“We could view schools as an essential service, so that it wouldn’t be necessary to shut them down in future pandemic crises, or any type of crisis, really … similar to the ways that hospitals stay open,” Joanna DeJong VanHof, a Cardus researcher, told the Epoch Times.

"As we emerge from the pandemic, we need to start rebuilding the civic skill of charitable volunteering," writes Joanna DeJong VanHof, a Cardus researcher, in the Hamilton Spectator. "At the very least, we should be making it easier for folks to volunteer."

York Region's religious congregations contribute an estimated $235 million worth of benefits to their surrounding communities, according to haloproject.ca. YorkRegion.com spoke with Dr. Lisa Richmond, Vice-President of Research at Cardus, to learn more.

"Affordability should never be a barrier to volunteering," Joanna DeJong VanHof, a Cardus researcher, told CBC Radio's Metro Morning.

Cardus's research with the Angus Reid Institute on Canadian religiosity features prominently in this story about Canadian Catholics ahead of a visit by Pope Francis.

"The answer is more educational pluralism, not less," writes David Hunt, Cardus Education program director. "There’s a lot of research on this. The bottom-line: Independent schools—including religious ones—strengthen social cohesion." 

Cardus is calling on Ontario’s government to reduce barriers to volunteering in order to help reverse the decline in formal volunteer rates and hours, as researcher Joanna DeJong VanHof explains to CBC Ottawa.

Joanna DeJong VanHof, a researcher with Cardus, tells The Sam Laprade Show that it's becoming expensive to volunteer, and vulnerable sector checks are costing too much for low-income volunteers and smaller charities.

"In the most in-depth analysis to date on Community Benefits Agreements in jurisdictions across the country, the independent think-tank Cardus found while CBAs in Canada have serious flaws, nowhere is this more plainly clear than in B.C.," writes Paul de Jong, president of the Progressive Contractors Association of Canada.