Quebecers least charitable in country, StatsCan says

Quebec has come in last when the average amount of charitable donations declared here in 2016 is compared with those of other provinces, according to numbers compiled by Statistics Canada.

Numbers made public on Wednesday show that the median charitable donation in Quebec in 2016 was $130, which means half of all declared donations in the province for that year were less than $130, while the remainder exceeded that amount.

Meanwhile, the national median for declared charitable donations in 2016 was $300.

The highest provincial or territorial median donation — $520 — was recorded in Nunavut, although the total number of donors in the territory was smaller than in other sectors of the country.

Alberta took second place with a median donation of $470, followed by British Columbia with a median of $440.

For the 15th consecutive year, the metropolitan region of Abbotsford-Mission, B.C., had the highest median for charitable donations in municipal areas with $760.

It was followed by Lethbridge, Alta., with $620 and Saskatoon, Sask., with $470.

In Quebec, residents of the Gatineau area recorded the highest municipal median with $180, followed by Montreal with $160, while Quebec City recorded a median of $120.

Nationally, the total value of declared donations was $8.9 billion in 2016, a drop of 2.7 per cent compared with 2015.

The largest total drop provincially was recorded in Alberta, a phenomenon StatsCan attributes to a reduction in resource revenues that shook the local economy.