David Suzuki Foundation


The David Suzuki Foundation is a science-based environmental organization headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with offices in Montreal and Toronto. It is a non-profit organization that is incorporated in both Canada and the United States, and is funded by close to 30,000 donors. The Foundation describes its goal as to:
The mission of the foundation is to "protect nature's diversity and the well-being of all life, now and for the future" and their vision is that "we all act every day on the understanding that we are one with nature."
Its origins lie in a 1989 "think-tank" retreat on Pender Island, British Columbia that was organized by David Suzuki and Tara Cullis. A dozen concerned individuals were invited, and inspired by those discussions the Foundation was incorporated on September 14, 1990. It officially opened its doors on January 1, 1991. It is a federally registered Canadian charity supported entirely by Foundation grants and donations. It does not accept any government funding, except from the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. It is also not a funding body for other organizations. Currently the Foundation employs roughly seventy-five staff members.

Programs

The Foundation has four main program departments – Ontario and Northern Region, Quebec/Francophone, B.C. and Western Region, and Science and Policy. Together, they focus on the following areas:
As part of its work the Foundation publishes newsletters, scientific studies, research reports, books, information kits, brochures, and news releases. Some major project areas include:
As a mechanism to promote public awareness and action with regard to the Foundation's four focuses, the Foundation created the Nature Challenge program. In consultation with the Union of Concerned Scientists the Foundation researched the most effective ways to help conserve nature and improve our quality of life, and invited the public to embrace them in their daily lives. Their list is:
over 500 000 individuals had taken David Suzuki's Nature Challenge. Many famous Canadians have taken David Suzuki's Nature Challenge, including Nelly Furtado, Sam Roberts, Margaret Atwood, Robert Munsch, Larry Campbell, and David Miller.

Sustainability Within a Generation

"Canada vs the OECD: An Environmental Comparison", a 2001 report published by University of Victoria Eco-Research Chair of Environmental Law and Policy Staff and authored by David R. Boyd, environmental lawyer and coauthor of the forthcoming book David Suzuki's Guide to Helping the Planet, examined 25 environmental indicators, ranks Canada 28th out of the 29 OECD nations. The foundation and Boyd created a separate report, "Sustainability within a Generation", that addresses Canada's capacities to improve sustainability and environmental conservation. The foundation believes this can be best accomplished by improving efficiency, eliminating waste and pollution, and building sustainable cities.
In February 2004, Suzuki met with the Prime Minister of Canada, Paul Martin, to present the Foundation's report on how sustainability could be achieved within a generation.

La Rose et al. v. Her Majesty the Queen

In October 25, 2019 The David Suzuki Foundation along with the Our Children's Trust and 15 youth activists including Cecilia La Rose, Sierra Robinson and Sáj Gray-Starcevich, have launched a federal lawsuit against the Canadian government claiming that the government has violated the youth's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The lawsuit asks the Canadian Government to immediately begin reducing Canada's green house gas emissions to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Criticism

Genetically Modified Food

Despite a strong scientific consensus on the health and safety of genetically modified foods, or GMOs, the foundation’s website includes an "Understanding GMO" page which claims "the safety of GMO foods is unproven and a growing body of research connects these foods with health concerns..."

List of donors

During an interview on the John Oakley Show in Toronto, Suzuki stated that ordinary people fund his foundation and corporations are not as interested in funding it.
President of the conservative Canadian Centre for Policy Studies Joseph C. Ben-Ami, citing this statement in his article "Global Warming Charlatan" notes that the foundation's 2005-2006 annual report lists 52 corporations, including Bell Canada, Toyota, IBM, McGraw-Hill Ryerson, Scotia Capital, Warner Bros., Canon and the Bank of Montreal, amongst its 40,000 donors. Many years ago, before the Foundation implemented its Ethical Gift Acceptance Policy, corporate donors included EnCana Corporation, a world leader in natural gas production and oil sands development, and ATCO Gas, Alberta's principal distributor of natural gas, and OPG which is one of the largest suppliers of electricity in the world operating five fossil fuel-burning generation plants and three nuclear plants.
The David Suzuki Foundation's financial and donor information is available on the Foundation website. For 2011/12, most funding came from individual donors. Foundations and businesses provided another 25% and 13% respectively. More than 95% was from Canadian donors. The David Suzuki Foundation also has an Ethical Gift Acceptance policy.
Three-quarters of the Foundation's 40,000 supporters have donated less than $500.
Between 2000 and 2010, the David Suzuki Foundation has received $44 million from tax receipted donations.

Political involvement

Columnist Licia Corbella, formerly of The Calgary Sun is a long-standing critic of the David Suzuki Foundation and is known for denying the existence of human-caused climate change. Writing about Suzuki meeting with Calgary elementary school students, states that the speech "was essentially urging those listening not to vote Conservative. That makes his message partisan and should exempt the David Suzuki Foundation from receiving tax deductible status."
However, Suzuki makes a distinction between what he says as an individual and what the Foundation says. For example, he has called Ottawa's plan to fight global warming a "national embarrassment" and has said of the government's energy policy: "It's not a strategy, it's a shame." He makes it clear that this is his personal opinion and has "nothing to do with foundation." And, as Lloyd Alter notes in an article in Treehugger, in Canadian law, charities are permitted to comment on politics:
Charities have wide latitude to comment on politics, provided they don't endorse parties or candidates and can devote up to 10 per cent of their resources for non-partisan political activities... this spending can be undertaken 'to influence law, policy, and public opinion on matters related to its charitable purposes.' Among the permitted activities, groups can meet with elected officials, hold conferences, workshops, lectures and rallies, and mount letter-writing campaigns about issues.

Suzuki stepped down from the Board of Directors of the Foundation in April 2012, although his wife, Tara Cullis, is still president of the Board.