The news doesn’t look good for family life in Canada. Results from Statistics Canada 2006 Census show marriages are down, divorces are up and there’s a jump in single-family homes. Not only are marriages down, but also married adults are in the minority. Common-law unions (particularly in the province of Quebec) and same-sex partnerships have increased. Ethicist Margaret Somerville describes it as “a profound change in the Canadian Family” in a recent article in the Montreal Gazette (Sept. 23, 2007).

Looking at the figures for marriage, this is how the statistics boil down:

* 48.5 percent of adults (considered age 15 and up) are married. This includes same-sex couples.

* 51.5% of adults (age 15 and up) are either unmarried, separated or divorced.

* Having more unmarried than married adults is a first for Canada.

* There are now 90,695 same-sex unions, an increase of 32.6 % since 2001.

* Of those same-sex couples, 16.5% or 7, 465 individuals married after the 2005 legalization of same-sex marriages.

* 15.5% of couples (2.8 million Canadians) live common-law, up 19% since 2001.

* Among those common-law partners, there’s a boom in those among the 20-something age group and the over-60’s.

* Couples without children (42.7 %) outnumber couples with children (41.4 %).

The figures point to an alarming scenario for the future of Canada’s children. Several factors contribute to this. A 2006 survey revealed common-law relationships are significantly more unstable than married ones. More than 60% of common-law unions break up, compared to 30% of regular marriages. (In Quebec, thirty-five percent of couples are in common-law relationships, representing 44.4 percent of the national total.) Couples who live common-law and who subsequently later marry are more likely to separate. These two facts mean any children of those arrangements could end up in Canada’s one-parent families, now at 18.3 % of all families. Eighty percent are headed by women (up 7.6% since 2001). These one-parent families are statistically proven to be poorer and more prone to social, educational and behavioural problems than two-parent units. In broken marriages, whether regular or common-law, twenty-five percent of the children experience the family break-up before the age of six. Further, a 2004 Statscan survey found married women have healthier babies than do those in common-law unions. One has to fear for the physical and psychological health of children brought into such high-risk unions.

There has been a 77.1% rise in common-law living arrangements in couples between the ages of 60 and 64 - a situation which columnist Margaret Wente described this way: “Forty years ago, we used to call it ‘shacking up’ and it was regarded as distinctly lower-class behaviour” (Globe and Mail Sept 13, 2007). Economic, legal and taxation concerns, an awareness that such unions don’t incur the approbation they used to, an egocentric culture – all are possible explanations. If young adults view the older generation as role models, it’s obvious the kind of example being proffered.

The number of households without children has risen by 11.2%. For the first time in Canada, there are more childless couples than couples with children. Forty-three percent of married or common-law couples are childless, compare with 41% who have children. Families are also smaller because parents, now older when starting their families, choose to have fewer, if any, children.

Analysts in Statscan’s social and demographic area fear for Canada’s replacement level, leading to skilled worker shortages, escalating health-care and pension costs and an overall underserviced nation.

Other Statscan figures reveal more adult children are living at home longer; and more grandchildren are living with their grandparents, with the children’s parents not present.

Canada is witnessing an escalating upheaval which could eventually eradicate the traditional concept of marriage and family. How institutions that have a deep-rooted interest in the survival of the Canadian family will respond to this trend remains to be seen–and, hopefully, heard.

Lorraine Williams is a retired marriage counsellor.