Canadians are an optimistic bunch. When we compare ourselves globally, Canadians report some of the highest levels of happiness in the world—we tie with Sweden in fifth place, clocking in behind other chilly countries like Denmark and Finland. The World Happiness Report, published in 2013 by the United Nations Conference on Happiness, reports that higher “life evaluation” scores can be linked to political freedoms, a society free of grift, and good social support networks.
But happiness surveys capture only our current moment. Reviewing how optimistic Canadians feel can reveal general attitudes about the country’s future, both on a personal and national level. In a 2005 study from the Canadian government, nearly 75% of Canadian reported feeling optimistic about their futures, representing a five-point raise since 1998. Today, Canadians report feeling optimistic about everything from the Toronto Blue Jays’ playoff chances to the housing market: there is a nationally-held belief that overall, things are improving.
Peter MacLeod, a partner at the Toronto-based consulting firm MASS LBP, might frame the question of optimism through a different lens. “There are three things that really interest me: the future of responsible government; the citizen’s experience of the state; and the vitality of our public imagination,” he says. In recent years, MASS has looked both forwards and backwards to gain a sense of where Canada might be going: they’ve published a dissertation about Canada’s Centennial celebrations in 1967, and also organized a 2010 conference about the upcoming sesquicentennial in 2017.
“The reason I became interested in the 150th isn’t just because I like fireworks and birthday cake—although those are nice things—it’s that when I was looking for a high-water mark for public engagement and public imagination in this country, anyone would have to look back to 1967 and the centennial.” MacLeod reels off some of the major civic and cultural milestones in the years leading up to 1967: the development of the Bill of Rights, socialized medicine, marriage reform, and the decriminalization of homosexuality, among others. “We had a massive surge of social legislation, accompanied by important symbolic changes: a new flag, a new anthem, the construction of major cultural institutions. We set out, in the decade before the centennial, to address what RBC at the time called the major cultural deficits affecting this country.”
Consensus-building and civic engagement are key tools for cultivating optimism.
The result, says MacLeod, was a shift from an Anglo-Saxon and Francophone country into one that was deliberately multicultural. He predicts a similar groundswell of change for the country in the decade after 2017, in which Canadians of all ages take a long, hard look at our relationship with the country’s First Peoples. MacLeod is, of course, optimistic about the undertaking. “In the decade following 2017, we have to reimagine ourselves again for new times. The single most important issue is our reconciliation with our First Peoples. That is an essential, fundamentally hopeful project, requiring the full force of our youngest generation to reimagine the country anew.”
Canada’s youngest generation was the topic of a
2014 survey from Ipsos Reid, and commissioned by RBC, which asked young people ages 10 to 25 for their attitudes about life and the future. The result of the survey, which was the first of its kind, revealed some surprising insights. Girls reported being happier than boys, while boys reported being more excited about the future. 51% of young respondents reported feeling that mentorship was an important factor in gaining knowledge and confidence. And, most tellingly, while most Canadian youth aged 10-13 (90%) and 14 to 17 (82%) self-identified as ‘happy,' a mere seven in 10 youth aged 18 to 21 (70%) and 22 to 25 (70%) reported the same.
As Lynn Patterson, the Director of Corporate Responsibility at RBC, puts it: “Optimism drops like a stone at 18 and 19.” She calls it an “epidemic,” but that doesn’t mean she’s a pessimist. In 2013, RBC committed to helping one million kids around the world, pledging $100-million to after-school programs and organizations that build self-esteem and sports literacy.
It’s a long-term approach that she hopes will help soften that drop in optimism. “We might be looking at seeds of pessimism that have been sown at 14 that only come to light at 18,” she says. RBC tries to curb that drop beginning with programs aimed at school-age kids, like after-school homework clubs. They continue that support throughout high school and into university with sports clubs, like Learn to Play. “Learn to Play is about physical literacy and making sure kids have the movement skills. We’ve got newcomers in Canada who don’t yet know how to skate and swim, and we’re working on that.”
RBC also focuses on mental health, including an innovative program at George Brown College. “They developed a really visionary plan, that included a student-driven mental health awareness campaign, a Mental Health 101 credit course, better training opportunities for staff, implementation of early mental health issue identification tools and a student mentor program,” says Patterson. RBC donated over $500,000 to the program, which will also include meditation and yoga spaces. (According to the UN, easy access to mental health resources has been an indicator of increased happiness in national populations.) “This is a program to help provide support for young people at a point when they are vulnerable and their optimism is waning.”
Programs that build resilience help kids avoid what Brian Price calls “the pit.” Price is the coxswain for the Canadian National Men’s Eight rowing team, which won gold at the 2008 Olympics and silver in 2012. “The best quote I ever heard was from an athlete who beat me, who said you can’t get too high in the highs and too low in the lows,” Price says. As a survivor of childhood cancer (he was diagnosed with leukaemia at the age of seven), Price “always wanted to be six-foot-four,” but his small stature turned out to be a boon when he discovered rowing. “I played sports as a kid, and I was always on the bench, but I did it because I enjoyed it. But when I got into rowing, I thought, ‘
Holy smokes, this is perfect for me.’ And all those other experiences will contribute to how well I do that.”
Price believes that true optimism comes from recognizing both the positive and negative sides of an issue. “I’ve found that, when some people say positive thinking, it means not saying any negative. But that’s doing a disservice to the person. My coach was an old-school British guy who would call you out if you weren’t doing something right, but he would also help you figure out how to correct it.” Even losing had an unexpected upside: it taught him that he “never wanted to feel like that again. I know what we have to do in order to achieve.”
As Canada moves towards celebrating its 150th anniversary, these lessons in resilience, achievement, failure and optimism can help Canadians maintain their bright outlook. As Peter MacLeod puts it, “Everyone is essential. Everyone is capable. Everyone has responsibilities, and responsibilities to create vibrant, engaged community.” In short, everyone has something to look forward to.
