Public perceptions of the police in Canada’s provinces, 2019

In Canada, the police rely on continued support and cooperation from the Canadian public to efficiently and successfully carry out its duties. The public’s willingness to report crime, to cooperate with police during investigations, to call if in need of assistance and to abide by laws and police orders, are all associated with how they view the police (Brown and Benedict 2002; Cao 2014; Chow 2012; Ren et al. 2005). Positive perceptions of police among citizens are, therefore, a critical aspect of public safety and contribute to a lower level of crime.

Historically, police agencies across Canada have used various localized means to assess public confidence and opinions about the police. In order to streamline these types of measures and allow for trend and comparative analysis across time and jurisdictions, a police performance metrics framework for Canadian policing was developed in 2017 by Public Safety Canada. In addition to traditional indicators such as crime rates, calls for service and traffic offences that are typically used to measure police performance, the framework also identified trust and confidence in the police and public perceptions of the police as being critical to this end (Giacomantonio et al. 2019; Mazowita and Rotenberg 2019; Public Safety Canada 2019).

This Juristat article uses data from the 2019 General Social Survey (GSS) on Canadians’ Safety (Victimization) to examine perceptions of the police among Canadians living in the provinces. The article has two sections: confidence in the police and perceptions of police performance. Text box 1 provides information on how these two concepts were measured in the 2019 GSS on Victimization. Within each section, findings are presented for the following populations: seniors; persons with physical, and mental or cognitive disabilities; Indigenous peoples; people belonging to groups designated as visible minorities and; sexual minority persons. Information on experiences of criminal victimization are not included in this article.^Note 

Although the current article is largely based on data collected in 2019, some results related to perceptions of police from the 2020 crowdsourcing initiative “Impacts of COVID-19 on Canadians: Experience of Discrimination” are also presented (Text box 2). Together, the findings in this article will provide more recently available, national-level information on the perceptions Canadians have of the police—including those of people belonging to population groups designated as visible minorities (hereafter referred to as visible minorities) and Indigenous people.

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Confidence in the police

Nine in ten Canadians have confidence in the police

In 2019, nine in 10 Canadians living in the provinces said that they had a great deal or some confidence in the police (90%). More than four in ten (41%) reported having a great deal of confidence in the police, while almost half (49%) said they had some confidence in the police. Less than one in ten people (7%) said they did not have very much confidence in the police. A small minority (2%) of Canadians reported having no confidence at all in the police.^Note 

Confidence in the police varies provincially

The degree to which Canadians reported confidence in the police varied by province.^Note  In Newfoundland and Labrador (49%), Prince Edward Island (59%), New Brunswick (45%) and Saskatchewan (46%) the proportions of residents reporting a great deal of confidence in the police were higher compared to the national level (Chart 1).^Note  In Manitoba, residents were less likely to say they had a great deal of confidence in the police compared with the overall provincial proportion (34% versus 41%).

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Four in ten Canadians living in census metropolitan areas (CMAs) (40%) reported a great deal of confidence in the police, a lower proportion compared with people living in census agglomerations (CAs) (44%) or in rural areas (45%) (Chart 2).^Note  While confidence in the police was generally high across all large Canadian cities, proportions of people reporting a great deal of confidence varied in some. For example, about half of the residents of Trois-Rivières (56%), Moncton (53%), Regina (50%) and Québec (49%) reported having a great deal of confidence in the police, while this was less often the case in Winnipeg (31%) or Toronto (37%).

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Geographical differences in confidence levels in police may be partly attributed to the demographic profiles of the respective areas. For example, according to the 2016 Census of Population, there are fewer visible minorities in Prince Edward Island and more seniors relative to the rest of Canada. On the other hand, the CMA of Winnipeg has the largest Indigenous population, and nearly half of Toronto’s population are people belonging to population groups designated as visible minorities (Statistics Canada 2017).

Recent negative encounters with police result in lower confidence

Many studies have found that confidence in and perceptions of the police are greatly affected by prior experiences with the police, and particularly whether the experience was perceived as positive or negative (Brown and Benedict 2002; Cao 2014; Chow 2012; Cotter 2015; Myhill and Beak 2008).

In 2019, about one in three Canadians (34%) reported having recent contact with police (in the previous 12 months). This contact could have been during work, volunteering or public information sessions, in relation to a crime—as a victim, an accused or a witness—or for other reasons such as emotional problems, mental health, or alcohol or drug use. The level of confidence in the police was high regardless of recent contact, and Canadians who reported a recent encounter with police were, generally, as likely to say that they had a great deal of confidence in the police (40%) as those who did not report a contact with police in the previous year (42%).

However, compared with individuals who did not have a recent interaction with police, confidence in the police was relatively lower among those who came into contact with the police in relation to emotional problems, mental health, or alcohol or drug use, or a crime. Specifically, about one-quarter (24%) of people who said they came into contact with the police in the previous 12 months for their own emotional problems, mental health or alcohol or drug use and one-third (33%) of those who said their recent interaction with police was related to a family member’s emotional problems, mental health or alcohol or drug use reported having a great deal of confidence in the police (Chart 3). Similarly, among victims and witnesses of crime, about one in three (29% and 34%, respectively) reported a great deal of confidence in the police.

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In addition to there being some differences in the level of confidence reported based on the type of encounter that an individual had with the police, positive and negative perceptions of the encounter magnified these differences. Almost nine in ten (87%) Canadians who had contact with police in the previous year said that, overall, the interaction was positive, while 12% felt it was negative. Canadians who reported having a positive recent experience with the police were significantly more likely to have a great deal of confidence in the police compared with those who reported having a recent negative experience (44% vs. 10%). In other words, Canadians who reported a negative recent experience with the police were six times as likely to report low confidence in the police as people who said that their recent experience with police was positive (42% versus 7%).^Note 

Multiple logistic regression analysis confirmed the association between contact with police and confidence in the police.^Note  The analysis revealed that when other variables are held constant, having a recent negative encounter with police significantly increased the odds of reporting low confidence in the police (6.5 times higher odds than not having a recent contact) (Table 1). Conversely, reporting a recent positive encounter reduced the odds of reporting low confidence in the police.

Seniors most confident in police

Research shows that there are a number of factors which can have an impact on public perceptions of and confidence in the police. These factors range from demographic characteristics such as age and race, to socio-economic characteristics such as income and level of education, as well as perceptions about one’s neighbourhood circumstances and experiences of victimization (Cao 2014; Chow 2012; Gannon 2005; Payne and Gainey 2007).^Note 

Consistent with findings in previous research, confidence in the police was highest among seniors. While similar proportions of younger Canadians below the age of 45 said they had a great deal of confidence in the police, the share of Canadians over this age who said the same increased with every age group. Seniors 75 years and older (53%) were significantly more likely than younger Canadians to report having a great deal of confidence in the police (Table 1).^Note 

Confidence, generally, did not differ by gender among Canadians living in the provinces in 2019.^Note  Similar proportions of women (42%) and men (41%) said they had a great deal of confidence in the police.^Note 

After holding all variables of interest constant (all variables in Table 1), people aged 65 and older had lower odds of reporting low confidence in the police than younger people aged 15 to 24.

Canadians with disabilities less likely to report great deal of confidence in police

The Canadian Survey on Disability estimates that in 2017, about 22% of the population aged 15 and over (approximately 6.2 million people) reported having a disability (Morris et al. 2018).^Note  Challenges related to interactions between Canadians with a mental or cognitive disorder and police continue to be the subjects of ongoing public discussion, with more of these interactions being reported in recent years (Coleman and Cotton 2014). A 2015 article reported that about one in five people who had a recent contact with police had a mental or substance use disorder (Boyce et al. 2015).

In 2019, confidence in the police among Canadians who reported having a mental or cognitive, or physical disability was generally lower when compared to people who said they did not have a disability.^Note  One in three (33%) individuals reporting a mental or cognitive disability and about two in five (38%) with a physical disability said that they had a great deal of confidence in the police—proportions significantly lower than that of Canadians with no disability (43%).

Individuals who reported having a mental or cognitive disability (42%) or a physical disability (35%) were more likely to say they had had a police encounter in the previous 12 months compared with individuals with no disability (33%). Additionally, people with a mental or cognitive, or a physical disability were more likely to say their encounter was negative compared to people with no disabilities (15% each, versus 11%). Of note, about 8% of Canadians with mental or cognitive disabilities who had contact with police said they had an encounter related to their own emotional problems, mental health or alcohol or drug use.

Moreover, it has been reported that people with disabilities experience higher rates of violent victimization and a lower sense of safety than people with no disabilities, factors which may contribute to their overall lower level of confidence in the police (Cotter 2018; Perreault 2017).

When all other factors were held constant, having a mental or cognitive disability increased the odds of reporting low confidence in the police by about 50% while the odds of reporting low confidence in the police were 30% higher for people who had a physical disability than for people who did not report any disabilities. People who had both physical, and mental or cognitive disabilities had 70% higher odds of reporting low confidence in police.

Confidence in police lower among Indigenous people

In 2019, three in ten (30%) First Nations people, Métis and Inuit said that they had a great deal of confidence in the police, a proportion significantly lower compared with non-Indigenous people (42%).^Note  First Nations people reported the lowest level of confidence in the police with under three in ten (27%) saying they had a great deal of confidence in the police. Similarly, one in three (32%) Métis reported a great deal of confidence in the police.^Note 

Confidence in police reported among Indigenous people living in urban areas did not differ significantly from those living in rural areas in terms of reporting a great deal of confidence in the police (33% and 25%, respectively).^Note  However, Indigenous people living in urban areas were significantly less likely to report low confidence in the police (13%, compared with 23% among Indigenous people living in rural areas).

Despite the fact that contact with the police has been shown to have an impact on confidence, when all factors of interest are held constant—including any recent police encounters—Indigenous people had nearly twice the odds (1.9 times) of reporting low confidence in the police.^Note  Of note, while Indigenous people (44%) were more likely than non-Indigenous people (34%) to report a contact with police in the previous year, of those who had contact, similar proportions of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people said that their recent encounter with police was negative, a factor which significantly impacts confidence in the police. Indigenous people also generally reported similar reasons for coming into contact with the police.^Note  These findings are evidence that other factors are contributing to the lower degree of confidence in the police among Indigenous people.

The issue of poor relations between the police and Indigenous people and racialized people in Canada is well documented (Ben-Porat 2008; Brown and Benedict 2002; Chan and Mirchandani 2002; Council of Canadian Academies 2019; Jones et al. 2014; Nilson and Mantello 2019; Selkirk 2020). The relationship between Indigenous people and the police has been described as one of mistrust, a characterization that is rooted in colonialization. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, for example, has described how the involvement of police in the residential school system has impacted Indigenous people and their trust in police (Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada 2015). In addition, The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls also presents recent evidence of how historical events and system responses to missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls directly contribute to the lack of trust in police among Indigenous people (MMIWG 2019). These reports, along with others, have shown the impact of colonialization on factors such as socio-economic inequities, trauma, mental health issues, and substance abuse which disproportionately affect Indigenous people. These factors perpetuate a cycle of contact with the police and other systems that are under scrutiny for systemic racism and systemic contact, and therefore further distrust in police (Text box 2) (Canada Parliament 2020a; Canada Parliament 2020b; Cao 2014; Chrismas 2012; Council of Canadian Academies 2019; LeBeuf 2011; Jones et al 2014; Malakieh 2019; Nilson and Mantello 2019).

Of note, despite reporting a lower level of confidence in the police, Indigenous people have reported greater feelings of safety in their neighbourhood than non-Indigenous people—a finding that may be attributable to strong community ties (Perreault 2017).

Visible minorities report less confidence in the police

In 2019, 87% of people designated as visible minorities reported having a great deal or some confidence in the police, this was slightly lower than the 92% among non-visible minorities.^Note  The proportion of visible minority Canadians who said that they had a great deal of confidence in the police was nine percentage points lower than for non-visible minorities (35% versus 44%). Southeast Asian (25%) and Chinese (26%) Canadians, in particular, were significantly less likely to report having a great deal of confidence in the police. While Black and Latin American people were as likely as non-visible minority people to say they had a great deal of confidence in the police, nearly one in five (18% and 17%, respectively) reported having not very much or no confidence in the police—more than double the proportion among non-visible minorities (8%).

It is worth noting that while visible minorities were less likely to report a contact with police in the previous year (29%, versus 36% among non-visible minorities), 16% of visible minorities who reported a recent police encounter said that their experiences were negative, a proportion higher than that of non-visible minorities (10%). When all other factors are kept constant, visible minorities were found to have 50% greater odds of reporting low confidence in the police than non-visible minorities. Overall, 13% of visible minorities reported low confidence in the police, compared with 8% of non-visible minorities.

Experiences and perceptions of systemic racism in policing and acts of racial prejudice by officers are likely factors contributing to the overall lower sense of confidence in the police within this segment of the population (British Columbia 2020; Canada Parliament 2020b; Stelkia 2020; Weitzer and Tuch 2005). Visible minorities are more likely to report experiencing discrimination when dealing with the police (Text box 2). According to the 2019 GSS on Victimization, 2% of visible minority Canadians reported experiencing some form of discrimination in the previous five years while dealing with police, compared with 0.6% of non-visible minority Canadians. The underrepresentation of visible minorities in police agencies has also been shown to have an impact on perceptions of police among visible minorities (Chow 2012). In 2018, visible minorities made up 22% of the Canadian population but 8% of police officers in Canada that year (Conor et al. 2019). Moreover, visible minorities are more likely to live in larger cities and are overrepresented in low-income neighbourhoods, and although they experience victimization at a lower rate than non-visible minorities they are less likely to feel safe in their neighbourhoods—factors found to be negatively correlated with perceptions of police (Chow 2012; Perreault 2017; Simpson 2018a).

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Lesbian, gay and bisexual Canadians report moderate confidence in the police

Sexual minority Canadians (namely those who self-identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual or otherwise not heterosexual), overall, had feelings of confidence in the police that were similar to heterosexual Canadians, however the degree of confidence reported differed.^Note  For example, lesbian or gay Canadians (31%) and bisexual Canadians (25%) were significantly less likely to report having a great deal of confidence in the police, compared with heterosexual Canadians (42%).

Overall, similar proportions of sexual minority Canadians and heterosexual Canadians reported having contact with police in the previous year, and perceptions about recent encounters with police among sexual minorities were similar to those reported among heterosexual Canadians.

Sexual minorities in Canada report experiencing higher victimization rates, poorer mental health and struggle with fears of stigmatization and discrimination when having to interact with police compared with heterosexual Canadians (Jaffray 2020; Nadal 2015; Simpson 2018b). Feelings of safety are also lower among lesbian, gay and bisexual Canadians compared with heterosexual people (Perreault 2017). These factors are potential contributors to a reduced sense of confidence in the police among this segment of the population. When other factors of interest are held constant, being lesbian, gay or bisexual did not impact the odds of reporting lower confidence in the police.

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Perceptions of police performance

Less than half of Canadians think their local police are doing a good job

Across all six police performance measures included in the GSS on Victimization (see Text box 1), less than half of Canadians reported that their local police were doing a good job. In 2019, overall, the beliefs that the police were doing a good job of being approachable and easy to talk to (49%) and enforcing the laws (46%) were rated slightly more favourably among Canadians, followed by the police ensuring the safety of citizens (44%) and treating people fairly (42%) (Chart 4, Table 2). About four in ten said the same about the police promptly responding to calls (40%) and supplying information to the public on ways to prevent crime (37%). About one in five Canadians (18%) felt that the police were doing a good job on all six measures.

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The proportion of Canadians who said their local police were doing an average job ranged between 24% and 33% across all six measures. One in ten people, or less, said the police were doing a poor job.

Perceptions about police performance linked to perceptions about recent encounters

Canadians who had a recent encounter with the police were as likely as those who did not to say that the police were doing a good job for five out of the six measures. The sole exception among the measures was that Canadians who reported a contact with the police in the previous 12 months were more likely to say that the police were doing a good job of being approachable and easy to talk to compared with those who did not report a recent police encounter (53% versus 47%).

Perceptions of police performance sometimes differed among Canadians based on the type of encounter reported. For example, Canadians who reported coming into contact with the police in the previous year because of a public information session were more likely to say that the police were doing a good job of being approachable and easy to talk to (63%) and supplying information on how to prevent crime (51%), compared to people who did not come into contact with the police in the last year for any reason (Table 3). In contrast, Canadians who were victims of crime in the last year were less likely to say the police were doing a good job of enforcing the laws (32%).

Moreover, among Canadians who reported a recent police encounter, their perceptions of police performance appeared to be associated with their opinion of how the encounter went—whether positively or negatively. Unsurprisingly, people who said they had a recent negative experience with the police were significantly less likely to say the police were doing a good job on any of the measures compared to people with recent positive experiences, and, vice versa, people with a recent positive encounter were more likely to say the police were doing a good job. To once again use the example of perceptions related to enforcing the laws, 15% of Canadians who had a recent negative encounter with the police said that the police were doing a good job, and 25% said they were doing a poor job. In comparison, 50% of people who said their recent experience with the police was positive said the police were doing a good job, while 5% said they were doing a poor job.

It is worth noting that in 2019, between 15% and 27% of people said they did not know if their local police were doing a good job on at least one of the measures. This was more common among people who reported not having any contact with the police in the previous year.^Note 

Perceptions of police performance generally similar by gender, differ by age group and sexual orientation

Perceptions of police performance generally varied across different age groups. However, overall, older Canadians had more positive views than younger Canadians. For example, Canadian seniors (those aged 75 and older) were more likely than Canadians aged 15 to 24, to say that their local police do a good job an all of the measures except of promptly responding to calls, for which they were as likely to say the police were doing a good job (Table 2).

When comparing by gender, men and women reported similar opinions when it came to perceptions of police performance, with under half saying that the police do a good job on each of the measures.^Note  The sole exception was in relation to treating people fairly which was rated slightly less favourably among women (40% versus 43%).

Canadians who reported being bisexual were far less likely than heterosexual Canadians to say that the police were doing a good job on three of the measures. Namely, around one in three or fewer bisexual people said that the police were doing a good job enforcing the laws (25%), being approachable and easy to talk to (34%), and ensuring the safety of citizens (33%), which compares with 47%, 50% and 45%, respectively, among heterosexual people.

People with disabilities less likely to say police are doing a good job

People reporting a disability were generally less satisfied with police performance. Canadians who reported a mental or cognitive disability were less likely than people without disabilities to say the police were doing a good job on all of the measures, namely, of enforcing the laws (39% versus 48%), promptly responding to calls (37% versus 41%), being approachable and easy to talk to (43% versus 50%), supplying the public with information to prevent crime (33% versus 38%), ensuring the safety of citizens (38% versus 46%) and treating people fairly (36% versus 43%). Similarly, compared to people with no disabilities, people with a physical disability less often said they thought the police were doing a good job on four of the measures: enforcing the laws (44%), promptly responding to calls (38%), ensuring the safety of citizens (41%) and treating people fairly (40%).

Perceptions of police performance generally similar among Indigenous and non-Indigenous people

In 2019, Indigenous people generally had perceptions of police performance that were similar to non-Indigenous people. The sole exception was in relation to enforcing the laws, which was driven by a less positive perception among First Nations people. First Nations people were significantly less likely to say that the police were doing a good job of enforcing the laws compared with non-Indigenous people (36% and 47%, respectively). Métis reported similar levels of satisfaction with police performance on all of the six measures when compared to non-Indigenous people.^Note 

Overall in the provinces, perceptions of police performance among Indigenous people were similar regardless of whether they lived in urban or rural areas.

Perceptions of police performance vary among visible minority groups

Overall, Canadians who identified as belonging to a group designated as visible minority were significantly less likely than non-visible minorities to say the police were doing a good job on five of the six elements measured, except when it came to promptly responding to calls, for which similar proportions said the police were doing a good job. Differences, however, varied among Canada’s largest ethnic groups. For example, Chinese Canadians were less likely to say the police were doing a good job on all six measures, while Latin Americans (37%) and Southeast Asians (35%) were less likely to say the police were doing a good job of enforcing the laws compared with non-visible minorities (49%). With the exception of Latin Americans, Filipino and Arab Canadians who had similar views as non-visible minorities, all of the remaining ethnic groups reported lower levels of satisfaction with police performance related to treating people fairly. Overall, about one in three (34%) visible minority Canadians said the police were doing a good job of treating people fairly, compared with 45% of non-visible minorities.

It is worth noting that between 20% and 30% of visible minorities reported that they did not know if the police were doing a good, average or poor job.

Established immigrants rate police performance less favourably

Immigrants were less likely than non-immigrants to say that the police were doing a good job on two out of the six measures: being approachable and easy to talk to (46% versus 50%) and treating people fairly (38% versus 43%). Immigrants who had been in Canada longer than ten years generally had less positive views compared with non-immigrants. On five out of the six measures, these established immigrants were less likely than non-immigrants to say that the police were doing a good job—with the exception being when it came to promptly responding to calls, for which they held similar views.

Recent immigrants, on the other hand, generally had the same or more positive opinions about police performance when compared to non-immigrants. When it came to promptly responding to calls (47%) and ensuring the safety of the citizens in the area (51%), recent immigrants were more likely to say that the police do a good job compared with non-immigrants (39% and 45%, respectively).

Between 19% and 29% of immigrants reported that they did not know if the police were doing a good, average or poor job on each of the six performance measures included. These proportions were generally similar among recent and established immigrants.

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Residents of Ontario report lower levels of satisfaction with police performance, more satisfaction with police in Prince Edward Island

In 2019, there were many provincial variations in Canadians’ level of satisfaction with police performance. Prince Edward Island was the only province to report higher levels of satisfaction with police performance on all six measures compared with the Canadian provincial average. Quebec residents rated their local police more favourably on five out of the six measures (all except for being approachable and easy to talk to) (Table 4). In contrast, compared with all of the provinces, people living in Ontario were less likely to say their local police were doing a good job on any of the six measures.

Perceptions about police performance also differed regionally, with people living in census agglomerations and rural areas having more positive perceptions on all of the measures compared with people living in CMAs (Table 5). Perceptions of police also differed among CMAs in a variety of ways ranging from some cities reporting higher levels of satisfaction in police performance for most of the measures to others reporting satisfaction with police for some measures but not others. For example, Canadians living in Québec, Trois-Rivières and Sherbrooke were more likely to report that their local police do a good job on five of the six measures when compared to the overall CMA averages, while lower proportions of people in Toronto and Winnipeg said the police were doing a good job on five out of the six measures.

Similar to what was previously noted about confidence in the police, provincial and regional differences in perceptions of police among residents may be partly attributed to the demographic profiles of these areas.

Summary

The vast majority of Canadians reported having confidence in the police in 2019, reporting either a great deal (41%) or some confidence (49%).

Prior negative encounters with police was the most influential factor in predicting reported confidence levels (among the factors included in the article). People who said they had a negative encounter with the police in the previous year had odds almost seven times higher of reporting low confidence in the police. Other factors which negatively impacted Canadians’ confidence levels in police included: identifying as a visible minority, an Indigenous person, or a person with a disability. On the other hand, being 65 or older reduced the odds of reporting low confidence in the police.

Between 37% and 49% of Canadians in 2019 felt that the police were doing a good job on the performance measures included. Namely, enforcing the laws; promptly responding to calls; being approachable and easy to talk to; supplying information to the public on ways to prevent crime; ensuring the safety of the citizens in their area; and treating people fairly.

Similar to confidence in police, perceptions of police performance were linked to opinions formed by prior experiences with police. For example, Canadians who reported a negative police encounter in the previous 12 months were significantly less likely to say the police were doing a good job on any of the measure compared with people with no recent police contact, while more favourable views were more common among people with recent positive encounters.

As was the case with confidence in police, some sub-populations also held more positive perceptions of police. Specifically, people aged 45 and older generally had more positive views about police performance compared with those aged 15 to 24, while visible minorities, and people with disabilities generally had less positive views. Dissimilar to findings related to confidence in the police, Indigenous people generally had similar perceptions about police performance as non-Indigenous people except in relation to enforcing the laws, which was viewed less favourably among First Nations people. Further, established immigrants (those who immigrated to Canada before 2010), had less favourable views on five of the six measures, while recent immigrants were more likely than non-immigrants to say that the police were doing a good job of promptly responding to calls and ensuring the safety of the citizens in the area.

Many studies have shown that confidence in and perceptions of police among citizens are associated with several factors including their demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status, environmental exposures and prior negative experiences. While this article has presented a number of demographic characteristics, and some reported prior negative interactions with the police, it is important to consider other factors which have been linked to public perceptions of the police. These would include experiences of victimization and factors associated with vulnerability to victimization such as neighbourhood characteristics and perceptions of personal safety.

Detailed data tables

Table 1 Canadians' confidence in police, by selected characteristics, provinces, 2019

Table 2 Canadians' perceptions of police, by selected characteristics, provinces, 2019

Table 3 Canadians' perceptions of police, by reason for police contact, provinces, 2019

Table 4 Canadians' perceptions of police, by province, 2019

Table 5 Canadians' perceptions of police, by census metropolitan area, 2019

Methods for logistic regression analysis

The odds ratios presented throughout this article were the results of multiple regression analysis which was undertaken to assess the influence of factors of interest on the level of confidence that Canadians had in police. To simplify the interpretation of results, the dependent variable in the model was defined as having low confidence (not very much or no confidence at all). All variables listed in Table 1 were included in the model, however, only variables which had a significant impact (p < 0.05) were kept in the final model to yield the odds ratios. These variables are: age group, disability status, visible minority status, Indigenous identity, religious affiliation and recent contact with police (positive, negative or no contact in the previous 12 months).

Survey description

This article uses data from the General Social Survey (GSS) on Canadians’ Safety (Victimization). In 2019, Statistics Canada conducted the GSS on Victimization for the seventh time. Previous cycles were conducted in 1988, 1993, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014. The main objective of the GSS on Victimization is to better understand issues related to the safety and security of Canadians, including perceptions of crime and the justice system, experiences of intimate partner violence, and how safe people feel in their communities.

The target population was persons aged 15 and older living in the ten Canadian provinces, except for people living full-time in institutions. In 2019, the survey was also conducted in the three territories using a different sampling design. However, data pertaining to the territories, and to incidents of crime experienced in the previous twelve months for the provinces and territories will be released at a later date.

Data collection

Data collection took place between April 2019 and March 2020. Responses were obtained by computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI) and, for the first time, the GSS on Victimization offered a self-administered internet collection option to survey respondents. Respondents were able to respond in the official language of their choice.

An individual aged 15 or older was randomly selected within each household to respond to the survey. An oversample of Indigenous people was added to the 2019 GSS on Victimization to allow for a more detailed analysis of individuals belonging to this population group.

In 2019, the sample size was 20,454 respondents, this number included an oversample of 3,056 Indigenous people.

Response rates

In 2019, the overall response rate was 36.4% (41.0% for the main sample, and 22.2% for the oversample). Non-respondents included people who refused to participate, could not be reached, or could not speak English or French. Respondents in the sample were weighted so that their responses represent the non-institutionalized Canadian population aged 15 and older.

Data limitations

As with any household survey, there are some data limitations. The results are based on a sample and are therefore subject to sampling errors. Somewhat different results might have been obtained if the entire population had been surveyed.

For the quality of estimates, the lower and upper bounds of the confidence intervals are presented in the tables and charts. Confidence intervals should be interpreted as follows: If the survey were repeated many times, then 95% of the time (or 19 times out of 20), the confidence interval would cover the true population value. Throughout this article, unless otherwise specified, statistically significant differences were determined using 95% confidence intervals.

Statistics Canada has confidence in the quality of the data disseminated from the 2019 GSS and assures that the data are fit for use for this analysis. Because of method used to collect information for the GSS, however, the data may not be representative for some subpopulations and smaller geographic areas. For example, this would have a more notable impact on populations with language barriers, or those in remote areas with less reliable telephone or telecommunications.

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