Are Canadians Really Less Compassionate?

I came across the Maclean’s article last April and I admit that it set me to some serious thinking.  Headlined, “The Rise of an Uncaring Canada,” the words of writer Andray Domise represented a troubling portent.  They alluded to the decline of support for immigration and linked to an EKOS poll showing that 40% of those Canadians asked said they believed there are “too many visible minorities coming to Canada.”

Then last week came a Global News story regarding a Fraser Institute study with the headline, “Canadians are giving less to charity than they have in the last twenty years.”  The story went on to note that Canadians donated 0.54% of their income to charity in 2017.  Compare that to Americans, who donated three times that amount – 1.25% - in the same year.

Numerous charities have claimed that givings are down this year in communities across the country.  And yet NLogic’s survey of last year discovered that 72% of Canadians said they donated to a charity in the past 12 months and that 35% of adults said they donated more than $100 per year.  Canada Helps also reported that only 33% of Canadians actually claimed a charitable donation on their taxes in 2017 – down 3% from 2010.

If you’re confused by all this, it’s understandable.  It does appear that Canadians are giving less, but it’s also true that more and more of them are finding themselves in economically stringent circumstances – work with no benefits, lack of affordable housing, lower wages.

With all this going on, it was a remarkable thing to learn of how our own city’s food bank had garnered significant amounts of support in food, money and volunteers during this December.  The CBC’s Sounds of the Season spent the entire month focused on poverty and hunger stories.  London’s Grand Theatre collected huge sums for the food bank from their month-long run of Mary Poppins.  And then topping it all off came the announcement that the city’s business community, through the Business Cares initiative, collected half a million pounds of food – an amount so vast that the food bank warehouse simply couldn’t immediately house it all.  Hundreds of food drives were going on around the city in an outpouring of compassion.

What’s going on?  Are we more generous or less so?  And what does it say about our reputation as a generous nation?

We do know that donations and government aid to humanitarian efforts around the world are in decline.  And we also understand that with the rising challenge of homelessness, food insecurity, mental illness and employment unpredictability, the disposable income for millions of Canadians is not what it once was.  

Yet as governments continue in their retreat from public sector responsibilities and citizens themselves become ever more politically divided, remarkable stories of human compassion emanate from every rural and urban area of the country.  For those involved in such ventures, however, as with the London Food Bank volunteers this month, and for those involved in numerous other charities around the city, there abides this sense that Canadians remain infused with the willingness to give.

It is likely that both sides of this are true: Canadians are giving less but opening up to the challenges of those in need at the same time.  These are years of transition where citizens often feel a sense of hopelessness as social problems continue to mount and solutions are rare.  They are also years in which we are finding new and creative ways to reach out to people and a planet in dire need of assistance.

This much we do know: the failure at a systems level to care for those marginalized is ultimately what is bringing us down.  All the charitable giving in the world cannot compensate for the decline of social program funding, for governments not living up to their social justice commitments, and for citizens and their lack of commitment to a fairer tax system.  Many grouse whenever taxes are introduced into discussions, but without effective revenues, governments simply can’t, or won’t, deliver on their commitments and charitable giving just can't make up the difference.  

Such a reality ends up leaving us in a world like that captured by Charles Dickens – great acts of individual charity undermined by the lack of effective public policy.  In such a world, donating to a cause is highlighted while leaving problems unsolved is not.  This ironic duality can only increase the more we neglect the great social ills that confront us.

It is the Christmas, Hanukkah and holiday season, and the amount of human giving going on is truly remarkable and heart-warming.  Canadians are pursuing and supporting great acts of charity in ways that are inspiring and commendable.  But more will be required each and every year until we come together in ways that change systems of neglect, poverty and human insecurity.  That’s just the way it is. We are turning out to be generous and miserly at the same time - the great Canadian contradiction that requires a renewing sense of collective responsibility and solidarity, especially during this season.