Policy Brief: BC Provincial Coordination on Canada’s Commitment to the 2030 Agenda The Challenge While Canada fares relatively well on a broad swath of socioeconomic indicators, it has far to go before it can say that no one is being left behind. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide an opportunity and an accountability mechanism to improve the social welfare of the most vulnerable people in Canada while ensuring sustainable economic growth and environmental conservation. As stated in an audit by the Federal Commissioner on Sustainable Development, however, the Government of Canada has still “not developed a formal approach to implementing the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.” The Commissioner noted that the 2016-2019 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy was not consistent with the full 2030 Agenda, as it focused more on environmental rather than social and economic outcomes.
What Canada is doing nationally In July 2018, Canada reported its progress on the SDGs through a Voluntary National Review submitted to the High-Level Political Forum. The Government of Canada also recently established an SDG Unit that will oversee the implementation of the SDGs on a national scale. However, the SDG Unit has yet to release a comprehensive strategy as to how the SDG targets will be implemented and monitored. The development of Canada’s SDG strategy will be led by the Ministry for Children, Families, and Social Development under Minister JeanYves Duclos.
What more needs to be done Because provincial and municipal governments have jurisdiction over systems such as healthcare, infrastructure, education, and housing, these subnational governments are the stopping points for the the success of SDG implementation Canada-wide. As research from United Nations Development Program has noted, a commitment to addressing the SDGs at the subnational level is essential to the improvement of social welfare, economic development, and environmental safeguards on a broader scale. As such, the province of British Columbia has a role to play in the implementation of the SDGs.
What would successful coordination look like? An SDG strategy in BC could be led by the Ministry for Social Development and Poverty Reduction. SDPR could work together with a committee of implementing partners from various departments, including Finance, Environment & Climate Change, Municipal Affairs & Housing, Indigenous Relations & Reconciliation, Education, and Health, for example. This committee, in partnership with BC Stats and Statistics Canada, could set targets, strategize on policy plans, and track outcomes on the SDGs at a BC level. As the national SDG strategy is still being formulated, BC has an opportunity to take leadership by advocating for its own inclusion in discussions and strategic actions on the SDGs.
Who else should be included? Beyond action at the federal and provincial levels, the province of BC can work to involve stakeholders from various backgrounds to collaborate on the formulation, implementation, and tracking of an SDG strategy. As BCCIC outlines in our Movement Map, there exist many civil society groups, for example, that already work on issues directly related to the SDGs. A strategy should draw in civil society, youth, Indigenous groups, and municipal decision-makers, as well as members of BC’s most vulnerable groups.
What would successful implementation of the SDGs look like? The 17 Sustainable Development Goals set out a vision to take action for “people, planet, and prosperity.” The Sustainable Development Goals are meant to be universal and aspirational, working across sectors and disciplines to address the most pressing issues of our time, including poverty, economic development, and environmental sustainability. Moreover, central to the mandate of the SDGs is to “leave no one behind.” In BC, a commitment to the most vulnerable people would likely focus on poverty reduction and affordable housing. One indicator of success on the SDGs could look like a reduction of poverty across the province by 50% minimum by 2030 according to the newly-established federal poverty line. At the national scale, BC can show leadership on the SDGs by tracking its progress on climate change and environmental protection. Important to success on the SDGs is the definition and collection of comprehensive, disaggregated data that captures the diverse subpopulations that live in BC. Once it defines its targets and strategies, the BC government can work with BC Stats to define the subnational gaps in the federal government’s data portal. The BC government can further encourage subnational tracking of the SDGs by encouraging and coordinating data collection by municipalities, First Nations, and civil society. The government can report on its findings as part of Canada’s next Voluntary National Review and/or independently on a more frequent basis.
What are the next steps for SDG implementation in BC? BCCIC Recommends the BC Government to: Build a structure for SDG Implementation in BC: • Identify key existing contacts for SDG-related coordination across the BC Government; • Communicate with the federal government on the upcoming national SDG strategy; • Develop a structure for an interdepartmental SDG committee or similar institutional arrangement; and • Populate the committee with relevant stakeholders that includes civil society, youth, business, the philanthropic sector, and Indigenous leaders. Make a plan: • Develop a cross-departmental SDG strategy for the province of BC, which works in harmony with actions in the national SDG strategy; • The SDG strategy should make new policy commitments based on areas of need as highlighted in the SDG targets and where policy gaps exists. Track progress: • Set explicit targets aligned with the national and global SDG indicators, but tailored to the BC context; • Track progress on these targets through the collection of data that can be disaggregated by various socioeconomic characteristics; and • Coordinate efforts with municipalities and other provinces such that results can be rolled up into national results that reflect a pan-Canadian picture across jurisdictional boundaries.
BC Council for International Cooperation Published September 2018
Report on results:
The British Columbia Council for International Coperation is a network of civil society organizations and individuals moving toward a better world.
• Report results through an online portal, in periodic reports, and as part of Canada’s next Voluntary National Review;
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• Review how the results line up to the targets, and re-strategize periodically to ensure targets are met.