Community Investment

We have partnered with Kids Help Phone to support two vital community-based mental health programs, developed with Black and Indigenous leaders. The programs connect youth from these communities across the country with real-time virtual counselling and crisis help. Our five-year, $1.25 million commitment supports Kids Help Phone to deliver on the RiseUp and Finding Hope action plans.

RiseUp, powered by Kids Help Phone in partnership with the BlackNorth Initiative, stands as Canada’s only 24/7 bilingual e-mental health support system tailored for Black youth. It addresses their unique challenges, which are heightened by systemic anti-Black racism. Working alongside community partners, RiseUp focuses on supporting all Afro-diaspora youth. Since January 2020, Kids Help Phone has provided support to youth more than 19 million times. It aims to increase engagement with African, Caribbean and Black youth to 10% of total sessions by 2025 through intensive awareness initiatives.

Finding Hope is a nationwide action plan aimed at enhancing Kids Help Phone’s ability to engage with Indigenous youth. Led, co-created and governed by an Indigenous advisory council, Finding Hope facilitates connections between First Nations, Inuit and Métis youth and Indigenous volunteers and counsellors. Through this program, Kids Help Phone is set to achieve six ambitious goals, leveraging partnerships with communities for success.

In fiscal 2024, our teams continued to step up and support access to healthy and affordable food for people in their communities. Thanks to the generosity of our customers and teammates, our 2023 Holiday Food Bank Fundraiser raised and donated close to $6 million in food and funds in support of more than 400 food banks across the country. In Quebec, $1.46 million was raised through our stores in support of provincial food networks. In addition to raising funds and sharing food, our teams also foster knowledge about healthy eating and living. For example, teammates at IGA continue to work with La Tablée des Chefs to empower thousands of young people through schools and community centres for youth. This program has now expanded outside of Quebec. As well, through our ongoing partnership, Special Olympics Canada continues to provide nutrition sessions specifically designed for athletes with intellectual disabilities.

IGA in Quebec is proud to partner with Fondation Charles-Bruneau, raising and donating more than $1.3 million last year to support various projects, including Project VIE, a collaboration with the CHU Sainte-Justine focused on healthy eating habits for children receiving chemotherapy. Funds were raised through an in-store campaign and two events: The Tour CIBC Charles-Bruneau and The Charles-Bruneau Cup, presented by IGA.

Through our Community Action Fund, we actively support communities in need, including, most recently, support for the Canadian Red Cross and local community responses to the devastation caused by the wildfires in British Columbia and Alberta and the flooding, wildfires and winter storms in Atlantic Canada. 

The Family of Support: Child & Youth Mental Health Initiative, a partnership between Empire, the Sobey Foundation and 13 children’s hospital foundations, entered its fourth year in 2023. Between 2020 and 2022 approximately 40,000 kids were assessed through programs supported by Family of Support. Almost 10,000 people have been trained to provide better care and support for children and youth experiencing mental health challenges. Hospitals across the country have created new spaces designed to provide better mental health care, reaching more than 75,000 children and families. The initiative’s 2023 Impact Report will be released in September 2024. To date, this initiative has raised and donated more than $14 million in support of early interventions in child and youth mental health.