Most Canadians are poorly informed about the History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and Canada’s role

October 9, 2025

In the many surveys conducted in Canada and abroad about the conflict between Israel and Hamas and Palestinians in Gaza, it is common to ask whether people feel they have a good understanding of the conflict. Leger surveys conducted as recently as June of this year reveal that some 50% of Canadians feel they have a good understanding of the conflict. Generally whether it is Canada or elsewhere such questions are based on self-assessments of said knowledge and not on one’s actual ability to correctly answer basic questions that help us understand the current situation. As a way to better evaluate historic knowledge about the conflict and Canada’s role Leger marketing was commissioned to conduct a survey for the Association for Canadian Studies which asked basic questions on the history of the conflict and on Canada’s role in that regard. The survey reveals that the majority of Canadians are either unable to answer questions that are key to knowledge of the origins of the conflict or answer incorrectly. For example Canadians incorrectly think that between 1948 and 1967 Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza when in fact it was Egypt and Jordan. They incorrectly believe that during the second World War, Canada was open to the admission of Jewish refugees. Amongst other responses the survey raises questions about Canadians and for that matter broader capacity to make informed assessments about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the absence of proper knowledge of the background to the conflict. The findings are based on surveys conducted via web panel by the firm Leger for the Association for Canadian Studies between October 5 and 7, 2025 with 1564 Canadians. While no margin of error can be associated with a non-probability sample of 1564 respondents would have a margin of error of ±2.52%, 19 times out of 20