Huron-Perth Quality of Life reports focus on a better understanding of community

To help folks across Huron and Perth counties better understand their communities, the United Way Perth-Huron’s social research and planning council has released three new reports featuring recent Statistics Canada data that speaks to quality of life in the region.

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Aimed at making local numbers available, accessible and understandable, this year’s Quality of Life reports for the Huron-Perth region is being published in five chapters. The first three of which – Who We Are, A Diverse Community and Our Strong Economy – were released online at perthhuron.unitedway.ca/research/quality-of-life/ this week.

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“A lot of data comes out every five years from the census, and it’s maybe not something that’s very easily accessible to most community members,” United Way Perth-Huron social research and planning director Kristin Crane said. “It takes a lot of expertise to collect it and analyze and make sense of it, and yet there’s a lot of really important information about our community there. So we share that (data) with people to help them learn about their community, how it’s changing, what opportunities there are and we put it in a format that’s really easy to understand and accessible because information should be shared.

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“We should all be able to understand the communities we live in.”

In a change from previous Quality of Life reports, this year’s has been subdivided into five chapters, with the final two expected to be published on the United Way Perth-Huron website at the beginning of next month. The first three chapters present demographics data and statistics on the people who live in Perth and Huron counties, including age, gender and geography; elements of diversity; and the impact of economic factors on quality of life.

“We divided it up into five separate reports so people can delve into one report if that’s where their interest lies … and, with each report, we’ve also created a summary that contains some of the most significant data points and some of the recommendations the report includes.”

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While Crane said the writing of this year’s Quality of Life report brought up many points of interests for United Way researchers, one of the most notable data sets showed that 28 per cent of Perth County residents and 29 per cent of Huron County residents live in one -person households. This, she added, highlights the recent impacts of isolation and stress during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly on aging residents who live alone, and the need for programs that address those issues.

“We’re (also) starting to have a bit more sustained population growth and that is coming from people moving from other parts of Ontario and, probably, COVID had an impact on that. People were perhaps leaving some of the larger centers and coming here, and we see that through the data,” Crane said.

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“It was really interesting to see the statistics on discrimination in the region,” Crane added. “We have a very small number of both immigrants and a racialized population in comparison with Ontario (as a whole). It’s small, but there is a lot of reports of discrimination taking place in our communities, so I think that’s one of the facts that should be considered within community safety and well-being plans and community strategies.”

The A Diverse Community Report also reveals there is significant gaps in data that exist for many groups, including the LGBTQ2S+ community and residents living with disabilities, highlighting the need for better local and national data collection practices that allow people to self-identify.

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The Social Research and Planning Council is operated by United Way Perth-Huron and includes community volunteers dedicated to increasing well-being through the collection, analysis and distribution of information related to local social-justice issues, including poverty reduction, community safety, housing and homelessness, mental health and addictions, and equity, diversity and inclusion. The planning council’s research and advocacy helps the local United Way better understand root causes of local issues and mobilize the community to create effective, innovative solutions.

[email protected]

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