John Ivison: How to reverse our unravelling social cohesion - National Post

Statistics Canada’s analysis points to a sharp rise in loneliness and severe social isolation. Photo by Ian MacAlpine/The Whig-Standard/PostmediaArticle contentThe intriguing conclusion of a new book by former British prime minister Gordon Brown is that western societies are experiencing two existential events at the same time.

His book, The Future Starts With Us, points to the well-documented breakup of the international rules-based order. Brown describes it as the consequence of war, mass migration, economic disruption and climate change.

But it links that failure to the less-charted breakdown in civic life at the community level.

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Brown points out that 45 per cent of people in Britain are not a member of anything, not even a gym.

He suggests that research among 100,000 people polled across 45 countries leads to the conclusion these two developments are linked, and are part of a single existential crisis that explains the rise of populist nationalism among people looking for answers.

This is not just a European phenomenon.

A cursory look at the numbers lends credence to the claim that the sense of community across Canada is on the decline.

Membership of Christian faith-based groups has fallen off a cliff this century (although that is not the case for Muslim, Hindu and Sikh religions); Scouts Canada reported a two-thirds decline in numbers in the 20 years to 2021; private sector trade union membership fell by nearly one-fifth in the same period; organized sport participation has seen a proportional decline and so on.

At the same time, Statistics Canada’s social analysis points to a sharp rise in loneliness and severe social isolation.

Nearly two-thirds of Canadians report a weak or non-existent sense of community, while people are spending much less time with friends.