Poll: Majority of Canadian parents support masks in schools in September

The poll gathered information from 1,524 Canadians above the age of 18 from July 17 to 19. Because it was not conducted from a random sample, a margin of error cannot be applied to it.

The poll, by Legar and the Association for Canadian Studies shows that 41 percent of parents think that masks should be mandatory while children are in school or riding the bus.

Another 21 percent believe that students should wear the masks when they are on the bus or outside of the classroom for lunch or recess. They agreed that students should be able to remove their masks when in class.

About 28 percent of respondents believe it should be optional to use the masks.

Christian Bourque, the vice-president of Leger said that there may be more support for mask requirements at school as mandatory measures are brought into more jurisdictions.

The poll showed that 62 percent of parents were concerned about their children returning to school.

"The majority of people expect that we will go back to school, but not in a normal class size, nor with a normal schedule," Bourque said.

"The more we consider this potential for making the mask mandatory, the more parents will probably find that the mask should be mandatory as well."

"The social norm that we should be wearing the mask will only go up the closer we get to the actual start of the school year."

There appeared to be the most concerns in Ontario and the least in Quebec. This is possibly due to the earlier daycare and school openings in Quebec.

Some school boards—including Ontario—are looking into implementing hybrid weeks, which will include students spending part of their time in school and part at home. They may also connect over video while they are away from school.

The poll shows that 59 percent of respondents are for a hybrid approach while 31 percent are against the idea.

Roughly 50 percent of respondents believe class sizes should be cut in half when schools reopen and another 20 percent think they should be smaller still.

About 23 percent said they think class sizes should remain at their usual numbers.