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Publications
Canadians' impressions of CSIS—Spring 2005
The Service's Communications Branch recently commissioned public opinion polling with the firm Ekos to
gauge Canadians’ knowledge and impressions of CSIS. The poll was conducted between April 21 and April 28, 2005
from a sample of 1,003 Canadians and is accurate to +/- 3.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
Below is a brief summary of the results of this poll.
General Awareness:
- A relatively high percentage of citizens – 69% – have heard of CSIS (48% “clearly” and 21% “vaguely”).
- Visible minorities are less aware of CSIS (56%) than “non-visible-minorities” (72%).
- B.C. citizens are the most aware of CSIS (81%) while Quebecers are the least aware (54%)
Impressions:
- Impressions of CSIS are fairly positive, with many more in the “positive” camp (44%) than in the “negative”
one (21%). A large number of Canadians (32%) are “neutral.”
- B.C. stands out clearly as having the highest negative measurement (36%), but more people in B.C. still hold
positive views of the Service than negative ones.
- There is no appreciable difference in positive/negative ratings from visible minorities.
- There is no clear pattern as to why Canadians feel either negative or positive about the Service because “don’t
know”, “neutral” or “no negative reports” are the top three answers. Other reasons for negative
impressions include: “past mistakes” and “not effective in duties.” Other reasons for positive
impressions include: “CSIS is essential to Canadian security” and “CSIS makes Canada safer”.
Knowledge:
- Canadians are not very aware of the service’s role and mandate.
- Men, higher-income Canadians and urban citizens are slightly more aware.
- Two out of three Canadians (67%) believe CSIS can arrest and/or detain individuals.
- A similar percentage (63%) believes CSIS investigates any protest group, whether it is believed to be
violent or not.
- About one-third of Canadians believe CSIS officers carry handguns, about one-third say they do not, and
about one third don’t know.
- But about two-thirds of Canadians (65%) are aware that CSIS shares information with other international
security agencies.
Support for national security function:
- The vast majority of Canadians (82%) believe that it’s important to have an organization such as CSIS to
investigate threats to national security.
- 38% of Canadians agree that they “trust CSIS to strike the right balance between security and civil
liberties.” 28% disagree.
- 39% of Canadians agree that “CSIS should have more powers to ensure national security even if Canadians
have to give up some personal privacy safeguards”, while 41% disagree.
John Dunn
Director General
Communications Branch
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