Another academic who stud- ies racial tolerance in Canada says hs was surprised by the findings. His own research from the early 1990s showed that of the three Canadian cities that receive the most immigrants, residents of Montreal were the least comfortable with different racial and ethnic groups, said John Berry, a psychology pro- fessor at Queen's University. Vancouver residents rated most tolerant, followed by To- ronto. And even the researchers caution about drawing conclu- sions based on any one study. It's difficult to measure people's attitudes.
Some respondents are reluctant to answer honestly for fear of appearing racist.
Surveys can also easily be slanted by the wording or order of questions, or even by recent events. Palmer's report analyzed three public opinion surveys conducted for the federal immigration department between November of last year and this past February by the polling firms Ekos, Environics and An- gus Reid. The lower the score, the greater the intolerance. Toronto residents rated most intolerant, with a score 4.09. The Canadian aver- age was 4.47.