Discrimination and unfair treatment

Proportion of the population who self-reported discrimination or unfair treatment based on various selected characteristics, as experienced in selected settings.

This indicator is measured in more than one Statistics Canada survey.

In the General Social Survey (GSS) - Canadians' Safety (Victimization) survey respondents are asked to respond "Yes" or "No" to the following questions:

In the past 5 years, have you experienced discrimination or been treated unfairly by others in Canada because of:

1. Your sex?
2. Your ethnicity or culture?
3. Your race or colour?
4. Your physical appearance (other than skin colour)?
5. Your religion?
6. Your sexual orientation?
7. Your age?
8. A disability (physical or mental)?
9. Your language?
10. For some other reason?

In the past five years, have you experienced discrimination or been treated unfairly by others in Canada for some other reason?

In what types of situations have you experienced discrimination in the past 5 years?
Was it:

1. In a store, bank or restaurant?
2. At work or when applying for a job or promotion?
3. When dealing with the police?
4. When dealing with the courts?
5. When crossing the border into Canada?
6. Any other situation?

In the 2020-2021 General Social Survey (GSS) - Social Identity, survey respondents were asked to respond "Yes" or "No" to the following questions:

In the 5 years before the Covid-19 pandemic, have you experienced discrimination or been treated unfairly by others in Canada because of any of the following?
Was it because of:

1. Your age
2. Your ethnicity or culture
3. Your race or colour
4. Your religion
5. Your language
6. Your physical appearance
7. Your sex
8. Your gender identity or expression
9. Your sexual orientation
10. A physical or mental disability
11. Some other reason
12. Did not experience discrimination

In what types of situations have you experienced discrimination in the 5 years before the Covid-19 pandemic?
Was it:

1. In a store, bank or restaurant
2. When attending school or classes
3. At work or when applying for a job or promotion
4. When dealing with the police
5. When dealing with the courts
6. When crossing the border into Canada
7. Any other situation

Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, have you experienced discrimination or been treated unfairly by others in Canada because of any of the following?
Was it because of:

1. Your age
2. Your ethnicity or culture
3. Your race or colour
4. Your religion
5. Your language
6. Your physical appearance
7. Your sex
8. Your gender identity or expression
9. Your sexual orientation
10. A physical or mental disability
11. Some other reason
12. Did not experience discrimination

Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, have you experienced discrimination or been treated unfairly by others in Canada because of any of the following?
Was it:

1. In a store, bank or restaurant
2. When attending school or classes
3. At work or when applying for a job or promotion
4. When dealing with the police
5. When dealing with the courts
6. When crossing the border into Canada
7. Any other situation

This indicator is also measured in selected iterations of the Canadian Social Survey (CSS). Survey respondents are asked to respond "Yes" or "No" to the following questions:

In the past 5 years, have you experienced discrimination or been treated unfairly by others in Canada because of any of the following?

1. Your Indigenous identity
2. Your ethnicity or culture
3. Your race or skin colour
4. Your religion
5. Your language
6. Your accent
7. Your physical appearance
8. Your sex
9. Your sexual orientation
10. Your gender identity or expression
11. Your age
12. A physical or mental disability
13. Some other reason
14. Did not experience discrimination

In what types of situations have you experienced discrimination in Canada in the past 5 years?

1. In a store bank or restaurant
2. When attending school or classes
3. On the Internet, including social media platforms
4. At work or when applying for a job or promotion
5. When seeking or applying for housing
6. When interacting with the police
7. When interacting with the courts
8. When crossing the border into Canada
9. While attending social gatherings or by or among friends or family
10. While using public areas, such as parks and sidewalks
11. While using public transit, such as buses, trains or taxis
12. When seeing a medical health professional or in other health care settings
13. Any other situation

This indicator is measured through multiple Statistics Canada surveys. Estimates can vary between data sources due to differences in reference periods, targeted or sampled populations, data collection and other methodology.

• General Social Survey (GSS) - Social Identity
  • Table 43-10-0061-01 – Experience(s) of discrimination, reason(s) and context(s) of discrimination, 5 years before and since the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic, by groups designated as visible minorities and selected sociodemographic characteristics, 2020
• General Social Survey (GSS) - Canadian's Safety (Victimization)
• Canadian Social Survey (CSS)

• Social inclusion indicators for Canada's ethnocultural groups: Discrimination and victimization (Statistics Canada – Data Visualization Products)

• Discrimination and racism in sports in Canada (The Daily, March 4, 2024)
• Areas with high rates of hate crime also report lower scores on quality of life indicators (The Daily, February 8, 2024)
• Experiences of discrimination in daily life among Chinese people in Canada, and their perceptions of and experiences with the police and the justice system (Juristat, August 28, 2023)
• Experiences of discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic (The Daily, September 17, 2020)

How Survey Mode and Survey Context Affect the Measurement of Self-Perceived Racial Discrimination across Cycles of the General Social Survey (Analytical Studies: Methods and References, August 9, 2022)

The crowdsourcing initiative Impacts of COVID-19 on Canadians - Experiences of Discrimination asked a version of the question in the CSS except that respondents were asked about their experiences "In the 2 years before the COVID-19 pandemic" and "Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic". Unlike other surveys conducted by Statistics Canada, crowdsourcing data are not collected under a design using probability-based sampling. Therefore, caution should be exercised when interpreting the findings, and no inferences about the overall Canadian population should be made based on these results.

In the Survey Series on People and their Communities (SSPC), survey respondents were asked:

In the past 12 months, have you experienced unfair treatment, racism or discrimination while at work?

• Yes
• No

In the past 12 months, how often have you experienced this unfair treatment, racism or discrimination while at work?

• Once
• Occasionally
• Often
• Daily or almost daily

What was this unfair treatment, racism or discrimination based on?

• Indigenous identity
• Ethnicity or culture
• Race or skin colour
• Religion
• Language
• Accent
• Physical appearance (Include discrimination on the basis of weight, height, hair style or colour, clothing, jewelry, tattoos and other physical characteristics. Exclude discrimination on the basis of skin colour.)
• Sex (Sex refers to sex assigned at birth.)
• Sexual orientation (e.g., heterosexual, lesbian, gay, bisexual.)
• Gender identity or expression (Include gender diverse identities such as two-spirit or nonbinary.)
• Age
• Physical or mental disability
• Nationality or immigration status
• Some other reason

In which of the following ways did this unfair treatment, racism or discrimination occur while at work?

• Ignored by others
• Made to feel uncomfortable
• People talked behind your back
• Promotion or training was denied
• Were given too much work
• Were given less challenging or interesting work
• Direct discriminatory remarks
• Other