Author:
Publication: Macleans.ca
Date: September 12, 2011
URL: http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/09/12/majority-of-canadians-see-"irreconcilable"-rift-between-islam-and-the-west/
56 per cent feel differences impossible to
overcome: poll
Results from a recent poll reveal that a majority
of Canadians surveyed feel there is an ideological rift between the Muslim
world and the West which is "irreconcilable." Of the 1,500 consulted
in the week before the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, 56 per cent
felt the West and the Muslim world could not overcome their perceived differences.
Thirty-three per cent felt they could be reconciled, while 11 per cent did
not answer the question. The poll was conducted by Leger Marketing on behalf
of the Montreal-based Association for Canadian Studies, whose director, Jack
Jedwab, told Postmedia News that the survey's results contradict "a fundamental
idea in multicultural democracies like ours that conflicts between societies
can be resolved through dialogue and negotiation." However, Jedwab said
the result provided a slight "ray of hope" in that 52 per cent of
Canadians say it's wrong to conduct extra airport security checks on people
who "appear to be of Muslim background."
