The 2018 Survey of Jews in Canada is a national study of Canadian Jews, using survey data collected from 2,235 Jewish respondents who reside in Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver (82% of all Canadian Jews live in these four communities based on the 2001 Canadian census and National Household Survey 2011).

Modeled on the Pew Research Center’s 2013 survey of U.S. Jews, the 2018 Survey of Jews in Canada was designed to investigate what it means to be Jewish in Canada today and to explore respondents’ Jewish connections in depth.  (In contrast, the DataBank's series of reports on Canadian Jews based on the national census and/or the National Household Survey was limited to demographic data collected on all Canadians).

For example, in the 2018 survey, respondents were asked to indicate: (a) the basis of their Jewish identity: religion, ancestry/descent, cultural identity or combinations thereof, (b) the importance of Judaism to respondents, (c) Jewish denominational identification (Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, other denominations, Just Jewish), and (d) a wide rage of Jewish attitudes and behaviors that have typically been collected in Jewish national and local surveys in the United States.

Among the major findings summarized in the report:

♦ There are approximately 392,000 Jews in Canada, roughly 1% of all Canadians (estimate based on 2011 Canadian National Household Survey).

♦ More than 87 percent live in just six census metropolitan areas: nearly one-half in Toronto, nearly one-quarter in Montreal, and nearly one-sixth in Vancouver, Winnipeg, Ottawa, and Calgary combined.  The 2018 Survey of Jews in Canada included 82% of all Canadian Jews (Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Winnipeg).

♦ The country’s Jewish population is growing slowly, but trends vary by city. Vancouver is the country’s fastest growing Jewish community, followed by Ottawa, Toronto, and Calgary. In contrast, the Jewish populations of Montreal and Winnipeg have been declining.

♦ Two-thirds of Canadian Jews say that being Jewish is very important in their lives, with most of the other respondents indicating that it is at least somewhat important. In comparison, only three in ten place this level of importance on religion, although a majority say they believe in God or a universal spirit.

♦ Surveyed Canadian Jews consider that the essence of being Jewish includes leading a moral and ethical life, remembering the Holocaust, and celebrating Jewish holidays; a majority identify each of these as “essential” to what being Jewish means to them. At least four in ten identify as essential such attributes as working for justice and equality in society, caring about Israel, being intellectually curious, being part of a community, and having a good sense of humor.

♦ Age shapes responses to the issue of the essence of Judaism.  Younger Jews are much less likely than older Jews to see a sense of humor as an essential Jewish quality. Moreover, younger Jews are considerably less like than older Jews to consider caring for Israel an essential aspect of Jewishness, a trend that has also been noted in the United States.

♦ About six in ten of the respondents report that they are affiliated with one of the three mainstream denominations, the largest being Conservative, followed by Orthodox or Modern Orthodox, and Reform. One in ten report being part of one of the smaller Jewish movements, including Reconstructionism, Humanistic or Renewal Judaism, Hasidism, or something else. Three in ten do not identify with any particular type of Judaism, including some who say they are “just Jewish.”

♦ Six in ten report they or someone in their household belong to a synagogue, temple or prayer group, and this represents the majority across all denominations/movements and even applies to three in ten Jews who do not identify with a denominational movement.

♦ Eight in ten Jews in Canada report having made a donation to a Jewish organization or cause in the previous year (2017).

♦ More than half report that either all or most of their current friends are Jewish, with very few indicating that hardly any or none of them are Jewish.

♦ Nine in ten Canadian Jews report that both of their parents are Jewish, and a similar proportion say they "were raised in the Jewish religion." Being raised in the Jewish religion is most widespread among Orthodox/Modern Orthodox Jews, but it is also the experience of most Jews who are currently unaffiliated. Among the small percentage who were not raised in the Jewish religion, about half say they were raised in a secular Jewish tradition.

♦ Most Jews in Canada have participated in one or more types of Jewish education when growing up. Jewish education is most likely to include attendance at an overnight summer camp, Hebrew school or Sunday school, but close to one-half have attended a Jewish day school or yeshiva and have done so for an average of nine years.

♦ Most Canadian Jews report some knowledge of the Hebrew language, with three-quarters saying they know the alphabet, six in ten indicating they can read at least some Hebrew words in a newspaper or prayer book, and four in ten claiming to be able of carrying on a conversation in the language.

♦ Just over three-quarters of Jews who are married or in a common-law relationship have a spouse who is Jewish by religion. Having a Jewish spouse is almost universal among those who are Orthodox/Modern Orthodox or Conservative, and somewhat less so among those who affiliate with Reform or another denomination or movement.

♦ Intermarriage is highest among Jews in the youngest age cohort (nearly one-third among those 18 to 29), declining to one in five among those 75 and over. In general, intermarriage is less common in cities with large Jewish marriage pools, but Vancouver is exceptional. With a Jewish population nearly twice as large as Winnipeg’s, it has a higher intermarriage rate.

♦ Most Canadian Jewish parents report raising their children in the Jewish religion. This practice is almost universal among Orthodox/Modern Orthodox and Conservative Jews, but is also reported by about half of those who are unaffiliated, those who do not belong to Jewish organizations, and those who themselves were not raised in a Jewishly religious home.

Moreover, most Jewish parents with children under 18 years of age believe their children will grow up to have a connection to Jewish life that is as strong, if not stronger, than their own. 

♦ Canadian Jews have a strong connection to Israel. A large majority express an emotional attachment to Israel and have spent time in the country; eight in ten have visited Israel at least once and have done so an average of five times to date. One in six report having lived in Israel for six months or more.

But, while Canadian Jews may share a connection to Israel, they are divided in their views about the Israeli government’s commitment to a peace settlement with the Palestinians and the building of settlements on the West Bank in terms of their legality and impact on the security of Israel. Critical opinions of Israel are most evident among younger Jews, and those who are Reform or unaffiliated.

Report uses estimate of 392,000 Jews in Canada (1% of all Canadians) based on data from the 2011 National Household Survey (NHS) of Canada, as reported by Charles Shahar in a series of reports based on the 2011 National Household Survey and  articles by Shahar on Canadian Jewish Population in the American Jewish Year Book which further explored the 2011 NHS data.

The survey was conducted with 2,335 individuals by telephone or online between February 10 and September 30, 2018. The survey was offered in English, French, and Russian.

Among the interviews, 1135 were completed in Toronto, 638 in Montreal, 361 in Winnipeg and 201 in Vancouver.

The principal investigators noted that developing and interviewing a random sample of Canadian Jews was not financially feasible:  "Because Canadian Jews constitute only about one percent of the Canadian population, the use of standard survey research methods was not a feasible option given the high costs of using probability sampling to identify and recruit participants."  Instead, the principal investigators attempted to construct a representative sample of Canadian Jews by:

(1) First, the survey focused on the census metropolitan areas encompassing Canada’s four largest Jewish communities (Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, and Winnipeg) that include approximately 82 percent of the Canadian Jewish population, and

(2) "Second, a multi-stage sampling plan was developed to complete interviews with Jews in each of the four cities using a combination of sample sources and survey modalities. The primary sampling frame was drawn from a dictionary of several thousand common Jewish surnames that was used to select households with listed landline telephone numbers in census tracts with a minimum of five percent Jewish households. This source was supplemented by requesting referrals from respondents who completed the survey, social media promotion, and on-site recruitment at the Jewish Community Centre in Winnipeg."

See details in the Appendix Methodology section (pp. 77-79 of the Final Report) as well as in Executive Summary. 

See Sample Notes below for a brief summary of sample eligibility and weights.

Sample Eligibility: "People were eligible to participate in the survey if they were 18 years of age or older, and self-identified as Jewish or partially Jewish. Self-identification was used as the basis for determining eligibility because there is no Jewish or scholarly consensus on who exactly qualifies as Jewish and no clear demarcation of where the line dividing Jews and non-Jews lies. The survey was offered to anyone who described themselves as Jewish or partially Jewish by religion, identified themselves as Jewish or partially Jewish by a criterion other than religion, was raised Jewish or partially Jewish, or had a Jewish parent. This approach closely mirrors that of the Pew Research Center in its 2013 Survey of American Jews."

The principal investigators note "The final data were weighted by each city’s Jewish population size, age distribution, gender distribution, and the national percentage of Jews in each age cohort who were married or living common-law with a non-Jew. Additional weights for age and gender were also applied to the data in each city, based on the demographic profile of the Jewish population in each city."

Appendix Figure A-1 (page 79 of Final Report) summarizes sample completion by community, reporting both unweighted number of interviews and the weighted proportion of interviews in the final data set used for analysis and reporting. 

Figure A-2 (p. 80) summarizes the interviewed sample profile in terms of key demographic variables (gender, age, educational level, household income, martial status, mother tongue, generation in Canada, Jewish denomination, Jewish sub-ethnicity (Ashkenazi, Sephardic, etc.), and the data collection mode: telephone or Internet.

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Margin of Error: The principal investigators note that "Because the survey is not fully based on probability sampling, a margin of sampling error cannot be calculated."

Comparisons to U.S. data: As noted, the report authors provide numerous comparisons to data from the Pew Research Center's 2013 survey of U.S. Jews.  As always, the DataBank suggests users take into consideration differences in sampling, coverage and other methodological issues when comparing findings across surveys.

Field House: The survey was fielded by the Environics Institute for Survey Research, with Keith Neuman (one of the report's co-authors) supervising the survey data collection and data analysis phases of the study. The  Environics website study page for the 2018 Survey of Jews in Canada should be consulted by DataBank users for additional reports and updates.  The Environics website has additional studies on Canadians that may provide data useful for understanding the Canadian Jewish experience.

Data File:

The data file from the 2018 Survey of Jews in Canada has been made available by the Principal Investigators: Robert Brym, Keith Neuman and Rhonda Lenton.  The Berman Jewish DataBank thanks them for making the data file and related documents accessible and for allowing the DataBank to post and archive:

(a) A Weighting Document which explains how weights were constructed for the combined National sample of 2,235 respondents, as well as for the Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg and Vancouver surveys separately.  Please read the weighting document to understand why there are two sets for weights: the original weights which weighted the National Data and the data for each of the four local communities separately using age and gender post-stratification, and a series of “new” weights which modified the original weight using internal survey data on whether the respondent was married to a Jewish partner.

(b) The 2018 data file via the DataBank is in SPSS SAV format, unweighted as the default: 2,335 cases and 448 variables. The DataBank PUBLIC SAV file has been slightly reorganized by the Berman Jewish DataBank staff to reflect DataBank archival policies and to place all weights near the top of the data file.

For example, the original National Weight (“WEIGHT_NATIONAL) is followed by the “new” national weight (NewWt2_National); the same pattern holds for the original and “new” weights for Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg and Vancouver. 

The original weights reflect age and gender data adjustments to the survey based on comparison of survey and census results; the “new” weights add “inter/out marriage” as a weighting factor to the initial age-gender adjustments.

In the original data file structure, the original weights were located at the top of the survey, while “new” weights were located at the end of the data file, since they were added by the research team after analysis of the data using the original weights. While the separation of the original and “new” weights was not confusing for the original research team, the DataBank staff moved all weights to near the top of the file so that users not at all familiar with the file structure would not assume that the weights near the top of the file were the only possible weights to be used.  Again, please read the weighting document before analyzing survey results.

(c) Again, the SPSS SAV data file’s default status is “no weight.” 

For purposes of checking the data file’s accuracy after downloading, the unweighted Ns for “QA4_City” are a National total of 2,335, of which 1,135 are from Toronto, 638 are from Montreal, 361 from Winnipeg and 201 from Vancouver. 

The weighted Ns using the original National weight are National 2,335 – 1,378 Greater Toronto, 677 Metro Montreal, 93 Metro Winnipeg and 187 Metro Vancouver.

Finally, the “NewWt2_National” weight is reflected in 2,335 total nationally, but with 1,355 Toronto, 671 Montreal, 100 Winnipeg and 210 Vancouver.

Survey results should be analyzed using one of the two National weights or the alternate local community weights, since: (a) the national weights reduce the impact of the unweighted Winnipeg interviews on national findings, and (b) original local community weighting reflected only age and gender, and not intermarriage status which varied considerably by community.

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Downloadable Files via the DataBank.

The Berman Jewish DataBank thanks the survey's principal investigators and sponsors for allowing us to post and archive materials from the 2018 study.  Downloads include:

Under Reports

(1)  The Final Report for the project by Robert Brym, Keith Neuman and Rhonda Lenton (about 90 pages), which includes an Introduction, an Executive Summary, nine chapters summarizing Jewish life in the four cities surveyed, and a methodological appendix.

(2) The Executive Summary of the report's findings (15-17 pages), as later published in the American Jewish Year Book.

Under Slide Decks

(3) One of the slide show summaries of the study results organized by Robert Brym and presented to the Union of Reform Judaism (25 pages approximately).

Under Questionnaires and Frequencies:

(4) The English version of the questionnaire (28 pages) is also available for downloading on this study page. 

The questionnaire should be especially useful for researchers who want to compare survey data from the 2018 Survey of Jews in Canada to the results of the Pew 2013 survey of US Jews. The 2018 Canada survey questionnaire has question-by-question references to the 2013 Pew questions that were used in the Canadian survey to make comparisons more valid; the questionnaire also indicates which questions derived from FOCUS Canada surveys and those which were created specifically for the 2018 Canadian survey.

(5) Cross-Tabulations: The authors have provided a series of extensive cross-tabulation analyses in a separate, downloadable document in "banner" style, analyzing most of the key survey questions by many of the key sample demographics (over 500 pages).

Under Documentation

(6) A weighting explanation document prepared by the research team which explains the ten weights available in the data file. 

There are five original weights: the combined four-city sample ("National" weights) plus the original weights for analyzing each community's data - Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver.  The original National Weight weights the entire sample by the size of the Jewish population in each city, so a combined analysis is possible, despite differences in sample allocation and completed interviews.  The original 4 community weights "weight the sample for each city by the age and gender distribution of Jews in that city" using 2011 National Household Survey results.

There are also five parallel  "new" weights which were introduced to modify the original weight by an estimate of intermarriage, using the religion of the respondent's marital or common law partner. Syntax used by the researchers to construct the weight modified by in-marriage-outmarriage parameters is presented in the "weighting document."  The resulting variables are always labeled as "new2." Thus, there is a "new2Weight_National," as well as "new2Weight_Montreal," etc., which modifies the original weight Jewish community weight for intermarriage.

As noted in the discussion of the DataBank's reorganization of the study Data File, the original weight for the National data, and for each city, is always followed by the revised, "new2" weight.  Obviously, the "new2" weights were constructed after review of data on intermarriage, so they were placed at the end of the original data file - but then moved by the DataBank to the front of the data file. 

Under Data Files:

(7) The project Data File in a zipped format which has an SPSS SAV data file with 448 variables and 2,335 respondents.  The data file default is "unweighted."  Data file users should review the weighting document and decide which weight to use when making different analyses.

The SPSS SAV file has also been saved as a portable SPSS version (POR) which can be used to import the data into other data analysis software programs.  Since some variable name labels are truncated in this process, the SPSS SAV version is the preferred data file.

Under Other: several articles based on the survey's data by the researchers.

(8) Article on Jewish Religious Intermarriage in Canada (Brym, Lenton).

(9) Article on Antisemitism, Israelism and Canada (Brym, Lenton).

(10) Article on Qualifying the Leading Theory of Diaspora Jews: an examination of Jews from the former Soviet Union in Canada and the United States (Brym, Slavina, Lenton).