Just an hour's drive west of Toronto, Guelp, Ont., is best-known for its university and rich agricultural setting. Turns out it has another claim to game-it's the volunteer capital of Canada. In fact, Ontario is home to three of the country's Top Five caring communities. Quebecers, however, are less generous with their time. Gatineau is the only Quebec community that appears in the Top 10, and of that five least-caring cities, four are in that province.

Volunteer rates were important in determining the overall learning scores for major cities because, according to the Canadian Council on Learning, volunteering "helps fortify community services," as well as providing "learning opportunities for the volunteers themselves."

Source: The Canadian Council on Learning (data originally collected for the Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participation, 2004, from Statistics Canada). Volunteers are defined as those who performed a service without pay on behalf of a charitable or other non-profit organization at least once durnig the 12-month period preceding the survey.

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