What does your life look like as a resident of rural Ontario?
That’s the essence of some of the questions posed by the HEAR Initiative, a new survey launched by Leith Deacon, a University of Guelph professor in the School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, seeking to collect information about health, economics and climate adaptation in rural communities across Ontario.
Planned to collect data in 2026, 2028, and 2030, the survey is seeking information from approximately 200,000 rural households across Ontario, as well as those who live, work, or operate in a rural part of the province, to help advise higher-level decision-making by local governments and non-profits.
“Basically, the idea is the initiative will provide an opportunity for rural communities to be able to argue for themselves,” said Deacon. “You can’t solve problems if you can’t properly measure them.”
Deacon was inspired to launch the initiative after he conducted a smaller study in 2021/2022, which focused on the mental health of rural communities during the pandemic.
From there, he said he started to wonder how to create a resource for rural communities to access relevant, locally collected data.
“It took a few years to secure the funding, and then a few years to figure out the ethics, and now we’re finally here,” said Deacon, thanking the McCall MacBain Foundation, which provided $1.65 million to support the project in late 2025.
The study starts out by asking residents to share the first three digits of their postal code, so researchers can identify where they are in the rural sphere.
Once that’s determined, participants will be asked to answer a variety of questions ranging from general health concerns to the implications of climate on rural communities.
“Farming, for example. We’ve seen an increase in drought, big rain events, climate events, and so forth,” said Deacon. “So we’re trying to gather as much information so that decisions can be informed by real data.”
There are five versions of the study, representing all regions across the province except for the GTA.
Within that, there are two versions of the study- digital and paper – to ensure residents are honest about their experiences.
Advised by a committee formed with groups like the Western Ontario Wardens’ Caucus and the Mental Health Commission of Canada, Deacon said he hopes to include more Indigenous and Mennonite voices as the study and relationships develop.
“If you’re from Chatham, that area of the province would have communities or would have questions around seasonal workers because they have such a significant population; if you’re from up north, mining extractive resources appear,” said Deacon. “So, there are different versions to make sure that we’re asking the most relevant questions.”
Growing up just outside of North Bay, Deacon, who currently lives in Fergus, said he believes rural residents should fill out the survey to ensure their communities have access to data that is as good, as credible, and as useful as that which is collected in areas like Waterloo, Toronto, and Ottawa.
At its core, Deacon said he’s trying to create a “one-stop shop for rural communities to access data.”
“Rural communities are not simply smaller versions of cities. They have unique economies, completely different demographics, healthcare systems, transportation challenges, social networks, and so forth,” said Deacon. “The reality is that policies work best when they’re based on the realities where they’re being used.”
Moving forward, Deacon said he hopes the survey will help inform ongoing conversations about developments like oil extraction and pipeline development, which are taking place in rural spaces and the implications for rural Ontario and Canada.
“Ultimately, the only way this will work is if people do (the survey),” said Deacon. “I know that people hate surveys, I get it, but this is a good survey, and it’s important. We want the data to be accessible.”
The survey and more information about the HEAR Initiative are available here.
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program
By Isabel Buckmaster, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Original Published on Jul 13, 2026 at 15:09
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