By: Kendra Wong - The Peak

BURNABY, B.C. (CUP) — A new report released this month claims Canadians feel more threatened by the radical change in global climate and their environment than terrorism.

An online survey was conducted by the Innovative Research Group and commissioned by the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute from the end of December to the beginning of January, asking members of the Canada 20/20 panel how much of a threat they perceived a variety of hot issues to be.

Canada 20/20 is an online panel focused on gathering public opinion from a pool that reflect’s Canada’s diverse population. The sample included 1,229 different respondents and had a 2.8 percentage point margin of error 19 times out of 20.

Of the people surveyed, nearly half agreed that climate change is a “critical threat,” while only about one in four people said the same about international terrorism. In a similar 2004 poll, Canadians considered the two threats as equal.

Compared to 52 per cent of respondents in 2004, 49 per cent felt climate change is a critical threat in 2010, while international terrorism dropped from 49 per cent in 2004 to 28 per cent in 2010.

Lt.-Gen. Michael Jeffery, a senior research fellow for the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute, told Canwest News Service that “Canadians are blessed by living in a secure environment. . . . All of the major threats have been on other people’s shores, not here, and that’s great.”

However, he noted that “We are not aware that the world around us has changed, it is continuing to change, and emerging from that very . . . different world are increasing threats to Canada . . . and our way of life.”

Despite his attempts to call attention to the reality of terrorism and convince Canadians of the threat it imposes on the country, he also urged the government to take action against climate change, including through environmental policies and international trade agreements.

The poll further noted increasing concerns among Canadians about immigration, however, and a decline in concerns about globalization and potential epidemics, such as AIDS, the flu and SARS.

“It really is up to the leadership, political or otherwise, to educate society about what those risks are, and to move to policies, both domestically and internationally, that start to deal with the underlying root causes,” Jeffery told Canwest.

He said that Canadians want a society “that is aware, that knows these threats are there and sees them for what they are, and is prepared to support a government in dealing with those threats in a logical fashion.”