TORONTO -- Approximately 20 per cent of Canadians say they or their families have experienced some form of hardship due to the closure of the Canada-U.S. land border.

A new Nanos Research survey shows that while most Canadians report that they and their families have not been adversely affected by the closure, which has now been in place for more than four months, a significant number say they have been.

The survey was commissioned by CTV News and released on Sunday.

Sixteen per cent of respondents told Nanos that they or their families have experienced minor hardship related to the border being closed, while another five per cent reported major hardship. Seventy-nine per cent said they and their families have not experienced border-related hardship, and one per cent were unsure. Because of rounding, these numbers do not add up to 100 per cent.

As of Sunday, the border closure was scheduled to last until Aug. 21. That date could change, as the agreement between Canada and the U.S. to keep the land border closed has already been extended four times.

There are a number of exemptions for types of travel that both countries have deemed essential, including trade and commerce, health-care workers who live on opposite sides of the border, and temporary foreign workers.

Last week, Canada added an exemption for first-year university students from the U.S. who otherwise would have been unable to enter the country. The Canada Border Services Agency also announced stricter measures for anyone using Canada to travel between the American mainland and Alaska, in response to claims of a loophole allowing some Americans to skirt the rules and vacation in Canada.

The region most likely to report some level of hardship due to the closure was Quebec, where just under 75 per cent of respondents told Nanos that they had not been adversely affected by the closure and more than eight per cent said it had caused them or their families major hardship.

Eighty per cent of surveyed Ontarians and 83 per cent of surveyed Atlantic Canadians said the closed border had not posed any hardship for them or their families.

Women were also more likely to report no hardship brought on by the border closure, at 83 per cent to 74 per cent for men.

METHODOLOGY

Nanos conducted an RDD dual frame (land and cell lines) hybrid telephone and online random survey of 1,094 Canadians, 18 years of age or older, between July 26 and July 30, 2020, as part of an omnibus survey. Participants were randomly recruited by telephone using live agents and administered a survey online.

The sample included both land and cell lines across Canada. The results were statistically checked and weighted by age and gender using the latest census information and the sample is geographically stratified to be representative of Canada.

Individuals were randomly called using random digit dialing with a maximum of five callbacks.

The margin of error for this survey is plus or minus three percentage points, 19 times out of 20.