Poll: Canada over-accommodates minorities

OTTAWA, April 17 (UPI) -- Visible minorities in Canada get too much government attention, a majority of Canadians said in a Globe and Mail/CTV News poll published Thursday.

Asked if the country makes too many accommodations for visible non-Caucasian minorities, 61 percent of people overall said yes, while in Quebec, the yes votes accounted for 72 percent, the newspaper said.

Forty-seven percent of 1,000 people polled said newcomers integrate into Canadian life at an acceptable pace, but 45 percent felt the opposite, saying immigrants hold on to their customs and traditions too long.

Opinions varied among urban and rural Canadians on whether accepting diverse ethnic and religious groups enriched the country. Among people living in cities of more than 1 million, 65 percent agreed, compared with 53 percent who live in communities of fewer than 30,000.

The most recent census data indicates Canada's population of 33.4 million is composed of 16 percent visible minorities. Respondents were asked if that was too much, and 55 percent said it didn't matter. Ten percent said it was too small and 9 percent said it was too much.

The poll was conducted Thursday through Sunday, and has a 3.1 percent margin of error, the report said.