Purpose and Principles

The 7th Generation Initiative is based on recognition that:

The Earth and its ecosystems are the foundation of life, and the long-term success or failure of civilization depends on how we treat our ecological environment.

The human family has grown to an enormous size and strength capable of immense creativity and great destruction.

The immense strength of the human family has placed on society's leaders equally great responsibilities to protect today's resources and opportunities for the benefit of generations to come.

One of its most important objectives of our governments is, or should be to promote the health and well-being of people, communities and ecosystems.

In making decisions, it is essential that we carefully consider their impacts on the long-term future. There is a wise tradition among Aboriginal people of making decisions with the interest of the next seven generations in mind. This tradition recognizes that adverse effects that appear small at first can, over time, become catastrophic.

Sustenance, emotional health and personal fulfillment depend on each person having opportunities to participate socially, economically and democratically in the communities that affect their lives.

In our complex world, where there are many ways to see issues, the multitude of eyes, ears, minds and creative abilities in the population are valuable resources which are needed to effectively recognize and correct problems.

The problem solving skills of the population can be most successfully applied if all people in Canada have access to current information on the health and well-being of the people, communities and ecosystems.

The well-being of all nations is closely interrelated, and people everywhere need information concerning the health and well-being of the people, communities and ecosystems of their nation and of the entire world.

Principles of Well-Being:

The following principles of well-being were developed as part of the work on the "Canada Well-Being Measurement Act". The Seventh Generation Initiative feels they provide a good starting point from which to develop measures of well-being. You are invited to comment on the validity of these principles and/or to suggest others.


Personal Well-Being:

All Canadians should have access to those elements of life that are necessary for personal health and well-being, including pure water, clean air, healthy food, useful work, and adequate housing.

There is great value in individual and collective activities, such as learning, relationships, appreciation, sports, music, dance, and other sorts of creativity. These pursuits contribute to fulfillment and improved physical and mental health without diminishing natural resources or stressing the ecological or social systems on which well-being depends. Such life-based activities should be recognized, celebrated and fostered.

The quality of the environment in which children grow should receive special care as it vitally affects the life of each child and the well-being of future communities.

Excessive inequality between individuals, as it relates to each of these principles of Personal Well-Being can lead to distress and destructive social tension.


Community Well-Being:

Community cohesion depends on mutual respect, communication and freedom of belief among all people in Canada.

Canadians should have the opportunity to participate in making the decisions that affect their lives.

People need and should have opportunities to contribute to the economic process.

Physical and emotional health problems and inducement toward crime increase when people are unable to find opportunities to contribute to the economic system.

Healthy communities should have low levels of violence, theft and other forms of crime.

Many of the goods and services upon which society depends are produced through unpaid work; such goods and services are no less valuable than similar ones that are purchased with money.

All persons should be able to draw on goods and services from society in exchange for their contributions.

Canadians should have access to information regarding matters that affect their health and well-being.


The Well-Being of Ecosystems:

Biodiversity needs to be maintained; the resilience of living systems and the ecological security of the 7th generation is diminished as a result of each life form lost.

Ecosystems should be protected and past damage to them reversed, where possible, in order to maintain the ecological foundation for our existence.

Renewable resources should not be used more rapidly than they are renewed; and natural substances should be used in such a way as to enable easy retrieval for reuse.

Non-renewable resources which are not destroyed through use should be managed in continuous cycles.

The use of non-renewable resources which are destroyed through use should be minimized, and renewable replacements should be developed as such materials are consumed.

Emissions of pollutants should not harm human health or exceed nature's capacity for absorbing or breaking them down; persistent pollutants harmful to humans or to the environment should be eliminated.

The atmosphere should be protected from deterioration and our Earth protected from climate change by adherence to the same principles that apply to emission of pollutants in general.

Where environmental debts are incurred, the provision of resources to remove that debt should be assigned to those who principally benefit from the policy or activity or by public expenditure which ever is appropriate.

The selling price of goods and services should include the costs of environmental damage, resource depletion, recycling and safe disposal arising from the entire life cycle of the goods and services.


The Well-Being of Other Nations:

In using these principles to assess the impact of Canadian policies and decisions, the assessment should be extended to include the impacts made by Canadians and Canadian interests on the well-being of people communities and ecosystems in other countries.