, compared to only 5% o
White respondents.
- igurE 7 Percent of sample reporting that they r a family member had beentreated unfairly, because of who they are, for whatever reason,
in the past year
21
36
19
9
13
16
VisibleMinority Immigrant
VisibleMinority Canadian-born
Aboriginal
WhiteImmigrant
WhiteCanadian-born
Total
14 Experiences and Perceptions o Discrimination in Edmonton:A Surveyo Edmonton Residents Experiences and Perceptions o Discrimination in Edmonton:A Surveyo Edmonton Residents 15
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Conclusions
Five general patterns can be observed rom the survey data:
Most study participants consider Edmonton to be a very welcoming city.
Visible minority (both oreign-born and Canadian-born) and Aboriginal
respondents are more likely to report perceptions o discrimination in
Edmonton.
Discrimination on the basis o race, ethnicity, immigrant status and related
variables is perceived to be more prevalent than discrimination on other
grounds.
Compared to other settings, Aboriginal and non-White Edmonton residents
are more oten perceived to be treated unairly by the police, when looking
or jobs or housing, and when shopping.
Most study participants agreed or strongly agreed that Aboriginal residents
o Edmonton requently ace discrimination.
16 Experiences and Perceptions o Discrimination in Edmonton:A Surveyo Edmonton Residents Experiences and Perceptions o Discrimination in Edmonton: ASurvey o Edmonton Residents 17
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Racism Free Edmonton
University o Alberta Population Research
Laboratory Survey 2011 Key Findings
w E e?
76% o the respondents agreed or strongly agreed that having people rom many racial
backgrounds makes Edmonton a better place to l ive.
71% o the respondents agreed or agreed strongly that people in Edmonton are very riendly
and welcoming and that Edmonton is very open to newcomers.
d E e e ?
59% o the respondents agreed or strongly agreed that Aboriginal residents o Edmonton
requently ace discrimination.
36% o the respondents agreed or strongly agreed that non White residents o Edmonton
requently ace discrimination.
w e e e efe E?
25% o the respondents indicated they had personally seen or heard about someone being
treated unairly when dealing with the Edmonton Police Service*.
21% o the respondents indicated they had personally seen or heard about someone being
treated unairly when they were looking or a job*.
18% o the respondents indicated they had personally seen or heard about someone being
treated unairly when they were looking or housing*.
14% o the respondents indicated they had personally seen or heard about someone being
treated unairly when they were receiving services rom the province o Alberta.
12% o the respondents indicated they had personally seen or heard about someone being
treated unairly when they were receiving services rom the City o Edmonton.
*(Note: Policing/Justice, Employment, and Housing are identifed in the CMARD commitments and the Racism Free
Edmonton Action Plan as key areas requiring urther attention).
18 Experiences and Perceptions o Discrimination in Edmonton:A Surveyo Edmonton Residents Experiences and Perceptions o Discrimination in Edmonton:A Surveyo Edmonton Residents 19
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racismreeedmonton@edmonton.ca | 780-495-1957
@RacismFreeEdmwww.racismreeedmonton.ca |
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