Municipal Social Procurement Policies in Canada: An Environmental Scan and Recommendations for Hamilton

Abstract

Social procurement policies and initiatives are being increasingly implemented in Canadian municipalities to create more equitable marketplaces and contribute to the overall well-being of communities. Social procurement refers to the process of strategically leveraging purchasing power to meet community development goals by including social, economic, cultural, and environmental impact measures within typical procurement processes. While Hamilton currently does not have a social procurement strategy in place, interest in its development is growing. Thus, Karl Andrus, Executive Director of the Hamilton Community Benefits Network (HCBN) who is also a member of a sub-committee of the General Issues Committee at the City of Hamilton tasked with envisioning a social procurement policy, commissioned this project at the McMaster Research Shop (RShop). The purpose of this project was to investigate social procurement policies in other comparable jurisdictions and collect feedback from the Hamilton community on what they would like to see included in a policy to promote its success. A jurisdictional scan drawing on policy reports and academic literature was conducted, in addition to interviews with municipal staff from other cities and local social enterprises.