About Us
GS1 Canada has a unique community management role that allows collaboration and partnership with industry in a variety of work groups, technical groups, task groups and focus groups — collectively called Community Groups.
The Community Groups are made up of subject matter experts from businesses of all sizes operating in Canada. This collaborative forum ensures GS1 Canada is developing standards, guidelines and non-proprietary business solutions that meet the requirements of the Canadian industry. The three main focuses are:
Development and publishing of implementation guidelines and best practices using GS1 global standards for local data synchronization and direct electronic communication.
Discussions on community submissions and/or Board directives regarding shared technical and business issues and to solve issues through the use of global standards.
Identifications of requirements for non-competitive issues by offering non-proprietary ECCnet Industry Managed Solutions.
Each Community Group defines its scope and objectives through a Mandate or Call to Action.
If you need to submit any work requests, please click on GS1 Canada Work Request Submission (Login is required. Document link opens in new tab.)
For all questions, including registration, please contact community.group@gs1ca.org.
The GS1 Canada Cannabis Community Work Group (Work Group) brings together industry stakeholders to collaboratively address non-competitive supply chain challenges through the adoption of GS1 global standards and GS1 Canada Industry Managed Solutions (IMSs).
By establishing a common framework for product identification, traceability, and data sharing, the Work Group enhances interoperability between trading partners, supports regulatory compliance, and fosters a more efficient and transparent cannabis supply chain. Through industry-wide collaboration, the Work Group aims to drive operational efficiencies, reduce barriers to trade, enable innovation within the sector, and ensure alignment with global best practices, ultimately supporting the long-term growth and integrity of the Canadian cannabis market.
The purpose of the Work Group is to utilize and leverage a neutral, non-competitive forum for the Canadian cannabis industry to identify business requirements and needs that can be supported by GS1 global supply chain standards and supporting IMSs to achieve common goals. Through education, established (and potentially new) IMSs, and an official community management process, the Work Group will work together to create supply chain efficiencies in this growing and evolving industry and achieve consensus and alignment on Work Group objectives. In February of 2025, the Work Group identified the following Focus Topics:
The Collaborative Commerce Committee (Committee) has been established to empower the Canadian industry by:
By facilitating implementation within their organizations, members of the Committee will pave the way towards maximizing industry value. Leveraging data standards and sharing capabilities ensures a strong, stable foundation, fostering efficient and effective value creation. With standardized product content, companies can effortlessly share high-quality and accurate product information across all markets, enriching the experience for consumers and patients. Acting as both champions for their individual organizations and advocates for the industry at large, the Committee embodies a collective effort towards greater success and innovation.
In 2021, the Digital Commerce Executive Forum (Forum) was launched to deliver to the ever-evolving non-competitive digital needs of the industry. The Forum is to support best-in-class digital transformation across the Canadian industry to enhance the consumer shopping and dining experience.
The Forum will support the enablement of digital strategies and operations, under GS1 Canada’s cost recovery model, with:
Evolve our industry-directed solutions and enable stakeholders to maximize opportunities while overcoming challenges. As directed by industry, the Forum will:
The objective of the GS1 Canada Digital Commerce Work Group (Work Group) is to:
The purpose of the Work Group is to review and evaluate each strategic priority approved by the Forum. Through collaboration, members will align on business requirements and together define, prioritize and execute on an industry lead Digital Commerce roadmap. The approach of the Work Group will include two phases:
The objective of the GS1 Canada Foodservice Executive Forum (Forum) is to support and drive the foodservice industry forward, ensuring that the IMS created for industry by industry align with current and future needs.
As a member of the Forum, you will:
The foodservice sector has dramatically changed in the last several years; the industry is experiencing knowledge and process gaps, due to our post pandemic business environment and the industries rapid need for digitization.
The objective of GS1 Canada’s Foodservice Work Group (Work Group) is to ensure the IMS (Industry Managed Solution) created for industry by industry aligns with current and future needs. Ultimately enabling the foodservice industry to support a digitized, frictionless & resilient supply chain.
The Work Group reports to GS1 Canada’s Foodservice Executive Forum (Forum) and will undertake discovery for the focus areas as agreed upon by Forum members. Outcomes and decisions from these Work Group meetings will be reported to the Forum on an ongoing basis. As a member of the Work Group, you will:
Every patient record incorporates the common GS1 global supply chain language (standards) and accurate data that establish the foundation for patient safety; best possible patient outcomes; robust analytics (clinical outcomes, value-based procurement); safe, effective product recall management; cost savings; and operational efficiencies.
The GS1 Canada Healthcare Deployment Committee (“Committee”) is representative of clinical and non-clinical leaders across healthcare providers, shared services organizations, group purchasing organizations, manufacturers, distributors, long term care operators and solution providers. The Committee is an action-oriented collaboration that will enable peer-to-peer engagement and sharing of global standards. Discussions will be based on leading practices, development and promotion of standards education tools and resources that support all healthcare stakeholders in implementing global standards that support a clinically integrated supply chain.
The Committee reports to and is accountable to the GS1 Canada Healthcare Board.
The GS1 Canada Nutrition Work Group (Work Group) is an industry-driven community group dedicated to improving the accuracy, accessibility, and compliance of nutritional data in Canada. Bringing together subject matter experts, the group addresses business and regulatory challenges, fosters digital transformation, and ensures consumer trust. By establishing standardized, validated, and industry-accepted nutrition data practices, the Work Group helps businesses navigate evolving regulations and streamline implementation across Retail and Foodservice sectors.
The Work Group aims to:
Key priorities are as below:
The Work Group is committed to evolving industry-directed solutions, enabling stakeholders to maximize opportunities while overcoming challenges. As directed by industry, the Work Group will:
Every patient record incorporates the common GS1 global supply chain language (standards) and accurate data that establish the foundation for patient safety; best possible patient outcomes; robust analytics (clinical outcomes, value-based procurement); safe, effective product recall management; cost savings; and operational efficiencies.
The Pharmacy Deployment Committee (Committee) works to enhance patient safety and system-wide efficiencies in pharmacy through GS1 global standards-based leading practices and peer-to-peer sharing for the pharmacy community. This Committee looks to accurately identify medications at each stage of the pharmacy supply chain through automation and global standards adoption for positive change.
The Committee reports to and is accountable to the GS1 Canada Healthcare Board.
There are significant efforts taking place already in Canada to prepare industry to be compliant with the legislation already passed and legislation expected to come.
From an implementation perspective, data standards and sharing capabilities will ensure a consistent foundation for industry to achieve regulatory compliance in an efficient and transparent manner. The development of non-competitive data standards will be useful across many areas including transition to EPR (extended producer responsibility), expanding DRS (deposit returns scheme), single use plastics and the national plastics registry.
GS1 Canada’s Sustainability Executive Forum (Forum) is active with senior-level experts from across multiple industries. The goal of the Forum is to drive better environmental outcomes for organizations by using data to underpin the circularity transition, and sustainability goals. The Forum will also:
GS1 Canada has an unprecedented and globally unique opportunity to be the strategic partner for accelerating Canadian environmental, social and governance (ESG) requirements through our existing core roles, operating principles, and assets. GS1 Canada is working across Canadian industry to support ESG requirements by:
ECCnet National Registry will be leveraged to identify, capture and share required information. Canadian industry can utilize this information to support government regulations and trading partner reporting. ESG is an important aspect of GS1 Canada’s 2025-2027 strategy with sustainability as a priority topic.
From an implementation perspective, data standards and sharing capabilities will ensure a consistent foundation for industry to achieve regulatory compliance in an efficient and transparent manner. The development of non-competitive data standards will be useful across many areas including transition to EPR (extended producer responsibility), expanding DRS (deposit returns scheme), single use plastics and the national plastics registry.
GS1 Canada has an unprecedented and globally unique opportunity to be the strategic partner for accelerating Canadian environmental, social and governance (ESG) requirements through our existing core roles, operating principles, and assets. GS1 Canada is working across Canadian industry to support ESG requirements by:
GS1 Canada has a unique community management role that allows collaboration and partnership with industry in a variety of work groups, technical groups, task groups and focus groups (Community Groups).
The Community Groups are made up of subject matter experts from businesses of all sizes operating in Canada. They provide a collaborative forum and ensure GS1 Canada is developing standards, guidelines and non-proprietary business solutions that meet the requirements of the Canadian industry.
For all questions, including registration, please contact community.group@gs1ca.org.