Glossary

2010 Commerce Centre: Exists to inform British Columbia businesses and connect them to the business opportunities that spring from the Games.

2010 Legacies Now: 2010 Legacies Now was created by the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation and the Province of British Columbia to develop sustainable legacies that will benefit all British Columbians. See www.2010legaciesnow.com.

Aboriginal: The descendants of the original inhabitants of North America. Canada’s Constitution recognizes three distinct groups of Aboriginal peoples: Indian (now commonly referred to as First Nations), Inuit and Métis. These are three separate peoples, each with distinct heritages, languages, cultural practices and spiritual beliefs.

Accessibility: Ensuring that opportunities are open to all by reducing or removing barriers (physical, social and economic).

Accountability: The responsibility of the organization to account for its decisions and actions to those who have a legitimate interest in them and the processes and structures through which it meets this responsibility.

Advisory group: An advisory group of government partners, relevant business and community leaders who will recommend how to implement specific ICI Commitments.

Assurance: A process to enhance the quality and credibility of reporting, in which a competent, independent person or body assesses the subject matter of a report in relation to an objective standard and provides a conclusion about the fairness and reliability of the report.

Barrier-free: Sites or buildings that have been built or modified, and events that have been arranged, to ensure that persons with disabilities can use the building or participate in the event as fully as a person without disabilities.

Biodiversity (Biological diversity): The variety of life, including the variety of species, the genetic variety within species and the variety of ecosystems of which they are a part.

Biofuels: Alternative fuels made from biomass (living organisms or their by-products). Biofuels are made from crops like corn, plant waste such as husks, or animal waste. Burning biofuels instead of fossil fuels does not release long-stored carbon, so it is seen as a way to reduce emissions of GHGs.

Building Opportunities with Business Inner-City Society (BOB): A non-profit organization with a private sector Board. Its role is to secure more transactions between private sector buyers and employers and inner-city businesses, employment and training service providers.

Carbon offsets: Actions to reduce or avoid greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in one location in order to “offset” GHG emissions occurring in a second location. As carbon dioxide is the most important GHG by volume, completely offsetting carbon dioxide emissions produces a result that is often described as “carbon neutral.”

Climate change: The changes to the Earth’s climate resulting from increasing concentrations in the atmosphere of greenhouse gases (GHGs), such as carbon dioxide. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has determined that the marked increase in GHG concentrations since pre-industrial times is the result of human activity, including the burning of fossil fuels (such as oil) land clearing and agriculture. Since GHGs trap heat in the atmosphere, the dominant change has been a rise in average temperatures globally, although there is significant variation, with larger increases at the poles.

Ecosystem: An ecosystem consists of a dynamic set of living organisms (plants, animals and micro-organisms) all interacting among themselves and with the environment in which they live (soil, climate, water, air and sunlight).

Environmental assessment: A process to predict the environmental effects of a proposed project throughout its lifecycle (including construction, start-up, operation and shut-down) and to recommend ways to eliminate, minimize or mitigate those impacts. The Canadian Environmental Assessment Act requires that the federal environmental assessment process be applied when a federal authority is involved in a project. In BC, the BC Environmental Assessment Act requires certain projects to undergo environmental assessment and obtain an EA certificate before they can proceed. Environmental, economic, social, heritage and health effects are all considered in the BC environmental assessment process.

First Nations: One of the three distinct groups of Aboriginal peoples in Canada. The term First Nations came into common use in the 1970s to replace the word “Indian,” which some people found offensive. For more information about First Nations peoples in Canada, please visit the Assembly of First Nations.

Footprint: 1) In a spatial context, the area occupied by permanent and temporary facilities and their associated activities. 2) In an ecological context, it measures humanity’s demand on nature by considering the resources consumed and resources affected to support our activities.

Four Host First Nations: The four First Nations – Lil’wat, Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh – on whose traditional and shared traditional territories the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games will be held. In 2004, these four Nations signed a protocol outlining their commitment to work together in a cooperative and mutually supportive manner in order to participate fully in the Games and to take advantage of the social, sport, cultural and economic opportunities and legacies that will arise as a result of the Games. For more information about the Four Host First Nations, please visit www.fourhostfirstnations.com.

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI): A global, multi-stakeholder initiative to develop a common framework for sustainability reporting. The Sustainability Reporting Framework includes the Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, now in their third version, Sector Supplements and Protocols. The Guidelines can be downloaded here. The GRI is a collaborating centre of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).

Governance: How VANOC organizes itself to make important decisions, steer the organization in the direction of its goals, manage relationships and hold itself accountable to its mandate and commitments.

Green building: See Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) below.

Greenhouse Gases (GHG): The gases that contribute to the warming of the earth by trapping energy in the atmosphere. GHGs, which are generated by both natural processes and human activities, include carbon dioxide (CO ₂), methane (CH ₄), nitrous oxide (N ₂O), sulphur hexafluoride (SF ₆), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and perfluorocarbons (PFCs).

Habitat: The places and combination of resources that wildlife need to survive and thrive. All creatures need food, water, shelter and space but each species will have its own specific habitat requirements. The amount and the quality of habitat both affect the health of wildlife populations.

Inclusivity: Enabling participation by everyone interested in or affected by an issue or activity.

Indigenous: VANOC has adopted the inclusive UN understanding of indigenous peoples, which is based on the following criteria:

Inner-City Inclusive Commitment Statement (ICI Commitment Statement): Commits the ICI Partners (City of Vancouver, Province of British Columbia, Government of Canada and VANOC) to work together to ensure that the legacy of the 2010 Winter Games is one of creating direct benefits and managing potential adverse impacts for Vancouver’s Inner-City Neighbourhoods. The ICI Commitment Statement contains 37 specific commitments over 14 thematic areas.

Inner-City Inclusivity Initiative (ICI): A partnership of the City of Vancouver, the Province of British Columbia, the Government of Canada and VANOC and supported by the Vancouver Agreement, 2010 Legacies Now and Building Opportunities with Business Inner-City Society (B.O.B.). The ICI Initiative works to implement the ICI Commitment Statement in a manner that maximizes opportunities while minimizing potential negative impacts on the Inner-City Neighbourhoods resulting from the planning and hosting of the 2010 Winter Games.

Inner City Neighbourhoods: Vancouver’s communities of Mt. Pleasant, Downtown South, and the Downtown Eastside.

International Olympic Committee (IOC): The IOC is an international non-governmental non-profit organization and the creator of the Olympic Movement. The IOC exists to serve as an umbrella organization of the Olympic Movement. It owns all rights to the Olympic symbols, flag, motto, anthem and Olympic Games. Its primary responsibility is to supervise the organization of the summer and winter Olympic Games.

Inuit: One of the three distinct groups of Aboriginal peoples in Canada. The word Inuit means “the people” in Inuktitut, the Inuit language, and is the term by which Inuit refer to themselves. The Inuit live primarily in the four regions of the Canadian Arctic: Nunatsiavut (Labrador), Nunavik (northern Quebec), Nunavut and the Inuvialuit region in the Northwest Territories. For more information about Inuit in Canada, please visit the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami website.

ISO 14001: An international standard that sets requirements for Environmental Management Systems. Environmental Management Systems should address policy, planning, implementation/operation, checking/corrective action, and management review.

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED): is a certification system that “recognizes leading edge buildings that incorporate design, construction and operational practices that combine healthy, high-quality and high-performance advantages with reduced environmental impacts”. The LEED system used in Canada is tailored to Canadian climates, construction practices and regulations by the Canada Green Building Council, based on the LEED rating system developed by the US Green Building Council. Points towards certification are awarded for meeting performance criteria in five categories: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources and indoor environmental quality.

Material: Refers to information that is both relevant and significant. VANOC considers information to be material (and therefore important to include in the report) if its inclusion or omission would likely influence the decisions or actions of report users.

Métis: One of the three distinct groups of Aboriginal peoples in Canada. Historically, the Métis were descendants of the 18th- and early 19th-century European men and First Nations women living in mid-Western Canada. For more information about Métis in Canada, visit the Métis National Council website.

Nitrogen oxides (NOx): NOx refers to various highly reactive gases, all of which contain nitrogen and oxygen in varying amounts. Many nitrogen oxides are colourless and odourless. However, one common pollutant, nitrogen dioxide (NO2), along with particles in the air, sometimes appears as a brownish haze over urban areas. Nitrogen oxides form when fuel is burned at high temperatures, for example, in a combustion process. The main sources of NOx are motor vehicles, electric utilities, and other industrial, commercial, and residential operations that burn fuels.

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs): Usually refers to groups that are organized around and advocating for a specific interest or serving a specific mission, including industry associations, community groups, environmental organizations, and others.

Olympic Charter: “The codification of the Fundamental Principles of Olympism, Rules and By-Laws adopted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It governs the organization, action and operation of the Olympic Movement and sets forth the conditions for the celebration of the Olympic Games.”

Olympic Family: Members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), National Olympic Committees (NOCs), International Federations (IFs), Organizing Committees of the Olympic Games (OCOGs) and, during the Games, broadcasting, media and sponsors.

Olympic Games Impact (OGI) research project: A research project developed by the IOC to create a long-term assessment of the environmental, social and economic impacts of the Games on host communities and countries. This information is designed to be beneficial to future candidate and host cities.

Olympic Movement: The Olympic Movement includes the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Organizing Committees of the Olympic Games (OCOGs), the National Olympic Committees (NOCs), the International Federations (IFs), the national associations, clubs and, of course, the athletes.

Operating costs: The recurring costs of running a building or organization that are used up in the current year. Typical operating costs include salaries and energy.

Particulate Matter (PM): Microscopic particles, both solids and droplets, that can remain suspended in the air for some time. PM is generated by natural processes, human activities, and reactions between air pollutants. Dust, pollen, soot, smoke, and ammonia droplets are examples of PM. Fine particulate matter is one of the main components of smog.

Riparian areas: The areas adjacent to streams, lakes, and wetlands that influence and are influenced by the adjoining waterway. Riparian areas are important because of the influence they have on aquatic ecosystems – providing shade, stabilizing banks, contributing large and small debris, regulating runoff and sedimentation – and because they provide rich and important habitat for a variety of creatures.

Root wad: The stump and attached root system of a tree.

Sedimentation: The erosion and deposition of soil or other material into waterways. Sedimentation can occur as a result of natural processes (such as landslides and streambank erosion) but can be exacerbated by human activities such as construction, road building and maintenance, and deforestation. Sedimentation can affect the quality of drinking water and aquatic habitat.

Setbacks: Distance from a sensitive ecological feature such as a wetland or stream.

Social enterprise: The practice of operating a business to fulfill a social goal. Organizations that operate this way are also called social enterprises and may be for- profit or not-for-profit entities.

Stakeholder: A person or organization that has a legitimate interest in a project or entity. Also refers to people who could affect or are affected by an organization’s social, environmental and economic performance.

Stakeholder engagement: Participation by stakeholders, often in an effort to provide input to decision making.

Sulphur oxides (SOx): Gases, including sulphur dioxide, produced during industrial processes and the burning of fossil fuels. SOx contribute to air pollution but are not GHGs.

Supportive housing or social housing: Housing owned by government, a non-profit or a co-operative society and provided to those who cannot afford to pay market rents. Rents are determined not by the market but by the residents' ability to pay.

Sustainability: For VANOC, sustainability is about managing the social, economic and environmental impacts and opportunities of our Games to produce lasting benefits – both locally and globally.

Sustainability attributes: The qualities or features of a location, building, product or service that make it perform better in relation to sustainability criteria and which make it more attractive to buyers or users with sustainability objectives.

Sustainability Management and Reporting System (SMRS): A performance-based system that defines our sustainability objectives, fosters an integrated approach to achieving them, and provides transparent reporting on results relative to sustainability-related bid commitments and corporate goals, to both internal and external audiences.

Sustainable purchasing: Sustainable purchasing involves the consideration of social, ethical and environmental criteria in addition to other operational criteria in the selection and monitoring of suppliers, contractors and licensees. In a social compliance program the emphasis is on ensuring human rights and safe workplaces. When third party experts visit factories to assess compliance, it is called independent factory monitoring. VANOC’s Sustainable Purchasing Procedure includes sustainability and Aboriginal participation criteria in supplier/licensee selection and aims to extend business opportunities to traditionally disadvantaged groups.

Vancouver Agreement: An urban development initiative involving the Government of Canada, the Province of British Columbia and the City of Vancouver to promote and support sustainable economic, social and community development in the City of Vancouver. These government partners work collaboratively and strategically with community groups, residents and business to make the city a healthy, safe and sustainable place to live and work for all residents. One of the Agreement's priorities is to realise concrete outcomes for three inner-city communities, the Downtown Eastside, Downtown South and Mount Pleasant, in the areas of: Community Safety and Security, Economic and Employment Development, Safe and Secure Housing and Improved Health and Quality of Life. 

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs): A group of carbon-containing gases and vapours that are released primarily by the evaporation of petroleum products, solvents, paints, and other volatile compounds. VOCs react with NOx in the presence of sunlight to form ground level ozone, which is an air pollutant and a key element of smog. Some VOCs are carcinogenic. VOCs, together with NOx, SOx, fine particulate matter and ammonia are the main air pollutants associated with smog formation.

Zero Waste: The concept that all activities are designed to eliminate waste and that any residual waste is recovered to be used as inputs to other processes.