Hamilton's Social Landscape

Hamilton has seen important economic and political changes over the last decades, such as the shrinking of the manufacturing workforce and the amalgamation of the regional municipalities into one city. During this time, there have also been many broad social trends that have affected Hamilton. This changing social landscape is the focus of this report.

In the last few years, a number of efforts have been undertaken to deepen the analysis and understanding of social trends in Hamilton. Hamilton’s Social Landscape builds upon the information presented in many of these reports and tries to avoid duplication as much as possible. This report focuses on a few key socio-economic variables that are of special concern to social and urban planners and social service providers. The report highlights the recent historical trend of these variables along with comparisons to other communities.

This report focuses primarily on groups or social issues for which data is already collected and relatively accessible. There are many groups of Hamilton residents for which there is a scarcity of data, but yet still require attention by the community to improve conditions for all. These would include many significant segments of our society including: the lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender and queer community,
precarious workers, temporary foreign workers and grandparents raising their grandchildren, among others. Readers are invited to examine other reports for information on groups and variables not discussed in this report.

Hamilton’s Social Landscape - Summary Report

Publication Date: 
2011
Location: 
Hamilton, ON, Canada