The Tamarack Institute’s 2025 Strategy for Belonging Midpoint Report highlights a pivotal year in the movement for belonging. As polarization, inequities, and social fragmentation deepen across the country, communities are boldly advancing belonging as essential social infrastructure — a foundation for well-being, resilience, and democratic strength.
Building on Tamarack’s 2024 call for a Canada-wide Strategy, this year’s work focused on transforming skills and knowledge within the Communities Building Belonging (CBB) network, now over 9,000 participants strong. Through national partnerships, cross-sector collaborations, and place-based action, Tamarack supported thousands of changemakers to operationalize belonging in policy, practice, and community life.
The report captures major milestones — from nearly 2,000 new Belonging Pledge signatories, to rich learning through communities of practice, to emerging insights connecting belonging with climate resilience, public health, poverty reduction, community safety, and housing. More specifically, this report:
-
Showcases the work achieved in 2025 by Tamarack and communities from across the country in the Communities Building Belonging network and beyond;
-
Outlines 5 key learnings to sustain a Canada-wide Strategy for Belonging (S4B), including:
-
-
Collaborating Across Difference and Sectors
-
-
-
The Connection Between Well-Being and Belonging
-
-
-
Accountability in Movement-Building
-
-
-
Movement-Building is a Long-Term Journey
-
-
-
Belonging And — Not Belonging Or
-
-
Highlights 5 recommendations for this work moving forward:
-
-
Invest in Community Infrastructure for Belonging
-
-
-
Integrate Belonging into Policy Intersections
-
-
-
Strengthen Movement-Building Capacity
-
-
-
Center Equity, Accountability, and Evaluation
-
-
-
Co-Design the Future: A Call to Collective Action.
-
Looking ahead to 2026, the Strategy enters its next phase: enabling systems-wide support. This report affirms a clear and hopeful message: belonging is not an aspiration — it is a collective responsibility, and together, communities across Canada are building it into reality through systems change.
This report was written by Erika Massoud and Jorge Garza. We extend sincere gratitude to our funding partner, the Samuel Family Foundation, and to our Tamarack colleagues Danya Pastuszek, Savroop Shergill, Rochelle Ignacio, Kathryn Colby, Orpah Cundangan, and Mairead Stewart, for their contributions in bringing this report to life.
We also offer our sincere thanks to the communities who walked alongside us throughout 2025. Your commitment and energy have been essential in shaping and strengthening the Strategy for Belonging movement. Your dedication to this work continues to inspire us and move us forward.
We welcome your questions and comments on this report. To share your thoughts, please contact Jorge at jorge@tamarackcommunity.ca
