Loblaw Companies 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 May 2022, so that Canadian businesses could provide offers of high-priority goods and services to support displaced Ukrainians and other displaced persons 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, and provides impact stories from the ground.

This report is also available in PDF format

The Loblaw Companies, one of the four launch partners of ISED’s Canadian Industry for Ukraine donation portal, donated a generous $99,800 in gift cards (1,996 gift cards in $50 denominations) and an additional $50,000  of Joe Fresh clothing.

CISSA-ACSEI worked with eleven provincial and territorial 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 (ESDC) that provides statistics of displaced Ukrainians who applied for financial assistance in each province or territory. In coordination with the provincial and territorial partners, the settlement agencies distributed the donated items to displaced Ukrainians in their communities. Gift cards were mailed to the provincial and territorial coordinating partners, who distributed them to the relevant settlement agencies in their province. Settlement agencies in communities throughout Canada distributed gift cards to displaced Ukrainians and other displaced persons in need in Canada.

In total, 1,996 gift cards were distributed to displaced Ukrainians throughout the country:

• By 82 settlement agencies in all Canadian provinces;
• In 60 different cities/communities;
• In large urban centres (such as Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and Calgary), as well as smaller regions;
• Benefitting approximately 3,279 individuals.

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

In addition to the donation of gift cards, Loblaw Companies Limited also donated $50,000 in Joe Fresh clothing which included 4,400 clothing items (See Table 2). The donated clothes were shipped by the donor to British Columbia, Nova Scotia and Ontario. The donations were placed in seven pallets and distributed as follows:

• British Columbia: 1 pallet
• Nova Scotia: 1 pallet
• Ontario: 5 pallets

A total of four service provider organizations (BC= 1, NS= 1, ON= 2) were engaged to distribute the clothing to 4,400 displaced Ukrainians

Table 2. Joe Fresh’s donation of clothing. 

CISSA-ACSEI has created an interactive map for Loblaw Companies Limited to visualize the distribution of gift cards.

The interactive visualization illustrates the impact of the donation and its reach throughout Canada.

CISSA-ACSEI, the Government of Canada, its provincial and territorial coordinating partners, as well as settlement agencies would like to join their voices to those of displaced Ukrainians in Canada to thank Loblaw Companies Limited for its generous donation and the impact it has had in the lives of displaced persons in need. Дякую!