Each dot is a published survey share on a 0–100 axis. Read the bands top to bottom: confidence in the existing system is low and lower for Indigenous respondents; the critique draws majorities; support for reform falls as remedies approach Indigenous control; the populations diverge most on Indigenous-run institutions. Hover any row for source and base. Filled blue marks a full national sample; hollow blue marks rows where the source published a non-Indigenous-only comparator.
This chart is one slice of the Indigenous Survey Questions Explorer, a catalogue we compiled at the Global Justice Lab (Ron Levi, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto): all 465 questions Canadian pollsters have asked about Indigenous issues since 1995, searchable, with response data and sources for every item, on land and treaties, residential schools, discrimination, reconciliation and more. Browse the full catalogue or see what has and hasn't been asked at a glance.
Context the chart leaves out: general-public confidence in these institutions was falling on its own, with no Indigenous framing in the questions, on Angus Reid's identical items (RCMP 62% confident in 2018 to 47% in 2022; provincial criminal courts 41% to 36%). What the blue series contains varies by source: the GSS and NJS-fairness rows plot explicitly non-Indigenous comparators (GSS: non-Indigenous non-visible-minority respondents; NJS: White respondents), while the Angus Reid and NJS remedy rows are full national samples in which Indigenous respondents are included at roughly their 5 percent population share, too few to move the topline by more than a point or so (Angus Reid's own notes caution its Indigenous subsamples are not representative of Indigenous Canada). Shares come from different organizations, years, modes and question formats and are not strictly comparable across rows; the 2016 remedy items are a multi-select menu, which understates them relative to agree scales. Non-Indigenous comparators vary by source (GSS: non-Indigenous non-visible-minority; NJS: White respondents). Question wordings, response scales and source URLs for every row are in the explorer; analysis files in META_ANALYSIS.md. Built 2026-08-04 from the Indigenous Survey Questions catalogue · Global Justice Lab, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto · Ron Levi · compiled and analyzed with Claude Code (Anthropic).
| Band | Item (chart label) | Catalogue ID | Shares | Full question as asked (verbatim from the catalogue) | Source and base |
| Confidence in the system as it stands (percent confident) | “How much confidence do you have in the police?” | GSS-006 | Indigenous 52% (2020); Non-Indigenous only 70% (2020) | Using a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 means 'no confidence at all' and 5 means 'a great deal of confidence', how much confidence do you have in the police? | GSS 2020 (Statistics Canada): rated 4-5 of 5. Indigenous 52% (First Nations 48, Metis 54) vs 70% among non-Indigenous non-visible-minority respondents; little or no confidence 22% vs 11%. |
| Confidence in the system as it stands (percent confident) | “How much confidence do you have in the justice system and courts?” | GSS-007 | Indigenous 37% (2020); Non-Indigenous only 53% (2020) | Using a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 means 'no confidence at all' and 5 means 'a great deal of confidence', how much confidence do you have in the justice system and courts? | GSS 2020: rated 4-5 of 5. Indigenous 37% vs 53% non-Indigenous non-visible-minority; little or none 30% vs 16%. |
| Confidence in the system as it stands (percent confident) | “How much confidence do you have in the Canadian criminal courts?” | GSS-005 | Indigenous 55% (2019); Non-Indigenous only 62% (2019) | How much confidence do you have in the criminal courts? | GSS-34 2019 (StatCan) PUMF, computed by us under the catalogue's computed-toplines protocol (no published by-identity figure): great deal + some confidence, Indigenous respondents 55.0% (n=1,318) vs non-Indigenous 62.2%. Identity asked only of Canada/US-born respondents; about 15% DK in base; reproduce with compute_pumf_toplines.py. |
| Confidence in the system as it stands (percent confident) | “How much confidence do you have in the criminal justice system in Canada?” (urban Indigenous respondents) | UAPS-015 | Indigenous 43% (2009) | In general, would you say you have a lot of confidence, some confidence, little confidence or no confidence in the criminal justice system in Canada? | UAPS 2009 (Environics), urban Indigenous adults, weighted n=2,589: a lot or some confidence 43%; little or none 55%. The only dedicated urban Indigenous measurement; never repeated. |
| Confidence in the system as it stands (percent confident) | “How confident are you that the Canadian criminal justice system is fair to all people?” | NJS-001 | Indigenous 11% (2023); Non-Indigenous only 17% (2023) | How confident are you that the Canadian criminal justice system is fair to all people? | National Justice Survey 2023 (Justice Canada), n=4,487: rated 4-5 of 5. All respondents 18%; Indigenous respondents 11% vs White respondents 17% (plotted). |
| Contact and safety (urban Indigenous respondents, 2009) | “Have you had any involvement in the justice system as a victim of a crime?” (past 10 years) | UAPS-018 | Indigenous 30% (2009) | In the last 10 years, have you personally had any involvement in the Canadian criminal justice system as a victim of a crime? | UAPS 2009, urban Indigenous adults, weighted n=2,589: yes 30% / no 68%. |
| Contact and safety (urban Indigenous respondents, 2009) | “Have you had any involvement in the justice system by being arrested?” (past 10 years) | UAPS-039 | Indigenous 27% (2009) | In the past 10 years, have you personally been involved with the criminal justice system because you were arrested? | UAPS 2009, urban Indigenous adults: yes 27% / no 71% (men 37% vs women 19%; Saskatoon 44%, Toronto 40%; charged with a crime, the adjacent item: 23%). Recovered 2026-08-05: an earlier audit wrongly recorded this table row as unpublished. |
| Contact and safety (urban Indigenous respondents, 2009) | “Were you generally treated fairly or unfairly?” (among those involved with the system) | UAPS-019 | Indigenous 57% (2009) | Thinking now about your experiences with the justice system, would you say you were generally treated fairly or unfairly? | UAPS 2009, urban Indigenous adults with any justice-system involvement (weighted n=1,339): fairly 57% / unfairly 39%. |
| Contact and safety (urban Indigenous respondents, 2009) | “I'm afraid to walk alone at night in my neighbourhood” (agree) | UAPS-027 | Indigenous 41% (2009) | Please tell me if you totally agree, agree somewhat, disagree somewhat, or totally disagree: I'm afraid to walk alone at night in my neighbourhood. | UAPS 2009, urban Indigenous adults: totally agree 22% / agree somewhat 19% (agree 41%); disagree 58%. The fielded neighbourhood-safety item; the catalogued feel-safe wording below was never fielded. |
| Contact and safety (urban Indigenous respondents, 2009) | “Chances of being robbed, assaulted or murdered are getting higher and higher” (agree) | UAPS-037 | Indigenous 80% (2009) | People's chances of being robbed, assaulted, and even murdered are getting higher and higher. | UAPS 2009, urban Indigenous adults: totally agree 53% / agree somewhat 27% (agree 80%). A strongly worded fear-of-crime item; read as mood. |
| The critique (percent agreeing, general public) | “Police officers are not held accountable when they abuse their power” | ARI-095 | National sample 73% (2020) | Police officers are not held accountable when they abuse their power. | Angus Reid, Aug-Sept 2020, n=5,005: net agree 73% (strongly 40). |
| The critique (percent agreeing, general public) | “The police are too quick to use force to solve a problem” | ARI-093 | National sample 66% (2020) | The police are too quick to use force to solve a problem. | Angus Reid, Aug-Sept 2020: net agree 66%. |
| The critique (percent agreeing, general public) | “There is a serious problem with systemic racism in the RCMP” | ARI-094 | National sample 63% (2020) | There is a serious problem with systemic racism in the RCMP. | Angus Reid, Aug-Sept 2020: net agree 63%. |
| The critique (percent agreeing, general public) | “Nothing needs to be done” (about Indigenous overrepresentation in the justice system) | NJS-005 | National sample 8% (2016) | [After being shown: 'Indigenous offenders make up 4% of the Canadian population and about 25% of the population in the criminal justice system. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission report highlights the need to address this overrepresentation.'] In what ways could we reduce the number of Indigenous persons in the justice system? | National Justice Survey 2016 (EKOS for Justice Canada), n=1,863, after respondents saw the 4%-of-population / 25%-of-prisoners figure: 8% chose nothing needs to be done. |
| Reform inside the existing system (percent supporting, general public) | “Judges should consider the circumstances of Indigenous youth during sentencing”: minor offence | NJS-004 | National sample 64% (2022) | Do you agree that judges should consider the circumstances of Indigenous youth during sentencing when a youth is found guilty of a minor offence? | National Justice Survey 2022, n=4,949: agreed (4-5 of 5) 64% for a minor offence. |
| Reform inside the existing system (percent supporting, general public) | “We should reform these rules to ensure juries reflect the whole community better” | ARI-023 | National sample 59% (2018) | Which statement is closer to your view? [A] We should reform these rules to ensure juries reflect the whole community better [B] Juries generally deliver good verdicts and peremptory challenges should remain | Angus Reid, Feb 2018 (after the Stanley verdict), n=2,501: forced choice, 59% chose reform. |
| Reform inside the existing system (percent supporting, general public) | “Greater use of community-based alternatives to prosecution” | NJS-005 | National sample 55% (2016) | [After being shown: 'Indigenous offenders make up 4% of the Canadian population and about 25% of the population in the criminal justice system. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission report highlights the need to address this overrepresentation.'] In what ways could we reduce the number of Indigenous persons in the justice system? | National Justice Survey 2016 remedy menu (multi-select; understates relative to agree scales): 55%. |
| Reform inside the existing system (percent supporting, general public) | “More Indigenous court workers to support accused people” | NJS-005 | National sample 49% (2016) | [After being shown: 'Indigenous offenders make up 4% of the Canadian population and about 25% of the population in the criminal justice system. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission report highlights the need to address this overrepresentation.'] In what ways could we reduce the number of Indigenous persons in the justice system? | National Justice Survey 2016 remedy menu (multi-select): 49%. |
| Reform inside the existing system (percent supporting, general public) | “Training for legal professionals on considering the circumstances of Indigenous persons” | NJS-005 | National sample 43% (2016) | [After being shown: 'Indigenous offenders make up 4% of the Canadian population and about 25% of the population in the criminal justice system. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission report highlights the need to address this overrepresentation.'] In what ways could we reduce the number of Indigenous persons in the justice system? | National Justice Survey 2016 remedy menu (multi-select): 43%. |
| Reform inside the existing system (percent supporting, general public) | “Judges should consider the circumstances of Indigenous youth during sentencing”: serious offence | NJS-004 | National sample 29% (2022) | Do you agree that judges should consider the circumstances of Indigenous youth during sentencing when a youth is found guilty of a minor offence? | National Justice Survey 2022: the same Gladue-style item drops to 29% agreement when the offence is serious. |
| Indigenous-run institutions (percent supporting) | “Aboriginal police, Aboriginal judges and an Aboriginal court system”: impact on improving community safety | UAPS-016b | Indigenous 69% (2009) | Some people say that there should be Aboriginal police, Aboriginal judges and an Aboriginal court system to work with Aboriginal people who come in contact with the criminal justice system. In your opinion, would this have a big impact, a moderate impact, a small impact or no impact at all on improving community safety? | UAPS 2009, urban Indigenous adults: big or moderate expected impact 69% (reducing crime 64%, own confidence 66%). |
| Indigenous-run institutions (percent supporting) | “Should Indigenous people be able to administer their own legal systems of justice... on their land?” | NJS-003 | Indigenous 60% (2023); National sample 45% (2023) | Should Indigenous people in Canada be able to administer their own legal systems of justice, including enforcing Indigenous laws and by-laws on their land? | National Justice Survey 2023: agree 45% of all respondents (White 44) vs 60% of Indigenous respondents (First Nations 70). Wording says “on their land.” |
| Indigenous-run institutions (percent supporting) | “Is creating an Aboriginal justice system separate from the mainstream system a good idea or a bad idea?” | UAPS-038 | Indigenous 56% (2009) | Do you think creating an Aboriginal justice system separate from the mainstream system is a good idea or a bad idea? | UAPS 2009, urban Indigenous adults: good idea 56% / bad idea 29%. |
| Indigenous-run institutions (percent supporting) | “More Indigenous courts” | NJS-005 | National sample 37% (2016) | [After being shown: 'Indigenous offenders make up 4% of the Canadian population and about 25% of the population in the criminal justice system. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission report highlights the need to address this overrepresentation.'] In what ways could we reduce the number of Indigenous persons in the justice system? | National Justice Survey 2016 remedy menu (multi-select): 37%, the lowest institution option on the menu. |
| Never published | “Do you feel safe in your neighbourhood?” (urban Indigenous) | UAPS-032 | N/A | Do you feel safe in your neighbourhood? | Never fielded: no such item on the Main Survey questionnaire (re-checked 2026-08-05). The fielded safety measures are charted in the contact-and-safety band above. |
Catalogue IDs match the explorer, where each item also carries its response scale, full results and source URL.