SASKATOON – Consider it a doctor’s checkup. Saskatoon has been evaluated from top to bottom as part of a new “Vital Signs” report.
The Saskatoon Community Foundation gathered information on the resident that make up the city, finding that if Saskatoon was made up of only 100 people, 21 would be obese, 11 are visible minorities, and 83 would speak English.
Don Ewles, grants and communications manager for the foundation, says the report is an easy to read snapshot of how Saskatoon looks in a variety of areas, calling it a “starting point” for conversations about areas the community need to work on.
He says there is plenty in the report that speaks well of the city.
“Nationally 64 per cent of Canadians report that they have a strong shared sense of community belonging,” Ewles told Global News.
“In Saskatoon the number is 73 per cent, and in Saskatchewan its 75 per cent…” he said. “That points to the strength of our communities here, and particularly in Saskatoon.”
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It also found Saskatoon is a very giving community, he said, pointing out that while nationally we give about 280 dollars per person per year to charity, in Saskatoon that number jumps to 410 dollars.
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“We always talk about how we’re a giving community, a volunteer community. The data bears that out,” he said. “It’s nice to have a measurement, it’s nice to know what we’re saying is actually accurate – and that’s really the point of vital signs.”
The report also points out some of the warts, like the 21 per cent obesity rate, although Ewles says much of this was known before.
“Over 60 per cent of all Saskatonians don’t eat their recommended allotment of fruits and veggies every day. So this is not rocket science,” he said. “We should get more exercise and eat healthy.”
He says the easy to digest information in the report is a way to start conversations with donors and government about areas to work on.
“Whatever the number is that we find in one of these stats, our goal should be how do we move to one number higher, make things one little bit better, and then keep that going until we have the best community we can get to live in,” said Ewles.
He says about 80,000 copies are being distributed.
Jackie Wilson contributed to this story
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