Excerpts
Monday is Family Day in much of the country which seems like an opportune time to step back and ask ourselves about the state of the family in Canada. The answer, empirically, is more diverse and more fragile than it once was.
Start with marriage trends. According to the 2021 Census, a little over two-in-five Canadians are married, while about one-in-10 are living in common-law relationships. Even over the last 10 years of data, marriage rates declined by two percentage points.
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Moreover, childbearing itself has changed dramatically. Canada’s total fertility rate recently fell to 1.25 children per woman—the lowest in the last 30 years and well below the replacement level of 2.1.
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Later childbearing often reflects expanded educational and professional opportunities for women, which is a genuine social achievement. But combined with persistently high housing costs, rising childcare expenses, and economic uncertainty, it has also contributed to fewer children per family and a growing number of couples who remain childless.
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Canada remains a country of families. But families are smaller. More Canadians are living alone. More young adults are delaying independence. More couples are navigating work-family tradeoffs under significant financial pressure. And fewer households include children.
Family Day should be a reminder that family structure shapes broader economic and social outcomes. Research consistently finds that children raised in stable households tend, on average, to experience better educational and income outcomes. Married couples accumulate wealth more quickly than singles. Regions with higher rates of family stability often display stronger civic participation and lower poverty rates.
At the same time, the changing nature of family formation interacts with other national debates like housing supply, tax policy, immigration, childcare, work-life balance, and long-term demographic sustainability.
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Whether that evolution strengthens or weakens the country over time depends in large part on public policy. Housing affordability, childcare accessibility, labour-market flexibility, and tax structures all influence the practical feasibility of forming and sustaining families.
Family Day offers a moment of reflection. The empirical snapshot suggests that while families remain central to Canadian life, they are smaller, more varied, and operating under tighter constraints than in previous generations.
The holiday invites celebration. The data invite seriousness.