Misleading information presented as the truth.

The physical, social and emotional supports  for formal and informal learning.

The rate at which people are born and die.

Emotional, psychological and social well being.

In any given year, 1 in 5 Canadians experiences a mental illness.

By the time Canadians reach 40 years of age, 1 in 2 have – or have had – a mental illness.Young people aged 15 to 24 are more likely to experience mental illness and/or substance use disorders than any other age group.

39% of Ontario high-school students indicate a moderate-to-serious level of psychological distress (symptoms of anxiety and depression). A further 17% indicate a serious level of psychological distress. Men have higher rates of substance use disorders than women, while women have higher rates of mood and anxiety disorders.

Mental and physical health are linked. People with a long-term physical health condition such as chronic pain are much more likely to also experience mood disorders. Conversely, people with a mood disorder are at much higher risk of developing a long-term medical condition.

The annual economic cost of mental illness in Canada is estimated at over $50 billion per year. This includes health care costs, lost productivity, and reductions in health-related quality of life.

(SOURCE: CAMH)

The physical, social and emotional infrastructure for older adults.

Individual behaviour and actions based on prejudice on someone’s skin colour.

For 85 per cent of the population, that Canada is home to people from different races and ethnicities betters the nation. Canadians of all regions of the country, age groups, political ideologies and ethnic backgrounds agree on this point.

More Key Findings:

• Three-quarters of Canadians over the age of 55 disagree that Canada is a racist country, while 54 per cent of women between the ages of 18 and 34 say that it is

• One-in-five Canadians (21%) say that they feel like they are treated as an outsider in Canada. This proportion is 17 per cent among Caucasians, 30 per cent among Indigenous respondents and 29 per cent among visible minorities.
• One-quarter of Canadians feel “cold” toward Muslims, more than any other group asked about in the survey. Men over the age of 55 (42%) and Quebecers (37%) are among the most likely to say that.
• Most Albertans (54%) and Saskatchewanians (57%) believe exaggerating racism is a bigger problem in Canada than not seeing racism where it exists.
• Yet residents of Saskatchewan (44%) were the most likely to agree that Canada is a racist country. Residents of Quebec (24%) were the least likely.

(SOURCE: Angus Reid)

A cheap and moldable material.

There are increasing high levels of man-made pollution in many of the world’s seas and little actually disappears. 

By 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the world’s oceans.Industry experts expect that by 2050 we will be producing three times as much plastic as we do today; on a volume basis, the WEF sees that by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the world’s oceans. 

Millions of tonnes of waste plastic finds its way into waterways and oceans every year, getting mixed up in the food chain, trapping pollutants, and choking animal life.

But three Turkish researchers believe they may have created a product which could help take the place of disposable plastic. And it comes from a sustainable, renewable source – olives.

(SOURCE: BBC)

Information pathways created by wire, radio, optical, and electromagnetic systems.

The future of the telecommunications industry is a starkly different landscape than even three years ago, making telco trends for 2022 more of telco must-haves.

Multiple factors play a huge role in the very survival of telcos within the upcoming decade, including:

1. Changing consumer habits and preferences
2. Cyber-security and regulatory compliance
3. Increased competition

As telcos double-down on infrastructure, there’s also a need to align with overall business goals and priorities.

(SOURCE: The Future of Commerce) 

Simulated and immersive environments that mimic the real world or alternative worlds.

Demonstrated learning and knowledge performed by machines that can mimic the natural world.

Businesses have certainly endured roadblocks and challenges in the automation journey. An AI ‘trust gap’ has prevailed amid a lack of quality data and an ensuing reluctance to hand critical business decisions over to machines. No one wants to risk ‘getting it wrong’ with AI. A lack of quality data was cited as a significant barrier to value creation by more than 60 percent of executives we surveyed in 2020 as the pandemic unfolded.

Insufficient policies and regulations governing appropriate data use have also limited success. AI has the power to revolutionize how work gets done and how decisions get made, but it needs to be deployed responsibly. For AI to be productive and accepted across the enterprise, it must be explainable, transparent and trusted. More than 50 percent of executives we surveyed in 2020 cited a lack of AI ethics guidelines as a barrier to adoption and progress.

While barriers to AI success have not been eradicated, COVID-19s massive impact has unexpectedly catapulted intelligent automation and AI to the fore. The pandemic has revealed the importance of speed in a world where ‘business as usual’ has rapidly turned to ‘business as unusual.’ The ensuing disruption and increase in remote working is propelling AI implementation to new heights.

Intelligent automation and AI are now poised to exert a game-changing impact on every aspect of 21st century enterprises – revolutionizing the future of work, data use, organizational efficiency, customer and employee experiences, risk management and more.

(SOURCE: KPMG)

The extraction of dead plant and animal materials burned to create an energy source.

A computer-generated object created using layers and layers of materials, typically plastic, liquids or powdered grains.

DELOITTE Global predicts that sales related to 3D printing (also known as additive manufacturing) by large public companies—including enterprise 3D printers, materials, and services—will surpass US$2.7 billion in 2019 and top US$3 billion in 2020. (For context, the global manufacturing sector’s revenue as a whole totals roughly US$12 trillion annually) 

This part of the 3D printing industry will grow at about 12.5 percent in each of those years, more than double its growth rate just a few years ago.

3D printing is experiencing this inflection point likely because companies across multiple industries are increasingly using it for more than just rapid prototyping. 3D printers today are capable of printing a greater variety of materials (which mainly means more metal printing and less plastic printing, although plastic will likely still predominate); they print objects faster than they used to, and they can print larger objects (build volume). 

A steady stream of new entrants is expanding the market. 3D printing is considered “an essential ingredient” in Industry 4.0, the marriage of advanced production and operations techniques with smart digital technologies that is being heralded as the “Fourth Industrial Revolution.”

(SOURCE: Deloitte)

The science or practice of farming, growing crops, and/or domesticating animals to create a food source for people.

Workers engaged in temporary work arrangements or contracts.

Gig work is becoming increasingly prevalent in Canada as platform economy technological disruption sweeps north. Gig work can allow workers the flexibility required to pursue other responsibilities, such as family obligations or educational pursuits, but this type of work often becomes a substitute for more secure employment. In response to this inherent precarity, what protections and employment policies do gig workers favour?

Our work suggests that:

• Gig workers favour government policy that will increase the amount of workplace protections for them, including paid breaks, the right to unionize and recourse for wrongful dismissal;
• Half of gig workers surveyed in Canada indicate they prefer gig work because of the flexibility it offers;
• Across the board, gig workers are overwhelmingly in favour of government action to stabilize gig work.

(SOURCE:PP Forum) 

A person who organizes, operates, and assumes the risk for a business venture.

Canada is undergoing an entrepreneurial resurgence – In 2018, about 44,700 Canadians started a business, the highest number in a decade. This points to a resurgence in new entrepreneurial activity, which has increased in three of the last four years. – The increase in new entrepreneurial activity is changing the face of entrepreneurship in Canada. 

Younger Canadians are jumping into entrepreneurship in large numbers, while baby boomers are choosing entrepreneurship late in their careers. At the same time, more newcomers, women and highly educated Canadians are turning to entrepreneurship. – Today, we estimate that roughly 28% of all entrepreneurs are women, while 40 years ago it was 11%. There were 241,000 women entrepreneurs in Canada in 2018, up from 49,000 in 1976. If the current trend continues, the numbers of new female and male entrepreneurs should reach parity by 2030.

(SOURCE: BDC)

Individual access to physical assets or income opportunities.

An economic asset that only exists in digital form.

The cryptocurrency world took off last year. The total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies now exceeds $0.9 trillion. And it’s estimated that there are over 300 million crypto users worldwide.

Financial institutions and large corporations have traditionally viewed the cryptocurrency ecosystem with skepticism. Today, many institutions are actively allocating capital to this area.

Nowhere has this become more apparent than the asset management industry. By the end of 2020, $15 billion of institutional assets under management had been allocated to the crypto asset class. 

(SOURCE: Exploding Topics)

The effort or inclination to increase the well-being of humankind, as by charitable aid or donations.

There is a steady decline in the number of Canadians that donate to charities, and an increased reliance on a smaller group of aging donors to give. Meanwhile, over the last two years, charities saw a decline in overall giving due to pressures of the pandemic and now this is expected to worsen due to the troubling rise in inflation. This is all happening while many charities have faced a drastic rise in demand that they are struggling to keep up with.

Charities are a key part of Canada’s social safety net, providing food, shelter, and life-saving aid when existing programs fall short. Charities also improve the quality of life for all Canadians through youth programs, arts and cultural festivals, protecting our parks and wildlife, supporting senior citizens, providing mental health crisis counselling, and so much more.

The “giving gap” is a trend whereby older Canadians are giving financially at twice the rate of younger Canadians, which indicates that charities will face a major shortfall in funding when older donors are no longer able to give. 

(SOURCE: Canada Helps)

The physical spaces where individuals live.

In 2023 and 2024, the growth in prices will moderate with sales and starts activity remaining above long-run averages. Homeownership affordability will decline, with the growth in prices expected to outpace income growth. Rental affordability is also set to decline from increasing rental demand and low stocks of rental housing. The growth in prices will likely continue to be led by markets with already low listings, including Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal. Supply constraints on construction will continue to impact major centres and especially Vancouver and Toronto, highlighting the central role of housing supply in determining affordability.

The outlook is subject to important risks, including:

• Slower growth in housing supply leading to faster price growth;
• Stronger inflation pressures and interest rate increases leading to weaker starts and sales levels, and slower price growth, and;
• Resurgent infection rates and restrictions also weakening demand and price growth.

(SOURCE: CMHC)

General increase in the prices of goods and services in an economy.

The rate of consumer inflation continued to rise, reaching 8.1% year over year in June, following a 7.7% gain in May. The increase was the largest yearly change since January 1983. The acceleration in June was mainly due to higher prices for gasoline, however, price increases remained broad-based with seven of eight major components rising by 3% or more.

Excluding gasoline, the CPI rose 6.5% year over year in June, following a 6.3% increase in May.

On a monthly basis, the CPI rose 0.7% in June, following a 1.4% increase in May. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the CPI was up 0.6%.

On average, prices rose faster than hourly wages, which increased 5.2% in the 12 months to June, based on data from the Labour Force Survey.

(SOURCE: StatsCan)

Drinking water is water that is used in drink or food preparation; potable water is water that is safe to be used as drinking water.

Globally, by 2015, 89% of people had access to water from a source that is suitable for drinking – called improved water source.In sub-Saharan Africa, access to potable water ranged from 40% to 80% of the population. 

Nearly 4.2 billion people worldwide had access to tap water, while another 2.4 billion had access to wells or public taps.The World Health Organization considers access to safe drinking-water a basic human right.

About 1 to 2 billion people lack safe drinking water. Water can carry vectors of disease. More people die from unsafe water than from war, then-U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said in 2010. Third world countries are most affected by lack of water, flooding, and water quality. Up to 80 percent of illnesses in developing countries are the direct result of inadequate water and sanitation.

(SOURCE: Wikipedia)

Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials.

Drier than normal moisture conditions typically caused by a shortage of precipitation.

An insect, often confused for a wasp.

Group of warm-blooded vertebrates typically with feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight skeleton.

Unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation starting in rural and urban areas.

In recent years, media coverage and academic discussions of extreme fire activity have fostered the belief among some Canadians that the country is suffering from a rising trend of destruction from forest fires. During the period of reliable data from 1959 to 2019, it is true that there has been a rising trend in fire activity calculated over the entire six decades. However, a closer inspection of the data show that there was a sharp increase in destruction caused by forest fires in the first half of this period, and a general decline in the second half. The all-time peak of fire activity in 1989 involved some 7.6 million hectares burned, while the most recent national data show only 1.8 million hectares burned in 2019.

Canadian policy makers should be rightly concerned about any surge in forest fires. However, would-be solutions should line up with the facts, and be based on a diagnosis that accounts for the fact that an increase in forest fires has so far only hit a few jurisdictions, while nationally, destruction from forest fires in recent years has not been nearly as bad as it was during the late 1980s and the mid-1990s.

(SOURCE: Fraser Institute)

Animals and plants that grow independently of people, usually in natural conditions.

The Living Planet Report 2022 is a comprehensive study of trends in global biodiversity and the health of the planet. This flagship WWF publication reveals an average decline of 69% in species populations since 1970. While conservation efforts are helping, urgent action is required if we are to reverse nature loss.

The evidence is unequivocal—we are living through the dual crises of biodiversity loss and climate change driven by the unsustainable use of our planet’s resources. Scientists are clear: unless we stop treating these emergencies as two separate issues neither problem will be addressed effectively.

Climate change and biodiversity loss are not only environmental issues, but economic, development, security, social, moral, and ethical issues too. Industrialized countries are responsible for most environmental degradation but it is developing nations that are disproportionately impacted by biodiversity loss. We all have a role to play in building a nature-positive society that safeguards the planet for the good health of everyone.

(SOURCE: Living Planet)

The amount of edible food that ends up in the compost or landfill.

A number of global trends are influencing food security, poverty, and the overall sustainability of food and agricultural systems.

By 2050 we will need to produce 70 percent more food. Roughly 800 million people worldwide suffer from hunger. And under a business-as-usual scenario, 8 percent of the world’s population (or 650 million) will still be undernourished by 2030. The reality is that very little innovation has taken place in the industry of late—in any case, nothing to indicate that food scarcity and hunger will not be an issue in the coming decades.

Governments can play a key part in solving the food scarcity issue. They need to take on a broader and more prominent role than their traditional regulatory and facilitating function

By challenging the traditional legacy model and pursuing such a program, governments can:

• Ensure food security and reduce dependency on imports
• Become a net exporter not only of products but also IP and new solutions
• Increase productivity and support the shift towards an innovation- and knowledge-based economy 

(SOURCE: Oliver Wyman)

The number of different species represented in a given area.

“Maintaining biodiversity has already been shown to have many benefits — more diverse ecosystems are considered to be more stable and have a greater capacity to sequester carbon, for example,” Chen says. 

“Now we’ve established that improving soil phosphorus availability is an additional benefit that helps sustain our current and future productivity of croplands, forests and other types of terrestrial ecosystems.”

The study found that compared with ecosystems with a single plant species or crop type, land with plant mixtures showed more benefits of phosphorus. The total amount of the nutrient in the surface soil, where most of the roots grow, was 6.8 per cent higher, the enzyme activity that makes phosphorus available to plants was 8.5 per cent higher and the amount of phosphorus plants could take up was 4.6 per cent higher.

Encouraging plant diversity can also provide economic benefits to crop producers, Chen adds. Preserving shelterbelts and windrows around their fields, and growing more than one crop at the same time on the same piece of land, can increase soil phosphorus and consequently reduce the amount of phosphorus fertilizer they need to buy.

(SOURCE: U Alberta)

Distribution of wealth and access to income. 

In March 2020, a sequence of unprecedented government interventions—including the closure of non-essential businesses, travel restrictions, and public health measures directing Canadians to limit public interactions—was introduced to curb the spread of COVID-19. These interventions resulted in a dramatic slowdown in economic activity—they dealt a sudden shock to the Canadian labour market and income from market sources. Altogether, the median market income of Canadian families and unattached individuals went from $57,600 in 2019 to $55,700 in 2020, a decrease of 3.3%.

About 2.4 million Canadians, or 6.4% of the population, lived below Canada’s Official Poverty Line in 2020, down from 10.3% in 2019. The 3.9 percentage point decrease in the poverty rate represented about 1.4 million fewer Canadians in poverty. Although the national poverty rate for years before 2020 was generally trending downward, the large decrease observed from 2019 to 2020 was mostly attributable to the increases in government transfers.

In 2020, the poverty rate for all family types decreased compared with 2019. For example, both senior and non-senior couples saw large declines in their poverty rates. Non-senior couples in Canada saw their poverty rate almost cut in half, from 7.9% in 2019 to 4.3% in 2020. There was also a decrease in the poverty rate for senior couples in Canada, from 2.6% in 2019 to 1.4% in 2020.

(SOURCE: StatsCan)

Gender divide within the criminal system.

The prevention, treatment and management of illness provided by medical professionals.

International movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens.

According to the reference scenario, the Canadian population would reach 47.7 million in 2041, and 25.0 million of them would be immigrants or children of immigrants born in Canada, accounting for 52.4% of the total population. In 2016, this population was 14.4 million and accounted for 40.0% of the total Canadian population.

The projected percentage in 2041 could range from 49.8% to 54.3% depending on the projection scenario. Several scenarios are proposed to reflect uncertainty about the future evolution of demographic components and to measure the sensitivity of projections to certain factors.

The concept of “racialized” population is derived directly from the “visible minority group” variable and therefore refers to the persons belonging to a visible minority group (for more information, see the Note to readers). This information has been collected by Statistics Canada since the 1996 Census of Population to implement the Employment Equity Act, which aims to address discrimination in the hiring of certain groups (women, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, and members of a racialized group).

Since 1996, the racialized population in Canada has been steadily increasing. In 2016, it consisted of 8.0 million people. By 2041, the racialized population could reach 16.4 million to 22.3 million people depending on the projection scenario. The racialized population could therefore account for 38.2% to 43.0% of the Canadian population. In 2016, this proportion was 22.2%.

(SOURCE: StatCan)

The total number of eligible voters who participated in any given election.

Three-quarters (76%) of eligible Canadians reported voting in the 2021 federal election, down 1 percentage point from the 2019 election.

Among eligible youth aged 18 to 24, 66% cast a ballot in the 2021 federal election, down 2 percentage points compared with 2019. This decline marks a return to the 2015 level, but youth turnout remained well above the rate observed in 2011 (55%).

Declines of 2 percentage points were also observed among 35- to 54-year-olds and people aged 65 to 74. A smaller drop of 1 percentage point was seen among people aged 55 to 64.

 Among eligible Canadians who did not vote in 2021, the most common reason for not casting a ballot was not being interested in politics (32%). Similar to 2019, this was the most commonly cited reason in the majority of age groups, with two exceptions: illness or disability (39%) was the most reported reason among people aged 75 and older, and being too busy (34%) was most prevalent among those aged 35 to 44.

Overall, citing political issues (including not being interested in politics) as a reason for not voting was more common among men (41%) than among women (37%).

Not voting because of obligations related to everyday life made up 43% of all reasons reported by non-voters. This included being too busy (24%), having an illness or disability (11%), or being out of town (9%).

(SOURCE: StatCan)

Statistics and evidence collected based on the social construct of race.

Race-based data can help to address racial and biased inequalities within and across systems, while ethnicity data is best suited to address inequities in service and programming. The biggest challenge in race-based data collection is how to collect discrete, quantifiable data about a variable that is neither quantifiable nor discrete. 

Racial categories are often context-dependent and can be easily conflated with measures like ethnicity. Survey participants often struggle to distinguish their own racial identity and may give completely different responses depending on where, when, and how the question is posed. An individual’s perception of racial identity is also not fixed, which can affect the ability to reproduce data results over time. Furthermore, the tension between prioritizing personal racial identity or public racial identification is pervasive, as there can be a wide disparity between the two measures. 

Canada is heralded as a diverse country. The 2016 federal census reported a total population of 35,151,728 citizens. Of those, 4.9% self-identified as “Aboriginal,” up from 3.8% in 2006; and 22.3% selfidentified as a “visible minority” (that is, non-white and non-Aboriginal), up from 16.2% in 2006. 

These are factors that play an important part in understanding the direction that the government must take to comprehend the lived realities of the diverse communities that call this land home. 

Currently, race-based data is largely collected in only a few key systems, including health care, justice, and education. 

Unfortunately, the needs for rigorous data in our current social climate are far greater than the inadequate collection strategies that result in limited data availability. 

(SOURCE: Edmonton Social Planning)

The act of seeking repair for harm caused.