Well-being Economies Alliance for Canada and Sovereign Indigenous Nations
The Well-being Economies Alliance for Canada and Sovereign Indigenous Nations (WEAll Can) is a dynamic network dedicated to reimagining the economy to enable systems that deliver well-being for all people and the planet.
WEAll Can is a hub of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WEAll), the leading global collaboration of organizations, alliances, movements and individuals working together to transform the economic system into one that delivers well-being for all, on a healthy planet.
WEAll Can operates as a distributed action-learning network. A collaboration of allies from all levels of the economic system stewards the work of radically reimagining the purpose of our economic system to prioritize people and the planet.
WEALL Canada operates from the agreements formed and expressed collectively in our Living Charter.
Our mission
WEAll Can is working to bring together a critical mass of people and organizations to collaborate, re-imagine and design and enact/embody an economic system that is purpose-built to generate well-being for all people – including future generations – and the planet.
Our vision
In a decade, Canadians will have most of their economic activity in wellbeing economies.
“Today, the work in my life nourishes me, and my work supports life.”
Our roots
- Relationality – We nurture a network of healthy relationships central to wellbeing.
- Integrity – We operate ethically and in good faith to inspire trust and togetherness
- Pluralism – We welcome many ways of knowing and being. We hold multiple theories of change.
- Mutability – We grow and change with the needs of stakeholders.
- Praxis – We test our theories by living them, and learn as we grow.
Theory of change
Value Proposition
WEAll Can is the learning and coordination hub for Canada’s transition to a wellbeing economy,
helping people and organizations doing this work become more effective,
while also creating a welcoming space for new voices to join the movement,
so that we can all learn together and develop shared strategies
for a diverse, just and inclusive economic transformation in alignment with nature.
WEAll Canada’s Theory of Change involves an interconnecting loop of individual and collective learning. Our individual level learning of embodying new patterns of acting and being builds our capacity for impact. Collectively, we deepen our relationships through collaboration and grow our understanding of the world. The nexus point of the convenings where we have conversations that transform us continuously has us passing through these two loops simultaneously and iteratively.
Why do we need WEAll Can?
The economic system, and its deeply flawed assumptions, is connected with and shapes all aspects of our lives. Society, the economy and nature are complex adaptive systems with multiple interdependent and connected elements.
The crises of poverty, climate change and mental health are not stand-alone issues or entirely under individual control. They are failures of the economic system’s design. These failures are a result of a misalignment of the purpose of the economy with the lived values of the diversity of people living in Canada.
The global pandemic made the faults in our economic system impossible to ignore. A small group of people created the economy we have today – and that means we can recreate it. Rebuilding and regrowing means we can redefine the economy so problems are not built into the system in the first place.
Well-being in Canada at a glimpse
Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Largest economy in the world.
Of Canadians reporting difficulty in paying expenses related to housing, food, transportation and clothing.
Adults meeting the physical activity target recommended in the Canadian 24-hour movement guidelines.
Canadians have or have had a mental illness by the time they’re 40.
Place for child and youth well-being among wealthy countries.
What WEAll Can is trying to solve
Problem
The economy is not delivering well-being for all people in Canada because the economic system is not designed to do so. We need economic system change. The federal government has all of the levers to determine the purpose of our economy. They are the ones we need to influence.
Gap
We need a critical mass of people/organizations from across the economic system explicitly working on economic system change, to create the vision and pressure we need to influence government.
Solution
WEAll Can is a network dedicated to economic system change, bringing together different kinds of actors.
Problem
The vision for a reimagined purpose for the economy needs to come from all people throughout our shared lands. The current economy has been defined by only one cultural viewpoint.
Gap
Need to get inputs from all Canadians and Indigenous Nations on what a collectively reimagined purpose for the economy should be.
Solution
WEAll Can provides a platform to listen to, learn with and elevate a plurality of voices that speak to a diversity of ways of knowing.
Problem
People are dissatisfied with the outcomes of the current economic system that affect them.
Gap
People need to be empowered to act to influence the government to make economic system change, but currently don’t know or care about the economy and economics. They cannot get involved if they do not know how to get involved or what exactly they are influencing.
Solution
WEAll Can empowers people with information, tools and an active community of peers, so everyone can collaboratively reimagine the purpose of our economy.
Problem
We are told repeatedly by arts and culture, schools, media, government and business that other people are selfish (they value wealth, public image and success over compassionate values like helpfulness, equality and protection of nature). Research shows people who hold this belief about other people feel less responsible for their communities and significantly less positive about getting involved. They also report greater social alienation and are less likely to feel that they fit in with wider society.
Gap
We need “communities of belonging,” in which people feel trust, understanding, belonging, mutual concern, mutual aid and support.
Solution
WEAll CAN empowers people with information and tools and diffuses power so everyone can collaboratively redefine economic purpose.