Canada is quickly slipping from its status as an equal and fair society, according to Richard Wilkinson, a British social epidemiologist and Emeritus Professor at the University of Nottingham in England. After 30 years of research into the topic of social inequality, Wilkinson co-wrote The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger, with Kate Pickett (Bloomsbury Press, 2009). The book argues that poverty is not responsible for the social ills it's usually associated with. Rather, social inequality is to blame for epidemics of violence and poor health, and even for environmental degradation. The income gap is narrowest in Japan and northern Europe, two relatively peaceful and healthy parts of the world. At the other end of the spectrum, the U.S. and the U.K. have the highest levels of inequality. Canada falls in the middle, at least for now. Wilkinson and Pickett also founded the Equality Trust (2009), a UK-based non-profit organization whose aim is "to reduce income inequality through a program of public and political education." As part of a Canadian tour, Wilkinson gave a seminar at Vancouver's Simon Fraser University this week. He sat down for an interview with rabble.ca.
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