There are several of measuring public opinion when it comes to perception about the level of discrimination and the form it takes. Benchmarking around the level of discrimination often depends on the measurement of opinion and the development of a framework around which to monitor change over time. The Assocation for Canadian Studies has made several attempts to document public opinion on racism and discrimination and has explored various questions in trying to understand how the public sees the issues. The measurement of the phenomenon of racism and discrimination will be the object of future collaboration between the Association for Canadian Studies and the Canadian Race Relations Foundation. To begin offering input into various ways of measuring the phenomenon, the ACS has provided below the details of a survey it had yet to release on the degree to which Canadians regard the rights of certain groups as vulnerable. The ACS commissioned the firm Leger Marketing to ask Canadians which groups it regarded as most vulnerable when it comes to rights protection. Conducted by web panel, the responses were collected during the week of November 25, 2008

As observed below a majority of Canadians regard the rights of "nearly all" groups identified in the survey as secure though important minorities of respondents do express some degree of concern in nearly all cases. It is rights based on sexual orientation, refugee status and aboriginality that Canadians believe to be most vulnerable. It is the rights of religious groups and the rights of women that Canadians regard as most secure across the list of the nine groups identified for purposes of the survey.

The rights of some groups are perceived to be more vulnerable than others.   In Canada, do you think that the rights of the following groups are very secure, somewhat secure, somewhat vulnerable or very vulnerable?