Almost three in four Canadians have a strong or somewhat strong sense of belonging to Canada

Canadians have been marking Canada Day (formerly “Dominion Day”) for 144 years.

Last spring, we asked people who live in Canada about their sense of belonging to Canada. Nearly three in four Canadians told us they had a very strong (34%) or somewhat strong (38%) sense of belonging to Canada, while one in five (20%) had a somewhat weak or weak sense of belonging. Just under 1 in 10 had no opinion (8%).

Older Canadians have the strongest sense of belonging to Canada

The degree of one’s sense of belonging to Canada appears to ripen with age.

Over four in five (83%) Canadians aged 75 years and older reported a very strong or somewhat strong sense of belonging to Canada, the highest rate of any age group nationally.

Immigrants have a stronger sense of belonging to Canada than the Canadian-born population

Canada prides itself on being a multicultural mosaic. We counted just under 8.4 million people who had settled in Canada from another land during the 2021 Census of Population from over 450 ethnic or cultural groups.

According to the 2021 Census of population, just under one in four (23%) people living in Canada arrived here from another land. Most (77%) immigrants report a very strong or somewhat strong sense of belonging to Canada. In fact, immigrants are more likely to report a very strong or somewhat strong sense of belonging to Canada than people who were born in Canada (70%).

People who are part of a racialized group (77%) report a stronger sense of belonging to Canada than those who are not (70%).

Majority of Canadians in every province report a very strong or somewhat strong sense of belonging to Canada

One thing that unites all provinces is that the majority of their residents aged 15 years and older reported a very strong or somewhat strong sense of belonging to Canada in the spring of 2022, ranging from 81% in Nova Scotia to 62% in Quebec.

While a similar share of urbanites (72%) and rural folk (68%) report a very strong or somewhat strong sense of belonging to Canada, rural Canadians (54%) have a stronger sense of belonging to their community than urbanites (46%).

What makes people who were born in Canada proud?

Just over three in four people living in Canada today were born here. We asked these Canadians about how they felt about Canada during the first year of the pandemic. Among those who reported a very strong or somewhat strong sense of belonging to Canada, most (92%) also felt very proud or proud to be Canadian.

Of those born in Canada, women (88%) were slightly more likely to be very proud or proud to be Canadian than men (82%).

The vast majority of the Canadian-born population aged 75 years and older (93%) were very proud or proud to be Canadian compared with 78% of those aged 15 to 24 years.

Canadians take great pride in their health care system

People in Canada express the most pride in their health care system (74%), followed by Canada’s democratic system (68%), constitution (67%), social safety net (66%) and scientific and technological achievements (65%).

Looking for more Canadian pride/belonging data?

Sense of pride/belonging to Canada and sense of belonging to local community are indicators in Canada’s Quality of Life Framework.  More data and analysis (like the article you’re reading now!) related to Canada’s Quality of Life Framework can be found on the Quality of Life hub.