Canadians are used to hearing about "progress" in economic terms. Rates of interest and inflation, and of growth or decline in gross domestic product are frequently referred to by commentators in the media as measures of o ur well-being. But other measures, known as social indicators, that size up school performance, life expectancy, or our population's health, for example, could also provide important information upon which to base public policy decisions.

To further the development of social indicators in Canada, the CCSD, with the support of Human Resources Development Canada, convened a two-day symposium in Toronto on October 4 and 5 for approximately 70 participants. Government policy-makers, researchers and social policy experts from Canada, the United States and Europe came together to discuss measures that have been developed in other countries and efforts currently underway here to build social indicators.

Symposium participants identified directions for future work to develop social indicators in Canada. The CCSD will publish a report following the symposium, summarizing the proceedings. The summary will be available online at this site in late November 1996, (the same time as it is available in print).

The agenda and the biographies of presenters and moderators, a particpants list and the Executive Summary of the Final Report can all be found here, along with hotlinks to other social indicators information on the Internet. For more information, visit our Social Indicators sub-site.

Canadian Council on Social Development, 190 O'Connor Street, Suite 100, Ottawa, Ontario, K2P 2R3