Joy, Happiness, and Hope for the Future
Everyone is able to be happy, feel ease, and have the time and freedom to enjoy life. People have hope, can imagine the future, and don’t feel trapped in cycles of poverty and isolation.
“It’s just a grim future. I’m not very optimistic about the future at all. Like not at all.” – St. John’s, NL
“It’s beyond hurt. Hurt was so far back. I wish it was hard. But it’s desperate. The government needs to hear that, it’s desperate, it’s not hard. Not asking for easy, asking for some sort of hope for a future for my life, for my child.” -Calgary, AB
“Because of poverty some people go to work for seven days. They don’t enjoy the summer.” -Toronto, ON
| Measure | Indicator | Data Source |
|---|---|---|
| Having hope for the future | Percentage of the population who has a hopeful view of the future | Canada Quality of Life Framework, Canadian Social Survey and General Social Survey |
| Feeling happy | Percentage of population aged 18 years and older who report being usually happy and interested in life | Statistics Canada, Canadian Community Health Survey |
| Freedom from despair, struggle, and suffering | Percentage of Canadians who are satisfied or very satisfied with their life | Statistics Canada. Table 13-10-0096-01 Health characteristics, annual estimates, CIF 3.5.1 |
| Freedom from fear and worry | Proxy: Perceived life stress rates | Statistics Canada, Canadian Community Health Survey |
| People laugh and smile in your community | Recommendation: Percentage of people who notice others in their community laughing and/or smiling regularly | Gap |
| Communities are kind and loving | Recommendation: Percentage of people who feel their communities are kind and loving | Gap |
| Being able to enjoy time off | Proxy: Proportion of the population by level of satisfaction with how they use their time; Average percentage of time spent on previous day in social leisure activities | Canada Quality of Life Framework, Canadian Social Survey and General Social Survey; Canadian Index of Wellbeing |
| Having access to nature and connecting with the beauty of the natural world | Proportion of the population by level of satisfaction with the quality of their local environment; Percentage of population who visit a park or green space that is close to home | Canada Quality of Life Framework, Canadian Social Survey; Statistics Canada, Households and the Environment Survey, Table 38-10-0020-01 |
| Communities have music, art, and beauty | Proxy: Average percentage of time spent on previous day in arts and culture activities | Canadian Index of Wellbeing |
| Being able to identify parts of your community that are working well | Recommendation: Percentage of people who feel that at least some things are working well in their community | Gap |
| Having a sense of ease and agency | Recommendation: Percentage of people who feel like they have the life they want | Gap |
Recommendation: existing indicator and data source partially fulfill the measure.
Gap: gap for data source where it does not exist.
Magenta: existing indicator in Canadian Indicator Framework