Our sustainability commitment
Our sustainability commitment
At Canadian Blood Services, social responsibility is core to our purpose. It is embedded in our founding principles and has driven our evolution as Canada’s Lifeline.
We have a deep responsibility to the people and diverse communities across the country who count on us, our employees, the partners who collaborate with us and the planet we inhabit together.
As a not-for-profit, charitable organization providing the life essentials for transfusion and transplantation to patients across the country, we’re committed to acting ethically, communicating transparently and earning the trust that Canadians and all people across this land have invested in us. They expect us to do the right thing — and that’s what we expect of ourselves.
- Read our strategic commitment to sustainability
- Read our Reconciliation Action Plan
- Designed for Excellence: our Calgary operations facility
Our sustainability priorities
There are many initiatives underway at Canadian Blood Services to help us operate more sustainably while encouraging support from all contributors to Canada’s Lifeline. But in light of our guiding purpose and the scope of our impact — as a blood system operator, biologics manufacturer, centre of research and provider of products and services to Canada’s health systems — we focus our sustainability efforts on three priorities:
Reflect and serve the diversity of Canada
Continue building an equitable and inclusive organization that meets the transfusion and transplantation needs of patients from communities across Canada.
Safeguard
Foster diversity among our donors and registrants.
Engage
Build relationships with communities underrepresented in Canada’s Lifeline.
Improve
Advance reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.
Create an inspiring, caring place to work
Foster a supportive and collaborative workplace where team members feel empowered to be their best and to make meaningful contributions through their work.
Safeguard
Protect and promote employees’ health and well-being.
Engage
Foster personal growth and professional development.
Improve
Create the flexible, supportive work environment of tomorrow.
Operate a climate-resilient, sustainable lifeline
Build operational resilience and reduce our environmental impact in the face of climate change as we protect and serve the patients who rely on our lifesaving products and services.
Safeguard
Manage climate impacts to sustain our support for patients and their care.
Engage
Empower participants in Canada’s Lifeline to adopt sustainable practices.
Improve
Reduce and mitigate our organization’s environmental impacts.
Our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and reconciliation
Canadian Blood Services is committed to advancing diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) and reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples across all areas of our organization. This commitment is essential to our success in fulfilling our mission and achieving our vision.
As we engage and partner with diverse communities across the country, we seek to build and sustain meaningful relationships grounded in respect, fairness and trust.
In particular, we’re working to remove barriers to inclusion for donors and registrants — which in turn will help ensure that patients of all backgrounds and identities receive the best possible treatment and care.
At the same time, within our organization we’re focused on fostering an equitable and inclusive culture in which employees, as well as our volunteers and community partners, feel they can safely bring their true selves to the work we do together, with everyone contributing meaningfully to Canada’s Lifeline. We strive to attract diverse talent and empower every employee to achieve their potential. At the same time, we’re resolved to address systemic racism and all other forms of discrimination and exclusion. This collective commitment, led by the board of directors and driven forward by our executive management team, is guided by policies and practices that will continue to evolve in the years ahead.
Advancing DEI and reconciliation is a key priority within our strategic commitment to sustainability. In addressing the social dimension of our environmental, social and governance impacts, we have a responsibility to continue building an equitable, inclusive organization that reflects and serves the diversity of Canada.
Fostering diversity among our donors and registrants
Canada’s Lifeline is sustained by individuals and communities across Canada who generously donate blood and blood products, and who sign up for our stem cell registry. We’re therefore constantly evolving every aspect of the donor and registrant experience — from the features on our mobile app to the design of our donor centres — as we strive to meet and exceed the expectations of these vital supporters. To ensure our donor and registrant base reflects Canadian society, especially in racial and ethnic diversity, we’re working together to address barriers and co-create equity-centred approaches to recruiting and engagement.
Another longstanding priority is building and strengthening relationships with diverse communities across the country to ensure Canadian Blood Services remains well positioned to serve them. In particular, we recognize the needs of patients whose complex health challenges require specially matched blood products that often come from donors of similar ethnic backgrounds or ancestry. Greater diversity in the blood system increases the likelihood that we can continue to maintain a reliable, accessible and sustainable system providing life essentials for transfusion and transplantation.
We engage and partner with underrepresented and equity-deserving communities to build trust, foster reciprocity and develop more inclusive strategies for recruiting and retaining donors and registrants. And as testing and research continue to advance, we regularly review our eligibility criteria to maximize inclusion and remove barriers to donation when the safety of both donors and recipients is assured.