The Environics Institute for Survey Research was established in 2006 to sponsor relevant and original public opinion, attitude and social values research related to issues of public policy and social change. We wish to survey those not usually heard from, using questions not usually asked. The Institute was also charged with disseminating its research into the public domain to stimulate discourse and the development of informed responses to social and political challenges. The Institute will achieve its objectives by: (1) sponsoring survey research on issues of socio-political import which are being ignored or insufficiently addressed by mainstream polling organizations, media, foundations, governments, corporations and academic bodies in Canada and abroad; (2) partnering with media organizations to responsibly disseminate Institute-sponsored research; (3) encouraging informed public discourse on issues related to Institute-sponsored research; (4) funding programs, such as those at Queen’s University in Kingston, that extend access to the Environics data archive to academics, think tanks, foundations and journalists; and (5) funding research on the conduct and public dissemination of public opinion polling in Canada. In all of its projects, the Institute seeks to partner both with appropriate media partners and with foundations and other groups that share its objectives. The Environics Institute’s work to date: 2006 The first project of the Institute was to conduct surveys of representative samples of the Canadian public and Canadian Muslims on the relationship between Canadian Muslims and Canadian society at large. This research was partly intended to replicate and build upon a Pew Center poll conducted in 13 countries in 2006, including Muslim oversamples in Britain, France, Germany and Spain. The Environics Institute-sponsored survey was conducted by Environics Research Group, and is the first study of its kind to put the attitudes of Canadian Muslims, in comparative perspective. The Institute partnered with CBC television for public release of the results of this important research in early 2007. It is hoped that this study will be repeated in 2010, perhaps adding samples of Jewish and Arab Canadians. 2007 Three projects were initiated in 2007. The first was a $5,000 grant to political scientist Stuart Soroka (Queen’s University) to fund two sessions at the Canadian Political Science Association’s annual conference. One session showed long-term trends in Canadian public opinion, and examined the links between survey data and electoral outcomes. The second session sought to familiarize assembled scholars with the resources available in the Canadian Opinion Research Archive. The second Environics Institute initiative of 2007 was a $25,000 grant to a team of social scientists to study the effects of public opinion polls on voting behaviour. The study, led by Fred Cutler of the University of British Columbia, used the October Ontario provincial election as a case study through which to examine the influence of polls in the election process. The third initiative was the first-ever Canadian-initiated survey of the people of Afghanistan on issues related to quality of life, reconstruction, and Canadian military presence in the country. This project was undertaken in partnership with the CBC, The Globe and Mail, La Presse and the Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies and the Munk Centre for International Studies, both at the University of Toronto. The survey was conducted by Environics Research and the Afghan Centre for Survey and Opinion Research (ACSOR) and was released in mid October 2007. It is hoped this study will be repeated in 2010, before Canadian combat troops are scheduled to leave that country. 2008 In 2008, the Institute co-sponsored a survey of Canadians’ interest, engagement and involvement in the world outside our borders as part of the Canada’s World initiative. This groundbreaking survey of 2,000 Canadians (including oversamples of youth and immigrants) sought to measure not just Canadians’ opinions about the federal government’s activities on the world stage, but Canadian citizens’ own personal engagement with the world as individuals, members of families, students, citizen activists, members of NGOs, and entrepreneurs. The major sponsor for this research was the Simons Foundation. The project’s media partners were the CBC/Radio-Canada, The Globe and Mail and Le Devoir. Results were released by these outlets on February 4 and 5, 2008. 2009 AND PLANS FOR THE FUTURE As of the fall of 2009, the Institute is at work on a study with Aboriginal people living in Canadian cities. The purpose of this study is to better understand and effectively document the experiences, aspirations, identities, and values of urban Aboriginal people, including their hopes, dreams and goals for their own lives and those of their children. Specifically, the study is seeking to understand what is leading urban Aboriginal people towards success, autonomy and spiritual meaning, and what barriers have impeded them. The intended outcome of this original research is to give voice to urban Aboriginal aspirations and to invigorate the Canadian conversation on the current challenges and future possibilities of Aboriginal people in this country. The survey is being undertaken with the guidance of an Advisory Circle composed of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal leaders and thinkers. Results will be released early in 2010; forums for subsequent public discussion, interpretation and engagement are under consideration. Also on the agenda in 2009/10 are three new survey initiatives: A survey of Canadians’ attitudes toward citizenship, to be undertaken in partnership with the Institute for Canadian Citizenship and the Maytree Foundation. An estimated 2.7 million Canadian citizens live abroad. Canada has one of the highest immigration rates in the world, and continues to practice official multiculturalism. Recent debates about the integration of newcomers, and events such as the evacuation of Canadian citizens from Lebanon during that country’s violent clash with Israel, have prompted pundits and experts to debate the meaning and future of Canadian citizenship. The Environics Institute and its partners intend to learn how ordinary Canadians understand the implications of Canadian citizenship with respect to citizens’ rights, responsibilities, loyalties, and identities. Also under consideration is a study of Canadian citizens living abroad, a group estimated to number over 2.5 million people. This phase of the study would be conducted in partnership with the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. A survey of the social values of Israelis and Palestinians. While surveys are conducted regularly among Israelis and Palestinians on contentious issues of the day, there has never been a thorough study of the social values of the people living in this conflict-ridden part of the world. The Institute seeks to partner with: a) reputable survey organizations in Israel and Palestine; b) reputable media outlets to broadly disseminate the findings of the research; and c) academic and other institutions to engage in constructive dialogue on the meaning of the research findings, as well as the potential initiatives that research findings might suggest. This is an effort by non-partisan, non-government actors—most based far from the Middle East—to help decision makers understand their constituents’ thinking in a new light. Parallel surveys of Black Torontonians and the general population of Toronto. The Institute plans to undertake a study of the experiences and attitudes of Black Torontonians, and the factors supporting—or impeding—their success in Toronto. There is growing evidence that Black people are not doing as well as whites and other visible minorities in Toronto in terms of educational attainment, occupational status, incomes and general economic well-being. Economic disparities between whites and non-whites in Canada have been well documented. But even in the context of these disparities, evident across a range of groups, Black people’s disproportionately low incomes stand out. Furthermore, there is evidence that even highly educated Black Torontonians’ occupational status and earnings lag behind their peers of other ethnocultural backgrounds. In short, in one of the most diverse cities on earth, where a range of ethnocultural groups face a range of challenges, the challenges of Black Torontonians stand out—and warrant focused attention. The goal of the study will be to learn about the nature of the challenges Black people face in Toronto, and to identify policies and other initiatives that might contribute to their future success. This study will be guided by an advisory committee composed of Black community leaders and others, and will be conducted in association with Dr. Jeffrey Reitz, R.F. Harney Professor of Ethnic, Immigration and Pluralism Studies at the University of Toronto. FUNDING The Institute was launched with funding from Michael Adams, who co-founded the Environics group of research and communications consulting companies in 1970 and is author of several bestselling books that interpret and contextualize survey research data for a general readership. Mr. Adams’s books include Sex in the Snow (1997), Fire and Ice: The United States, Canada and the Myth of Converging Values (2003) and Unlikely Utopia: The Surprising Triumph of Canadian Multiculturalism (2007). An advisory panel helps to guide and shape the Institute’s work. The panel includes Michael Adams; Alan Broadbent, the chairman of Avana Capital Corporation and the Maytree Foundation; Mark Sarner, the president of Manifest Communications; and John Honderich, the Chair of the Board of the Torstar Corporation. Others committed to the Institute’s work are Amy Langstaff who has worked with Michael Adams on four of his five books, May Wong who worked with Michael Adams when she was employed with the Toronto Community Foundation and David Eaves, a mediation consultant and policy advisor working out of Vancouver. The Institute will consult widely with appropriate experts on topics for possible exploration. Projects that meet the guidelines for charitable contributions will be funded through the Tides Foundation. The Environics Institute is a not-for-profit corporation, incorporated under the laws of Ontario. September 18, 2009 Michael Adams President Environics Institute michael.adams@environics.ca