Our Survey
The Survey is coming!
It is better to get this done right, rather than right now!
In light of the Canada Post labour action, we are delaying the administration of the Nova Scotia Quality of Life Survey until early 2026. This decision was made after careful consideration, with a view to ensure that all Nova Scotians are given the chance to participate, and that the data collected be of the highest possible quality. With this delay, brings opportunity. For the remaining months of 2025 our team will continue to promote the survey, host training sessions with partners, participate in community events and refine our survey process so when we are ready to be in the field with our survey we are even stronger.
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During the week of October 6th we were set to be “in the field” with mailed survey invitation cards through a neighbourhood mail drop. On September 12th, the union representing Canada Post workers announced they would no longer be delivering neighbourhood mail. (We had printed over 400,000 specially designed 6”x9” invitation cards in anticipation of reaching 100% of Nova Scotia households through neighbourhood mail.)
We pivoted to exploring a new (more expensive) method called Personal Mail which would have allowed us to reach 50% of Nova Scotia households, through a planned mail out during the week of October 20, using a newly designed invitation card. When the full strike hit on September 26, we paused on this approach and investigated whether a non-Canada Post option was possible. We concluded that our need for sound methodological rigour and a need to reach a very high percentage of Nova Scotia residents meant Canada Post remains our only viable option.
Workers returned to work on October 11 on a “rotating strike”. This, however, does not create the level of certainty we need to deliver the survey. To effectively administer the survey, we need a coordinated campaign of invitation card mail drops, partner outreach, survey participation workshops, paid advertising and “earned” media – all happening, without interruption, during the same 6–8-week period. Considering the fluid nature of changes over the past month, going ahead now carries the risk that surveys don’t make it to all communities in a timely fashion, that outreach is confusing, and that the data collected aren’t of the highest possible quality. To that end, we believe waiting to administer the survey is in everyone’s best interests - it is better to get this done right, rather than right now.
In the short term, we are disappointed to share this news. In the medium term we are confident the survey will soon produce a groundbreaking response that sets the foundation for improving the lives of Nova Scotians from one end of the province to the other.
Our team is still promoting awareness about the survey, hosting training workshops with partners, giving presentations, refining communications, identifying more partners and ensuring that the momentum built so far remains strong until we are in the field.
That momentum was evident on October 7 when the Nova Scotia Quality of Life Initiative was cited in the 2025 Report to Parliament, “Working Together to Thrive: Well-Being and Public Health” by the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada (Dr. Theresa Tam) as a “Catalyst for Intersectoral Action”. It is also evident locally and provincially, as we continue to work closely with community partners and pan-provincial organizations who are helping to shine a light on the importance of the Initiative. We are grateful for all the support we continue to receive.
Like all Canadians, we are hoping for a speedy resolution to the difficult matters ahead for Canada Post and its workers.
If you have any questions, please contact us at admin@engagenovascotia.ca and stay tuned for updates in the coming weeks.
On behalf of the Engage Nova Scotia Team we look forward to sharing more!
Why this matters and what’s different about the survey
The Nova Scotia Quality of Life Survey asks over 200 questions about your quality of life.
We ask questions not found in other surveys.
Apart from obvious questions about health, housing and affordability, the survey explores topics of trust in others and institutions, confidence in democracy, experiences of loneliness and discrimination, job satisfaction and even connection to nature.
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The survey reveals a fuller story of what previously was statistically unknowable or ignored.
A diverse outreach team is already mobilized to engage Nova Scotia residents in conversations about quality of life, and ensure the survey results are statistically valid when representing systematically marginalized individuals and communities in Nova Scotia.
These insights help us inform partners and the public on how our wellbeing has changed from before and after the pandemic by comparing the results from the two different survey periods.
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Close to 13,000 people responded to 230 questions, making it the largest single well-being dataset of its kind in the world.
More than 150 volunteer community leaders created nine regional leadership teams, hosted public engagements, and set priorities for a better future.
We’ve been sharing the results widely and equipping people to use them.
We have also witnessed some of the most tangible examples of how the data has ‘moved to action’.
Our data and tools became the backbone for a project to examine the lived experiences of residents in Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM), with disabilities, living with low incomes and who are young adults and single parents. This prompted the council to more strongly signal its support for “social inclusion” as a high-level goal to balance economic and population growth.
The Canadian Index of Wellbeing (CIW) at the University of Waterloo is our research and methodology partner. They are one of the globally leading experts in the field of wellbeing.
In the past, policy decisions were mainly based on economic data. While those data are important, they are incomplete on their own. So we asked Nova Scotia residents the following:
How should we measure success on a scale from 1 to 10?
The results (August, 2024):
58% said: By growing the economy.
82% said: By improving our quality of life.
Measuring and improving quality of life has become central to progress in some of the most successful jurisdictions in the world, and the Nova Scotia Quality of Life Initiative is widely considered to be a leading project of this type.
Our Promise
Our promise to survey participants - and to all Nova Scotians - is that the data will be used by all sectors and advocates, in all regions of the province, to improve quality of life.
Our tools move data to action
In collaboration with Dalhousie’s Faculty of Computer Sciences, we built groundbreaking tools so the data from our surveys are accessible to all.
See our Wellbeing Mapping Tool and a description of the Wellbeing Analysis Tool.