The Caledon Institute of Social Policy, a Canadian social policy think tank, is nearing its crowdfunding goal of raising $20,000 to continue to collect data once gathered by the National Council on Welfare (NCW). As of Thursday, Oct. 10, 2013, the Caledon Institute has raised more than $17,000. The data had been used to create reports titled Welfare Incomes. These reports were the only national source of data that showed the average income of social assistance beneficiaries by household type and province.
Welfare Incomes was abruptly terminated when the Canadian government shut down operations of the NCW in 2012. In an effort to maintain this valuable source of data, the Caledon Institute took over the work of the Council and launched a fundraising campaign to raise enough money to continue collecting this important source of information.
For more information or to donate to the campaign launched by the Caledon Institute of Social Policy see the campaign website, or watch the video below.
The campaign ends on Sunday, Oct. 13, 2013.
Advancements in social policy is dependent on good social and economic data that is current. Without this data, evidence to fund work on social determinants of health is put at jeopardy. The shutting down of the Council also points to a larger issue: with the elimination of multiple surveys intended to collected this vital data, the body of vital information on Canadian demographics is shrinking even further.
CMHA Ontario has been involved in multiple efforts to save social and economic data that is used to advance the research on poverty. In 2012, we were involved in consultations led by the Canadian Council on Social Development to identify the need for and the barriers to accessing this data on a provincial level.
To learn more about CMHA Ontario’s involvement, read our letter to the President of the Treasury Board.