Ottawa Report: Community Vitality

Ottawa Wellbeing Report – Community Vitality This is part of a series of reports that provide a snapshot of community wellbeing for Ottawa.

Following the Canadian Index of Wellbeing framework, each report presents data from the eight domains of wellbeing. These domains are: Community Vitality, Democratic Engagement, Education, Environment, Healthy Populations, Leisure and Culture, Living Standards, and Time Use. This report presents data for the Community Vitality domain. Due to gaps in available data at the local level, data are presented on selected indicators within the eight domains of wellbeing. Furthermore, some of the indicators found in Ottawa reports differ from those in the Canadian Index of Wellbeing. In this report, the data are presented for the Ontario part of the Ottawa-Gatineau Census Metropolitan Area (CMA), unless otherwise specified. Where possible, data for Ottawa are compared to those for Ontario and/or Canada.

Key Messages •

•

•

More than half of the population in Ottawa volunteer. This rate is higher than provincial and national volunteering rates. However, the volunteer rate in Ottawa observed a slight decrease between 2004 and 2007.

Both property and violent crime rates in Ottawa have been declining since 1998. Compared to Ontario and Canada, the violent crime rate in Ottawa experienced a sharper decline between 1998 and 2012.

From 2003 to 2009, Ottawa residents had consistently reported a lower sense of community belonging compared to their provincial counterparts. In 2011/2012, the proportion of Ottawa residents reporting a strong sense of community decreased, creating a greater gap between Ottawa and Ontario.

The Community Vitality domain of the Canadian Index of Wellbeing explores the quality of life through social relationships, social norms and values. The indicators found in this domain encompass the concepts of social engagement, by measuring the degree of community involvement; social support, by measuring the size of social networks and the strength of personal relationships; crime and community safety, by measuring crime and perception of safety; and attitudes towards others and the community, by measuring trust and respect as well as sense of belonging. This report presents selected indicators from the Community Vitality domain of the Canadian Index of Wellbeing for Ottawa (refer to Table A1 of the Appendix for a list of indicators).

What is the current data telling us?

Volunteering While most people volunteer for altruistic reasons, there are people who volunteer to improve employment opportunities, to broaden their social networks, or to get distracted from problems of daily 1

life (Scott, 2010; Jenkinson et al., 2013). Volunteering is associated with significant benefits, not just to those who receive such acts of free will, but also to the volunteers themselves. Research has reported a wide range of physical and mental health benefits arising from volunteering, including improved ability to carry out activities of daily living, improved cognitive function, empowerment, reductions in depression, and decreased stress (Jenkinson et al., 2013).

In Ottawa, the volunteer rate for people aged 15 years and over was 51.3% in 2007 and 53.7% in 2004.

While the volunteer rate decreased from 2004 to 2007, Ottawa’s rate was higher than the provincial and national rates. Over this period, the Ontario volunteer rate dropped from 50.4% to 47.3%, while the Canadian rate rose slightly from 45.3% to 46.1%.

Crime The level of crime in a community is closely linked to its residents’ level of well-being. Crime threatens personal security by compromising that person’s safety and protection from harm. Police-reported crime rates provide a measure of the prevalence and types of crime in a community. The Canadian Index of Wellbeing includes two types of crime – violent crimes and property crimes, both of which are reported in this section. Violent crimes are those that involve harm or threats of harm to others and property crimes are those that involve theft of goods or money without threat or harm to the victim (Employment and Social Development Canada, 2013). Although property crime does not involve violence, it compromises the sense of safety of its victims and is thus an important measure of community vitality (Employment and Social Development Canada, 2013).

The property crime rate in the City of Ottawa has been declining since the late 1990’s (see Figure 1). In 2012, the property crime rate for the city was 2,959 per 100,000 population, representing a 4% decrease from the previous year. The downward trend observed in Ottawa mirrors those observed at the provincial and national levels. In 1998, the property crime rate in Ottawa was above the national rate, but the rate sharply declined and has remained well below the national rate since 1999. Conversely, Ottawa’s property crime rate has been consistently higher than the provincial rate from 1998 to 2012, with the exception of year 2000.

2

Figure 1. Police-reported property crime rate, Ottawa, Ontario, and Canada, 1998-2012.

Rate per 100,000 population

7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000

Canada Ontario Ottawa

1000 0

Source: Statistics Canada, 2013. Table 252-0051 - Incident-based crime statistics, by detailed violations, annual.

Retrieved from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/2013001/article/11854-eng.htm

Similar to the falling property crime rate, the violent crime rate in the City of Ottawa has been trending down since 1998. Ontario and Canada experience similar downward trends; however, Ottawa’s rate is consistently lower than the provincial and national rates. It should be noted that the rate for Ottawa was similar to those found at the provincial and national levels. However, Ottawa experienced a much sharper decline in its violent crime rate compared to Ontario and Canada. In 2012, the violent crime rate in Ottawa was 644 per 100,000 population, almost half the rate that was reported in 1998.

3

Figure 2. Police-reported violent crime rate, Ottawa, Ontario, and Canada, 1998-2012.

1600

Rate per 100,000 population

1400 1200 1000 800 600

Canada Ontario Ottawa

400 200 0

Source: Statistics Canada, 2013. Table 252-0051 - Incident-based crime statistics, by detailed violations, annual.

Retrieved from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/2013001/article/11854-eng.htm

Belonging to community Having a strong sense of belonging is a characteristic of a good quality of life (Connell et al., 2012). Sense of belonging has been positively associated with positive health outcomes, including improved general and mental health (Carpiano and Hystad, 2011). Often used as a measure of social capital, it has been argued that a strong sense of belonging results in greater community engagement and participation.

The interaction with community members encourages the transmission of social norms related to positive health behaviours such as physical activity and smoking cessation (Scott, 2010; Shields, 2008).

For the period 2003 to 2009, the proportion of Ottawa residents reporting a very strong or somewhat strong sense of belonging to their local community has consistently been lower than the proportion for Ontario (Community Foundation of Ottawa). In 2009/2010, 65% of Ottawa residents aged 12 years and over reported a very strong or somewhat strong sense of belonging (Statistics Canada, 2013). The averages for Ontario and Canada were 67.4% and 65.4%, respectively, for the same year (Statistics Canada, 2013). This trend continued in 2011/2012. In fact, the percentage of Ottawa residents reporting a very strong or somewhat strong sense of community belonging decreased to 59.8% in 2011, well below the provincial and national averages of 67.5% and 65.4%, respectively (Statistics Canada, 2013).

In 2011, Ottawa reported the lowest rates of sense of community belonging among all census metropolitan areas in Ontario (Statistics Canada, 2013). Within Ottawa, youth aged 12 to 19 years reported the highest sense of community belonging (73%) and individuals aged 20 to 34 years reported the lowest sense of community belonging (50%) (Statistics Canada, 2013).

4

References Carpiano, R. M. and Hystad, P. W. (2011). ‘‘Sense of community belonging’’ in health surveys: What social capital is it measuring?. Health & Place, 17:606-617.

Community Foundation of Ottawa. Ottawa’s Vital Signs 2010 – The City’s Annual Checkup. Retrieved from http://www.cfo-fco.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/VitalSigns2010.pdf.

Connell, J., Brazier, J., O’Cathain, A., Lloyd-Jones, M., and Paisley, S. (2012). Quality of life of people with mental health problems: a synthesis of qualitative research. Health Qual Life Outcomes, 10: 138.

Employment and Social Development Canada. (2013). Indicators of Well-being in Canada—Security.

Ottawa. Retrieved from http://www4.hrsdc.gc.ca/.3ndic.1t.4r@-eng.jsp?iid=61.

Jenkinson, C. E., Dickens, A. P., Jones, K., Thompson-Coon, J., Taylor, R. S. et al. (2013). Is volunteering a public health intervention? A systematic review and meta-analysis of the health and survival of volunteers. BMC Public Health, 13:773.

Scott, K. (2010). Community Vitality – A report of the Canadian Index of Wellbeing (CIW). Waterloo: Canadian Index of Wellbeing.

Shields, M. (2008). Community belonging and self-perceived health. Health Reports, Statistics Canada.

Catalogue no. 82-003-X. Statistics Canada. (2013). Table 105-0592 - Health indicator profile, two-year period estimates, by age group and sex, Canada, provinces, territories, census metropolitan areas and influence zones, occasional (number unless otherwise noted).

5

Appendix Table A1. A comparison between deadline indicators from the Community Vitality domain of the Canadian Index of Wellbeing and the indicators presented in this report.

Domain Community Vitality

Canadian Index of Wellbeing Headline Indicators Volunteering – percentage of people that provide unpaid volunteer work for any organization in the past 12 months Property crime – rate of property crime per 100,000 population Violent crime – rate of violent crime per 100,000 population Belonging to community – percentage of people reporting a very strong or somewhat strong sense of belonging to their local community Participation in group activities – percentage of people that report being a member of at least one group or organization (8 options) Number of close friends – percentage of people with six or more close friends Walking alone after dark – percentage of people who feel safe (as defined by very safe, reasonably safe, or somewhat safe) walking alone after dark Trust – percentage of people who feel that most or many people can be trusted

Indicators presented in this report Volunteering – percentage of people that provide unpaid volunteer work for any organization in the past 12 months Property crime – rate of property crime per 100,000 population Violent crime – rate of violent crime per 100,000 population Belonging to community – percentage of people reporting a very strong or somewhat strong sense of belonging to their local community

6