Speech: Bolstering our understanding of Canada’s charities and non-profits in the Senate

Honourable senators, this was not accidental but designed that I would speak to both motions on the creation of special committees. I don’t want to take up your time by repeating what I said, but my remarks on the creation of special committees hold good for this as well.

Here is a difference: I actually do know a lot about the not-for- profit charitable sector because I have worked in it all my life. I want to commend Senator Mercer for his leadership in drawing our attention to this issue, and Senators Eggleton and Tardif for their work on the charitable sector through the Liberal open caucus.

I don’t know this for sure, but I’m pretty sure every one of us in this chamber is somehow associated with a not-for-profit or a charity. I did some pop research, and I looked around the chamber and noticed that Senator Eaton is Director and Vice- chair of St. Michael’s Hospital Foundation; Senator Hubley is President of the Prince Edward Island Fiddlers Society — how lovely that must be; Senator Bernard is a founding member of the Association of Black Social Workers; Senator Gold is on the board of directors of Centraide Montreal; and I am on the board of Samara, an organization dedicated to amplifying democracy. I believe this is an issue that cuts across all our regions, interests and lives. This is possibly one of those issues that bind us together.

Senator Mercer has proposed a committee of eight, with a mandate until September 2018. He proposes examining the impact volunteers have, studying the policies and laws that govern the work that not-for-profit charities do.

These topics are near and dear to me. As a new immigrant to Canada — and I possibly am not alone when I say this — this was the one sector that did not look at me in the face and say, “Where is your Canadian work experience?” I have a real fondness and empathy for the sector because on principle it is associated with looking at people other than what is on the paper before them.

I will also note that the not-for-profit charitable sector is the eighth largest employer in our country, larger than the automotive sector.

Here is the interesting thing about the not-for-profit charitable sector: It ranks higher than media on the Edelman Trust Barometer, which is the international barometer that measures trust in society. It ranks higher than business, media and government. But here is the problem: It is trusted by the people of this country, but that trust somehow does not translate into respect. At the heart, I would like to see a committee devoted to this issue come out with recommendations and findings that translate that trust into respect.

In addition to all the very appropriate questions Senator Mercer has proposed on the sector, I would like to consider, for instance, other ideas from jurisdictions that are like-minded on charities. For instance, the U.K. or the Australian model has a charities regulator that has a much broader mandate than the CRA. In the U.K., there are centres called “What Works Centres,” which are hubs for best practices and data-gathering.

We can talk about the sector as one sector. It is a very large beast, as Senator Mercer well knows. It ranges from universities and hospitals, on the one hand, to small, local, completely volunteer-run institutions. I don’t quite know how you can call this a sector without deconstructing its many lives and how this will be reflected in the findings.

Right now, the machinery of government in Ottawa engages with the sector only through one instrument, and that is oversight by the CRA. This is not an enabling environment. The Mowat School of Public Policy has written a very interesting paper on creating an enabling environment for the sector, and that enabling environment cannot be a tax regulator.

I hope this committee looks at those issues. There is no shortage of ideas to study.

I ask myself this question: Does the study not naturally fit into the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology? It’s a good thing to ask yourself a question and challenge yourself, but there are reasons to strike the special committee.

For one, since 2005 charitable sector reform has gained public traction, but little movement has been made since then. Those of us who are junkies of the not-for-profit sector remember that in 1991 with the Voluntary Sector Initiative, $91 million was spent and there was very little to show for it. I would not want us to spend anywhere near that amount of money, but I want us to have recommendations that will stick.

I will support Senator Mercer’s motion on creating a special committee focusing on the not-for-profit charitable sector. I speak for myself and not everyone; I hope, Senator Mercer, you have patience. You wanted to strike it in the summer. I go back to not being afraid of doing hard work but needing to do the work well.