Join us in Part 1 as we inquire into a pilot project the federal government has launched to procure services from social enterprises; we talk to Choices for Youth in Newfoundland about the local movement to see social procurement contracting grow; and we close with a conversation with Senator Ratna Omidvar, who speaks to the potential that social procurement holds to power the work of charitable and nonprofit organizations.

For more on social procurement, check out Part 2: Social procurement in action.

If you're interested in reading more about social enterprise and social procurement, check out Buy Social Canada.

Welcome to 1601 - Imagine Canada's podcast about the country's charitable and nonprofit sector. As part of our series on social procurement, we talk to social enterprises, policymakers, across the country to get a handle on what this policy area means for the work of social enterprises.

Why 1601? For starters, 1601 is the year the Charitable Uses Act in the UK first defined what it means to be charitable. For better and for worse, this definition continues to form the basis for operating as a charity in Canada to this day. 1601 explores how we can re/define our sector, build on our strengths, learn from our past, push boundaries, and rethink what it means to be charitable. Together, we’ll explore the environment in which our sector operates and dive into what it means to be supported as we go about the work of improving the world around us.