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What we've lost (5): Service

Fewer Canadians are willing to help their neighbours and build a better society

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The last 10 or 15 years have not been kind to Canada. Along with a decline in prosperity has come an erosion of the things that made our society great, a decline of what held us together and made us the envy of the world: things like resilience, friendship and service. In this series, National Post writers consider What We’ve Lost.

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If, as Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus claims, super-happiness comes from helping others, then Canada is becoming a sadder place. In the last decade, the number of Canadians willing to give their time in the service of others has plummeted.

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One primary reason is that an older cohort of Canadians who could be relied upon to offer a helping hand are aging out and not being replaced by a younger set.

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This crisis in the volunteer sector is also a reflection on Canada. Our technocratic, individualized society is lonelier, less physically connected and in danger of becoming less compassionate and caring.

“The data doesn’t signal a shift — it signals a breakdown,” said Joanne McKiernan, executive director of Volunteer Toronto, in a press release last year.

“When both types of volunteerism and charitable giving decline together, it signals a fraying social fabric.”

McKiernan was commenting on figures released last year by Statistics Canada, showing that the number of hours volunteered by Canadians dropped 18 per cent between 2018 (five-billion hours) and 2023 (4.1-billion hours).

The biggest decline in formal volunteering — working for charitable or non-profit organizations — was among the 25-34 age group. The volunteer rate among that cohort was down by almost a quarter and volunteer hours dropped 28 per cent.

The rate of informal volunteering, such as maintaining public spaces or helping friends and neighbours, was also down, dropping from 74 per cent in 2018 to 66 per cent in 2023.

“The decline in the rate of informal volunteering is due to fewer volunteers involved in improving the community,” noted Statistics Canada.

Imagine Canada, an organization that works to strengthen the non-profit and charitable sectors, noted that the decline in the percentage of Canadians volunteering for such organizations was part of a trend. In 2013, 44 per cent of Canadians volunteered. In 2018, it was 41 per cent. And five years later, it was down to a third of people.

The Statistics Canada survey also noted that the number of people donating money to charities or religious institutions decreased from 68 per cent in 2018 to just over half (54 per cent) five years later, although Canadians still contributed $13.4 billion.

This follows a 2021 Statistics Canada survey, which looked more closely at age groups and motivation in volunteering.

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Those born in 1996 or later (called “iGens”) had the highest rate of formal volunteering (52 per cent), but older Canadians, born between 1918 and 1945 (“Matures”) logged almost three times the average number of volunteer hours (222 versus 82 for iGens).

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The younger people were motivated to volunteer to improve their job prospects, according to Statistics Canada, while the Matures cited their skills or desire to support a political or social cause.

But while age does have a major influence on volunteering, it must be remembered that the COVID pandemic was also a strong factor, along with an economy that has had a dramatic impact on families.

Still, the notion that community and helping one’s neighbour is fundamental, not just to society but to one’s own well-being, has been expressed throughout the ages by religious figures, politicians, philosophers and academics.

“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me,” said Jesus Christ on the importance of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and caring for the sick. The Buddha, meanwhile, espoused the Four Noble Virtues: loving-kindness, compassion, equanimity and joy in the well-being of others.

Aristotle taught that a man’s true happiness was tied to his being a social animal. The 18th-century British philosopher Edmund Burke said the best lives were lived in the “little platoons” of family, church and local community. And in a 1987 interview, then-British prime minister Margaret Thatcher said, “It is our duty to look after ourselves and then also to help look after our neighbour.”

Today, Martin Seligman, the father of positive psychology, whose life work has centred on what makes us happy, has concluded that the truly “meaningful life” means using “your signature strengths and virtues in the service of something much larger than you are.”

But if Canadians feel increasingly disconnected from society, they have no motivation to improve it.

“As a society, we have become increasingly disconnected and isolated, and as a result, it is harder than ever for individuals to see their role in making change,” read a 2024 report from CanadaHelps, a public foundation dedicated to philanthropy.

Disturbingly, it also noted that, “Over the past decade, the number of Canadians with six or more close friends has declined by 40 per cent, and just under half of Canadians feel lonely.”

Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 after becoming a “banker” to the poorest of the poor and transforming their lives.

“Making money is a happiness. And that’s a great incentive,” he once said. “Making other people happy is a super-happiness.”

The principle of serving others and stretching out a helping hand is vital to the health of this country, but it is even more crucial for the people and society as a whole.

Next up in What we’ve lost: Nationalism

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