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Sustainability Approach
We are focused on the environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors that matter most to our stakeholders — ensuring we have the right approach on materiality, strategy and governance to keep making strides in our sustainability journey. Along the way, we’re committed to being upfront about our goals, progress, success stories and areas where we have more work to do.
Stepping Forward on Strategy
Over the last few years, our sustainability strategy has been focused on building strong foundations. We’ve articulated a sustainability framework based on our People, Planet and Products pillars and built dedicated and robust teams to lead our activity and deliver on commitments in each pillar. We’ve taken steps to ensure we keep pace with our industry in key areas, such as sustainable seafood and animal welfare. And we shared stories about our progress in our first Corporate Responsibility Report in 2020 (now our Sustainable Business Report). We are also sharing our approach with our customers through channels like OurPartTM, launched in fiscal year 2021.
Engaging Our Stakeholders
Effective and meaningful engagement with our diverse stakeholder community is a vital part of how we do business. We define stakeholders as groups and/or individuals who are impacted by our operations and corporate strategy and who, in turn, impact our business success. Listening, sharing and learning from our shareholders, teammates, customers, supplier partners, communities, non – governmental organizations (NGOs) and government are essential to our success. We depend on these collaborative relationships and strive to meet the needs of our stakeholders around the topics and issues that matter most. We rely on our stakeholders to provide input into our materiality assessment, inform our strategy, and provide feedback on our actions.
| Key Stakeholder | How We Engage | Key Concerns & Interests | Highlights of our Engagement in Fiscal 2021 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Shareholders
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How We Engage | Shareholders’ Annual General Meeting; |
Key Concerns & Interests |
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Highlights of our Engagement in Fiscal 2021 | We recognize the importance of strong and consistent engagement with our shareholders. Our management engages on a year-round basis with a wide range of stakeholders, including shareholders, fixed income investors, proxy advisory firms, and prospective shareholders, among others. In fiscal year 2021, we attended four virtual industry conferences and held over 200 institutional investor meetings with management. |
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Teammates (across corporate and franchise sites, in operations and office-based)
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How We Engage | Intranet and closed social media groups |
Key Concerns & Interests |
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Highlights of our Engagement in Fiscal 2021 | In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we introduced elevated health and safety protocols, launched rapid-testing programs, increased our benefits coverage and introduced Hero Pay and lockdown bonuses during government-mandated lockdowns that closed all non-essential retail. We also launched a new bilingual website to support the mental wellbeing of our frontline teammates. |
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Customers
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How We Engage | OurPart.ca |
Key Concerns & Interests |
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Highlights of our Engagement in Fiscal 2021 | We launched the OurPart.ca website to inspire our customers about the part they play in our sustainability journey. |
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Supplier Partners
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How We Engage | Supplier onboarding process |
Key Concerns & Interests |
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Highlights of our Engagement in Fiscal 2021 | We co-wrote and proposed a Grocery Supply Code of Practice with Food, Health and Consumer Products of Canada (FHCP). |
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Communities
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How We Engage | In-store experiences |
Key Concerns & Interests |
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Highlights of our Engagement in Fiscal 2021 | We launched A Family of Support: Child & Youth Mental Health Initiative, with $3.4 million donated by the company and raised in the community in fiscal 2021. We also partnered with Second Harvest to rollout a national food rescue program in all our grocery stores and distribution centres to reduce the environmental impacts of food waste and support local communities across Canada. We also partnered with Second Harvest to rollout a national food rescue program in all our grocery stores and distribution centres to reduce the environmental impacts of food waste and support local communities across Canada. |
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NGOs
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How We Engage | Direct meetings and emails with leads across all three pillars |
Key Concerns & Interests |
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Highlights of our Engagement in Fiscal 2021 | We supported more than 140 organizations through the Community Action Fund; Advanced DE&I initiatives through partnerships and programs with organizations including BlackNorth Initiative; Canadian Council of Aboriginal Businesses, Canadian Aboriginal and Minority Supplier Council, Holland Bloorview Dear Everybody campaign, Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion, Catalyst, and Pride at Work Canada/Fierté au travail Canada. |
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Government
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How We Engage | Industry consultations |
Key Concerns & Interests |
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Highlights of our Engagement in Fiscal 2021 | We engaged government on COVID-19 response and recovery, nutritional labelling, and plastic ban regulations. |
OurPartTM
Engaging Our Customers
We want our customers to feel proud and be inspired by the part they’re playing in our sustainability journey. As with all the ways we work, an important part of our approach is to talk with our customers, giving them the tools they need to do their part.
To advance these conversations, in fiscal year 2021 we launched OurPartTM, a customer-facing blog that showcases our sustainability initiatives in action. We’ve made OurPartTM available to customers through our corporate and banner brand websites and digital channels. The blog uses a journalistic approach to capture the full story behind our key initiatives — such as our work to eliminate plastic bags in our stores — and brings these initiatives to life by showcasing the teammates, customers and community members who are taking part.
