National Settlement Conference 2
(Calgary - October 2-5, 2003)
Settlement Accord
Section Five:
The State and The Voluntary Sector
In order to examine the Accord and Codes, it is important to have an
understanding of the voluntary sector.
At the beginning of the 21st century, there is a growing recognition
that Canadian society rests on three pillars, the public, the private
and the voluntary sectors. The voluntary sector is often known as the
“third sector.” The Accord and Codes formalize a long-term
relationship between the government and this third sector.
Over the past 15 years, political and social changes in Europe and North
America have altered and expanded the role and size of the voluntary sector.
The decreasing role of government and an increase in social and economic
disparities have contributed to the expectation that the voluntary sector
will fill many service gaps.
According to Voluntary Sector Initiative statistics, the voluntary sector
includes 175,000 charities and non-profit organizations, engages 7.5 million
volunteers, employs 1.3 million people with annual revenues of $90 billion,
and has assets of $109 billion. Until recently, the voluntary sector expanded
at a faster rate than both government and business.
According to John Shields,[10]
the voluntary sector consists of organizations that are formally constituted
to serve a public benefit, are self-governing, do not distribute any profits
to members, and depend to a meaningful degree on volunteers. Membership
or involvement in these organizations is not compulsory, and they are
independent of, and institutionally distinct from the formal structures
of government and the private sector. Although many voluntary sector organizations
rely on paid staff to carry out their work, all depend on volunteers,
at least on their boards of directors.
The mandates of voluntary sector organizations are:
- to “do good” in providing service to the community;
- to advocate and thus contribute to public policy dialogue;
- to mediate and maintain social cohesion; and
- to help to build citizenship through participation and membership
in a community.
The mediation role is particularly important, as voluntary organizations
build social capital by fostering the kinds of relationships that enable
people to work efficiently together in pursuit of shared goals. Social
capital is closely connected to social cohesion. Social cohesion is about
“how well institutions manage diversity and resolve conflicts
by funding mutually satisfactory accommodation”[11]
(emphasis in the original). A society that is cohesive is one in which
public, private and voluntary institutions are able to manage conflict,
where institutional supports exist to foster inclusiveness and where disparities
within society are prevented from becoming too wide.
According to Shields, the key concepts that distinguish the third sector
from the private sector are philanthropy, altruism, charity, reciprocity,
mutuality, and the ethic of giving and caring. However, as the sector
embraces a considerable diversity of organizations with varying aims and
perspectives, attempts to characterize them as homogeneous are misplaced.
The values that come from the government flow from the concepts of state
and citizen. However, these are being displaced by other values: markets,
individuals, consumers, and clients. This translates into a policy framework
and political culture based on the notion of self-reliance and competition.
According to Shields, as the delivery of social services is increasingly
transferred to the third sector, non-profit organizations become ever
more controlled by the government’s extensive use of service contracts.
In addition, with the increasing use of fee-for-service and the rationalization
and professionalization of services, community involvement in the running
of non-profit service provision is being replaced by professional management
with accountability to the state.
Shields argues that fundamentally different relationships are being created
between those who deliver the services (non-profits), those who consume
them and the state. The citizen is redefined as the purchaser of services
available from a universe of competing providers. The government’s
role becomes that of service manager and policy director. The government
is no longer readily or easily identified as the source of any problem.
In this sense, the third sector acts as a buffer zone for the state.
Other important roles served by the third sector, such as research and
advocacy, are marginalized. Research and advocacy are important to the
larger issue of policy development, and so the voluntary sector’s
capacity to offer alternative perspectives is undermined. As a result,
the most marginalized and under-represented in society have even less
ability to influence policy development.
Shields believes that as a result of the reorganized relationships, Canadian
society is becoming less capable of working together to solve problems.
Social cohesion is being undermined.
The introduction of the Accord and Codes of Good Practice can be viewed
as an attempt to redress some of the issues discussed by Shields. While
the work of Shields is the commentary of one academic, his point of view
does shed some light on the dilemmas that are likely to surface when thought
is given to how the Accord and Codes will be implemented
Index
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[10] Shields, John. (February 2002)
Capturing Civil Society: The Third Sector in the Shadow of the State.
The SRC Sarwan Sahota Lecture, Ryerson University. Back
[11] Murray 1999: 26 cited in Shields. Back
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