There is a growing appetite among businesses for authoritative information, company examples and advice about corporate social responsibility. The federal government developed this guide to respond to the regular requests it gets for information about corporate social responsibility and the federal government's work with industry to promote sustainable development.

Publication of the guide comes at a time when multilateral organizations, governments, non-governmental organizations and other groups are devoting considerable time and energy to corporate social responsibility and related subjects. The guide builds on each of the following initiatives:

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development developed Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. Canada is a signatory to these voluntary principles and standards for responsible business conduct.
The federal government articulated sustainable development responsibilities and committed to meeting them in its operations and through the programs and services it offers. In collaboration with Stratos Inc., the federal government has launched an on-line corporate Sustainability Reporting Toolkit to support and encourage companies to report on their environmental and social performance.
The Office of Consumer Affairs at Industry Canada published two guides for businesses wishing to implement responsible customer practices: Voluntary Codes: A Guide for Their Development and Use and Consumer Complaints Management: A Guide for Canadian Business.
With federal government support, the Conference Board of Canada issued a national corporate social responsibility report in 2004. The Conference Board and Imagine Canada developed the Corporate Responsibility Assessment Tool with support from the federal government.
Stratos Inc. produced the Benchmark Survey on Canadian Corporate Sustainability Reporting in 2001 and 2003, with financial support from the federal government.
The organization Corporate Knights has developed corporate sustainability financial indicators, sponsored in part by the federal government.
With Canadian leadership, the International Organization for Standardization is developing guidance standards for social responsibility as well as customer satisfaction codes of conduct and dispute resolution.
In July 2005, a Special Representative to the United Nations Secretary-General was appointed to look at the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises.
With support from the federal government, the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy through its Task Force on Capital Markets and Sustainability has been exploring the links between sustainability and financial performance.
Environment Canada has brought together an informal group of experts from the industry, banking, investment, academic, non-profit and public sectors to examine, develop, support and communicate the link between environmental performace and financial value and to make the link more relevant to business and financial sector audiences.

It is hoped that Canadian firms interested in implementing a corporate social responsibility approach will use this guide as a starting point. The guide reviews key issues to consider, offers options for addressing them, and refers to many specific tools that will likely be of assistance.

Readers should note that this guide considers corporate social responsibility to be only one aspect of a comprehensive multi-party effort to improve environmental and social conditions and prevent harm; the complementary actions of governments, non-governmental organizations, citizens and others are also necessary.

As well, firms that choose to implement a corporate social responsibility approach should note that this will involve a dynamic learning process, for which this guide is merely one source of information and assistance. Corporate social responsibility is a moving target that cannot be fully "achieved" by one-time activities and decisions. Thus, businesses should approach corporate social responsibility with a view to continual improvement, being alert to new issues and considerations. It is very possible that a firm could adopt the approaches described in this guide today and find itself facing new corporate social responsibility challenges and opportunities tomorrow.

The Office of Consumer Affairs (with support from the Strategic Policy Branch) at Industry Canada prepared this guide with financial support from Environment Canada, International Trade Canada, Foreign Affairs Canada and Natural Resources Canada.

The process of development benefited from the input of an extensive external advisor group (see Appendix 1); however, this guide is not a consensus of that group, nor does it necessarily represent the views of the group members or the organizations to which they belong.

A debt of gratitude is also owed to the members of the federal Interdepartmental Working Group on Corporate Social Responsibility and the Developing Country "Sounding Board" Group, both of which provided invaluable advice and input.

In addition to those referred to above, special thanks is given to Kathrin Bohr and Margaret Floyd of Canadian Business for Social Responsibility, Lynn Johannson of E2 Management Corporation, Coro Strandberg of Strandberg Consulting, and Susan Todd of Solstice Sustainability Works Inc.

The initiatives or companies mentioned in this guide are not endorsed by any of the above-mentioned individuals, nor the organizations to which they belong, nor the federal government.

To access the Portable Document Format (PDF) version you must have a PDF reader installed. If you do not already have such a reader, there are numerous PDF readers available for free download or for purchase on the Internet:

Common menu bar links

Institutional links

Industry Canada

CSR

Sustainability Toolkit

Other Related Sites

Proactive Disclosure

Corporate Social Responsibility: An Implementation Guide for Canadian Business

Table of Contents

Preface