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Of course, that answer makes no sense to the mice. Forty-two seems plucked out of
thin air, a number with no relation to anything. With absurd, wry humour, Adams
skewers our conflicting tendencies to ask enormous questions yet strive for simple,
tidy answers. And he laughs at the conundrum we face when the answer bears little
relation to the questions asked, or makes no sense when it comes to evaluating “life,
the universe and everything.”
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“There should be some place where we can all go to get a relatively reliable and
valid assessment of the world that we’re living in,” says Alex Michalos, director
of the Institute for Social Research and Evaluation at the University of Northern
British Columbia. Michalos is working with a national working group of about 20
researchers on the new Canadian Index of Wellbeing (CIW). The group includes representatives
from Statistics Canada and Environment Canada, and researchers from eight universities
and six non-government research organizations across Canada (see CIW map on page
3). The work is also part of a broader international effort to measure the things
that count: the CIW researchers have been working closely with their counterparts
in New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, and elsewhere.
An answer to everything?
The CIW won’t come up with the answer to everything, but its aim is still ambitious.
And the questions it asks are every bit as important as the answers it offers. It
aims to assess whether Canadians are better off or worse off than they used to be—not
just materially or based on how fast the economy is growing, but in terms of their
overall wellbeing. By doing so, it will become Canada’s core, central measure of
progress, and it will relegate the Gross Domestic Product to the function for which
it was originally designed and intended: measuring the overall size of the market
economy.
“The Canadian Index of Wellbeing is intended to be a measure of the quality of life
of all Canadians,” says Michalos. “You could think of an Index of Wellbeing as a
kind of index of people’s life chances—that is the probabilities of good or bad
things happening to them as they go through their lives.”
Measuring wellbeing in 7 areas
Researchers working on the new Index are looking at seven specific areas or “domains”
that affect the lives of everyone. The Living Standards domain, for example, will
measure incomes and jobs; the gap between rich and poor; food and livelihood security;
and affordable housing. The Healthy Populations domain will assess the health status
and health outcomes of different groups of Canadians, as well as risk factors and
conditions that affect health and disease. The Community Vitality domain will assess
social cohesion, personal security and safety, and people’s sense of social and
cultural belonging. Other domains will measure the quality of the environment, the
educational attainment of the population, and the amount of free time that people
can devote to social, family and cultural pursuits. Finally, the CIW will measure
people’s civic engagement, and how responsive governing bodies are to citizens’
needs and views.
The CIW will release its first report in the fall, on three core areas of wellbeing
that matter to Canadians: healthy populations, living standards and time use.
“If you look at what people have said about what makes a ‘good life’ going back
to at least the 5th century BC, they will say things like: ‘Well, if you have health,
if you have somebody who loves you, if you have financial security and you live
in a friendly community and have decent housing, then you’re having a fairly good
life,’” says Michalos. “So the Canadian Index of Wellbeing is about that kind of
common sense.”
According to Dr. Robert McMurtry, a physician in London, Ontario, who serves on
the Health Council of Canada, the new Index gathers leading-edge indicator research
from around the country into an integrated and comprehensive measure of wellbeing
for Canada. Such a measure could guide politicians and policy-makers in making more
informed choices.
McMurtry, who worked with Roy Romanow at the Commission on the Future of Health
Care, says the CIW project is the next logical step for those interested in improving
Canadians’ health and wellbeing. He adds that the project grew out of a meeting
to discuss the implications of the Romanow Report in December 2002. At that meeting,
he met Charles Pascal, Executive Director of the Atkinson Charitable Foundation.
Romanow, Atkinson, and the Wellbeing Index: a “natural fit”
“It occurred to me that there is a natural link between the work that the Atkinson
Foundation is doing promoting new measures of progress and Mr. Romanow’s work on
health care,” McMurtry recalls. “I knew that Mr. Romanow would be interested in
it. Having worked with him, I realized that he was very concerned about the health
care system and what it meant to Canadians, but he also had concerns about the wellbeing
of Canadians that went beyond that. I thought what a perfect, natural fit it would
be.”
McMurtry became co-chair of a committee working to further the development of the
Canadian Index of Wellbeing. For its part, the Atkinson Foundation has committed
over $1.5 million to date toward the initiative. Other key funders plan to become
partners in what organizers describe as the “nation-building work” of the CIW.
“The Canadian Index of Wellbeing is about the reality and complexity of life. When
it’s mature, I can see it taking on an enormous importance to Canadians,” McMurtry
says. “It would become part of the discourse of day-to-day life, if you will—the
discussion around the water cooler.”
CIW will hold governments accountable
McMurtry adds that the CIW would give people the information they need to question
politicians about the choices they make. He cites access to education as an example.
It’s well known that the better education people get, the better off they are. The
Index of Wellbeing would therefore rise as the quality and level of education increase.
But it would decline if, for example, access to post-secondary education were threatened
by any number of factors, including higher levels of student debt. “Is it really
a good idea for the long-term future of our country to under-emphasize education
and choose tax cuts ahead of educating our young?” McMurtry asks. He says a rising
or falling Index of Wellbeing would give voters the specific information they need
to hold politicians accountable. It would also be simple to track: one coherent,
integrated framework that would become the new, core measure of Canada’s progress.
McMurtry notes that the CIW will also report on which parts of the country are doing
better or worse—not just in material terms, but in overall quality of life. Toronto
might have higher average incomes than Charlottetown, for example—but it might also
have higher levels of poverty and crime, and dirtier air.
Alex Michalos says it’s vital that Canadians themselves have a say in how the new
Index is set up. “The Index is only going to work if Canadians hear their own voices
in the product that we produce,” he says. “When you’re talking about a measure that
claims to be a measure of the good life, you really have to ask people what they
think the good life is like.”
Stats you can take to the bank — for all political stripes
Michalos is part of a working group that is planning public consultations as the
Index is developed, to ensure that the new measures properly reflect the values
of Canadians in an inclusive way. The consultations will make particular efforts
to reach out to marginalized communities like Canada’s First Nations, who may not
have a voice in their own health and wellbeing.
In addition, Michalos says it’s important that the Index produce information people
can trust. “Our stance has to be like Statistics Canada in the sense that they produce
reliable and valid numbers, and it doesn’t matter what political stripe you are
or what axe you want to grind, there should be some place where we can all go to
get a relatively reliable and valid assessment of the world that we’re living in.”
It also helps that key Statistics Canada experts are involved in the project, he
says.
Everyone involved with the CIW agrees that compiling the new Index is a monumental
long-term initiative. It aims to transform how we measure progress and—using its
suite of social, economic and environmental indicators—determine the wellbeing of
Canadians.
“I c“I could see it being something that would excite people,” he says. “It would
make an impact on their lives because they are more educated, they have more insight
as a result of the information the CIW provides. The final point I’d make about
it is, when people are better informed, that imparts a sense of control as opposed
to helplessness and then hope is not far behind. One of the most important things
you can do for people is to ensure hope.”
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