Almost half of Canadians have lost trust in public institutions and private corporations, according to a newly released study on trust in Canada.

Trust, the study says, has been eroded by Canadians’ perception they have been mistreated and ignored as consumers and citizens. As a result, Canadians often feel disengaged and disconnected.

Aiming High, Renewing Trust in a Time of Suspicion was conducted by the Toronto-based Centre for Ethical Orientation (CEO) and sponsored by CIBC. The study involved four phases of research, including a national survey of about 2,000 Canadians.

“Canada has historically operated as a ‘high-trust’ society,” says John Dalla Costa, one of the study’s authors and founder of the CEO. “Canadian public- and private- sector organizations, however, have lost considerable credibility and are struggling to define the governance and operational models to re-engage Canadians within an increasingly ‘low-trust’ reality.”

This frayed trust shapes opinions and responses to such issues as Kyoto and health care, says Dalla Costa. “Suspicion also adds considerable costs to the economy, both in hard dollar terms (requiring investment in compliance and accountability, for example) as well as in softer terms, including the costs associated with more friction and frustration in transactions and interactions.”

No one scandal or ethical impropriety has undermined public trust, he says. Instead, it “has been bleeding away from a thousand cuts.”

“As citizens, consumers and employees, Canadians feel that their voices are not heard, that human and community factors are neglected, and that leaders and organizations largely escape accountability for their decisions and actions.”

Trust forms the bedrock of the political and economic system, says John Hunkin, CIBC’s chairman and CEO. “Any erosion in public trust – be it trust in our political institutions and processes, trust in our capital markets, or trust in our legal system – should be of concern to us all.”

Included in the report’s other findings:

* Eighty-eight per cent of Canadians strongly agree that it takes more to earn trust today than it did in the past, with 87 per cent strongly agreeing that people are less trusting now than they used to be.

* Referring to recent business scandals, 80 per cent agreed that there was an overfocusing on economic performance versus business’s broader contribution to society.

* Seventy-six per cent of Canadians believe that executives are too far removed from the implications of their decisions.

The study says most Canadians understand the priorities of performance and fiscal prudence. What they hope for is a new, more imaginative fusion of values and goals that respects both smart management and social trust.

The report calls for creation for a National Trust Index, which would provide a quarterly tracking of social capital, identifying trends, obstacles and opportunities, and over time, corresponding trust factors to those for consumer confidence, economic performance and society’s quality of life.

The Centre for Ethical Orientation is a Canadian-based consultancy that works with private- and public-sector clients to develop ethical excellence in governance, leadership and management.