Many Canadians find fault with individuals for bankruptcy, survey finds

Licensed insolvency trustee Shawn Stack talks about Canadians’ attitudes about bankruptcy?

More than 40 per cent of Canadians say bankruptcy is the result of poor personal choices, according to a new survey by the Angus Reid Forum.

Licensed insolvency trustee Shawn Stack commissioned the survey, which polled 1,501 Canadians. The survey noted 37 per cent of respondents said people who don’t repay their debts are untrustworthy.

“Yet when the same Canadians are asked whether they would view a close friend or family member differently if that person filed for bankruptcy, only one in five (23 per cent) say yes,” a news release from Stack reads. “The gap between judging a stranger and judging someone you love is, apparently, nearly thirty percentage points wide.”

In an interview with CTV News Atlantic’s Todd Battis, Stack said bankruptcy is never the result of one choice, but rather a slippery slope.

“As costs go up, we find we’re using more and more consumer credit,” he said. “As interest rates climb, things get more and more out of hand.”

The survey noted nearly half of Baby Boomers view bankruptcy as a loophole to avoid paying what is owed while only 21 per cent of Generation Z hold that view.

“Gen Z’s comparatively forgiving view is not simply youthful naïveté,” the release reads. “It reflects a generation that entered adulthood in a high-cost, low-stability economy.”

Stack said bankruptcy laws exist to help people get out from under unmanageable debt and start to rebuild.

“It’s a financial state, not a moral state,” he said.