A new poll suggests more than half of British Columbians think Canada’s priority in dealing with the terror group Islamic State should be to take more steps at home to beef up security and stop radicals.

The Angus Reid poll show that among B.C. respondents, 61 per cent think the government, in responding to the threat of ISIS/ISIL, should take steps to secure borders and deal with radical Canadians who are involved in terrorism at home or abroad.

That compares with 39 per cent of those surveyed in B.C., who think Canada should focus on contributing humanitarian and/or military aid to assist the international community.

The numbers are similar nationally, with 69 per cent of Canadians in favour of dealing with radicalized terrorists in Canada compared with 34 per cent for humanitarian and military aid. The results were evenly divided between men and women and across age groups.

The poll also show that about half of British Columbians (56 per cent) think the world is a more dangerous place than a decade ago, and 19 per cent think it is much more dangerous now than in 2004. Only eight per cent of B.C. respondents think it’s safer and 18 per cent think it’s about the same.

The most serious threats facing the worlds for B.C. residents appears to be ISIS and terrorism at 40 per cent, followed by climate change (18 per cent) and Ebola (15 per cent.)

The state of the world’s economy and poverty and hunger were equal threats among B.C. residents polled at 13 per cent.

When it comes to confidence in Canada’s RCMP and CSIS to prevent terrorist attacks in Canada, British Columbian are divided. Forty-one per cent said they were not very confident, while 17 per cent said they were not confident at all, while 40 per cent expressed some measure of confidence.

These findings follow two violent attacks this week on Canadian military personnel by individuals described in initial reports as suspected radicalized Canadians. The first, in Quebec where one soldier was killed and another injured after being hit by a car driven by a suspected radical. The second, a shooting on Parliament Hill that left one reservist dead. The gunman Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, who was shot dead after the attack, was also a suspected radical.

However, Angus Reid said the poll was not done in reaction to the attacks but over a five-day periods that coincided with the first attack in Quebec.

The poll, conducted and paid for by the Angus Reid Institute, surveyed 1,491 randomly selected Canadian adults between Oct, 21 and Oct. 23, 2014. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

ticrawford@vancouversun.com

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