Finance Committee on July 16th, 2020

[Paula Speevak]

Expertise in volunteer engagement—that's correct.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Would volunteer engagement include things like volunteer matching?

[Paula Speevak]

Possibly. I can't speak to their experience with volunteer matching.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

In a June 28 Globe and Mail article, you were quoted as saying, “There would have been fees for that” in relation to work for which WE was offering to pay Volunteer Canada. Could you elaborate on what you meant by “fees”?

[Paula Speevak]

They indicated that there was a fee of $100,000 to serve as a strategic partner within the program.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Would that be a flat fee? Could you elaborate on what that payment would be?

[Paula Speevak]

We did not start to negotiate a memorandum of understanding. That would have been the next step, but given the fact that we had concerns about program elements, we weren't pursuing that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

This will be the last question, Michael. We're a little over. Go ahead.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Okay.

What was the explanation provided by WE as to why they didn't take you up on any of your recommendations in terms of some of the questions you had about the program delivery and the elements provided therein?

[Paula Speevak]

My sense was that there were some things where there was the flexibility to incorporate, for example community learning and other elements. However, with the key issues that were of concern to us, which I've outlined, there was no flexibility to modify those.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you, both.

As a point of clarification, what do both of you mean—either of you can explain it—by “onboarding”? What do you mean?

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

That's a type of training. It was in the government's press release in relation to work that WE was undertaking.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

All right. We'll have to ask the government, then. Maybe they can define it for me.

We'll turn to Ms. Dzerowicz and then go to Mr. Fortin.

Ms. Dzerowicz.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Speevak, thank you so much for being here. Thank you for your leadership and for everything you do with your organizations to create stronger communities and a better Canada.

I want to talk about your point that volunteers should not be paid an hourly wage. You know, just in terms of a lot of the information that's come out today, and I think just in understanding what our government's been trying to do, when we go back in time to mid-April, we didn't know the details of how things would unfold. We were urgently trying to support big groups of Canadians. There was this huge desire to make sure we were helping our youth.

The $9-billion program was created. There were four key elements, and there was a very strong desire to have a service or volunteer component as part of it. There was a huge desire to ensure that we were providing as many opportunities as possible to support our youth. We knew that for those in university or college, their year was ended very quickly. They probably weren't going to be able to access many of the opportunities or jobs that they were thinking about for the summer, and we had no clue what would actually be happening in the fall. All four programs were meant to try to give as many opportunities as possible for youth to gain experience, to do something meaningful and to earn a little bit of money in order to continue to support their ambitions in terms of training and more education.

My understanding about the service or volunteer component of the program was that it was always meant to, one, help provide some of those opportunities across Canada for our youth, and two, help a lot of our not-for-profits. We were hearing and getting information that they were desperate to get some additional help to support maybe some COVID-related additional need that was in various communities right across this country. The third component was to try to provide some additional extra dollars to students, because we knew that many of them were not going to have the opportunity that they would normally have to apply for jobs. That grant component was actually a small portion of it, but it was an important component.

My question to you is this: Would you say there's mixed opinion within the charity and not-for-profit sector around whether or not it's okay to provide stipends or grants versus not providing them?

Before you even answer that, I want to stipulate that, for us, I don't think the intention ever was to provide an hourly wage. It really was a stipend or grant. It really was to provide some additional financial support. It was never meant to be an hourly wage. That was never the intention at all. Again, it was part of a huge bucket of $9 billion, in multiple programs, to be able to do everything we possibly could to help our youth not to be at a complete loss or at a detriment because of this COVID, and to do everything we could to provide them with as many opportunities as possible to grow their skills and try to earn some dollars while trying to serve their respective communities.

Would you say there's mixed opinion within the industry around whether stipends and grants are appreciated?

[Paula Speevak]

I can't speak for all organizations in the sector, and of course you would always find mixed opinions. However, I want to get back to the three things you raise: the desire to provide meaningful opportunities to students, the desire to support students financially and the desire to help non-profit organizations with their need for volunteers.

I think that in April many things were new to many organizations. As weeks went on, things quickly changed. For example, many organizations switched from an in-person service to virtual services and were able to help volunteers make that transition as well. In addition to that, many governments had announced a call for volunteers to come forward to help.

In terms of the condition you're referring to in early April, when the thought was about helping organizations with their need for volunteers, I think that changed drastically as time went on. That's not to say that there are no organizations still in need of volunteers or no communities that do need that, but I think that's one thing that's changed.

In terms of opportunities for youth, I want to point out that youth have always had the highest volunteer rate of all ages and are very generous and committed to community. All year round, they have been involved in volunteer opportunities, so I would question the idea that we need to provide an incentive for youth to volunteer. In many cases—in most cases—youth are very generous with their time.

In terms of support to the sector, I think, again, that has changed. The opportunities that are available now.... You've probably all heard about these sites where people have come forward and registered their willingness to volunteer and have not been called back. Some have, and some haven't. We do know that the available opportunities and the volunteer needs in organizations are changing.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

We are going to end that slot there.

We'll go to Mr. Fortin, followed by Mr. Julian.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Good evening, Ms. Speevak.

Given your experience with Volunteer Canada, and the organization's expertise in volunteer service, do you think there's another organization that could have administered the program?

[Paula Speevak]

I think there are many organizations in the sector that have different areas of expertise and experience related to elements of the program. For example, there are those that have experience serving youth and working with youth, those that have experience with the administration of grants and financial assistance, and those that have experience creating community learning opportunities. There are also, of course, organizations that have the experience of matching people, their skills and passions, to opportunities in organizations. I would say that there are many organizations in the sector that have some of the experience and expertise that could be required for that type of program.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Have you worked with Canada service corps in the past?

[Paula Speevak]

Yes, for the first three years of the Canada service corps program, Volunteer Canada did create this platform for connecting youth to opportunities around the country. We worked for the first three years of the program, Canada service corps, to create that, along with 200 local volunteer centres.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Do you think Canada service corps could have done the same work to administer the program?

[Paula Speevak]

I'm aware of the expertise and quality of the work that many of the partners involved in Canada service corps are doing. I also think that many of them would have been and could be available to provide their experience, advice and expertise around student placements and youth engagement, as they have been doing.

Given the fact that there are various components, such as administration of financial assistance and grants, as well as providing community service learning and placements in volunteering, I think that, again, a consortium of organizations—

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

It's a team effort, then.

Ms. Speevak, do you think the Canada summer jobs program, which funds summer jobs for students, could have benefited from an additional $900 million to achieve the same objectives—perhaps even doing a better job in terms of paying these youth while adhering to minimum wage and other applicable rules?

[Paula Speevak]

For those non-profit organizations that needed extra support by students over the summer, adding additional summer jobs could be a very good solution for those organizations that would need part-time or full-time positions filled in the summer.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

In March or April, did Volunteer Canada receive a call for bidders to administer the program from the federal government?