Canadians becoming less accepting of gender diversity, Statistics Canada report shows

Support for gender diversity in Canada has declined significantly since 2018, according to a Statistics Canada report released this week.

In 2025, 77 per cent of women and 70 per cent of men surveyed said they agreed or strongly agreed that people should be free to express their gender however they choose. That represents a drop from 2018, when 85 per cent of women and 78 per cent of men agreed with that statement.

Saskatchewan shows the steepest decline and lowest overall acceptance in the country. In the province, 69 per cent of women and 60 per cent of men agreed people should be free to express their gender, down from 83 per cent of women in 2018 — a 14-point decline. Saskatchewan and Alberta's provincial governments have both passed legislation targeting trans and gender diverse youth in recent years, including Saskatchewan's Parents' Bill of Rights, enacted in 2023.

Wayne Bernakevitch, founder of the Regina Civic Awareness Action Network, offered one explanation for declining acceptance: people are preoccupied with immediate survival concerns. "They're concerned with finding a house to live in, you know, how do you pay for the next week's groceries? And so getting into all of this is just a great distraction in their life," he said.

Politicians play a critical role in shaping these attitudes, according to academics quoted in the report. Leah Hamilton, a professor of business, communication studies and aviation at Mount Royal University, said: "We have seen over and over throughout history, especially during periods of perceived or real competition for resources like jobs and housing and other things, that politicians will often create scapegoats."

Corinne Mason, a professor of women and gender studies at Mount Royal University, added that conservative politicians and parties are pointing toward marginalized communities as responsible for economic instability. "Really kind of shirking their responsibility onto a marginalized group that has very little power," Mason said.

The survey was conducted between October 2024 and July 2025. Political commentator Jack Saddleback noted the timing coincided with the U.S. election, where the incoming administration campaigned on what he called "hate and disinformation." The report suggests attitudes from the American election may have leaked across the border.

In Saskatchewan specifically, the politicization of trans and gender diverse people during the recent provincial election could also have contributed to lower support. Associate professor j wallace skelton of the University of Regina's queer studies in education program said families in the province reported feeling less safe. "We heard from parents in Saskatchewan that they felt less safe, that they felt their kids were less safe," skelton said. Despite the overall decline, skelton noted support for gender diverse people remains present in the province.