[Report] Working Together to Thrive: Well-Being and Public Health

Well-being is gaining momentum globally as a shared policy goal and approach, focused on creating the conditions for current and future generations to thrive on a healthy planet. This approach balances health, social, economic, and environmental priorities through whole-of-society action. In Canada, people are facing multiple challenges to their well-being, including extreme weather related to climate change, infectious diseases threats, the toxic drug crisis, rising costs of living, and fast-changing digital environments. A well-being lens recognizes that coordinated work across sectors is needed to address these complex issues and support individual and collective well-being, now and into the future.

Well-being is also used as a measure of societal success, arising from an awareness that economic indicators, like gross domestic product (GDP), cannot fully capture how society is doing. Several groups have developed well-being measurement frameworks (e.g., Canada's Quality of Life Framework, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's Better Life Index). These frameworks track multiple dimensions of well-being, such as income, housing, employment, environment, education, health, social cohesion, and life satisfaction. Since these dimensions are interconnected, improving overall well-being requires collaboration across sectors.

Indigenous Peoples around the world have long been leaders in advancing holistic approaches to well-being that are relational, strengths-based, and rooted in connections to the land and nature. First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples' diverse well-being knowledge systems are complex and dynamic, with a deep history that holds significant value for well-being approaches. The World Health Organization defines well-being as "a positive state experienced by individuals and societies. Similar to health, it is a resource for daily life and is determined by social, economic, and environmental conditions." Since health and well-being are closely connected, creating the conditions that support well-being can also improve population health and health equity. Well-being approaches are well aligned with key aspects of public health practice, including health promotion and a focus on upstream intersectoral action on the determinants of health. This report explores ways to bring the strengths of public health and well-being together to advance shared goals, showcasing both Western and Indigenous well-being frameworks, as well as examples of initiatives led by governments, organizations, and communities.