Canadian view of peacekeeping: Nanos poll

The goal of Peace Train Canada is the establishment of a national peace centre that would, among other things, promote the Canadian heritage of peacekeeping. What do Canadians think about that? 

A Nanos poll in 2025 sought to get some answers to that question. According to Jean-Christophe Boucher, who teaches political science at the University of Calgary and who helped create the poll, the older you are the more you support that idea of peacekeeping. The younger someone is, the less they do. 

In that poll, respondents were asked to rank different national defence priorities from defending the homeland to contributing to international security through things like peacekeeping. 

Overall, Boucher said in an e-mail to Peace Train Canada, contributing to international stability through activities like peacekeeping ranked lowest among the four “missions” the poll analyzed. Defending Canadian territory was number one at 91%, but 66% of Canadians still said contributing to programs that enhance international stability was a priority. 

Among those who favoured international stability projects, women were much more favorable than men, and older people were more in support of it than younger people. 

According to Boucher, on a scale of 10 younger people ages 18-34 rated it as 6.4 in terms of support. Older people (55-plus) ranked it as 7.7 out of ten. 

Another thing the poll found is that support for peacekeeping is dropping, In 2020, when the pollster asked the question, 20.5% chose it as the best use of the Canadian Armed Forces. In 2025, that number dropped to 10.6%. 

For Boucher, it means that “peacekeeping is less and less a priority in Canadians’ minds, particularly among young Canadians, who seem much more isolationist than older generations.” 

As for why that’s the case, Boucher isn’t sure. “Either young Canadians have grown up in a much harder/pessimistic world and thus are skeptical of the use of peacekeeping or, also possible, that since we haven’t really done peacekeeping in a meaningful way since the mid-1990s, young Canadians can’t recall something good about it,” he said in the e-mail. 

If he had any advice for Peace Train Canada, Boucher said he would focus on younger people with the peace message; older folks are already supportive.