Our Research

This submission to the Ontario Ministry of Education offers several recommendations to improve education policy and learning in Ontario. The report offers incremental steps to enhance parental choice, increase educational diversity for the common good, and establish a more accountable and cooperative relationship with Ontario's growing independent school sector.

Is marriage going out of style? The statistics suggest yes. What hasn't gone out of style, however, is love and relationships. When it comes to teaching healthy relationships to youth, marriage is the highest standard for consensually entered, safe relationship.

This paper outlines why marriage should be included in modern sexuality education curricula in Ontario and across Canada.

This paper tackles critical but neglected questions affecting diverse societies today. What activity does freedom of conscience protect? Why protect this activity in a bill of rights? When can governments limit this freedom? Can governments pressure citizens to adopt beliefs against their conscience? How does freedom of conscience differ from religious freedom? What is the relationship between human dignity and freedom of conscience? 

This paper grapples with the current relevance of freedom of conscience and makes the case for robust protection of this fundamental human right.

Has the growth of online dating services and apps made finding a suitable partner easier?  The evidence suggests that fewer Canadian young adults are in marriages and cohabiting partnerships than in the past. In short, young people today are more likely to be on their own.

Better is Possible proposes a new way forward for improving education for everyone: increased independent school enrollment. If provincial governments deliberately sought to increase independent schools’ share of all enrollment by five to 10 percent, the sector would be large enough to provide parents with a stronger education alternative without system-wide disruption. Moreover, Cardus President and CEO Michael Van Pelt argues a stronger independent school sector would spur innovation and increased accountability among Canada’s public schools.

In 2016 Cardus Education delivered its second report on the Cardus Education Survey for Canada. Those reports—and this—present findings from surveys examining outcomes for secondary-school graduates of independent schools and public schools. The Cardus Education Survey makes a significant methodological, theoretical, and empirical contribution to the research into religious schools in Canada and the United States and is the only study that uses repeated measures to report on the outcome of religious non-government schooling and compares it to public-school outcomes. One of the main problems with existing data is the lack of attention to diversity within the independent school sector. In addition, regional differences in the impact of independent schools on students’ lives have not been carefully considered.

This report concentrates on Ontario graduates in 2018, drawing on graduates between twenty-four and thirty-nine years old who attended one of the following sectors in Ontario: public, separate Catholic, independent Catholic, evangelical protestant, and non-religious independent. 

This report presents findings from surveys examining outcomes for secondary school graduates of independent schools and public schools. The Cardus Education Survey makes a particularly significant methodological, theoretical, and empirical contribution to the research into religious schools in Canada and the United States and is the only study that uses repeated measures to report on the outcome of religious non-government schooling and compare it to public school outcomes. One of the main problems with existing data is the lack of attention to diversity within the independent school sector. In addition, regional differences in the impact of independent schools on students’ lives have not been carefully considered. Cardus research addresses this gap in the literature. 

This report concentrates on British Columbia graduates in 2018, drawing on graduates between twenty-four and thirty-nine years old who attended one of the following sectors in the province: public, independent Catholic, evangelical Protestant, and non-religious independent.

If children are doing poorly—parents need to be part of the solution

A key component of diversity is religion. Businesses, workplaces, and other public spaces can be more attentive to matters of faith. This two-pager provides four steps for businesses to follow in order to more deliberately and systematically make room for religious diversity in the workplace.

A review of the municipal budgets of the affected cities in Ontario shows that over $2 billion worth of public construction work in Ontario is subject to oligopolies annually. And a survey of estimated costs that come as a result of these municipalities being forced to work outside of procurement best practice show that these restrictions are costing Ontarians on average $370 million per year.

Our research shows that closed tendering remains an ongoing challenge for Ontario municipalities that are struggling to build and maintain the infrastructure that serves its citizens in their daily lives, and that is necessary for sustainable economic growth in the province.