Abstract

Social Policy and the Emerging Role of Volunteers in the Voluntary Sector in Three Provinces

Paul Leduc Browne, Glenn Drover, Ronald Frans-Melchers, Nérée St-Amand

The Voluntary Sector Roundtable, which began in 1995, and the Voluntary Sector Initiative of 2000, involving the federal government and the voluntary sector, initiated, among other things, a renewed interest in the role of volunteers in social policy. A related study of the state of voluntary sector research by the Canadian Centre of Philanthropy provided an inventory of the state of voluntary sector research and some of the gaps between the existing research and needs identified by key informants. One area where little research has been done is on how voluntary sector organisations become more integrated into the public policy process. This paper explores that gap in the research. Initially it provides a retrospective examination of the often difficult relationships between voluntary sector organisations and governments. Subsequently, it provides a case study of how the voluntary sector is evolving in the area of community health services in three provinces: New Brunswick, Ontario, and Quebec. We report, in particular, on the impact of new partnerships on policy-making and services. In the former, we look at the changing roles of volunteers in policy making as a consequence of government decentralization, deregulation and cutbacks. In terms of service provision, we report on differing patterns of recruitment, training, deployment, collaboration and integration. New Brunswick, Ontario, and Quebec differ, to some degree, in their partnership arrangements. Ontario and New Brunswick depend highly on the voluntary sector for the development and delivery of community health services; they selectively provide contracts to self-help and advocacy organizations. Quebec, by contrast, tends to rely more heavily on state-based service delivery and state-sponsored self-help initiatives.

Bios

Paul Leduc Browne is associate professor in the Department of Social Science and Social Work, University of Quebec (Outaouais). Hi research interests include the social policy of health, social economy, and social movements.

Glenn Drover is an adjunct professor in social welfare at the Maritime School of Social Work, Dalhousie University. His research interests are social welfare theory, the political economy of social welfare, and comparative social policies.

Ronald-Frans Melchers is associate professor in criminology, University of Ottawa. His research interests are in areas of justice, poverty, human resource management, and administrative decentralization.

Nérée St-Amand is professor in social work, University of Ottawa. His research interests are mutual-help networks, alternative movements, and mental health.

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