Alimentation Couche-Tard Donation to displaced Ukrainians arriving in Canada under the ‘Canada-Ukraine authorization for emergency travel’

As part of the Government of Canada’s resolute support to Ukrainians, the Canada-Ukraine authorization for emergency travel (CUAET) was introduced in March 2022 to support the people of Ukraine by offering Ukrainians a temporary status and ability to work, study and stay in Canada until it is safe for them to return home.

Recognizing Canadians’ generosity and the interest expressed by Canadian businesses in supporting Canada’s response to the crisis in Ukraine, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) launched the Canadian Industry for Ukraine donation portal in early May 2022.  The portal offers Canadian businesses the opportunity to donate high-priority goods and services to support displaced Ukrainians and other displaced people in need who are making Canada their home.

This report elaborates on the donations management process as guided by CISSA-ACSEI’s Corporate Donation Manual, the allocation and distribution of donations informed by data, along with impact stories from the ground.

This report is also available in PDF format.

Alimentation Couche-Tard, one of the four launch partners of ISED’s “Canadian Industry for Ukraine donation portal”, donated a generous $25,000 in gift cards (500 gift cards of $50 denominations).

CISSA-ACSEI worked with eleven provincial and territorial coordinating partners to allocate and coordinate the donations (see Annex 1: Corporate Donation Process Map). To ensure equity between provinces and territories, donations were allocated based on available data, including Financial Assistance data from Employment and Social Development Canada that provides statistics of displaced Ukrainians who applied for financial assistance in each province or territory. In coordination with provincial and territorial partners, settlement agencies distributed the donated items directly to displaced Ukrainians in their communities.

Gift cards were mailed to provincial and territorial coordinating partners, who allocated them to the relevant settlement agencies for distribution to displaced Ukrainians and other people in need.

In total, 500 gift cards were distributed throughout the country:

• By 55 settlement agencies in all Canadian provinces
• In 40 different cities/communities
• From larger cities such as Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, to smaller centres
• Approximately *821 individuals benefited from these gift cards
  (*Assuming that each family received 1.4 gift cards and that the average family size of displaced Ukrainians is 2.3 people, as reported by CISSA-ACSEI’s post-arrival survey.)

Table 1: Allocation process of the donation informed by ESDC’s Financial Assistance Data