Vital Signs: Rebuilding trust in institutions

Trust in Canadian institutions is in decline. A recent University of Waterloo report finds that though the pandemic saw an increase in trust, it has since dropped to pre-pandemic levels. Since trust is fundamental to a well-functioning society, this is a phenomenon to note, especially in the context of a trade war with the United States and already increased costs of living.

In this episode of Vital Signs, Rudi Wallace welcomes Dr. Anjali Menezes (Family Physician, Scholar, MERIT McMaster University) and Cameron Kroetsch (Ward 2 Councillor, City of Hamilton) to discuss the dynamic of trust in a variety of institutions including health care, government and policing.

Key quotes

โ€œTrust in institutions is built around whether there is a willingness to share power. Until you can give up some of that power itโ€™s very hard to break down that barrier to trust.โ€ Cameron Kroetsch on sharing power

โ€œCommunities ask, โ€˜Are you holding up your end of the bargain?โ€™ in return for the trust they give to institutions. Institutions have not really adapted to how they interact with society.โ€ Anjali Menezes on the social contract

โ€œWe live in a world where information is delivered in fragments and all those fragments are delivered by different peopleโ€ฆthe problem is a lot of media that you can place your trust in, donโ€™t exist anymore.โ€ Cameron Kroetsch on the challenge of legitimacy in an era of declining media

โ€œThe risk for institutions when we feel they are not fulfilling their part of the social contract, is that we stop supporting those institutions which only exist because we have given them their power.โ€ Anjali Menezes

โ€œTransparency is so important because these systems (of government) are designed to be opaque and confusingโ€ฆbureaucratizing language is deeply alienating to people.โ€ Cameron Kroetsch on transparency

โ€œI donโ€™t want to live under policing by coercion. I want to try to work on this concept of policing by legitimacy, by increasing that trust, by bridging the gap between this institution and communities that are not typically represented at that table.โ€ Anjali Menezes on policing as an institution