Individual Company Activities to Enhance CSR

Individual Canadian companies have been paying attention to the demands of the marketplace and the pressures from citizens and public sectors on such CSR challenges as those relating to environmental protection (e.g. climate change, pollutants), human resource management practices (e.g. diversity), community development (e.g. supporting community initiatives, local hiring), consumers (e.g. product choice and safety), and others. Businesses are increasingly using CSR or similar concepts such as corporate sustainability, corporate citizenship, corporate accountability and corporate stewardship to address the triple bottom line challenges from economic, social and environmental imperatives.

Many Canadian companies are pursuing CSR in focussed ways to cover the "plan, implement, check, and improve" facets of their business structures, processes and management decision-making. Others are more comprehensive in their approaches.

There are many companies in Canada that can be identified as practitioners of CSR. Based upon reviews of industry activity in various fora and processes (including those of Industry Canada and other federally supported studies, assessments within industry such as by Corporate Knights, participation by companies in initiatives of organizations such as the Conference Board of Canada and the Canadian Business for Social Responsibility and others) the following is a sample list of companies that can be reviewed to indicate the sorts of individual businesses undertaking initiatives on environmental, human resource, human rights, community development, and/or other CSR fronts: 

Transportation Services Industry

• Air Canada
• Canadian National Railway Company
• Canadian Pacific Railway Company

Financial Services Industry

• Citizens Bank of Canada
• Royal Bank of Canada
• Bank of Nova Scotia
• VanCity Savings  

Insurance

• Sun Life Financial Inc.  
• Manulife Financial Corp
• Great-West Lifeco. Inc.

Mining Industry

• Placer Dome
• Teckcominco
• Falconbridge Limited

Metals and Mining Processing

• Alcan Inc
• Cameco Corp.
• Dofasco Inc.
• Noranda Inc.

Utilities

• TransAlta Corporation
• Hydro Quebec
• Ontario Power Generation

Information Technologies and Communications

• Nortel Networks Corporation
• BCE Inc
• TELUS Corporation

Automotive Industry

• Honda Canada
• Ford Motor Company of Canada
• General Motors of Canada
• Bombardier
• Toyota Canada Inc
• Volkswagen Canada

Chemical Industry

• Dow Canada
• Dupont Canada Inc.
• SC Johnson

Oil and Gas Industry

• Suncor Energy Inc.
• Petro Canada
• Nexen Inc.
• Shell Canada

Environmental Industry

• Zenon Environmental Inc.
• Ballard Power Systems Inc.
• Westport Innovations Inc.

Food

• Sobey's Inc.
• Loblaw Cos. Ltd.
• Van Houtte Inc.

Forest and Paper Products

• Timbec Inc.        
• Norske Skog Canada
• Norbord Inc
• Weyerhaeuser
• Weldwood of Canada Ltd

Health and Life Sciences

• MDS Inc.
• Biovail Corporation International
• The Jean Coutu Group (PJC) Inc.

Other Manufacturing

• Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd.
• Magna International Inc.
• G.T.C. Transcontinental Group Ltd.
• Reebok      
• adidas-Salomon
• Gap

Retail

• Mountain Equipment Co-op
• Hudson’s Bay Co
• Sears Canada    
• George Weston Ltd.  
• Home Depot
• Canadian Tire Corporation Ltd.

Telecom

• Bell
• Aliant
• Telus

Technology

• Hewlett-Packard
• Dell
• IBM

Also see:

• The National Corporate Social Responsibility Report: Managing Risks, Leveraging Opportunities
  Global pressures are challenging corporations to improve the impacts of their decisions and operations on society. Corporations are being called upon to ensure that their performance reflects the values, interests and expectations of society. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is becoming a vital part of a longer-term and more comprehensive approach to business success.
  
  
  The Conference Board of Canada has prepared a report that analyses the self-assessed corporate social responsibility management practices of 53 large
  Canadian companies, and reviews the public reporting practices of Canada's 300 largest corporations. In partnership with others, Industry Canada and a number of other federal organizations (Environment Canada, Foreign Affairs Canada, Natural Resources Canada, Social Development Canada) financially supported this initiative.
  http://www.conferenceboard.ca/GCSR/national-csr.htm
  
  
• The Best 50 Corporate Citizens in Canada   http://www.corporateknights.ca/best50/index.asp