According to a survey by Statistics Canada, Saskatchewan has the lowest rate of gender diversity acceptance, compared to any province in Canada. The survey, called “Survey of Safety in Public and Private Spaces” was conducted from October 2024 to July 2025. It was the second time the survey has been conducted, with the last one taking place in 2018. In the province, women held a 69 per cent acceptance rate, and men held 60, according to the survey. “It’s not super surprising, but it’s disappointing and it’s concerning, because we obviously want to create safer spaces and to have people feel better and more accepted,” said Analu Alvarez, the education and support services manager of OUTSaskatoon. ”With these narratives that spread hate and fear, it’s really hard to promote that.” According to Statistics Canada, about 48,500 people participated in the survey. Of that, about 1,600 Saskatchewan residents submitted their responses. “1,600 people is nothing compared to 1.26 million people that are living in Saskatchewan, that represents .1 per cent of the population,” Alvarez said. “If we think about it like that, it’s a zero representative of the overall population, it’s not even one per cent. That is completely shocking.” The survey was “developed with Women and Gender Equality Canada, as part of the federal government’s strategy to prevent and address gender-based violence”, according to Marta Burczycka, senior analyst for Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics. “The data very much allows researchers and policymakers, victims, service providers, and other organizations to measure the effectiveness of programs that they may have in place, as well as to develop strategies to prevent victimization,” Burczycka said. The following two questions were presented regarding gender diversity acceptance. The two closest declines in the country were Newfoundland and Labrador at an 11-percentage point drop, and Quebec at a 10-percentage point drop. “It should be noted though, that in both of those provinces, we did see considerably higher levels of agreement in both 2018 and 2025 compared to Saskatchewan,” Burczycka said. Every province had a decrease, with British Columbia being the lowest at a five percentage point drop. In the survey, participants were presented with the following options when choosing their answers: strongly agree, agree, neither agree or disagree, disagree, and strongly disagree. The basis of the acceptance rate was if the participants chose ‘strongly agree’ or ‘agree’. After the results had been gathered, Statistics Canada says the data can give insight on where to improve in policies and programs that can be enacted at federal, provincial or community levels. To increase the acceptance rate, Alvarez says education should be used to bridge the gap, on something like identity. “At the end of the day, we’re all humans, we all want to feel safe and accepted and loved,” she said. ”It’s not nice to discriminate against others no matter what, but for something such as identity, that is so intimate, so personal and so individual, that is something no one can tell you who you are.”
