Our ambition is to help reduce social inequalities, especially as they pertain to food and health. Building on our tradition of commitment since our founding in 1947, we count on the strength of our network of employees, merchants and pharmacist owners to contribute to the well-being of communities and generate sustainable benefits.
Objectives
For information on our key performance indicators, see our 2022-2026 Corporate Responsibility Plan (PDF)
At METRO, we are dedicated to contributing to the economic and social well-being of communities. Our priorities are to invest in the communities in which we are present and to promote local purchasing, both to support local suppliers and to meet our customers' expectations.
Our ambition is to help reduce social inequalities, especially as they pertain to food and health. Building on our tradition of commitment since our founding in 1947, we count on the strength of our network of employees, merchants and pharmacist owners to contribute to the well-being of communities and generate sustainable benefits.
To learn more
METRO is actively engaged in the communities in which it is present through financial assistance and food donations. In addition to METRO’s own contributions are those made by its employees, customers and suppliers.
Our philanthropic objective is to dedicate an amount equal to 1% of METRO’s average net earnings in the last three fiscal years.
For more details, see our Community Investment Policy.
To submit a request, please complete the Donation request form.
Quantity of food recovered and redistributed from our distribution centres and stores.
Building on its 75-year tradition of commitment, METRO has continued to support the communities in which it operates through donations to various organizations and projects whose objectives are to reduce social inequalities, particularly as it pertains to nutrition and health, and to ensure the population’s well-being.
In 2024, METRO’s financial contribution to various causes totalled $8 million. In addition, we raised $8 million thanks to the contribution of our store and pharmacy networks, and through the generosity of our colleagues, suppliers and customers.
Since 1988, this certification awards a Trustmark to companies that donate at least 1% of pre-tax profits to local communities.
The very nature of our activities in the food sector inevitably leads to losses despite ever more efficient systems for minimizing unsold products. It is important to us that, above all, this food is redistributed and consumed by people who need it.
Our food recovery program One More Bite enables us to provide our partners— Second Harvest and Feed Ontario in Ontario and Food Banks of Québec —with unsold quality products from our participating stores and distribution and production centres in both provinces.
Since 2016, the program helped recover and redistribute more than 35.5 million kilograms of food: the equivalent of more than 70 million meals that have been redistributed and consumed by people in our communities. Our teams are proud to do their part to end food insecurity.
For more details, see our 2024 Corporate Responsibility Report (PDF).
© Moisson Québec
Introduced in 2022 to provide greater support for food security, the Healthy Together annual fundraising campaign for food banks in Québec, Ontario and New Brunswick raised $3.2 million in 2024, including a corporate contribution from METRO totalling $1,050,000.
We also helped young people in our communities to live healthier lives. Thanks to the efforts of our teams and the generosity of our Ontario store customers, our annual Toonies for Tummies campaign raised $1.2 million for the Grocery Foundation, whose mission is to feed hungry children.
METRO, in collaboration with its long-standing partner Food Banks of Quebec, launched METRO’s Shared Kitchens across Quebec in 2024. This project will enable organizations working to combat food insecurity to receive funding so they can build collective gathering places where different community groups can come together. METRO is investing $2 million over four years for this first edition. Click here for more information on the project and the beneficiary organizations.
Our pharmacy division plays an active role in public health, and we are involved in this sector by supporting organizations dedicated to health. Through our commitment to education, research and prevention, and improving health care, we aim to empower people in the communities we serve to live healthier lives.
Here are some of the organizations we supported in 2024:
METRO also supports organizations whose mission is to ensure the well-being of the population. To demonstrate its commitment to communities, METRO regularly makes its network of food stores and pharmacies available to organizations to raise funds.
Our 26th Centraide campaign raised a record $2.7 million, including a $500,000 corporate contribution from METRO.
At METRO, we encourage our employees to volunteer to actively participate in our purpose to nourish the health and well-being of our communities. We take pride in providing our colleagues with the chance to allocate work hours to make a meaningful impact with a local organization. In 2024, more than 1,900 hours were donated by nearly 500 colleagues to 16 different charities helping people in need in both Quebec and Ontario, representing a 40% increase in the number of participants over 2023.
Our local purchasing program was launched several years ago.
We prioritize local products and put in great effort to make them available to our customers.
We recognize that local products and suppliers contribute to the health and well-being of the communities where we operate and generate sustainable socioeconomic benefits. This is why we are firmly committed to facilitating access to local products in our stores and pharmacies, and to building sustainable relationships with innovative local suppliers.
In 2024, our pharmacy banners also pursued their efforts to promote and display local products by developing their collaboration with Les Produits du Québec and Aliments du Québec. In 2024, we increased the number of products holding one of these two certifications by 14% over the previous year, for a total of 3,776 new certified products.
In 2024, we increased the year-round availability of certain local greenhouse-grown products, developing new partnerships and increasing purchasing volumes for these product categories. In Québec, we have partnered with GoodLeaf, a vertical farm based in Longueuil, to offer their range of micro-sprouts and baby greens in our stores. In Ontario, Metro has entered into a partnership with Sunset greenhouses, a family business that grows fresh produce. Both companies use neither pesticides nor GMOs.
For more details, see our Local Purchasing Policy (PDF) and our 2024 Corporate Responsibility Report (PDF).