Senator Brian Francis: Community Benefits for Minorities and Indigenous Communities

On May 2, 2019 Senator Brian Francis rose in the Senate Chamber to support Bill C-344. In his remarks, Senator Francis speaks to the merits of community benefits for youth at risk and Indigenous youth and discusses how other international jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom and Australia leverage community benefits in their government procurement practices. Senator Omidvar is the Senate sponsor of this legislation.

Watch a clip from Senator Francis’ speech and read the full transcript below:

Hon. Brian Francis: Honourable senators, I rise today to speak in support of Bill C-344, An Act to amend the Department of Public Works and Government Services Act (community benefit). I thank Senator Omidvar for shepherding the bill into this chamber and for her impressive and detailed remarks outlining the many good reasons for the federal government to take into consideration the on-the-ground impact of their decision making.

The federal government spends tens of millions of dollars annually on its construction, maintenance and repair projects. These projects happen in all regions in the country — from the East to West Coasts, and from Northern Canada to our southern border.

The government has stated that it is committed to transparency and an open bidding process. Asking a company that is competing for federal work during the bidding process to outline its community benefit impact demonstrates the government’s commitment to the communities that are the backbone of this country and to the youth, the unemployed and the Indigenous community members who will be helped from this very simple provision.

This one, non-mandatory request by the minister, asking those companies who would like to take on a federal government contract is not an erroneous or excessive demand. Any federal contract, whether building, refurbishing or retrofitting, is going to impact the surrounding communities and the lives of their citizens, hopefully in a positive way. Bill C-344 asks that companies outline the positive impacts of benefits going into a project and provide an assessment of community benefits realized at the end of a project.

In my view, the most important aspect of Bill C-344 is a spinoff effect for youth at risk and Indigenous youth who will be able to take advantage of the opportunities that would come from such an endeavour.

Buy Social Canada is a social enterprise with a goal to educate, advocate and engage social suppliers and purchasers from across governments, institutions and corporations to advance social procurement policies and practices. Imagine Canada works alongside other charitable sector organizations and often in partnership with the private sector, governments and individuals in the community to ensure that charities continue to play a pivotal role in building, enriching and defining our nation.

Both of these organizations support the aim of Bill C-344. In their estimation, federal construction and repair projects should add value to the businesses in the communities in which they occur and should benefit the people in those communities.

While not a federal contractor, Ontario Power Generation has specifically targeted Indigenous groups and mandated an Indigenous relations policy first developed in 2007. Since much of OPG’s work in the nuclear industry occurs on or near First Nations lands, OPG chose to involve the Indigenous people in their decision-making and to proactively foster positive relationships in order to create social and economic benefits for their communities.

A couple of recent examples of these collaborations are the partnership with Coral Rapids Power Corporation, a wholly owned company of the Taykwa Tagamou Nation to build the Peter Sutherland Sr. Generating Station on the New Post Creek location in northeastern Ontario. This $300-million project employed 220 workers at its peak and was completed in 2017.

The Lower Mattagami River project was a $2.6-billion hydroelectric redevelopment partner with the Moose Cree First Nation that was completed in 2014 ahead of time and on budget. Two-hundred and fifty local Indigenous people worked on this project as an equity partner. The skills and training they learned were of immense value.

Community benefits are not a new idea, as was pointed out by Senator Omidvar. Our Commonwealth cousins in the United Kingdom initiated the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012. It calls for all public sector procurement to factor in economic, social and environmental well-being in connection with public service contracts. It requires that all public bodies in England and Wales consider how the services they commission might improve the social, economic and environmental well-being of the area. This includes providing apprenticeships and work placement programs.

In Australia, the state government of Victoria published a guide for use by their community governments on social procurement. It mandates it that government procurement take the following factors, among others, into consideration when awarding contracts: build and maintain strong communities by generating local employment, particularly among disadvantaged residents; promote social inclusion and strengthen the local economy; strengthen partnerships with a diverse range of community and government stakeholders; demonstrate leadership across a wider community and local government sector; and achieve greater value for money for their communities.

In 2016, the European Union commissioned and published a report entitled Social enterprises and the social economy going forward. This report argues for a European action plan that would promote an environment for social enterprises and a social economy to build on their core values. These include democratic governments, social impact, innovation, profit reinvestment and, most important, priority given to the individuals in the economic decision-making.

Bill C-344 is not another burden being placed on companies asking to be considered for federal contracts. It is a way for the federal government to take into consideration the economic, social and employment benefits of their decisions, using taxpayer dollars.

Senator Omidvar outlines examples in Canadian urban areas and outside of Canada. I have looked specifically at the benefits attained or that are possible within Canada’s Indigenous communities. Lack of employment or underemployment is a major factor for the desperation and hopelessness felt by Indigenous youth. While this may stem from geographic isolation, it is very often simply a lack of opportunity. For companies to include in their federal government proposals the community benefits relating to local employment, especially the employment of Indigenous youth, as done by Ontario Power Generation mentioned earlier, the impacts could be quite literally life-changing.

Proposed section 20.1 of Bill C-344 defines “community benefit” as follows:

. . . community benefit means a social, economic or environmental benefit that a community derives from a construction, maintenance or repair project, and includes job creation and training opportunities, improvement of public space and any other specific benefit identified by the community.

There is nothing negative in this definition and nothing that might prove onerous to those companies wanting to do business with the Government of Canada. Everything that touches Canadian communities and the people living in them should be beneficial; otherwise, why bother?

I ask that colleagues take the time to read the bill and move it forward for study at committee. The aims of Bill C-344 can only benefit the regions, provinces, minorities and Indigenous peoples. As senators, these include everything and everyone we represent.

Wela’lioq. Thank you.

Click here to view more resources on Bill C-344 and community benefits.