The Victoria Forum: Seeking virtuous solutions

Posted on by Dr. Trevor Hancock

·      Published as “Trust, justice and well-being key themes at Victoria Forum”

“Trust is eroding, injustice persists and the world is under mounting strain from economic disruption, climate change and their impacts on health.”

Dr. Trevor Hancock

1 September 2026

700 words

Last week I discussed the wicked problems of the polycrisis and the need to work together to find virtuous solutions rooted in the public good, where virtuous means “behaving in a very good and moral way” (Oxford Dictionaries). How then should our society behave morally with respect to the inter-connected ecological, social, political, economic and ultimately ethical challenges we face? 

This was the underlying question behind this year’s Victoria Forum. The main themes were trust, justice and wellbeing because “trust is eroding, injustice persists and the world is under mounting strain from economic disruption, climate change and their impacts on health.”

In considering this underlying question it is worth looking back at an article in the Times Colonist last year by Saul Klein, former Dean of the Business School at UVic and Executive Director of the Victoria Forum, and Arti Freeman, President and CEO of Definity Foundation. They wrote:

“For a long time, we believed that our systems just needed fixing, that they were broken or outdated. But we’ve come to realize something more unsettling.

These systems are not broken. Their negative outcomes are not bugs. They are features of the way they were designed. And they are producing exactly what they were incentivized to produce — environmental degradation, exclusion, concentration of wealth, and structural inequality.”

So how do we create instead a societal system that incentivizes environmental restoration and regeneration, inclusiveness, a fair sharing of wealth, greater social and political equity and other key aspects of a society committed to a sustainable, just and healthy future? That was a theme addressed by Senator Rosa Galvez in a ‘white paper’ she is soon to release calling for ‘a new North Star’ to guide Canadian society, based on long-term wellbeing for all within planetary limits.

There is a close relationship between these ideas and traditional Indigenous knowledge and values, which was the focus of the opening plenary session – appropriately held at the Songhees Wellness Centre – on Truth and Reconciliation in Canada and globally.  Indeed, Indigenous knowledge and values – from respect for Mother Earth to thinking ahead for seven generations, and much else – was a constant theme throughout the Forum.

The concept of ‘goodness’ kept cropping up. In his plenary talk, Dr. James Orbinski, a leader of Doctors Without Borders and now Master of Massey College at the University of Toronto, urged us to “make the good choice, the choice of life in all its beauty”, adding that we should plant seeds for the good future, for the global public good.

Dr. Courtney Howard, Chair of the Global Climate and Health Alliance, commented that Canada should not just be an energy superpower but a GOOD energy superpower, while Bessma Momani, Professor of Political Science at the University of Waterloo added that we must work for and create the public good.

In her remarks in a plenary on creating the conditions for future economies, Arti Freeman suggested the common thread is to centre people and planet and question the values that drive our choices. This means creating what is variously called a wellbeing, social or purpose-driven economy.

Unsurprisingly, in the face of deepening polarization and declining trust in institutions, including government, one plenary and a number of workshops addressed the question of whether our democratic infrastructure is still fit for the twenty-first century and how to deepen democracy by building “more resilient, participatory, and adaptive democratic systems”, including how best to use social media and AI.

Although the Forum was focused on large Canadian and global challenges, there was also a strong focus on local solutions, including local engagement and participation and ‘community wealth building’ that addresses the improvement not just of the economy but of local social and environmental conditions, all of which contribute to the wellbeing of people.

All of these themes, and more, were taken up in the 49 parallel sessions spread over the two days, covering topics from justice for Indigenous and other people to the social purpose economy to democratic renewal. In the end, I was left with a sense of hope. Yes, we face wicked problems, but at all levels from the global to the local people are seeking, finding and implementing virtuous solutions.

© Trevor Hancock, 2026

thancock@uvic.ca

Dr. Trevor Hancock is a retired professor and senior scholar at the

University of Victoria’s School of Public Health and Social Policy

Let’s talk about becoming a Wellbeing society

Posted on by Dr. Trevor Hancock

Our economic and social system is trashing our environment, undermining our health, and creating large health inequalities.

Dr. Trevor Hancock

18 August 2025

702 words

Last month I noted a growing recognition that the many challenges we face, from environmental degradation to concentration of wealth, structural inequality and exclusion, are a product of the economic and other societal systems we have created. If that is the case, we clearly need to radically change the systems that are the source of the problems. As Saul Klein and Arti Freeman stated (Times Colonist, July 11th), we need to “envision new ways of organizing our economies, our democracies, and our relationships with one another and the planet.”

So how do we do that? That is work I have been doing, one way or another, for decades. My work on population and planetary health has led me to a deep understanding of how our economic and social system is trashing our environment, undermining the most fundamental determinants of our health, while creating large health inequalities. As a health futurist, I have led projects from the local to the global about envisioning a preferable future and figuring out how to get there. My work in public health and health promotion has had a strong focus on how we create healthy cities and communities.

Nowadays I am especially focused on how we create what the World Health Organization calls a Wellbeing society. To that end, I am the Interim Convenor of an emerging national health sector coalition that is working both to address the health implications of crossing multiple planetary boundaries and on the creation of a Wellbeing society as a way of addressing this and other elements of the global polycrisis we face.

One approach we are impressed by is the Welsh Wellbeing of Future Generations Act, the first and so far the only such legislation in the world. The Act requires “public bodies in Wales to think about the long-term impact of their decisions, to work better with people, communities and each other, and to prevent persistent problems such as poverty, health inequalities and climate change”.

It also establishes the position of a Commissioner for Future Generations as an independent officer of the legislature whose job it is to protect and promote the needs of future generations, report on progress, make recommendations and provide advice.

This laudable legislation came about because Wales, when it was created in 1998 as a country within the sovereign stateof the UK, put in its founding constitution an explicit duty to promote sustainable development.

This led, in 2007, to the public recognition that “we need to cut Wales’ ecological footprint by 75 percent to live within our fair share of the planet’s resources”. Then in 2009 the then First Minister announced a new vision, One Wales, One Planet, followed in 2011 by a Bill “embedding sustainable development as the central organising principle in all actions across government and public bodies”.

But what I find particularly important was that in 2014 there was a large national conversation about The Wales We Want “involving thousands of people sharing their views on what would improve their communities”. It was “one big involvement exercise – by the people, for the people”, and it was seen as crucial to supporting the passage of the wellbeing of Future Generations Act, according to the current Future Generations Commissioner.

Which is why I am proposing the creation of what I call a People’s Commission on Wellbeing, modeled on the People’s Food Commission of the late 1970s. Such a Commission should travel across the country – both in person and virtually – engaging people in discussing the Canada they want for their children and grandchildren, crafting a new national vision and considering how to get there.

The Commission needs to be based on the public recognition of the scale and severity of the ecological and social challenges we face – something that our governments have not yet done. But it also needs to identify the positive local actions already underway.

By bringing people together locally it would solidify and strengthen local networks and local action, while also weaving a national Wellbeing Society Network. Hopefully, it would also lead to the passage of Wellbeing of Future Generations Acts federally and across Canada and the creation of Future Generations Commissioners. What a worthwhile legacy that would be!

© Trevor Hancock, 2025

thancock@uvic.ca

Dr. Trevor Hancock is a retired professor and senior scholar at the                                            University of Victoria’s School of Public Health and Social Policy