Cardus works to uncover Canadian faith communities’ protective role in social isolation and loneliness

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

15 April, 2025

OTTAWA — Canada’s response to the challenges of social isolation and loneliness requires urgent attention, particularly post-pandemic and following the legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide. People were cut off or distanced from relationships, communities, and social institutions during the pandemic. Meanwhile, Health Canada reports that almost half of Canadians whose natural death is “not reasonably foreseeable” cite social isolation and loneliness as a reason for their request for euthanasia or assisted suicide.

“Canadian leaders need to re-engage with the public health issues of social isolation and loneliness,” says Dr. Rebecca Vachon, PhD, program director for health at Cardus. “Strategies and responses to these problems need to take into account the experience of the last decade.”

Research by Cardus and others suggests that belonging to a faith community is associated with less social isolation and loneliness. Yet there is little official appreciation for the role that faith communities play. Instead, federal leaders have discussed the possibility of removing churches’ charitable status, which would hinder—rather than help—the important work of faith communities in connecting Canadians. So, Cardus is taking the first step towards filling the gap by publishing Social Isolation, Loneliness, and Christian Communities—a background paper on the role that faith and churches play in meeting people’s needs for connection and community. This research provides the foundation for Cardus’ national, bilingual survey, launched this spring.

“Through this project, we are learning from pastors, priests, and other Christian church leaders about how churches protect people from, and respond to, social isolation and loneliness,” says Dr. Vachon. “Their input will provide critical information to deepen and broaden policymakers’ understanding of these issues.”

The background paper Social Isolation, Loneliness, and Christian Communities is freely available on the Cardus website. For more on our church survey, visit CardusIsolationSurvey.com.

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MEDIA INQUIRIES
Daniel Proussalidis
Cardus – Director of Communications
media@cardus.ca
613-241-4500 x508

Cardus – Imagination toward a thriving society
Cardus is a non-partisan think tank dedicated to clarifying and strengthening, through research and dialogue, the ways in which society’s institutions can work together for the common good.