Toronto, Dec. 11, 2007: In addition to one in four Canadians feeling that their rights have been violated, in a survey conducted on behalf of Canadian Race Relations Foundation (CRRF) and the Association for Canadian Studies (ACS), most respondents who identified as belonging to a racialized group reveal that those rights were more likely violated by employers (19%) and by the federal government (13%). The survey was conducted by Decima Research in March 2007, with a total of 2,052 respondents with a margin of error of ± 2.16% at the 95% confidence level.

The survey also revealed that the three most common responses to which rights were most violated were discrimination based on race, ethnicity or skin colour; discrimination based on gender, and discrimination based on freedom of expression.

Of note, regionally, the survey also indicate that respondents from Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Québec are the most likely to feel that their rights have been violated at least "sometimes".

"What this survey reveals, and which confirms a number of similar surveys over the past couple of years, is that racism is still very much a part of the lives of many Canadians," commented Dr. Ayman Al-Yassini, Executive Director of the CRRF. "The sad thing is that we don't seem to be making much headway in anti-racism and it doesn't seem to be high on the agenda of policymakers."

The complete survey is available on request by contacting the CRRF at 416-952-3500 or Cet e-mail est protégé contre les robots collecteurs de mails, votre navigateur doit accepter le Javascript pour le voir ; or, the ACS at 514-925-3094 or Cet e-mail est protégé contre les robots collecteurs de mails, votre navigateur doit accepter le Javascript pour le voir