Health of Canadians 2017 Indicators for belonging and engagement Sandra Zagon.

Health of Canadians 2017

Indicators for belonging and engagement

Sandra Zagon

About Indicators

• Lots of activity in the past decade to gather data to track progress on “belonging” and “engagement”.

• Significant work has been done by Institute of Wellbeing, Canadian Policy Research Networks, Public Health Agency of Canada, Community Foundations of Canada, Statistics Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador Statistics, the Council of Europe/OECD and others

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About Indicators

• Citizen input into ultimate selection is key.

• Regular validation with citizens is important. What was important to citizens 5 years ago may not be relevant today– E.g. impact of social networking and media for

sense of belonging – still not on radar as possible indicators of belonging

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Belonging and Engagement

• “Canada is a country where we participate in and influence the decisions that affect our personal and collective health and well-being”. (Health Goals for Canada, approved by Health Ministers in December 2005)

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Democratic Engagement

• Democratic Engagement is the state of being involved in advancing democracy through political institutions, organizations and activities. (Institute of Wellbeing, Canadian Index of Wellbeing, Report issued on 27.1.10)

• High degree means– citizens participate in political activities,

express political views, and foster political knowledge

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Democratic Engagement

– governments build relationships, trust, shared responsibility and participation opportunities with citizens, and

– democratic values are sustained by citizens, government and civil society at a local, national and global level.

• Engagement on three levels: individual, government, global

• More than participation in elections

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Democratic Engagement – Eight Indicators

1. Voter turnout

2. Volunteer rate for political activities

3. Policy impact perceptions

4. Representation of women in Parliament

5. Net official development assistance as percentage of gross national income

6. Ratio of registered to eligible voters

7. Satisfaction with democracy

8. Interest in politics7

Democracy, Personal Well-Being, Community, Government

Five Indicators

• 1999-2003, CPRN, Quality of Life in Canada Indicators Project

• Developed prototype set of 40 indicators with nine themes/elements/domains, reflecting citizen values

• Democracy, personal well-being, community, government = four themes/domains and five indicators pertaining to belonging and engagement

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Democratic Rights and Participation (Democracy)

• Two indicators:– Exercising democratic rights (voter turnout for

general elections)– Tolerance of diversity (perceived

discrimination against racial or cultural groups)

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Personal Wellbeing

• One relevant indicator (of three selected for this domain)– Degree of social interaction, intimate

connections, and social isolation (access to social supports, friendships and family networks)

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Community

• One relevant indicator (of four selected for this domain)– Level of civic involvement (donation and

volunteer rates)

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Government

• One relevant indicator (of three selected for this domain)– Level of public trust (trust in federal

government)

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Belonging and leadershipThree Indicators

• Vital Signs reports from the Community Foundations of Canada– 2009 indicator - charitable donations– 2008 indicator – voter turnout– 2007 indicator – unpaid volunteer work

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Challenges• Belonging and engagement are concepts

which are not uniformly understood by researchers, policy makers, indicator experts or citizens – no consensus on definition or meaning.

• Data may not exist for matters important to citizens in 2010.– Need to measure disconnect between civil

society and government, to monitor democracy and for change to happen

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Challenges

• How then to select indicators which will be universal, relevant and important?

• How many indicators are appropriate?

• …

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Some References

• http://www.ciw.ca (Canadian Institute of Wellbeing)

• www.cprn.org (Canadian Policy Research Networks)

• www.vitalsignscanada.ca (Vital Signs, Community Foundations of Canada)

• www.statcan.gc.ca (Statistics Canada)

• www.stats.gov.nl.ca (Newfoundland and Labrador Statistics Agency)

• http://www.ccl-cca.ca (Canadian Council on Learning)

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Contact/information

• Project manager for CPRN’s Quality of Life Indictors Project, 2000-2003

• Former member of Steering Committee for Canadian Index for Wellbeing

• Co-founder of Canadian Community for Dialogue and Deliberation (C2D2, www.c2d2.ca)

• [email protected]

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Contact details

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