At the Tamarack Institute, we believe in the power of local voices shaping holistic solutions. What if we embraced a pan-Canadian Strategy for Belonging, where residents and groups take the lead in shaping approaches that reflect their communities' leadership, voices, and priorities?
A Strategy that:
Brings together cross-sector collaboration to build alliances of individuals, associations, and organizations to come together to share resources and expertise
Centres Indigenous, Black, and racialized peoples; people with low incomes; people with disabilities; members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community; official language minority communities; recent newcomers; youth; and people with multiple of these identities
Shifts power, funds, and other resources to residents, informational associations, and the community
Results in population-level change. Ultimately, it would increase the sense of contribution, power, belonging, equity, and sense of possibility reported by all people engaged in sustaining our democracy by way of community-led involvement
Belonging is simultaneously an individual’s feeling in relation to their community and relationship with the systems that influence communities. Belonging to a community is to be an active co-owner of the community and to foster a sense of emotional and communal ownership. A sense of community belonging describes the degree to which individuals are connected to their community and their place with in it.
We would like to acknowledge that the purpose of this definition is to act as a starting point for the upcoming conversations with our members, partners, and learning networks.
How can a Strategy for Belonging be built by the people for the people and the governments at all levels to step back and learn how to support communities to do for themselves and only do what community cannot do themselves?
Belonging is the logical answer to loneliness and polarization. Community champions have the power and capability to address the polycrisis of loneliness, poverty, inequality, and environmental sustainability through strategies and solutions that make us more resilient and prosperous. To be successful, however, we need a new way for governments at all levels to interact with communities.
A Strategy for Belongingoffers an opportunity to do this work differently from development to implementation.
Our Signators by the Numbers
Signators
Provinces and Territories
Join a Growing Movement
Sign the Pledge to Support the Work of Co-Creating a Pan-Canadian Strategy for Belonging
