British Columbians have the least confidence in Canadian institutions, while New Brunswick residents have the most, a new Statistics Canada study suggests.

The study, which was released on Monday, used data from the 2013 General Social Survey to examine how Canadians felt about the police, school system, banks, justice system, media, federal Parliament and major corporations.

It found that, in British Columbia, confidence in the police, the school system, the justice system, and federal Parliament were all below the provincial average.

On average across all provinces:

76 per cent of residents said they had either "some" or "a great deal" of confidence in the police

61 per cent had confidence in the school system

57 per cent had confidence in the justice system and courts

38 per cent had confidence in federal Parliament

But in British Columbia alone:

74 per cent had confidence in the police

58 per cent had confidence in the school system

51 per cent had confidence in the justice system

34 per cent had confidence in federal Parliament

Meanwhile, on the opposite end of the country, confidence levels tended to be higher than the provincial average.

In New Brunswick, confidence was above average for six of seven institutions: the police, the school system, banks, the justice system and courts, the media and major corporations.

And in Newfoundland and Labrador, confidence was above average for every institution except for federal Parliament and the justice system. In these areas, Newfoundland and Labrador residents' responses were on par with the rest of the country.

The survey did not include confidence levels from the territories.

According to Statistics Canada, geographic, socioeconomic and demographic differences can all affect confidence levels when it comes to government and institutions.

For example, the report says women, older Canadians, those with a household income above $80,000, visible minorities, and immigrants are all more likely to have confidence in government and institutions.

On the other hand, Canadians who were victims of crime or reported police contact for any reason in the year before the survey were less likely to have confidence in the police.

Overall, the StatsCan survey suggested that the police are the most-trusted institution in country. About three quarters (76 per cent) of respondents said they had confidence in the police.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, only 30 per cent of Canadians said they had confidence in major corporations.

Broken down by cities, the data showed that Toronto's institutional confidence was the highest of the survey's 33 metropolitan cities. Residents of Canada's largest city reported the most confidence in banks, the justice system and federal Parliament, and above-average confidence in major corporations.

Montreal was the city with the least confidence in institutions, with below average responses to police, the school system, banks, the justice system and major corporations.