Thank you for the invitation to join you today.
You've heard from business, energy and financial services. I'm here to talk to you about families in Canada. Families are the engine of our economy and the cornerstone of our society. Families are the primary caregivers, helping people recover from illness and injury.
We live in an increasingly complex and interconnected world with unparalleled access to information—information about families and family life. However, despite the fact that we have enormous volumes of data, data is not the same as understanding. At the Vanier Institute, we focus on enhancing the national understanding of how families interact with, have an impact on and are affected by cultural, environmental, social and economic forces.
The Vanier Institute is an independent national charitable organization dedicated to understanding the diversity and complexity of families and the reality of family life in Canada. We envision a Canada where families fully engage and thrive in a caring and compassionate society, with a robust and prosperous economy, in an inclusive and vibrant culture, in a safe and sustainable environment. The Vanier Institute is an evidence-based learning organization and a national resource for anyone interested in or involved with families in Canada.
Governor General the Right Honourable Georges Vanier and his wife, Pauline, created the Vanier Institute in 1965 as a royal standing commission that should never be discharged. We continue to provide a wealth of information about families and family life, family experiences, expectations and aspirations. We've circulated some material for you just as a sample of what's available to you as you do your work. I think we've sent you some material on student finances and some of the other material that's available, as well as materials dedicated to seniors and finance. You name it, we have it, and if we don't have it and you want it, we can likely get it for you.
By analyzing data and synthesizing information, organizing resources and mobilizing knowledge, we expedite research to practice. We facilitate meaningful partnerships and collaborations across all sectors to maximize the impact of research on policies and practices. We engage in conversations and collect stories from families and from people who study, serve and support families. We are a resource for those who fund or invest in research, services, policy analysis, program delivery and innovation. We identify leading and promising practices in communities, organizations and workplaces, and we share our findings across Canada and around the world.
We have a broad and inclusive functional definition of family, focusing on the important role that families play in the lives of the individual family members, the workplace and the communities in which they live, using a family lens to explore a wide spectrum of topics, since there are few things in life that don't affect or aren't affected by our circles of kinship. We make evidence-based forecasts while anticipating, planning and preparing for the future. For example, in our recent work on intergenerational transfers of wealth, we've estimated that $750 billion will be exchanging generational hands in the next decade.
We know that the fastest pathway to poverty is either divorce or loss of a life partner, and that disproportionately impacts women who are seniors. We continually seek and embrace new and innovative ways to reach out to researchers, educators, students, journalists, service providers, faith leaders, policy-makers, business entrepreneurs and others with an interest in families and family life. With decades of experience and commitment, we've earned the respect of our peers in the voluntary, public and private sectors.
Since our founding 55 years ago, we've earned a reputation as one of the country's thought leaders by sparking important conversations across boardrooms and around kitchen tables alike. Family finances and family policy have been a focus of ours for the last 25 years, as we've studied income, expenditures, savings and debt, wealth and net worth.
The last year we've been focusing on three issues that may be of interest to you. These are the Canadian family policy monitor, the family well-being index and the family research network. The monitor provides evidence-informed decision-making and evidence-based policy development and evidence-inspired program innovation. The index provides an opportunity to measure the way in which families are thriving and we're working with our colleagues in New Zealand, Scotland, Iceland and Australia and building on their work.
We engaged with Canadians on our listening tour across Canada: families affected by incarceration, military veteran families, first responder families, people working in early learning and child care, and families navigating the system designed to support adults and children with disabilities. This month we are meeting with LGBTQ2S youth who have been rejected by their birth families and have created chosen families, as well as Inuit elders who have been forced away from their families in order to receive medical care. The network will bring all of these together.
In the spirit of reconciliation and to further our relationships with indigenous peoples, we are aligning our efforts with the calls to action. In the spirit of a global community, we are aligning our work with the UN's sustainable development goals.
In closing, I want to leave you with a quote from a report that was written by Mr. Khan's colleagues in New Zealand. They write that there are three evidence-informed foundations for the efforts that are going on in New Zealand:
First, people care about their wellbeing as much as their income. Second, wellbeing depends on a range of factors, only some of which can be purchased. Third, public policy that is exclusively or primarily focused on increasing income (or GDP in aggregate) may actually end up decreasing wellbeing now, or in the future.
In closing, I'm not asking for anything specific in the budget—although it would be nice if you found some funds for the Vanier Institute in your budget, as our counterparts in Australia are receiving $4 million a year from their government, and we aren't—but we are here to provide you with answers to whatever questions you need answered in order to make your decisions going forward for budget 2020.
Thank you.