Global Social Economy Forum
Speech
September 7, 2016
Distingued guests,
Dear friends,
Thank you for the opportunity to be with you today to open the Global Social Economy Forum, on the traditional territory of the Mohawk Nation.
As an aside, I would like to note how touched I was by Chief Picard’s words. I salute not only his actions, but also his attitude.
I would like to start by also thanking the Mayor of Montréal, His Worship Denis Coderre, for inviting the Government of Canada to be a partner.
I’d also like to thank our international guests. This Forum is a great platform for exchange, but your knowledge and expertise will make it much more worthwhile.
Finally, I would like to share a warm welcome from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
There’s no better place to discuss social innovation than in my home province of Quebec.
The notion of social innovation is deeply rooted in our history. Let me give you an example.
In 1900, right here in Quebec, Alphonse Desjardins founded the first caisses populaires.
He wanted to give working-class people—those we call the middle class—access to loans to help them contribute to the economic development of Canada, notably of French Canadians.
This tradition is still ongoing. Quebec is at the forefront of social economy in Canada, and the Desjardins Movement continues to be a leader we are very proud of.
Today, the Caisse d’économie solidaire Desjardins is a leading financial institution for social economy and responsible investment lending in Quebec.
To give just one example, in 2015, la Caisse d’économie solidaire Desjardins made the loan of 6 million dollars towards the construction of a new warehouse by Renaissance, a social enterprise which operates here in Greater Montreal area, 11 thrift stores.
Renaissance focuses on helping people who face barriers to entering the workforce.
It offers a 26-week paid job training program which combines their ethical training, practical work experience and personal counselling.
And they’ve had tremendous success.
Over 20 years of operation, Renaissance has helped over 3,000 people reintegrate into the labour market.
Lenders like the Caisse make dozens of these types of socially beneficial transactions each and every year.
Our province is also home to the Réseau d’investissement social du Québec.
Then you have organizations like the Fiducie du Chantier de l’économie sociale, which provides capital to social economy enterprises.
La Fiducie has invested $50 million in Quebec’s social economy since 2007, which has generated a further $336 million in investments and helped create and consolidate over 3,000 jobs.
These Canadian social innovation efforts towards a more collaborative and more inclusive society extend well beyond Quebec and save – and serve social economic and inclusive development across our whole and entire country.
Collaboration is an important element of social innovation and of social finance, mobilizing different levels of government, charities, community organizations as well as the private sector in order to build a better society together.
In that collaborative endeavour, we are inspired by initiatives outside Canada.
For instance, in the last 15 years, the UK has invested more than 350 million pounds in social entrepreneurship, charity capacity building and social ventures, and has taken multiple steps to support the development of a thriving social finance market.
Through these efforts, the UK has emerged as a global leader in social enterprise and social finance.[1]
And let’s not forget our dear neighbours to the south.
In 2009, the United States created a Social Innovation Fund.
To date, more than 100 cities and 33 different States are being directly impacted by that Social Innovation Fund.[2]
There are additional, countless other examples from countries around the world.
Many are represented in this room today. This conference is the perfect opportunity to draw on each other’s expertise and share best practices.
In the context of this incredible social agenda at the global level, Canada also wants to be part of that global conversation as the Canadian government embarks on creating a social innovation and social finance strategy of our own.
The time has come for the federal government to step up to the plate, to provide leadership, to bring together our partners on these important issues and to embrace social innovation as the new norm.
So, I’m thrilled today to announce the creation of a new steering group to jumpstart social innovation on a national scale.
This new steering group—which will be composed of leaders, practitioners and experts from multiple fields—is a critical step towards finding innovative solutions for our society’s most difficult problems.
The group will play a pivotal role in co-creating Canada’s Social Innovation and Social Finance Strategy, and will build on the great work that has already been done.
The Strategy will draw on a wealth of policy discussions we’ve held with stakeholders over the years, including the G7-based Social Impact Investment Taskforce and the Canadian Task Force on Social Finance.
Some of you in this room contributed to those discussions, and I thank you for that.
This steering group will oversee consultations, recommend which issues to address through the strategy and begin designing and proposing policy measures.
This is why I used the term “co-creation.” We truly do intend to develop the Strategy with, and not for, our community of stakeholders who will be our privileged partners.
This, I believe, embodies one of the principles of social innovation, that of partnership.
Canada’s Social Innovation and Social Finance Strategy happens to go hand in hand with many of my other priorities as Minister in the Canadian government.
Now that our government has launched the Canada Child Benefit to better support Canadian families, we are all embarking into developing a Canadian poverty reduction strategy in our quest to combat poverty.
For the first time in 40 years, we are also constructing a National Housing Strategy, which will cover the entire housing spectrum, from homelessness, to shelters, to social and affordable housing, to market rental to homeownership.
Public consultations on the strategy were launched at the end of June.
We are reaching out to Canadians, the provinces and territories, Indigenous governments and organizations, municipalities, key stakeholders and housing experts to identify innovative new ways to ensure that all Canadians can have access to housing that is sustainable, affordable, inclusive and flexible.
As you know, over half of the world’s population currently live in cities. It is therefore no surprise that issues like inequality and poverty are magnified in such a context, particularly in urban centres where we find high population densities, and Canada is no exception.
The UN, the United Nations, has put the spotlight on this issue. For that purpose, Canada will contribute to the conversation later this year at Habitat III, the UN’s third Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development.
And later on today, in fact, I’ll be holding a roundtable to discuss key issues to be addressed at Habitat III with our stakeholders.
I encourage you to contribute your ideas to the consultation that is still open until the end of the month on the Canada.ca website.
I am eager to hear your views on strategies the Government is developing to address housing, poverty, employment, climate change and other challenges that will play a critical role in our efforts to build stronger and more inclusive communities.
I know that together, we can make this happen.
Thank you. Merci. Muchas Gracias
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