John Ivison: How to reverse our unravelling social cohesion

The intriguing conclusion of a new book by former British prime minister Gordon Brown is that western societies are experiencing two existential events at the same time.

His book, The Future Starts With Us, points to the well-documented breakup of the international rules-based order. Brown describes it as the consequence of war, mass migration, economic disruption and climate change.

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But it links that failure to the less-charted breakdown in civic life at the community level.

Brown points out that 45 per cent of people in Britain are not a member of anything, not even a gym.

He suggests that research among 100,000 people polled across 45 countries leads to the conclusion these two developments are linked, and are part of a single existential crisis that explains the rise of populist nationalism among people looking for answers.

This is not just a European phenomenon.

A cursory look at the numbers lends credence to the claim that the sense of community across Canada is on the decline.

Membership of Christian faith-based groups has fallen off a cliff this century (although that is not the case for Muslim, Hindu and Sikh religions); Scouts Canada reported a two-thirds decline in numbers in the 20 years to 2021; private sector trade union membership fell by nearly one-fifth in the same period; organized sport participation has seen a proportional decline and so on.

At the same time, Statistics Canada’s social analysis points to a sharp rise in loneliness and severe social isolation.

Nearly two-thirds of Canadians report a weak or non-existent sense of community, while people are spending much less time with friends.

This is hardly a new phenomenon. Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam’s study of the atomization of American communities was published 26 years ago, with its account of the sharp decline in social capital and civic disengagement.

Former U.S. Supreme Court justice David Soutar warned in 2012 that such disengagement would lead to civic ignorance and the rise of a strongman who would threaten American democracy by saying he would fix everything.

But the surge of social media usage and the legacy of the pandemic have put a new complexion on the problem.

Putnam hoped that technology would help foster real human connections. Clearly the opposite has happened with online socialization. Isolation levels have remained stagnant in the wake of the pandemic, a problem not helped by the normalization of tele-working.

The monetary inflation that accompanied COVID resulted in an affordability crisis that remains a barrier to participating in sports or community events. Registering and kitting out the average youth hockey player these days costs an average of $2,500, according to one study.

The revival of our communities has to be generated at the grassroots level.

But here, too, the trends are not encouraging. The volunteer rate fell by eight per cent between 2018 and 2023, according to Statistics Canada.

Megan Conway, the chief executive officer of Volunteer Canada, said this is not just a pandemic anomaly and that there is evidence of a 20-point decline in the volunteer rate over the last decade.

But as Conway notes, the situation is not hopeless. The sense of irrelevance, cultural alienation and the drift towards extremism is not irrevocable, and that, while much is taken, much remains.

One-third of Canadian adults — close to 11 million people — still show up to volunteer for organizations, providing mutual aid, civic care and a bulwark against intolerance and disinformation.

Conway suggests many more people want to participate but just don’t know how. Barriers ranging from the decline of local journalism to the complication of criminal record checks mean either potential volunteers don’t know about opportunities that exist or feel they don’t have time to contribute.

Young Canadians who no longer attend church or the Scouts have not been taught the value of contribution and service.

Conway talks about the need for all levels of governments, local communities and businesses to create an “enabling structure” to promote volunteerism, using the existing network of volunteer centres, libraries and Royal Canadian Legions.

She said there is a role for business in backing support policies for would-be volunteers.

“This needs to be a whole-of-society response,” she said.

Farah Mohamed, an independent senator who is driving volunteer issues in the red chamber, said she is proposing a “national year of service,” which would see young people awarded paid placements that would also include a volunteer element.

There are other suggestions out there to incentivize volunteerism, including introducing a tax deduction for volunteer hours (currently only firefighting and search-and-rescue volunteers qualify).

Gordon Brown recounted in an interview that after World War Two, members of the Resistance were asked why they had joined. He said the most common answer offered was that they were asked by someone they respected.

That suggests a huge, missed opportunity in Canada. Volunteer Canada’s research reveals that older Canadians are the least likely to be asked to volunteer, yet when they commit, they donate twice as much time as other age groups.

That’s not rocket science, but it reflects a less forward-thinking agenda when it comes to healthy Canadians in later life. (The Japanese have long been at the forefront of such policies, with their “silver human-resource centres” that connect retired seniors with part-time community work).

The benefits of an older adult service corps to the country and the economy are clear — from reduced polarization to lower health-care costs.

It is a message Conway hopes will resonate at all levels of Canadian society, up to and including the Prime Minister’s Office.

“It is one of the easiest ways you could unleash the power of everyday Canadians and build a strong and resilient Canada,” she said.

National Post

jivison@criffel.ca