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Canadians won't give up rights to fight terror: poll

By: Randy Boswell

Monday, Apr. 16, 2012 at 8:09 AM | Comments: 0

A new survey marking this week's 30th anniversary of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms shows Canadians remain largely -- but far from unanimously -- resistant to surrendering certain rights in the name of reducing the threat of terrorism.

Close to two-thirds (64 per cent) of the 1,522 respondents in a poll commissioned by the Montreal-based Association for Canadian Studies disagreed with the statement: "In order to curb terrorism in this country, it will be necessary to give up some civil liberties."

But significantly fewer respondents (57 per cent) balked at the idea of forcing citizens to carry state-issued I.D. cards and being subjected to random police checks, with 43 per cent agreeing "everyone should be required to carry a national identity card at all times to show to a police officer upon request."

The findings were released to Postmedia News ahead of a two-day, ACS-organized conference at the University of Ottawa this week -- titled Checking our Constitution@30 -- where the April 17, 1982, patriation of Canada's Constitution and the adoption of the charter will be discussed and analyzed by some of the country's top legal scholars.

Forty-two per cent of residents of Ontario and Manitoba/Saskatchewan expressed support for I.D. cards.

The survey, conducted online during the week of March 19 by the polling firm Leger Marketing, is considered accurate to within 2.9 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

-- Postmedia News

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