Under the direction of Prof. Chris Barrington-Leigh and Jennifer Proudfoot, the Department of Equity, Ethics and Policy is leading a new collaborative initiative involving a growing group of organizations and individuals from public, private, academic and community sectors with a shared interest in advancing and supporting evidence-informed wellbeing policy approaches in Canada. Primary partners co-leading this initiative include individuals from Engage Nova Scotia, UNICEF Canada, and the National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy. Core members include individuals from the Federal government Departments of Finance, Statistics Canada, ECCC, ESDC, PHAC, and the Treasury Board Secretariat; the Government of Nova Scotia, QC, and Yukon; Cities of Montreal, Vancouver, and Edmonton; the Canadian Index of Wellbeing; Vancouver Economic Forum; Tamarack Institute; National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health; Happy City; Generation Squeeze; the BC First Nations Public Service Secretariat, and Montreal Public Health.
Canadian Wellbeing Knowledges Network:
“Wellbeing policy” is gaining momentum worldwide. There is an emerging global movement to bring better concepts and measures of human wellbeing to the centre of policy-making.
The Canadian federal government, several provinces and an increasing number of municipal governments and community organizations are approaching policy and budget decisions based on a growing body of knowledge about what makes life good. A global pandemic has also increased public understanding of what really matters for wellbeing and there is a call for governments to make wellbeing or quality-of-life a central policy objective and source of accountability for current and future generations.
A growing group of organizations and individuals from public, private, academic and community sectors are coming together to build a Canadian Wellbeing Knowledges Network to share ideas for advancing and supporting wellbeing policy approaches in Canada. As first steps in a process to develop the CWKN, in 2022-2023, we are hosting a series of dialogues, workshops and other knowledge-sharing activities to engage diverse individuals, organizations, and communities who aspire to change the conversation and practice around wellbeing and policy. All are welcome.
Our common purpose is to:
- provide opportunities for people to engage in catalytic conversations and idea sharing about how they conceptualize, measure, research or support wellbeing and how policy decisions can use a wellbeing lens
- build, exchange and leverage our collective knowledge on the latest wellbeing policy evidence, initiatives and practices
- activate and strengthen a cross-sectoral and inclusive collaboration network for wellbeing policy across Canada
For more information please contactjennifer.proudfoot [at] mcgill.ca ( Jennifer Proudfoot), Strategic Lead – Partnerships and Knowledge Exchange at the Department of Equity, Ethics and Policy of McGill University.
