According to Vice-President Megan Tam “Just a slim majority of Canadians are aware of the Queen’s upcoming Canadian visit. This may be related to Canadians’ perceptions of the role the monarchy in Canada: about half of Canadians do not think there is a role for the monarchy in Canada and there is also no clear indication as to whether a referendum would be an acceptable approach to define what the role of the monarchy should be moving forward.”

• A small majority are aware of the upcoming Royal Visit. Fully 55% of respondents are aware of the Royal visit, while 45% were unaware. Awareness is highest in Atlantic Canada, Ontario and in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Older Canadians are also more likely than their counterparts to be aware of the Royal visit.
• Among those who are aware of the visit, 52% feel the monarchy is an important part of Canadian history, while 44% see it as a part of the colonial past. Conversely, among those unaware of the upcoming visit, 38% believe the monarchy is an important part of Canadian history, while 53% see it as part of the colonial past.
• Canadians remain evenly split on the importance of the monarchy. Just under half of Canadians (45%) said that the “monarchy is an important part of Canadian history and culture that ought to be maintained”, while 48% said the “monarchy is a relic of our colonial past that has no place in the Canada of today”. These numbers remain relatively unchanged since last November, with only slightly more people viewing the monarchy as a relic of the past. A Canadian Press-Harris/Decima poll on the question in the fall, found that 45% felt the monarchy was an important part of Canadian history, and 44% felt it was a relic of the past. Regionally, residents of Quebec are almost four times as likely to feel the monarchy is a relic of the past (72%) than to say it is an important part of Canadian history (20%). Women, Conservatives and Atlantic Canadians are most likely to say the monarchy should be maintained.
• Canadians are split on the idea of a referendum on whether to keep the monarchy. In total, 44% would support such an endeavour, while half (50%) are opposed. Regionally, those in Quebec are most in favour of such a scenario, while in all other regions, at least a plurality opposed the idea.  Among those who feel the monarchy is an important part of Canadian history, one in four (26%) support holding a referendum on whether to keep the monarchy, while 69% are opposed to this notion. Among those who feel the monarchy is a colonial relic, these numbers are almost reversed. Among these respondents, 63% support a referendum, while 34% are opposed.
• The Queen and Prince William are by far the most popular members of the British Royal Family. Nationally, 31% chose the Queen as their favourite Royal, while 22% chose her grandson Prince William. 12% chose Prince Harry, while 5% and 3% respectively chose Prince Charles and Prince Phillip.

Each week, Harris/Decima interviews just over 1000 Canadians through teleVox, the company’s national telephone omnibus survey. These data were gathered between June 17 and June 20, 2010. A sample of the same size has a margin of error of 3.1%, 19 times out of 20.