social capital

The results of the latest survey, conducted in the summer of 2025, provide a comprehensive update. They show that the extent to which Canadians trust political actors and institutions has, in most cases, held steady over the past 15 years. In some cases, trust has increased.

Today we live in a time of social and political fracture. Much of what people know and how they communicate with others is happening on social media that channels content through narrow audiences, and feeds conflict and outrage. Amidst the noise of heated political rhetoric and ranting Tik Tok videos, are we losing trust in each other?

The AmericasBarometer surveys measure trust in a range of political institutions and actors on a seven-point scale. Here is a summary of the most recent results for Canada, showing the trend since 2010.

In 2021, almost a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, the Confederation of Tomorrow Survey of Canadians addressed the issue of public confidence in scientists, government medical advice and political leaders.

A series of attacks in Toronto — many occurring within the public transit system — has shone the spotlight on the issue of crime and safety in the city. As we search for solutions, we should start by thinking about who among us feels more vulnerable.

We surveyed more than 4,000 Torontonians to find out how they’re doing in the wake of the pandemic and what’s clear is a lot more of us are isolated.

How can communities best measure the well-being of their citizens? Often this is done using economic measures of employment, income and inequality. There are also statistics reporting on incidences of crime, of homeless or of disease (most recently focusing on cases of COVID-19).

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments in Canada have benefitted from remarkable public goodwill.

Conducted more than two years after the start of the pandemic, the 2022 Toronto Social Capital Study assesses whether the crisis brought the city’s residents closer together or pushed them further apart.

In just a few days, we went from wondering how COVID-19 would affect us to finding ourselves in the midst of a national emergency. Many expect major disruptions to expose the weak patches in our civic fabric, and there have been, and will continue to be, actions and episodes that have disappointed and shocked.