Just in time for Christmas, the Fraser Institute has released a report showing that the number of Canadians donating to charity hit a 20 year low in 2021.
According to the think-tank, only 17.7 percent of tax filers donated in that tax year. As well, charitable donations fell to 0.55 percent of income in 2021 from 0.58 in 2001.
These results remind us that we should do more to help those less fortunate. However, it shouldn’t be seen as an invitation to criticize or point fingers. Charitable giving is a deeply personal decision and there can be many reasons for deciding whether or not to give.
If Christmas is the time for giving, it is also a time for understanding.
We must also remember that making a tax-deductible donation is not the only way to give. Donating time is a strong tradition on the Prairies, whether it be working on a Canadian Foodgrains Bank growing project, volunteering with Ag in the Classroom or flipping burgers at a community hockey tournament.
Who hasn’t stopped to help pull a neighbour’s vehicle out of a snowy ditch on a cold wintery afternoon? That’s giving, too.
So, while the Fraser Institute’s numbers may point to declining levels of generosity in this country, it’s important to keep them in perspective.
It’s also interesting to note that the prairie provinces are at the top of the report’s generosity list. Manitoba led the country with 19.7 percent of tax filers claiming charitable donations, while Saskatchewan and Alberta were in the middle of the pack at 17.3 percent and 17.1 percent, respectively.
Money and time are the most obvious gifts we can share with others, but we suggest another one this holiday season — the gift of tolerance.
It’s no secret that the world has become a much angrier place in recent years. Social media gets much of the blame, but the meanness and incivility can also be seen in the “real” world, on our roads, in local retail shops or at a public meeting.
This Christmas, why not say something nice about something on social media or in a store checkout line?
One has to wonder if our slide into unkindness is part of a deeper problem — the conviction by many that our country is going to heck in a handbasket.
A wave of rhetoric is growing in Canada that attempts to convince us the nation is in a mess, ruined by a myriad of “others.” This rhetoric can instil fear, which in turn prompts us to pull away from those around us, encouraging less generosity and more intolerance.
Let there be no mistake: our country is not broken, no matter what some may say. Canadians won the lottery simply by being born in Canada. Sure, there are warts, but a tremendous amount of privilege also comes from living here.
A recent survey moved Canada to second place in a list of the best countries in the world in which to live, behind only Switzerland and ahead of Sweden, Australia and the United States.
Let’s remember that it’s much easier to burn down a barn than it is to build one. If we look out for each other with respect and generosity, it will indeed be possible to build Canada into something that is better than it is now.
And what a wonderful Christmas gift that would be.
Karen Briere, Bruce Dyck, Barb Glen, Michael Robin, Robin Booker and Laura Rance collaborate in the writing of Western Producer editorials.
