The Economics of Happiness Public Forum

The Economics of Happiness - The Report (2.6Mb)
Colwood Genuine Wealth Report (2.8Mb)

The City of Colwood is looking at the big picture when planning the future of our 'green learning city'. Read the report on three important meetings to discuss 'genuine wealth' with economist and author, Mark Anielski and the background work distilled from the 2008 CRD Happiness Index Survey.

E-mail info@colwoodcommunityplace.ca for more info.

On Thursday, November 12, 2009, Colwood Community Place and the Community Social Planning Council of Greater Victoria hosted a suite of three separate and related events. The day kicked off with the Community Happiness Roundtable at Colwood City Hall. The 90-minute invitational session for researchers and community development leaders drew 26 attendees from across the Capital Regional District, and was followed by Colwood 2010 and Beyond, an invitational working lunch session with representatives from all levels of government, businesses, community organizations and the media, which drew over 50 attendees. The dynamic day wrapped up at Royal Roads University with the Economics of Happiness Forum, a public session for people passionate about community and corporate social responsibility, learners and families looking for a meaningful roadmap to a sustainable future. This session drew a multi-generational crowd of over 80 people from throughout Southern Vancouver Island.

The players ...
All three of the day’s events featured presentations by Mark Anielski, author of The Economics of Happiness, Jane Worton, Queenswood Consulting Group and the Community Social Planning Council of Greater Victoria, Shaun Wysiecki, Colwood City Councillor, and Randy Royer, President of Essencia at Esquimalt Lagoon (a planned eco-cultural resort living destination on the Colwood waterfront). Dr. Pedro Marquez, Dean of the Faculty of Management at Royal Roads University joined the panel for the public forum at the end of the day. All three events were planned and hosted by Cindy Moyer of Moyer Creative Group and the West Shore Chamber of Commerce (Colwood Community Place), and Mayo McDonough, Communications Consultant and Community Social Planning Council of Greater Victoria Director, who also moderated the day’s events. Dr. Doug West of Lakehead University of Thunder Bay, Ontario (in B.C. on his sabbatical, and serving on the Community Council Board), kindly captured the three sessions to enable us to share this information with as broad an audience as possible.

The project involved support and sponsorships from a variety of local businesses and organizations that care about community.

The ‘happiness’ meetings which took place November 12, 2009 in Colwood, B.C. came into being when people from the Community Social Planning Council of Greater Victoria came together with folks from Colwood Community Place. Their common interest in the messages within Mark Anielski’s book, “The Economics of Happiness”, provided a timely platform for broadening the dialogue, and bringing people together to focus further public commentary on the issues that matter most in our world, and ways we can adapt the planning and support systems we live by to create a more promising future.