Strengthening the Charitable Sector - Page 17 of 17

Speech: S-239 – An Act to Amend the Canada Elections Act

Ratna Omidvar Senate of Canada November 2, 2017 Bill S-239, Chamber Speeches, charities, Democracy, digital governance, Elections, Senator Frum, social media

The big picture tells us that foreign influence is more pervasive than any money attached to third parties. It tells us that we must strike a balance between allowing participation in a digital and global age while protecting Canada’s democracy. This is indeed the brave new world that we must learn to navigate, negotiate and regulate.

Speech: C-25 – An Act to Amend the Canada Business Corporations Act, the Canada Cooperatives Act, the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act, and the Competition Act

Ratna Omidvar Senate of Canada October 25, 2017 Bill C-25, Chamber Speeches, corporate governance, Diversity, employment equity

I believe that setting and changing regulations happen in a vacuum, with very little oversight from Parliament. Once we approve legislation and it is given Royal Assent, it leaves our influence. It is open to change, reinterpretation, redefinition, as the government of the day likes.

Question: Regulations Governing Charitable Organizations

Ratna Omidvar Senate of Canada October 18, 2017 Canada Revenue Agency, charities, public policy advocacy, Question Period

A minister’s advisory panel tabled a report earlier this year in which they recommended that the government should proceed as soon as possible to modernize the rules governing the charitable sector through the development of a new legislative framework. We have heard nothing since then. Can you shed some light on what the government is thinking and planning to do?

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Social Innovation and Social Finance at Scale Equals Structural Innovation

Stephen Huddart and Dr. James Tansey Social Innovation Generation October 4, 2017

n September 28, 2017 a group of 45 senators, government officials, academics, Indigenous representatives, civil society and financial sector leaders met in the Senate’s Aboriginal Peoples Committee Room to consider how Canada could establish a ‘social finance wholesaler’ to invest in funds designed to support social change.

Senators’ Statements: Stephen Huddart

Ratna Omidvar Senate of Canada September 28, 2017 Social Finance, Statements, Stephen Huddart

I think we all agree and realize that the complexity of problems facing Canadians is only growing. We also know that it is impossible to meet all the needs of all Canadians through government grants and funds. Creating a new marketplace of social finance, where proven ideas meet money, seems to me to be a truly big idea and worthy of our attention.

Speech: Bolstering our understanding of Canada’s charities and non-profits in the Senate

Ratna Omidvar Senate of Canada June 21, 2017 Chamber Speeches, charities, Senator Terry Mercer

"These topics are near and dear to me. As a new immigrant to Canada — and I possibly am not alone when I say this — this was the one sector that did not look at me in the face and say, "Where is your Canadian work experience?" I have a real fondness and empathy for the sector because on principle it is associated with looking at people other than what is on the paper before them."

The Senate’s champion of diversity

Mackenzie Scrimshaw iPolitics October 15, 2016 Bill C-6, Canada-US relations, charities, Diversity, immigration, refugees, Senate Modernization

The senator sat down with iPolitics on October 6 in a vacant office at the University of Ottawa’s Fauteux Building after giving a keynote speech to a group of law students, interested in refugee law, from across Canada. The address was part of the first student-led conference of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers.