Circular Economy Leadership Canada (CELC) | Canadian Circular Textiles Consortium

Watch Me Instead:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1ZkFmqzv2g&list=PL5JCqRtN6zSDzjlCJDm_YsS0mr25wYcfc&index=2

Tell us a bit about your organization, and your role within it. 

My name is Paul Shorthouse, I am the managing director at Circular Economy Leadership Canada (CELC). CELC is working to build the knowledge, the networks and the opportunities that accelerate circular innovation across Canada’s economy. We work to tap into our network of more than 65 partner organizations across the country by providing research and thought leadership, technical expertise and collaborative platforms for accelerating systems change. 

CELC is part of a broader family of organizations under the umbrella of Generate Canada, a non-profit organization focused on advancing a strong and inclusive economy that thrives within nature’s limits.  

What circularity initiatives is your organization currently tackling? 

We’re focused on three strategic areas at CELC. We work on ecosystem convening; bringing all stakeholders together and building the networks that are needed to advance circular economy. We do that through our events including the Canadian Circular Economy Summit (CCES). We are also focused on the critical enablers that can support circular economy transitions in Canada, including building collaboration platforms, focusing on information, data and standards that can improve access to good information for decision making, and we’re working on finance and investment with the finance sector to support the flow of capital into circular economy businesses, projects and infrastructure, and also on supportive policy, working with all levels of government as part of our government to government incubator.

We are also undertaking some strategic work in a small number of resource  intensive sectors including in agrifood and critical minerals, and where we’re leading on the topic of construction with a new construction innovation hub looking at imbedding circular practices within the construction real-estate sector here in Canada. 

Why did you join the Canadian Circular Textiles Consortium (CCTC)? 

We are essentially a network of networks, and we help to play an amplification and bridging role nationally and internationally as it relates to advancing the circular economy. So, while we’re focused at CELC on leading projects and work in a number of resource sector areas, we are also keen to support groups that are leading in other areas, such as Fashion Takes Action (FTA), and the CCTC, rather than working to compete or duplicate efforts, and we recognize that there’s a huge need to address waste and pollution in the textiles industry but also a huge opportunity to embed circularity strategies and practices. 

So, we play more of a supporting role with FTA and CCTC, including leveraging our networks in areas like government and with policy makers, but also with the finance and investor community, and other stakeholders that we can help to bring to the table. 

What projects are you working on within the CCTC?

We’ve supported a couple CCTC working groups to-date, in particular those relating to policy and standards development, as well as identifying funding opportunities and investors. But, I think the biggest project at the moment that we’re working on with the CCTC is the Canadian Circular Economy Summit, where we’ve joined forces with Fashion Takes Action as they host the Textiles and Apparel Track, under the broader umbrella of our major national conference that’s taking place in Montreal this April 15th-17th. That event is going to bring more than 900 diverse stakeholders and delegates from right across Canada to the summit from all sectors, and all different types of organizations to participate in more than 40 different sessions and interactive workshops. We have 140 or more speakers, and we’re running a number of half-day site tours, one of which will go to Cirque du Soleil and see the costume department, which has been organized by Fashion Takes Action. 

So this major convening of industry and government leaders, in our mind, really couldn’t come at a better time given the current supply chain and trade related issues with our neighbours to the south. This event really provides an enormous opportunity to come together as we rethink our supply chains and establish new Canadian partnerships, and explore the potential for more resilient, local, and circular approaches. 

What takeaway would you like to leave people with about the future of circularity in the fashion and textile space? 

The entrepreneurship and innovation we’re seeing in Canada right now focused on tackling the current linear model for textiles and fashion, to me is really inspiring. We’re seeing so much great innovation happening within the Canadian space and we really need to support those innovators with the policy, the infrastructure investment, and the opportunities for collaboration. 

And really, it’s only through having the challenging conversations that happen within our multi-stakeholder platforms like the CCTC, and CELC, as well as through the events where we can bring people together like the Canadian Circular Economy Summit, where deeper relationships can be made, and greater trust can be established, and really a willingness to work together to innovate and solve some of our most wicked problems.