A Project of the CIW Network

A Vision of the Future

Christine Kahn: Mildtemperatures will continuethroughout southern Manitoba,with a high expected of 12degrees in the Winnipeg area,clear skies into this evening,an overnight low of 2.And that’s a look at CKIW

news headlines, sports andweather.Turning over to Peter now for

a look at today’s numbers fromBay Street to Main Street.

Peter Singroy: ThanksChristine. Canadian stocksturned in a strong performanceover the course of the tradingsession yesterday largely due tostrong gains in energy stocks.The TSX was up over 80 pointsto surpass the 16,000 mark forthe first time.But the real news this morning

is a five-point jump in theCanadian Index of Wellbeing,representing a significant bouncesince the last release of theIndex. Canada’s primary measureof progress is now up to 136.StatsCan officials point to

improvements in indicatorsmeasuring greenhouse gas

emissions and early childdevelopment, and reductionsin child poverty as the biggestdrivers of this sturdy rebound.May Fairweather, a senior

economist with the CanadianInstitute of Wellbeing, isbuoyant about today’s results.

May Fairweather: Canadianshave been breathing a bit easiersince the Province of Ontariobegan phasing out coal plantsand bringing more greentechnologies online. The newfederal “Clean-air Transit”initiative is also key. It providescities with a much-neededbooster shot for public transit.Adding to the rally on Main

Street was an increase in earlylearning opportunities. The firstphase of the federal programhas opened the door forthousands more child carespaces. As well, the federal andOntario governments metpoverty reduction goals for thelast quarter.The CIW might have risen

even higher but these gainswere partially offset by anincrease in diabetes rates

across the country. But we’rehappy that Parliament is payingattention. Today, the HealthMinister said he would besummoning his provincialcounterparts to Ottawa todiscuss putting together anational strategy for combatingthis disease.

Peter Singroy: Meanwhile inbusiness news, the Canadiandollar was up another quarterof a cent to $1.12 US yesterday.The latest increase is

continued good news forCanadian shoppers andsnowbirds, but the Bank ofCanada is still concerned aboutthe effect of the high loonieon Canada’s decliningmanufacturing sector.

Christine Kahn: Thanks Peter.Coming up a special panel andphone-in discussion: Canada’ssoaring diabetes rate – what’sdriving it, who is suffering, andwhat can we do about it? Wetalk to the experts and thenopen up the phone lines foryour calls.

CKIWWinnipeg Radio Newscast, April 21, 2011…

This imaginary radio broadcast is illustrative of what is possible in CIW reporting once the Index is fullydeveloped and publicly released on a regular basis.

The Gross National Product includes air pollution and advertising for cigarettes, and

ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors, and jails

for the people who break them. GNP includes the destruction of the redwoods and the death of

Lake Superior. It grows with the production of napalm and missiles and nuclear warheads... And

if GNP includes all this, there is much that it does not comprehend. It does not allow for the health

of our families, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It is indifferent to the

decency of our factories and the safety of our streets alike. It does not include the beauty of our

poetry or the strength of our marriages, or the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of

our public officials... GNP measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our

learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short,

except that which makes life worthwhile.

— ROBERT F. KENNEDY, Address to the University of Kansas, March 18, 1968

What matters for citizens

is their quality of life…

a consensus is now

growing around the

world about the need to

develop a more

comprehensive view of

progress rather than

focusing on traditional

economic indicators such as

GDP. Organizations all over

the globe are developing

measures of a society’s

progress—of sustainability,

wellbeing and quality of

life – all terms closely

linked to progress.

— ENRICO GIOVANNINI,Chief Statistician, OECD,

Why Measuring Progress Matters,OECD Observer, July 2007

Around the world, a consensus is growing about the

need for a more holistic and transparent way to measure

societal progress – one that accounts for more than just

economic indicators such as the Gross Domestic Product

and takes into account the full range of social, health,

environmental and economic concerns of citizens.

I see the CIW as reflecting the notion of shared destiny.

At a time when there are increased pressures for a more

decentralized Canada, the CIW can play a very important

role in providing timely information about the things that

matter to Canadians, regardless of their geographical

point of reference. In this regard, the CIW is a promising

nation-building project.

And, since the CIW emerged as a concept, there is now

an impressive pan-Canadian team of experts and champions

who have assembled to see this project through. They have

shown an incredible good will to collaborate with the aim to

breaking silos, to look beyond short-term bottom lines, to

work from what binds us together rather than what drives

us apart, and to build new ways to shine the spotlight on

what matters to Canadians.

— THE HONOURABLE ROY J. ROMANOWCIW Network,

Address to the OECD World Forum, June 2007

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Table of Contents

1 Introducing the Canadian Index ofWellbeing

2 Vision and Goals

3 Objectives

4 Values

6 Why Canada Needs New National Indicators:Connecting the Dots

7 Building on aTrack Record of Success

8 The CIW Model

9 Unique Features of the CIW

10 Making it Happen

14 TheTime is Right

15 CIW’s Role Internationally

16 Cross Country Check In

17 2007–2008 From an Idea to Reality

18 Communications and Public Engagement

19 Imagine a FutureWhen…

21 In the News

Introducing the CanadianIndex of Wellbeing

The Canadian Index of Wellbeing (CIW) is a new and transformationalinitiative that will report on the wellbeing of Canadians. It is hoped that the

CIW will soon become Canada’s principle means of measuring genuine progress.

Indicators are very powerful. What society counts, measures and reports oftendrives the understanding of whether Canadians are better off than they used to be,whether a better world will be left for the next generation,and what needs to change.

Too often, however, how society is doing is oftengauged by a narrow set of indicators of economicactivity. Such a narrow perspective on wellbeingmeans that society often fails to capture many of thethings that matter to Canadians. As the naturalenvironment is depleted, life for Canada’s Aboriginalpeoples fails to improve, the gap between rich andpoor grows, and the pressure of time stress mounts,it is no wonder that a rosy economic picture is oftenat odds with what Canadians know to be the realityof their everyday lives.

This narrow perspective also means that society often fails to seize opportunities totake action on those factors that can fundamentally improve health and wellbeing.

This is where the CIW will make a real difference. It will account honestly andaccurately for how social, health, environmental and economic factors – livingstandards, the way people use their time, health, education and skill levels, thequality of the environment, the vitality of communities, levels of civic engagement,and the state of arts and culture – all impact on wellbeing for better or worse.

The CIW is being built by the CIW Network – a partnership of national andinternationally renowned experts and indicator practitioners,with advice and datasources from Statistics Canada.

The goal is to refocus the political discourse in Canada, reshape the direction ofpublic policy, pinpoint policy options and solutions that will genuinely improve thewellbeing of Canadians, and give Canadians a tool to promote wellbeing withpolicy shapers and decision makers to account for why things are getting betteror worse.

1

What is “Wellbeing”?There are many definitions ofWellbeing.The CIW Networkhas adopted the following as itsworking definition:

Wellbeing is the presence ofthe highest possible quality of life inits full breadth of expression: goodliving standards, robust health, asustainable environment, vitalcommunities, an educatedpopulace, balanced time use, highlevels of civic participation, andaccess to dynamic arts and culture.

Vision and Goals

The CIW Network’s vision is:

To enable Canadians to share in the highest wellbeing status byidentifying, developing and publicizing measures that offer clear,valid and regular reporting on progress toward wellbeing outcomesCanadians seek as a nation.

The specific goals are to:

promote a shared vision of what really constitutes sustainable wellbeingand the elements that contribute to or detract from it;

measure national progress toward, or movement away from, achievingthat vision;

understand and promote awareness of why society is moving in thedirection it is moving;

stimulate discussion about the types of policies, programs, and activitiesthat would move us closer and faster toward achieving wellbeing;

give Canadians tools to promote wellbeing with policy shapers anddecision makers;

inform policy by helping policy shapers and decision makers tounderstand the consequences of their actions for Canadian wellbeing;

empower Canadians to compare their wellbeing both with others withinCanada and those around the world;

add momentum to the global movement for a more holistic way ofmeasuring societal progress; and,

build an Institute for societal wellbeing.

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The specific objectives for achieving the vision and goals are to:

develop a coherent national system of indicators – the CanadianIndex ofWellbeing – that will serve as Canada’s core and central measuresof genuine progress;

create a clear and valid barometer – a composite index – thatlinks economic realities with the social, health, environmental and otherconditions and components that define the wellbeing of Canada andits communities;

commission and issue reports, participate in conferences andpromote discussions on the current state of Canadian wellbeing,including the wellbeing of important population sub-groups, policiesthat have shaped this state, and the policy changes that are needed toimprove progress;

fund and sponsor leading-edge research into the best ways ofmeasuring, presenting and reporting on Canadian wellbeing;

mount a comprehensive communications campaign to ensure thatthe creation of the Canadian Institute ofWellbeing and the Institute’sfindings and reports are widely disseminated, through both traditional andelectronic technologies;

work with partners across the country to build a national networkof stakeholders and champions for the Institute and its work;

work with regional, provincial, municipal and community NGOsto provide a useful and usable national backdrop that complements andsupplements initiatives that measure aspects of wellbeing at the regionaland local community level;

increase and expand the network with influential leaders andpolicy makers so that the CIW’s work has an ongoing impact onpolicy decisions;

participate in international gatherings and work with others aroundthe world to promote a more holistic view and measurement of wellbeing;and,

ensure the long-term sustainability of the Canadian Institute ofWellbeing and its work through a strong organizational structure, a vital andactive Funders’ Alliance, and a long-term “endowed” resources strategy.

Objectives

3

Values

The moment a discussion about measuring progress takes place, the inevitablequestion arises: progress toward what? Every set of indicators should be

designed to measure progress toward explicit values.

The CIW is rooted in Canadian values.

It begins with the belief that the cornerstone value of Canadians is the principleof “shared destiny”: that society is often best shaped through collective action;that there is a limit to how much individuals can achieve acting alone; that the sumof a good society and what it can achieve is greater than the remarkably diverseparts which constitute it.

From this cornerstone principle of shared destiny and collective action, and fromextensive public consultations with Canadians, a number of core consensusCanadian values have sprung forward to frame the CIW: fairness, diversity, equity,inclusion, health, safety, economic security, democracy and sustainability.

These values align with critical national building blocks like the Charter of Rightsand Freedoms and the Royal Commission on Health Care: Building onValues.Theyare currently being distilled into 64 specific and measurable indicators in eightcategories (or domains), and a composite index with a single number that will goup or down, much like the TSX or Dow Jones.

4

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TransformingValues into Measurements

Why Canada Needs New NationalIndicators: Connecting the Dots

The GDP does a good job of tracking Canada’s economic consumption. Butit makes no distinction between economic activities that are good for our

wellbeing and those that are harmful.

The GDP counts spending on cigarettes and cancer treatment as contributions toeconomic growth, but efforts to prevent disease and improve health, or to addressthe debilitating impacts of poverty are not tracked. Similarly, if the health of Canadiansdeclines, if inequality and disparity saps collective potential, or if investments in earlychildhood development fall short, they are not subtracted as negatives.

Now imagine an Index that provides a clear, valid, and regular accounting of the thingsthat matter to the wellbeing of Canadians. Imagine a set of national accounts ofwellbeing that actually links the economic reality and longer-term prosperity ofCanada with the social, health and environmental conditions that shape communities.

Imagine an Index that:

distinguishes between good things like health and clean air, and bad thingslike sickness and pollution;

promotes volunteer work and unpaid care-giving as social goods, andoverwork and stress as social deficits;

puts a value on educational achievement, early childhood learning, economicand personal security, a clean environment, and social and health equity; and,

values a better balance between investment in health promotion andspending on illness treatment.

The CIW is that type of measuring stick. It can become a basis for improvingperformance in areas that matter to Canadians, such as addressing child poverty,creating job opportunities for youth and new citizens, and ensuring that there isclean air to breathe now and in the future. It will shine a spotlight on how thestrategic allocation of economic resources ‘upstream’ will reduce the need forexpensive health care and social services ‘downstream’. In other words, it willfocus on getting things right at the beginning – when the solutions are cheaperand far more effective – instead of fixing them at the end.

The CIW can provide a valuable and compelling public policy tool that resonateswith opinion leaders, media, and decision makers, while informing the ‘watercooler chat’ of everyday Canadians about how they are really doing when itcomes to what matters most.

6

Building on a Track Record of Success

Social indicator work and efforts to measure genuine progress have been partof the Canadian landscape since the late 1960s.And yet, this field of research

has received only periodic public attention, insufficient interest during economicslowdowns, and modest traction at the national level.

In the 1990s, however, there was renewed interest by academic, research andpublic institutions in the use of broader measures of wellbeing, especially at theoutset of the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy(NRTEE) and regional and provincial work using the Genuine Progress Indicator(GPI).The GPI, used in parts of Canada, several European countries, and in partsof Australia, provides concrete evidence about the potential success of a nationalset of indicators as a way to anchor community indicator initiatives.

Responding to an emerging need to highlight and develop the potential of anational voice for measuring economic, health, social and environmental progress,the Atkinson Charitable Foundation (ACF) convened a cross Canada roundtableof leading indicator experts and practitioners in 2002. This roundtable includedRonald Colman, executive director of GPI Atlantic and a world recognized expertin measures of sustainability and quality of life; Mark Anielski, economist andauthor who worked with the Pembina Institute in developing GPI Alberta; andrepresentatives from organizations like the Canadian Policy Research Networks(CPRN).

Participants at this roundtable recognized the need to raise the profile of wellbeingmeasurement from local, provincial, and regional levels to a national platform wherethe relationship between progress and wellbeing could be central to the public andpolicy debate.

In May 2004, the ACF hosted a national working conference where over 60indicator experts, practitioners and potential users from government, academiaand the community met and established a pan-Canadian Network committed todeveloping the Canadian Index ofWellbeing.

Since that time, a National Research and DevelopmentWorking Group has beendeveloping the CIW model.

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The CIW Model

The CIW will track changes in eight quality-of-life categories or “domains”. Eacharea of development is under the leadership of world class experts and backed

by rigorous Canadian and international peer review and public consultation:

Living Standards measures the quality and quantity of goods and services, bothpublic and private, available to the population, and the distribution of these goodsand services within the population.

Healthy Populations measures the physical and mental wellbeing of thepopulation – experiencing disease, disability and delaying death, lifestyles peoplelead, and care people receive.

Educated Populace measures the literacy and skill levels of the population,including the ability to function in various societal contexts and plan for and adaptto future situations.

CommunityVitality measures the strength, activity and inclusiveness ofrelationships among residents, private sector, public sector and voluntary organizations.

Ecosystem Health measures the state of wellbeing and integrity of the naturalenvironment.This includes the sustainability of Canada’s natural resources and thecapacity of ecosystems and watersheds to provide a sustained level of ecologicalgoods and services for the wellbeing of humans and other species.

Civic Engagement measures the health of Canadian democracy. It addressesthree aspects of public life and the governance of society: How engaged arecitizens in public life and governance? Do Canadian governments function in anopen, transparent, effective, fair, equitable, and accessible manner? And areCanadians, their governments and their corporations good global citizens?

Time Use measures the use of time, how people experience time, what controlsits use, and how it affects wellbeing.

Arts and Culture (working concept and not a definition) measures activity in boththe very broad area of culture, which covers all forms of human expression, and inthe much more focused area of arts, which includes performing arts, visual arts,media arts, and art facilities and institutes.

The findings within the domains will be quantified and blended into a compositeindex (i.e., a single number that will go up or down, giving a quick snapshot ofwhether overall wellbeing is changing for better or for worse). All of thetechnical domain reports that lie behind the calculation of the composite will bemade public.The CIW’s ‘basket’ of domains will be reported regularly with clarityabout trends and interrelated stories (e.g.,“While X is on the rise, it is interestingto note thatY is flat, and Z is declining. Possible explanations include...”).

8

Unique Features of the CIW

The only national index that measures wellbeing in Canada across a widespectrum of domains;

Provides a national backdrop for interpreting and enhancingexisting community and city indicator projects;

Internationally comparable indicators, to the extent possible, that willfacilitate tracking Canada’s genuine progress in comparison to other globaljurisdictions and economic competitors;

Measures of current wellbeing and sustainable developmentreported within the same analytical and reporting framework (i.e., the CIWwill incorporate measures assessing the influence current lifestyles have onchoices for future generations);

Sound methodology and the best available data sources, withStatistics Canada’s active participation;

A publicly accessible website that can provide information forcitizens, policy makers, the media, researchers, and indicator practitioners;

Combines quantitative/qualitative indicators with assessments of thehidden value of our human, social, and natural capital, thus facilitatingassessments of true benefits and costs;

Provides linkages and coherence amongst various health, social,economic, and environmental variables;

Ensures regular reporting as data become available; and,

Maintains quality control and overall integrity to ensure the productsand methodologies are sound, and can be actively promoted anddisseminated on a non-proprietary (public domain) basis, to ensuremaximum take-up and use.

9

Making it Happen

Making the CIW a reality requires an organizational home to support ongoingresearch and development, to coordinate and expand networks of users and

contributors, and to lead the dissemination of findings from the CIW. From 2004to 2007, the CIW Project was led by a National Steering Committee, comprisedof key Canadian leaders in indicator work, strategic thinking, resourcedevelopment, voluntary sector initiatives, and governance.

TheAtkinson Charitable Foundation and an early funder,RBC Foundation, have beenjoined by four new partners who signed on to the CIW Funders’ Alliance in 2007:

In 2008, the Atkinson Charitable Foundation will set up an independent CIWBoard with representation from Canadian and international business and civilsociety leaders. This Board will ensure the long-term sustainability of the CIWInstitute and its work.

The CIW Network 2004-2007The chart below summarizes the organizational structure of the CIW Projectfrom 2004-2007.

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• Canadian Council on Learning;• Lawson Foundation;

• McConnell Family Foundation; and,• Province of Ontario.

Making it Happen

The CIW Institute (2008-ongoing)

The chart below summarizes the organizational structure of the CIW Projectgoing forward into 2008.

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Making it Happen

World Class Experts Guide CIW DesignMarkAnielski, Economist, Author and President of Anielski Management Inc., Edmonton,Alberta;

Ronald Colman, Executive Director, GPI Atlantic, Halifax, Nova Scotia; internationallyrecognized expert in measures of sustainability and quality-of-life;

Andrew Harvey, Director,Time-Use Research Program, Professor Emeritus, Economics,Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia;

Noel Keough,Assistant Professor of Sustainable Design, Faculty of Environmental Design,University of Calgary;

Ronald Labonte, Canada Research Chair, Globalization/Health Equity, Institute of PopulationHealth, University of Ottawa; internationally recognized scholar in health promotion, populationhealth and global health equity;

Marc Lachance, Director, Monitoring and Reporting, Canadian Council on Learning;

Simon Langlois, Professor, Departement de sociologie (Université Laval) and Coordinator ofthe International Research Group on Comparative Charting of Social Change;

Doug May, Professor of Economics at Memorial University and Director of Concept Developmentfor the System of Community Accounts, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador;

Dr. Robert (Bob) McMurtry, Professor Emeritus, Surgery, University ofWestern Ontario;Orthopedic Consultant, Hand and Upper Limb Centre, St. Joseph’s Health Care, London, Ontario;

Alex Michalos, CIW Director of Research, internationally recognized expert on quality-of-liferesearch, Chancellor of the University of Northern British Columbia;

Nazeem Muhajarine, Professor and Chair, Community Health and Epidemiology, College ofMedicine, University of Saskatchewan and the recipient of the 2006 Canadian Institutes ofHealth Research Knowledge Translation Award;

László Pintér, Director, Measurement and Assessment Program, International Institute forSustainable Development; co-chair, International Forum for Assessing Sustainability in Agriculture;

Katherine Scott,Vice President Research, Canadian Council on Social Development;

Andrew Sharpe, Executive Director, Centre for the Study of Living Standards; and,

Malcolm Shookner, Manager, Nova Scotia Community Counts, a Division of the Nova ScotiaDepartment of Finance.

Senior Participants from Statistics CanadaKim Lauzon, Chief of Operations, Systems Support Section and Marketing, Industry Measuresand Analysis Division;

Hans Messinger, Senior Advisor and former Director of Industry Measures & Analysis;

Robert Smith, Director of Environment Accounts and Statistics Division;

Leroy Stone,Associate Director General,Analytical Studies, National Accounts Field; and,

MichaelWolfson,Assistant Chief Statistician,Analysis and Development, Special Advisor to theCIW National Research and Development Group.

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Making it Happen

13

A Pan-Canadian Network

The Time is Right

Building KnowledgeThrough Collaboration and Inclusiveness

Before the CIW emerged, indicator experts often worked in isolation and without a‘reality check’ discourse with potential users in the field. One of the important

and early ‘wins’ of this project is the unique partnership of indicator experts andpractitioners with potential users from diverse perspectives and life experiences thatcan help build and apply the Index.

There is no doubt that there are plenty of indicators and research out in the publicdomain that tell us that society is most often going down the wrong path.Community organizations and networks throughout Canada are using a variety ofcommunity indicators to report on local trends thanks to the vision and leadershipof the United Way of Canada/Centraide Canada, the Federation of CanadianMunicipalities and the Community Foundations of Canada, just to name a few. Whatis now required is more traction on a national level.

During two rounds of CIW public consultations, people said that while many localindicator trends are impacted by provincial, regional and national factors, there isno overarching measure to connect local trends with a pan-Canadian picture.TheCIW can help provide this anchor and link local initiatives to the broader whole.

The CIW can play a crucial role in helping foster connectivity for local andcommunity indicator projects. It has the potential to raise public discourse withthe media, opinion leaders and policy makers about how to connect the dotsamong projects such as the Community Foundations of Canada’s Vital Signs,FCM’s Quality of Life Reporting System, and the United Way of Canada/CentraideCanada’s Action for Neighbourhood Change.

Feedback from the CIW National Workshop in November 2006 and ongoingdiscussions with the Community Foundations of Canada, and the UnitedWay ofCanada/Centraide Canada all reinforce the CIW’s unique role in supporting localindicator projects across Canada.

14

CIW’s Role Internationally

The CIW is viewed as a global pioneer. The OECD considers Mr. Romanowas one of “the world’s great champions” of this work, and someone with a

genuine vision of what measuring progress in societies means. Internationalactivities include:

ongoing collaboration with the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre(JRC) in the development of composite measures;

evaluation of the performance of various wellbeing models in Europeancountries (Alex Michalos) for a consortium of European research institutes;

ongoing work with New Zealand to develop a core set of internationalindicators; New Zealand is a leader in wellbeing measurement work and itsGlobal Sustainability Project is utilizing the CIW model of development for itssocial wellbeing initiative;

special advisory role to the government of Bhutan (Ron Colman); Bhutanhas adopted the CIW’s framework concept as it develops its national wellbeingindicators, commonly known as the “National Index of Happiness”;

participation in OECD meetings in Bellagio, Milan, and Rome in 2006 and2007; the OECD is interested in the CIW approach to communications andengaging potential users;

ongoing pioneer work on an international comparability pilot project with theOECD and a number of countries including Australia and New Zealand;

helping plan the OECD’s agenda for the June 2007World Forum: Measuringand Fostering the Progress of Societies in Istanbul,Turkey.The Forum attracted1,200 participants from 130 countries.The Honourable Roy J. Romanow delivereda well-received keynote speech and an op-ed based on the speech was published inthe Toronto Star (see www.thestar.com/article/232526); and,

contributor to an OECD handbook on measuring progress and the BeyondGDPVirtual Indicator Expo in the fall of 2007.

These connections are important in changing the global dialogue about genuineprogress. The CIW contribution on the international scene will continue tostrengthen the CIW Project in Canada and at the same time give the Projectaccess to the best international minds.

15

Cross Country Check In

Canadians are increasingly open to a new barometer that will give a full andaccurate picture of how people are really doing across the many dimensions

of their lives.This climate of opportunity has been reinforced by the CIW’s tworounds of cross Canada roundtables.

In 2005 and 2006, with the assistance of local United Way agencies and CIWpartners, EKOS ResearchAssociates conducted 19 focus groups in 14 communitiesfrom Whitehorse, Yukon to St. John’s, Newfoundland. The roundtables includeddiverse representation from government, politics, business, the media and local andnational NGOs. In addition, 14 one-on-one-interviews were conducted with‘opinion leaders’ from senior editors at various newspapers, senior bureaucrats,politicians, and business leaders.

The CIW talked to Canadians in both official languages, conducted an AboriginalPeoples Roundtable inWinnipeg and a multi-faith Roundtable in Toronto.

In May and June 2007, a second stage of roundtables was conducted acrossCanada by Capacity Strategic Networks. All together, 13 roundtables wereconducted in Prince George, Vancouver, Calgary, Saskatoon,Winnipeg, ThunderBay, Chatham-Kent,Toronto, Ottawa (one with government, one with NGOs andone with community groups), Halifax, and St. John’s.

Overall, the roundtables have confirmed that the concept of a comprehensivepan-Canadian Index is seen as a useful and powerful tool for changing publicdiscourse about genuine progress and helping to shape public policy.The responseand interest in ‘spreading the word’ about the CIW, helping to build it andultimately use it across Canada,was significant.There was high regard for the CIWteam as leaders and experts in indicator work. Mr. Romanow was regarded as astrong Canadian leader and his role as champion of the CIW was seen as a majorasset.There was also a great deal of interest among participants in ‘staying in theloop’ to help build a CIW network of champions across Canada.

16

2007–2008 From an Idea to Reality

From an idea in 1999, the CIW Project is now in full flight with a good deal ofthe groundwork completed.Over the next two years, the CIW will move from

its developmental stage to the reality of producing a regular set of nationalindicators and reports.

The 2008 research and development work plan includes:

revising the Living Standards, Healthy Populations, Community Vitality andEducated Populace reports for public release in 2008;

completing the Ecosystem Health and Time Use domains, and preparingreports for public release in 2008;

reworking the Composite Index to include six of the domains;

ongoing research of the Ecological Footprint and its use in the CIW;

researching and developing the Civic Engagement and Arts and Culturedomains beginning in 2008, and preparing reports for public release inlate 2008; and,

collaborating with Canadian indicator partners regarding the relationshipand development of the interface between the CIW and communityindicator projects such as Vital Signs and the UnitedWay of Canada/Centraide Canada’s Action for Neighbourhood Change.

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Communications and Public Engagement

The CIW Network has recognized from the start that communicating findings is asimportant as developing findings. In order to truly change the national dialogue and

stimulate discussion about the types of policies, programs, and activities that will moveCanadians closer and faster toward achieving wellbeing, the CIWNetwork has to reachout and engage people from one end of the country to the other.

Key elements of the communications and public engagement strategy for 2008-2009include:

a high-profile public launch in 2008 and the release of the first CIW Report;

a national speaking and media tour by the Honourable Roy J. Romanow inthe months prior to and following the public release;

the periodic release of specially commissioned reports examining the stateof wellbeing of specific population sub-groups such as youth and AboriginalCanadians;

ongoing opportunities for stakeholder and public engagement; and,

announcement of the founding of the CIW Institute ofWellbeing.

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Imagine a Future When…

A coalition of environmentalists has gathered inVancouver. The group is concerned about the loggingof old growth forests in British Columbia. In the threeyears since the province allowed the expansion oflogging activities on crown lands, the volume of log-ging has increased by 20 percent. The group ispreparing to raise public awareness about policychanges that are needed to preserve the province’snatural resources. It has mapped out a full strategyincluding advertising, public service announcements,e-newsletters, household brochures, publicmeetings, discussions with journalists and editorialboards, and letters to legislators.But as someone points out at the meeting, the

coalition needs some kind of spark to kick off thepublic campaign – something that will elevate thevisibility of environmental issues and create areceptive public mood. Someone else notes thatthe CIW Report is coming out in a month. Thethree previous reports have shown a decline inBC’s natural resources, so it is logical to assumethat this report will also show a substantial drop.A month goes by and the CIW Report is released.

BC’s Index has dropped by 7 points from 132 to 125.A key contributor has been environmentaldegradation. The media is full of stories about theprovince’s declining natural resources. The followingday a strategic public awareness campaign begins…

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CIW Sets Stage for Environmental Public Awareness Campaign

The Executive Director of a Toronto non-profitorganization sits in his office looking over hisgroup’s application for increased municipalfunding. His organization serves youth at riskand youth in conflict with the law. It is part of acity-wide coalition of agencies working to addressissues of racism, poverty and the rise in gang andweapons violence.He thinks back to a time 5-10 years ago when

the city was in the midst of a tough ‘law and orderagenda’ – a time when the youth population in jailswas growing, with less and less attention andmoney being paid to grass roots solutions such associal, recreational and employment programs formarginalized youth. The only ‘official’ researchnumbers he would see coming out of the cityinvolved volume and types of crime and age ofthe offenders.Fortunately, the city eventually realized that its

crime and punishment focus was both shortsighted

and delivering little in the way of results. Three yearsago, pressure from the coalition of agencies andothers had forced the city to introduce newprogramming for marginalized youth. But the cityand its partners were uncertain how to measurethe program’s impact. It was about that time thatthe Canadian Index ofWellbeing was created.Sub-indices of the CIWmeasured factors like socialinclusion, acceptable living standards, youthemployment opportunities, and security andfreedom. Both the city and the coalition agreed itwould be a goodmeasuring stick for trackingprogress.The Executive Director looks again at the

application for increased funding. Under aheadline reading ‘supportive evidence’ he sees astatement that reads, “since the programs wereintroduced three years ago, the related CIWdomain has gone up by five points.” “Well,” hethinks, “that’s certainly going to help!”

CIW Statistics Support Non-Profit Group’s Funding Proposal

Imagine a Future When…

20

The editor of a major newspaper inWestern Canada looks at his scheduleof stories coming in later in the dayover the wire. One in particular catcheshis eye – Canadian Index of WellbeingDown Two Points. He calls in aninvestigative reporter and tells her tokeep an eye out for the story.Later in the day when the story

comes in, she quickly skims it andsees that in the regular report of theCanadian Index of Wellbeing (CIW),the Index has dropped from 112 pointsto 110 points since the last report.She also sees that while many of thesub-indices that make up the CIW areactually up – job security, educationattainment – others, like health careare down. She checks the CIW websiteand goes to the area marked ‘CIWDomains’. Clicking on ‘healthypopulations’, she sees a list ofcategories under which the healthcare system is measured. She clicksagain on ‘access’ and also on the boxmarked ‘list by province’. The nextscreen shows that, while access isunchanged in most provinces, it’sdown in Alberta and New Brunswick.Scrolling down from the statisticaldata to the written commentary, shediscovers that since those provinceslegalized private clinics offering

fee-for-service back care and surgery,access to back surgery has actuallyworsened.Making a few phone calls to her

contacts in government, the reporterdiscovers that from the time theprovinces legalized private back careclinics, 20 percent of the surgeonsshifted from the public care system tothe private one. But the prices wereso high at the private clinics, only5 percent of the patients moved overwith them. With 20 percent fewersurgeons but almost as manypatients as ever in the public system,waiting times for surgery were rapidlygoing up. The next day, her storyappears in the paper under theheadline Back Surgery Waiting TimesUp, CIW Down.The newspaper editorial board

meets that day and the following dayan editorial appears: GovernmentInflicts More Pain on Back Sufferers.Later that day the Leader of theOpposition rises in the provinciallegislature: “Mr. Speaker I would liketo ask the Premier why, when hepromised that private back care clinicswould increase accessibility, thewaiting list and waiting times aregetting longer and people are sufferingmore hardship?”

CIW Shines Public Spotlight on Medicare Issue

In the News

21

CARDINAL, Ont. – Marj Kempfferhasn’t looked at the sky the samein years. Not since the day nineyears ago when the clouds pouredheavy sheets of ice on this easternOntario village.

Three days it went on, the freez-ing rain clinging to everything ittouched in the worst ice storm tohit North America in decades.

Roofs collapsed, roads becameimpassable and both electricalwires and the poles that held themaloft snapped. Across easternOntario and into Quebec, no oneescaped. This village on the St.Lawrence River went eight dayswithout power. Others went forseveral weeks.

The storm stretched fromMontreal to Kingston and caused$1.6 billion in damage. To this day,there are houses that still have notbeen repaired.

Yet, the Ice Storm of 1998 is thebiggest single event in Canadianhistory to boost the GrossDomestic Product, a simple total-ing of all goods and services in theeconomy that is the most-usedmeasure of the economy.

It’s this irony – that rebuilding inthe wake of devastation is goodfor the economy – that is in largepart fuelling an ambitious attemptto produce an alternative to the

GDP, one that balances economicgrowth against a much larger andmore comprehensive set of num-bers to tell us if we are truly betteroff. It’s called the Canadian Indexof Wellbeing and its goals are:

To reflect a broad range of fac-tors – such as the availability ofhealth care, literacy rates, thequality of air and water, the costsof adequate housing and the valueof unpaid work – that togetherdetermine the quality of life inCanada.

To do it so it’s comprehensiveenough to satisfy the statisticians

and policymakers but simpleenough to be understood by thegeneral public.

Give policy makers a tool toshow, in quantifiable terms, thepositive impact of good social pol-icy such as measures to alleviatepoverty, and to demonstrate withhard numbers how a dollar spentnow on education or health pre-vention can reap huge rewardsyears down the road.

“We really need a different kindof statistical indicator – not toreplace the GDP, but to comple-ment it,” says Michael Wolfson,

A Richer Way of Measuring WealthNew well-being index would complement traditional GDPBY STUART LAIDLAW, Toronto Star, February 19, 2007

Marj Kempffer’s general store in Cardinal, Ont., survived the ice storm of 1998. Many otherbusinesses in the town did not. Yet the rebuilding in the wake of the devastating storm wasthe biggest single event in Canadian history to boost the Gross Domestic Product.

In the News

assistant chief statistician atStatistics Canada.

Neither Wolfson nor any of theother statisticians involved in theproject diminish the complexity ofthe task.

In health care alone, the CIW’smeasure could include ER waittimes, rates of cancer and otherdiseases, body mass index, smok-ing rates, life expectancy, infantmortality and low birth rates, evenrates of depression and suicide.

Adding all these up, factoring inat least six other “domains” to pro-duce an “integrated index,” wouldbe a monumental achievement.There is still considerable dis-agreement over methodology (seesidebar) even though the firstphase of the project is set for thisfall.

That’s about two years after theoriginal hoped-for launch of theCIW, but organizers say they havepreferred to get it right instead ofearly. The extra time has beenused to refine calculations and toco-ordinate the effort with similarprojects around the world throughthe Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Nonetheless, the CIW hasgained a legion of fans, from for-mer Saskatchewan premier RoyRomanow to Bay Street moguls totop government statisticians. Atleast seven Canadian universitiesincluding York and Dalhousie,several federal agencies, and anumber of non-governmentalgroups such as the Atkinson

Charitable Foundation areinvolved in the project.

To Romanow, the index is anextension of his groundbreakingstudy of the Canadian health caresystem almost five years ago,which found that the social deter-minants of health – poverty,hunger, homelessness, stress andthe environment – need to be con-sidered alongside hospital bedsand waiting lists.

For the long-time NDP politi-cian, the GDP’s limitations as ameasure of well-being arerevealed in the negative inputs itincludes.

Expenditures on cancer treat-ment, divorce, prisons and funer-als are counted alongside factoryproduction and restaurant mealsas good for the economy, but fewwould say such things haveimproved their lives.

The ice storm is a case in point.A Statistics Canada report

months after the storm touted a“rebounding” Canadian economy,based on a surge in the GDP. Thatsurge, it turned out, was thanks inlarge part to the cost of gettingeastern Ontario and westernQuebec back on its feet.

Cardinal Mayor Larry Dishawshakes his head at the notion thatthe ice storm was good for any-thing, much less the economy.The storm devastated local busi-nesses as consumer dollars werediverted to keeping buildingsstanding and getting the powerback on.

“It was a good six weeks beforebusiness was back up,” he says.

The wait was too long formany. To this day, Cardinal’s mainstreet is dotted by closed stores.Even the local bank eventuallyclosed after 100 years, complain-ing that business had dropped toomuch to continue.

To backers of the plan to findan alternative to the GDP, suchstories are all too typical, andreflect how traditional economicthinking ignores the realities thatpeople live out every day.

“If you don’t measure whatcounts, what counts is never meas-ured,” says Romanow.

The effort in Canada is matchedby similar projects in countriesaround the world, particularly inEurope, Australia and NewZealand.

The statisticians involved inthese projects, while they acknowl-edge the GDP’s faults, say its attrac-tion as a statistic stem from its sim-plicity. As a totalling of every dol-lar spent in the economy on goodsand services, the GDP can reveal ata glance whether business as awhole is up or down.

What it can’t tell us is how thatmoney is distributed. A StatsCanreport in December found that thegap between rich and poor hasbeen widening in recent decades.Since 1984, the net worth of thetop 20 per cent of the populationhas jumped 64 per cent, while thatof those in the bottom 20 per centhas stalled.

22

In the News

As well, the average net incomefor the top 20 per cent jumped bymore than $20,000 to $110,700between 1995 and 2004, while itinched up only $400 to $12,200 forthe bottom group.

Over the same nine-year period,however, the total GDP increasedby about a third.

And the more the gap betweenrich and poor grows, the moreinadequate the GDP becomes as ameasure of wealth or well-being,says Wolfson.

“GDP tells us how big the pie is,but not how the pie is divided.”

Any jump in the GDP that isheralded by economists and policymakers as good news increasinglyfalls flat with everyone else if theydon’t see their own lives gettingbetter, says GDP expert HansMessinger.

Messinger made a career of cal-culating the GDP at StatsCan, andis now spending his retirementworking on the CIW as a bettermeasure of growth.

“That’s what a healthy economyis all about, to not only serve thefew,” he says. “The economy isthere to serve everybody.”

How Will It Work?Statisticians, as a rule, like purityin numbers. Much of the attractionof the GDP as a measure of theeconomy is that it’s a simplemeasure of one type of number –dollar sales.

But the sorts of things theCanadian Index of Wellbeing ismeant to include are measured inyears and percentages, as well asdollars.

“They’re really apples andoranges,” says Michael Wolfson,assistant chief statistician at StatsCan and a top advisor to the CIWproject.

Wolfson has been pushing forthe CIW to be expressed as sever-al numbers measuring differentthings, with the public and BayStreet left to figure out what theymean.

But former Saskatchewan pre-mier Roy Romanow says the CIWcan only really fly if it is easy tounderstand by Bay Streeters andMain Streeters alike.

“People should be able tounderstand at the water coolerwhat this means,” he says.

Alex Michalos, social policyresearcher at the University ofNorthern British Columbia and akey member of the CIW group,favours a single number. He citesthe “domain” of living standards asan example.

The first step is to gather eightindicators of living standards – theratio of top income earners versusbottom income earners, averagefamily income, poverty rate, theeconomic security index, long-term unemployment, the employ-ment rate, the CIBC index ofemployment quality and the RBC

housing affordability index – for10 years and plot them on a chart.

Then he sets the first year foreach statistic – 1994 – at 100, acommon statistical methodology.The numbers for subsequent yearswere then recalculated to reflecttheir relationship to the base yearof 1994.

For instance, family income fellfrom 47,600 in 1994 to 46,800 in1995, a drop of 1.7 per cent. Thatmeans that if 1994 equals 100points, the 1995 number is just98.3. By 2001, incomes hadjumped 12 per cent from 1994, sothe corresponding number for thatyear is 112.

He then did the same thing foreach of the other indicators.

Then, once the numbers are allconverted to a common denomi-nator, they could then be averagedto come up with a single numberand plotted on a chart alongsidethe GDP.

The result is a line on a chartthat moves up much more slowlythan the GDP over the same peri-od, but which more accuratelyreflects the state of people’s lives.

For instance, with the livingstandard statistics he used, a jumpin material wealth as reflected in a12 per cent increase in familyincome was tempered by a 10.5per cent drop in economic securi-ty and a minor slip in the overallquality of employment over thesame period. �

23

In the News

A new phrase has entered the eco-nomic lexicon. It is called the“progress gap.”

Coined by Colin le Duc, aBritish investment executive, it rec-ognizes a failing that numbercrunchers can no longer ignore.Income growth, the sine qua nonof economics, is an unreliable indi-cator of how well a society isdoing.

“The sad truth is that despite 50years of economic growth indeveloped countries, the gapbetween economic prosperity andpersonal well-being has widened,”le Duc says in the current issue ofRotman Magazine, the thrice-year-ly business journal published bythe management school at theUniversity of Toronto. “We mustfind ways to reverse the trend.”

This is not news outside thefinancial community. To psycholo-gists, it has been clear for yearsthat people can’t consume theirway to happiness. To sociologists,the link between material wealthand human development hasalways been tenuous. To environ-mentalists, it is a given that foulingthe planet to fuel industrial growthis retrogressive.

But economists have beenreluctant to acknowledge that theirprincipal yardstick, the grossdomestic product – which meas-ures the financial worth of a

nation’s output – is out of syncwith people’s values. Corporateleaders have been loath to admitthat GDP growth is not a proxy fora better quality of life.

The emergence of a term suchas “progress gap” – even if it isconfined to the socially responsi-ble margins of the business world– marks a welcome change.

The willingness of the RotmanSchool of Business, which strivesto be ranked with Harvard,Stanford, Wharton and Chicago, toembrace the concept suggests thatit has academic credibility.

This does not mean MBA grad-uates will promptly jettison theprevailing bottom-line philosophy.But they will enter the workforcewith a greater appreciation thanpast generations of the trade-offsbetween profits and pollution;between productivity and stress;and between financial success andlife satisfaction. Many will incorpo-rate this knowledge into theircareer choices and business prac-tices.

It took a long time to reach thispoint. And Canada has played akey role in the global evolution.

For the past three years, a teamof Canadian researchers from thehealth-care field, the environmen-tal movement, the academicsphere, the government, the pri-vate sector and the non-profit

community has been developing anew index of well-being thatmeasures a nation’s quality of life,not just the size of its economy.

“Our mission is to provideCanadians with a clear, valid andregular accounting of the thingsthat matter to them and the gen-uine progress of Canada,” says for-mer Saskatchewan premier RoyRomanow, who is spearheadingthe initiative.

The Canadian coalition haslinked up with social scientistsdoing similar work in Australia,New Zealand and the EuropeanEconomic Commission.

It has also played a prominentrole in the Global Project, a pushby the Organization for EconomicCo-operation and Development tocome up with a better way tomeasure societal progress.

The business community hascome late to the table. But, thanksto forward-looking financiers suchas le Duc and thoughtful educatorssuch as Roger Martin, dean of theRotman School, it is finally joiningthe debate.

“The time is ripe for a redefini-tion of personal success,” Martinsays. “While the production ofgoods and services has increasedexponentially over the past 50years, measures of life satisfactionhave remained stagnant.”

Identifying and labeling the mis-

24

Redefining Personal Well-beingBY CAROL GOAR, Toronto Star, October 10, 2007

In the News

match between what statisticiansmeasure and citizens value is justthe first step, of course.

The real challenge for businesswill be to adopt a set of indicators

that exposes the harm – to theenvironment, to people's health, tothe nation's well-being – that flowsfrom a growth-at-all-costs ethos.

Once the new measures are in

place, it will be hard to perpetu-ate the notion that the invisiblehand of the marketplace keeps asociety moving in a positivedirection. �

25

A national group of researchers ismeasuring the quality of life of allCanadians, taking into account fac-tors like living standards, healthand civic engagement. The prem-ise is that measuring the overallprogress of a society is an impor-tant step in moving it forward:what gets measured gets done.

The group’s conclusions areintended to provide a more com-prehensive picture of how thenation is doing, as opposed todetermining the nation’s status bylooking only at its market economy.

Alex Michalos, a researcher forthe project, points out that for cen-turies and across the world peoplehave identified certain core itemsthat they say create quality of life.

“A life free of disease, wherepeople are secure and live in com-munities with friends and lovedones, where they don’t have toworry about where their food isgoing to come from or aboutbeing on the streets, these arecommon themes across time,themes from the ancient Greeksuntil today and around the world,”says Michalos, director of theInstitute for Social Research and

Evaluation at the University ofNorthern British Columbia.

The Canadian Index ofWellbeing (CIW) will be reflectingthose values. About 24 CIWresearchers, most of them volun-teers, are measuring seven areasthat affect everyone’s lives. Theseven areas are: living standards,healthy populations, communityvitality, time allocation, ecosystemhealth, educated populace, andcivic engagement.

The researchers are gatheringmost of their data from StatisticsCanada.

“Stats Canada produces a lot ofgood information mainly in silos,and it gets used in the federal andprovincial and municipal depart-ments mainly in silos,” saysMichalos. “What we’re trying to dowith the Canadian index is bringthe information from all thediverse areas together so that wecan get a general overall view ofhow Canadians are doing overtime.”

The idea is to create a compos-ite index so that all the informationis available in a regular, routinereporting schema, says Michalos,

much like the labour force statis-tics and health statistics are avail-able now.

The index could help in gov-ernment decision-making, he says,noting that it’s difficult to measurethe most important things in life,like having a sense of security andbelonging.

“But for managing government,the better the numerical baseacross all the fields that are ofinterest to you, probably the easierit is to get things done.”

Canada isn’t the only countrywith an interest in measuring soci-ety’s overall well-being.

The CIW researchers have beenworking with groups doing similarwork in New Zealand, the UnitedKingdom, Germany, the UnitedStates, and elsewhere.

In June a world forum on meas-uring societal progress was held inIstanbul with about 1,200 in atten-dance. It concluded with a commit-ment by such groups as theEuropean Commission, theOrganisation of the IslamicConference, the United Nations, theWorld Bank, and others, to “findingcommon ways to measure societal

Group Measures Overall Well-being of CanadiansBY MICHELLE STRUTZENBERGER, Axiomnews.ca, October 10, 2007

In the News

While the Canadian Index ofWellbeing (CIW) is scheduled forfull release in 2008, preliminaryresults for two domains show aconcerning trend for Canadiansand their well-being, according toLynne Slotek, national projectdirector for the CIW. Preliminaryoutcomes for the living standardsand healthy populations domainsare based on 1994 to 2003 data.

In the living standards domainthese outcomes show the gapbetween the rich and poor iswidening with a downward trendin economic security and longer-term unemployment

“That’s a very concerning trend,”says Slotek. “If you look at theeconomy booming and then knowthat the number of people living inpoverty and staying in povertycontinues to grow, it doesn’t bode

well for quality of life for anyone.”Preliminary results in the

healthy population domain show adecline in Canadians’ self-ratedhealth status and a downwardtrend in health outcomes forCanada’s youth, ages 12 to 19years. This is despite a decline intobacco use and an increase inphysical activity for all Canadians.

“It is too premature to speculateon these trends but it does raisequestions about the quality of lifefor young people who are strug-gling to pay off student debt andfind permanent stable employ-ment,” says Slotek.

Again, this is despite a boomingeconomy.

The CIW is a new initiative toreport on quality of life of allCanadians. It is being built by theCIW Network, a partnership of

national leaders, organizations,and the general public in consulta-tion with international experts.

By “honestly and accurately”accounting for how social, health,environmental and economic fac-tors impact the well-being ofCanadians for better or worse, thegoal of the Network is to refocuspolitical discourse in Canada,reshape the direction of publicpolicy, and pinpoint policyoptions and solutions that will“genuinely improve the quality oflife of Canadians.”

In addition to living standardsand healthy populations the CIWis tracking changes in six otherquality-of-life categories includingcommunity vitality, ecosystemhealth, educated populace, use oftime, arts and culture, and civicengagement. �

26

Gap Between Rich and Poor Widening, Youth ReportLower Quality of LifeBY MICHELLE STRUTZENBERGER, Axiomnews.ca, October 26, 2007

For more information, see www.ciw.ca

progress,” according to Michalos.Michalos, who attended the

forum, says he has never seen any-

thing like this in the close to 40years he has been working in thefield but it’s something he’s been

waiting for.“It’s been a long time coming,”

he says. �