Canadian Tire Corporation Donation to displaced Ukrainians arriving in Canada under the ‘Canada-Ukraine authorization for emergency travel.’

On January 10, 2024, Canadian Tire Corporation made a generous donation of $150,000 (3000 gift cards with $50 denomination each) to support displaced Ukrainians and other newcomers with immediate needs. The gift cards were in different banners including the Canadian Tire, SportChek, Sports Experts and Mark’s, providing the flexibility for partner organisations to select based on identified needs.

OUSH-OHPU worked with ten provincial and territorial coordinating partners to allocate and coordinate the donation (see Annex 1 for Corporate Donation Process Map). To ensure equity between provinces and territories, the donation was allocated based on available data including Financial Assistance data from Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) which provides percentages of displaced Ukrainians who applied for financial assistance in each province. In coordination with the provincial partners, the settlement agencies distributed the donated gift cards to displaced Ukrainians in their communities.

Provincial and Territorial Coordinators, alternatively known as Provincial/Territorial coordinators, play a key role as essential sector partners. They contribute significantly to needs assessment, provincial allocation, and the seamless distribution of donations within their respective provinces. OUSH-OHPU maintains a close collaboration with provincial coordinators, convening biweekly meetings at the Provincial Coordination Table. The meetings play important role in implementing a collective response effort to support displaced Ukrainians in Canada.

The table below illustrates the allocation process which is based on the Financial Assistance from Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) in each province indicating percentages of displaced Ukrainians in the provinces, to ensure equity in the allocation between provinces and territories.

Our Approach: together with its provincial coordinating partners, OUSH-OHPU implemented the approach to ensure Canadian Tire Corporation’s generous donation is directed towards meeting the immediate needs while taking into account accessibility for the intended clients.

Meeting the immediate needs.

The Canadian Tire Corporation donation was utilized to address the immediate needs of displaced Ukrainians in Canada. To facilitate an impactful distribution, the donor was requested for gift cards which were standardized to a $50 denomination, ensuring the efforts contribute to requirements of the recipient clients.

Ensuring accessibility.

In order to facilitate clients’ access to the donation based on assessed needs, four banners of gift cards were identified and requested: Sport Chek, sports experts, Mark’s and the Canadian Tire. The requested banners were identified by our PT Hub coordinating partners in each province.

In total, OUSH allocated 3,000 gift cards: 477 Sport Chek, , 72 Mark’s and 2,451 Canadian Tire.

Following the shipment of gift cards to provincial and territorial coordinating partners by the donor, these partners then proceeded to distribute the cards to the pertinent settlement agencies in their respective provinces. Settlement agencies across various communities in Canada then took charge of distributing these gift cards to displaced Ukrainians and other individuals facing displacement and in need across the country.

Gift cards were mailed to 80 service provider organizations that distributed gift cards to displaced Ukrainians and other displaced people across all provinces.