3.5 Social Procurement Policy

Every purchase has a social, economic, cultural and environmental impact. Social Procurement is a way for the Library to elevate this impact by leveraging existing procurement activities to achieve positive social value outcomes. The Library aims to broaden its supply chain by providing equity-seeking communities, Indigenous Peoples and diverse vendors with equitable access to procurement opportunities to foster inclusive economic growth.

The Social Procurement Policy aims to demonstrate the Library’s commitment to use its purchasing power to create inclusive economic growth and provide fair access to its procurements by providing additional opportunities for underrepresented businesses and communities. It establishes the framework of values and principles, listed below, for enhancing community impact and gives direction to staff in approaching procurement.

• Provides opportunities to address economic disadvantage by promoting equal opportunity and inclusion and removing barriers to those goals experienced by equity seeking communities and others who disproportionately experience unemployment and underemployment, discrimination;
• Aspires to build a culture of social procurement;
• Leverages the Library’s purchasing, under trade agreement thresholds, to benefit local economies;
• Establishes an effective balance between equity goals, accountability, transparency and efficiency;
• Complies with all applicable laws, including government trade agreements and directives, laws and policies, including the Ontario Human Rights Code;
• Achieves best value for the Library through the consideration of the full range of procurement formats and the adoption of commercially reasonable business

Equity-Seeking Community

 An equity-seeking community is a group that experiences discrimination or barriers to equal opportunity, including women, persons with disabilities, newcomers/new immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, visible minorities/racialized people, and other groups, including local community groups that the Library identifies as historically underrepresented.

Indigenous Peoples

 Indigenous Peoples are a specific Community that has been engaged with the Canadian government requiring Constitutional recognition and opportunities for inclusion, including by way of Governmental programs and exemptions in trade treaties.

Diverse Vendor

 A diverse vendor is any business or enterprise that is:

• More than 51% (majority) owned, managed and controlled by persons belonging to an equity-seeking community, or
• A social purpose enterprise whose primary purpose is to create social, environmental or cultural value and impact, or where more than 50% of the persons who are full-time equivalent employees are participating in or have completed transitional employment training, and experience economic

It is the Library’s preference that selected vendors will have certification as a diverse supplier through established non-profit supplier certification agencies such as:

• Canadian Aboriginal and Minority Supplier Council
• WBE Canada, Certified Women Business Enterprises
• Canadian GAy and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce
• Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business
• Inclusive Workplace Supply Council of Canada

The Director of Resources will be responsible for the implementation of this policy and has the authority to develop procedures to that effect.

A minimum target of 10% of the Library’s total purchases, excluding the Library collection, will meet social procurement criteria.