Vital Signs then and now – a 75th anniversary retrospective
The Victoria Foundation is proud to have published a community report card, Victoria’s Vital Signs, for six consecutive years. While we were celebrating the milestone of our 75th anniversary in 2011 we got to thinking about the “vital signs” from 1936, the year of our founding. How different were the key indicators of community well-being then – and what issues remain with us today?
In 1936, during the Great Depression, we were founded in a soup kitchen called the Sunshine Inn on Pandora Avenue. Unemployment in Canada had reached 30 per cent and one in five Canadians were dependent on government relief. However, the social-welfare structure was sporadic. Health care was not universal, education was not a standard right, and relief programs were not available to all. Not everyone felt the burden of the Depression, however. Prices dropped even more than wages so the standard of living for property owners and those with jobs actually increased. Fast forward 75 years: the cost of living, employment, housing and homelessness remain top issues of concern (in fact, our foundation still funds a modern-day soup kitchen, the 9-10 Club). While the Canadian social-welfare system is much more robust and equitable, health care remains a key concern – as do social issues that were not commonly articulated in 1936, such as addictions, mental illness and elder care. The world changes and the world stays the same. Our constant at the Victoria Foundation has been to touch the lives of British Columbians through the generosity of our donors. We look forward to continuing to do so, using the information from Vital Signs to direct support to the causes that matter most to Victorians. Watch our anniversary video below.