Canada Goose donation to displaced Ukrainians arriving in Canada under the ‘Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel’

On May 7, 2024, Canada Goose made a generous donation of 2284 parkas, jackets and accessories to support displaced Ukrainians and other newcomers with immediate needs. The donation with total value of approximately $526,635 CAD was distributed to displaced Ukrainians and other newcomers with highest needs in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec.

OUSH-OHPU worked with five provincial coordinating partners to allocate and coordinate the donation (see Annex 1 for Corporate Donation Process Map). To ensure equity between provinces, 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 clothing items to displaced Ukrainians in their communities.

Provincial 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 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 ensures Canada Goose’ generous donation is directed towards meeting the urgent needs while taking into account accessibility for the intended clients.

Regular meetings were held with the donor to coordinate logistics. A weekly meeting with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and ISED was established from February 1, 2024, to April 4, 2024, to ensure proper governance of this donation. The donor and the settlement sector were eager to process the donation in a fast manner. To ensure an efficient process, ad hoc meetings were conducted one-on-one with five provincial partners from January 26 to February 5, to coordinate provincial logistics. As a result, 2,284 clothing items were distributed to individuals in 15 different communities.

Meeting the urgent needs.

The Canada Goose donation was utilized to address the urgent needs of displaced Ukrainians and other newcomers with highest needs in Canada. To facilitate an impactful distribution, the donor was requested to ship the donated clothing items to cities with highest number of arrivals which included Edmonton, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal. The provincial partners, then, shipped the items to the following cities and communities:

1. Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, Town of Vegreville, Lloydminster, and Fort Saskatchewan in Alberta.
2. Vancouver International Airport in British Columbia.
3. Winnipeg, Brandon, Morden, Altona, Winkler in Manitoba.
4. Toronto and Peel Region in Ontario.
5. Montreal in Quebec.

Ensuring accessibility.

To facilitate clients’ access to the donation, the donation was distributed by service provider agencies that work closely with the intended clients.

In total, 2,284 clothing items were distributed:

• to 2,284 individuals
• in 15 different cities/communities
• by 27 settlement agencies,
• in five provinces.

The table below shows the agencies selected for distribution: