After long wait, federal government announces roster for 7-member Social Innovation Advisory Council

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Three and a half years after first calling for nominations, on Thursday, the Federal government announced the seven social innovation professionals who will serve as members of the government’s new Social Innovation Advisory Council. 

Council members will provide advice to the government on the implementation of its social innovation and social finance strategy. 

“My hope is that the council will be able to facilitate action,” said Michael Toye, executive director of the Canadian Community Economic Development Network, who was selected by the federal government to serve as the council’s chair. 

Toye said in the last five years, the government has implemented just a couple of the 12 recommendations offered in a report penned by the social innovation and social finance strategy co-creation steering group — progress he described as “underwhelming.” 

The former steering group, comprised of 17 sector leaders, was appointed by the Ministry of Employment and Social Development Canada. After extensive consultations, the group’s report was released in 2018, by then ministers Jean-Yves Duclos and Patty Hajdu. 

To date, the government has, as was recommended in the report, launched the Investment Readiness Program, a $50 million initiative, renewed once already, which provides support for social enterprises, co-ops, and charities across the country to build their capacity to be able to take on investment. 

In addition, with the launch of the council, they’ve completed a second of the report’s recommendations. In a press release, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Karina Gould, called the announcement a “significant step forward.” 

“Each member of this council will provide a unique perspective and add valuable insight about the challenges being faced by communities, social purpose organizations, and the social innovation and social finance sector,” she said. “By investing in Canada’s social innovation and social finance potential, the Government of Canada is helping to create the kind of economy that Canadians want.”

Additionally, Toye said he expects the long-awaited Social Finance Fund to be announced shortly. 

In response to a question from Future of Good in January, an ESDC spokesperson said the ministry is “completing negotiations” with three selected “consortia” who have applied to be wholesalers for the Social Finance Fund. The spokesperson said pending the successful completion of those negotiations, the government “expects to sign agreements in the coming months.” The SFF, announced first in the government’s 2018 fall economic statement, aims to speed up the growth of Canada’s social purpose investment sector. 

In addition to these three initiatives, however, Toye said it’s important the government make progress on the other nine recommendations, too. “For the vision of this strategy to be successful,” he said, the government must continue to invest in ecosystem building, improve access to business development programs for social purpose organizations, make regulatory changes, and more. 

On the council, Toye is joined by six other social innovation, social enterprise and co-op professionals from across the country. 

Lauren Sears, a principal consultant with DLM Consulting, an advisory firm for social sector organizations, was tapped for the co-chair role. 

Additional members include Jane Brisbee, the executive director of an Alberta-based social enterprise fund; Rupert Downing, a community economic development veteran from BC; and Ajmal Sataar, the founder of Small Economy Works, a firm that provides entrepreneurship and leadership training in rural, remote and northern Canada. 

Sataar said his priority for his work on the council is to drive “additional investment in under-represented communities.” 

Prior to his appointment to the council, Sataar served as the co-chair of the social innovation and social finance strategy co-creation steering group.

As part of his work with that initiative, he had the chance to travel across the country encountering both professionals whose organizations are at the “most mature stages” of being able to leverage social innovation and social finance — and individuals who have less knowledge and awareness of the sector’s tools. 

In order for the government’s strategy to succeed, Sataar said, its programs must support both groups. 

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