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Complementary Indicator Initiatives

Name of Initiative	Description	Key Contact
Canadian Index of Wellbeing (CIW)	Aims to link the country's economic reality and longer-term economic prosperity with social, health and environmental conditions that shape communities. Measures living standards, how we spend our time, health and education, the integrity of our ecosystem, community vitality and other factors. Will provide a national number that measures change in quality of life over time Involves indicator experts and voluntary organizations from across the country Supported by the Atkinson Charitable Foundation	Lynne Slotek CIW Program Coordinator Atkinson Charitable Foundation 416.869.4009 lslotek@atkinsonfoundation.ca
Federation of Canadian Municipalities' Quality of Life Reporting System	Measures, monitors and reports on the quality of life in Canadian urban municipalities using data from a variety of national and municipal sources	Joshua Bates, Policy Analyst 613.241.5221 ext 234 jbates@fcm.ca Christian Laverdure, Deputy Director, Policy 613.241.5221 ext 268 claverdure@fcm.ca Federation of Canadian Municipalities
Community Social Data Strategy (CSDS)	An initiative of the Canadian Council on Social Development in partnership with Statistics Canada Allows municipalities and community-based organizations to access and analyze detailed Stats Can research cost effectively Created to raise awareness within the municipal and non-profit sectors about using research data to better understand social and economic trends within their communities	Pat Steenberg Project coordinator, Community Social Data Strategy steenberg@ccsd.ca Katherine Scott Vice-President, Research scott@ccsd.ca Canadian Council on Social Development (613) 236-8977
Composite Learning Index (CLI)	The first national learning index in the world Combines several sources of data to generate numeric scores representing the state of lifelong learning in Canada and many communities A high score indicates learning conditions favourable to economic and social success. Learning is not the only factor influencing this success, but in an increasingly knowledge-driven economy, it is a crucial one CLI results released annually to monitor the progress of lifelong learning over time	Marc Lachance Director, Monitoring and Reporting Canadian Council on Learning mlachance@ccl-cca.ca 613.786.3230, ext. 209

Key Sources of Data for Canadian Communities

There are many sources of data on Canadian communities.

Census Community Profiles, Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada makes available to the public at no charge through its website profiles for all communities of Canada based on census data. The 2001 census provides the greatest number of indicators, but there are also data available from the 1996 census. All the data so far released as part of the 2006 census are also available, as will be future releases.

Census Metropolitan Area Research Report Series, Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada has produced 10 analytical reports that provide key background information on the trends and conditions in Canadian Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) across a number of dimensions. Subjects covered include demographics, housing, immigration, aboriginal persons, low income, economic conditions, health, location of work and commuting mode, and culture (See Appendix 1 for a list of the reports). Most reports cover the 1981-2001 period and are largely based on census data. The objective of these reports is to provide statistical measures of trends and conditions in larger metropolitan areas, and neighbourhoods within them. These measures can be used in city planning and in policy assessments of what works to create a healthy city.

Statistics Canada worked on this project in collaboration with the Cities Secretariat of the Privy Council Office.

Atlas of Canada, Natural Resources Canada
The Atlas of Canada, produced by Natural Resources Canada, provides detailed information on the economy, the environment (freshwater and climate change), people and society, health, and history for virtually all communities in Canada. This information, largely derived from census data, can freely accessed on-line.

Quality of Life Reporting System, Federation of Canadian Municipalities
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) has developed a Quality of Life Reporting System (QOLRS) for 22 major Canadian municipalities. The system is organized around ten domains and includes 68 indicators. The domains are (number of indicators in the domain in brackets): demographics and background (10): housing (8); civic engagement (5); community and social infrastructure (7); education (8); employment (4); local economy (5); natural environment (8); personal and community health (6); personal financial security (7); and personal safety (4). In addition to the use of data from Statistics Canada and other agencies which gather data nationally, the FCM also obtained a number of the indicators directly from municipalities. The dataset appears not to have been updated recently, with 2001, or for a small number of indicators 2003, the latest years available.

Composite Learning Index, Canadian Council on Learning

In May 2006, the Canadian Council on Learning (CCL) launched the Composite Learning Index (CLI). This Index is constructed from a large number of learning-related indicators and has been estimated for all CMAs and economic regions in Canada. This characteristic of the Index has required that all indicators be estimated at the CMA, CA, and economic region levels. The CCL has constructed an on-line interactive database where these indicators can be accessed.

Urban Poverty Project, Canadian Council on Social Development
As part of its Urban Poverty Project, the Canadian Council on Social Development (CCSD) has recently published Community Profiles: National Edition. Based on 2001 census data, this publication provides data on 13 critical social indicators in a fact sheet format for 111 places in Canada, including CMA, census districts, census sub-districts, regions and provinces.

Newfoundland Community Accounts
Although not directly relevant for the provision of data for Vital Sign communities, the Community Accounts, developed by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, are an excellent example of an information system providing users at all levels with a reliable source of community, regional, and provincial data.

The Community Accounts constitute a single comprehensive source of community, regional, and provincial data that would normally not be readily available, too costly to obtain, or too time consuming to retrieve and compile. Users can custom generate a limitless number of tables and illustrative graphics on key social and economic indicators organized by geography and data topic within ten distinct accounts: household spending, income, social, health, labour market, production, demographics, education, resource/wealth and environment. An additional account, termed well-being, allows users to compile indicators from each of the above domains to develop a better understanding of the factors that determine the status and progress of their communities and regions. Under this structure, information can be retrieved for 400 communities, 80 census consolidated subdivisions (local areas), 20 economic development zones, and the province. Information can also be retrieved at the level of Rural Secretariat Regions, Health Authorities, School Districts, and Human Resources Development Canada Regions.

Resources for Civic Indicator Development

Developing Civic Indicators
by Paul Reed

Paul Reed, senior social scientist for Statistics Canada and associate director of the Carleton Centre for Applied Social Research, explains why indicator initiatives are mushrooming across North America and identifies the critical ingredients for making these efforts more effective and relevant. Reed defines more than 170 indicators and defines how accessible this data is (or isn't) in the Canadian context for communities with populations of 25,000 or greater. Posted on the Centre for Community Enterprise's website, this paper was written in 2000 and is a key contribution to the development of this field in Canada and beyond.

A Sampling of Community- and Citizen-driven Quality of Life/Societal Indicator Projects
by Barbara Legowski

This Canadian Policy Research Network (CPRN) report, written in 2000, presents the results of a survey of 21 quality of life/societal indicators projects. The projects are for the most part well known examples of quality of life and societal indicator initiatives. Fourteen of the projects involved citizens.