Mr. Chair, members of the Standing Committee on Finance – I feel privileged to be invited to be here today. This is important work that you are undertaking and it’s notable that you have recognized the critical importance of emergency service volunteers – firefighters, ambulance attendants and search and rescue personnel. Thank you for that.

 

For 30 years Volunteer Canada has been the national voice for volunteerism. Our role at the national level is to promote and strengthen volunteerism so it remains a strong and vibrant force in our country. We develop programs that support volunteer involvement so that voluntary organizations on the ground, in communities, can concentrate their efforts on their important missions. By accessing information and utilizing tools developed by Volunteer Canada, they know that their volunteer programs are well managed, the contribution of their volunteers is maximized and the experience of volunteering, for individual Canadians is the best it can be. So they continue to come back, and they continue to contribute - to communities and to causes. We also ensure that volunteering is considered and integrated in public policy dialogues – such as the dialogue taking place today – to ensure that that volunteerism is understood and receives the support it needs and deserves.

 

Values related to volunteer involvement are strong in this country. 45% – 12 million – Canadians contribute almost 2-billion hours of volunteer service each year. The equivalent of 1-million full time jobs. But deeply concerning is that much comes from a few. 11% of Canadians contribute 77% of the volunteer hours. And more troubling still is that the 11% are made up primarily of older adults – the 65+ age group. If we do not find a way to engage generations as they move into their senior years, and ensure their contributions are maximized, volunteer involvement in Canada is at risk – and because volunteerism impacts absolutely every facet of our social fabric, our way of life, which we value so deeply, is also at risk.

 

Much of what we take for granted is delivered to us by volunteers – community health care, heritage and arts, environment and green space, minor sports, disaster relief, fundraising, support for education, social services – the work of volunteers is an essential service. But some work is more essential than others and that’s what brings us here today.

 

Let me start by saying that I absolutely support this Bill which is up for discussion and consideration today and I look forward to telling you why Volunteer Canada would support its implementation, but I also have some cautionary points.

 

I think most would agree that, broadly defined, a volunteer is someone who contributes their time of their own free will, for the betterment of others and does so without the expectation of financial remuneration.

 

There is a significant push for the voluntary sector to begin articulating volunteer involvement within an economic framework – to both articulate the ‘cost savings’ of utilizing volunteers over paid staff and to also demonstrate impact through a social accounting model that integrates an organization’s expanded reach or influence or results attained by involving volunteers. This is important but it also necessitates consideration of the implications longer term of that approach – of articulating the economic value of volunteering and volunteers.

 

There is an entire foundation or ethos of volunteering which simply cannot be measured by numbers – how do you identify the dollar value of holding the hand of someone in a palliative care bed in their final days? Or the sheer joy or maybe even self confidence of a young person with, perhaps, cerebral palsy whose shoots his first basket after months of coaching. The fact that someone has been there because they want to be there and not because they are paid to be there is what volunteering is all about. You just can’t measure that and I worry that at times considering volunteering through an economic lens might lead to volunteering always being considered through that lens. The fundamental values of volunteer involvement need to be protected.

 

Economic incentives to volunteer also have the potential to impact that underlying concept of volunteering. Tax incentives do frequently primarily benefit those on the higher ends of the income scale and there is further little evidence that suggests we know definitively that this is an incentive. There are a number of unanswered questions regarding the real benefit or associated incentive to such an approach. Does measuring volunteerism in economic terms detract from its inherent value and thereby diminish the importance of the underlying passion or qualitative components of volunteer involvement? Do we know that providing an economic incentive such as a tax credit will result in increased engagement? Will individuals volunteer to the associated maximum number of hours, and then drop off? Will providing tax incentives for one cohort of volunteers have a detrimental affect on the engagement rates of other cohorts who are not provided such a benefit?

 

We also need to consider the administrative burden associated with the recordkeeping and reporting necessary to ensure accountability of such a program – to ensure that we are not positively impacting volunteer involvement while negatively impacting our ability to manage those volunteers well.

 

Having said all that, I also said that some acts of volunteerism are more essential or are simply “different” that other acts of volunteering – and as such a different approach may be required to address specific needs or issues. Again – I support Bill C-219.

 

Most individuals who volunteer have the option of contributing their time when it’s convenient for themselves and their families and fits with their career demands. Obviously this is a key issue for emergency services volunteers – a fire or an avalanche does not wait until 5pm or until Saturday morning. They fact that these individuals avail themselves when their pager sounds, one the spot, regardless of where they are or what they’re doing, means that there is a significant potential for their volunteer activity to impact – economically – their families and their work life. This needs to be considered and this needs to be supported through Bill C-219.

 

I cannot say it better than it has been said before in the context of these examinations – we ask a lot of someone whose job it is to run into a burning building when everyone else is running out. That’s true, doubly so of those who do so as a volunteer. That needs to be taken into account and Bill C-219 does that.

 

There is an economic barrier to volunteering – and the degree of personal expenses which those who volunteer for emergency services contribute is significant. We are not asking that those expenses be reimbursed – in fact, that would simply not be possible. But Bill C-219 is certainly a step toward recognizing and compensating for at least a portion of that.

 

Volunteer recruitment and retention is a huge issue sector wide and we need to be considering the impact of volunteer contribution dropping off as a result of our older generation of volunteers retiring and for a variety of other reasons. Our communities, our social fabric and our way of life would all look dramatically different. But again, the impact of recruitment challenges for emergency services volunteers is even more dramatic. I was in Yellowknife recently and had the opportunity to speak with someone from an outlying community. He told me that they no longer had a volunteer fire department – at all. They didn’t have any volunteers willing to take on that role. I know you know what that means. If Bill C-219 can in anyway ensure that this situation is mitigated – that people are motivated through this incentive to step forward for this vital role in communities, in even one community, it has achieved its purpose and its goal.

 

I spoke earlier of some cautionary notes and in conclusion I want to present that those concerns are in no-way insurmountable. In rolling this Bill out, should it be passed, some carefully crafted messaging can present the unique and special context of volunteer involvement in emergency services. And ensuring and providing, at the implementation stage, the necessary resources to manage the accountability and recordkeeping will mean this is not a further burden on an already burdened voluntary sector.

 

Volunteers are a vital and critical resource to our country and to our communities and they deserve to be recognized for the role they play in keeping our communities safe and healthy and vibrant. Bill C-219 is an enormous opportunity for this government to demonstrate that support in a way that is real and tangible and meaningful to voluntary organizations and to the citizens of this country – who are our volunteers.