Departmental Plan 2024-25 — Canadian Heritage

On this page

• Message from the ministers
• Plans to deliver on core responsibilities and internal services
  • Core responsibilities and internal services:
  • Core responsibility 1: Creativity, arts and culture
  • Core responsibility 2: Heritage and celebration
  • Core responsibility 3: Sport
  • Core responsibility 4: Diversity and inclusion
  • Core responsibility 5: Official languages
  • Internal services
• Planned spending and human resources
  • Spending
  • Funding
  • Future-oriented condensed statement of operations
  • Human resources
• Corporate information
• Supplementary information tables
• Federal tax expenditures
• List of terms

Message from the ministers

As ministers, we are pleased to present the Department of Canadian Heritage’s 2024–25 Departmental Plan.

As indicated in the 2023 Fall Economic Statement, “Building a Canada that delivers on the promise of the greatest country in the world will be our work for these next two years—and beyond.” Canadian Heritage’s activities will strive to advance our key priorities in areas such as inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility, as well as reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and practices to reach our sustainable development goals. This commitment will be at the heart of every part of our mandates in 2024–25.

Arts and culture play an important role in our society. They reflect who we are and serve as gateways to the world. They spark much-needed conversations and bring people together in meaningful ways. The Department will support the creation of a viable and equitable environment in which Canada’s arts and culture community can continue to play its vital role. It will advance efforts to modernize Canadian legislation and regulation in areas such as broadcasting, digital news and copyright, and it will do so with a view to making sure that everyone is able to find, see and hear Canadian content on multiple platforms. As set out in more detail in this plan, the Department will also focus on several other initiatives.

2024–25 will be a year of development and change in the National Capital Region. A number of projects are on the horizon. First of all, in response to Call to Action 81 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Canadian Heritage will continue to work with residential school survivors and Indigenous groups to develop the Residential Schools National Monument project. The Department also expects to break ground and start construction on the 2SLGBTQI+ National Monument and the Global Affairs Canada Commemorative Artwork, two major monument projects. Also, with the end of the Northern Lights multimedia show on Parliament Hill last summer after nine colourful seasons, the Department will work towards finding new ways to continue to animate the downtown core. Across the country, it will mark milestone anniversaries, including the centennial of the Royal Canadian Air Force. It will pursue the renewal of the museums policy and help museum institutions showcase our history and the contributions that people of all backgrounds have made to our country. In addition, this plan presents several projects managed by the Canadian Conservation Institute and Canadian Heritage Information Network.

Sport is part of Canada’s national identity and culture. It has the power to transform lives. It builds communities, stimulates economies and contributes to the overall well-being of the country. It is a source of national pride and resilience. However, with insufficient safeguards and accountability, it can do harm. Canadian Heritage will be guided by a single objective: to create safe and welcoming sport environments that reflect Canada’s diversity and our values of equity, fairness and inclusion. It will work to put the lived experiences of athletes at the centre of decision-making and improve governance within the sport system. Canadian Heritage will also lead the development of the renewed Canadian Sport Policy, which outlines the federal, provincial and territorial governments’ sport priorities over the next 10 years. Finally, the Department will support Canada’s participation in international competitions, including at the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and by hosting the 2025 Canada Games and the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup.

In Canada, where diversity is a fact and inclusion is a choice, Canadian Heritage will do everything it can to make that choice a reality. The Department will launch a renewed Anti-Racism Strategy and an Action Plan on Combatting Hate. In line with the government’s priorities, the Department will support the Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism and the Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia. It will continue to support Indigenous, Black and other racialized and ethno-religious minority communities, people belonging to 2SLGBTQI+ communities and people with disabilities. Furthermore, to help strengthen Indigenous cultural identity and enhance Indigenous peoples’ participation in society, Canadian Heritage will continue to implement the Indigenous Languages Act. Lastly, through the Federal Youth Secretariat, the Department will engage young people, particularly through the Prime Minister’s Youth Council and efforts to develop the second State of Youth Report to be published in 2025.

Canadian Heritage will continue to promote the substantive equality of English and French in Canadian society. The Department will implement the modernized Official Languages Act, including the new Use of French in Federally Regulated Private Businesses Act. It will also implement the Action Plan for Official Languages 2023–2028, a historic $4.1 billion investment to protect and promote English and French across the country. Finally, the Department will work with provincial and territorial governments to support minority language services, minority language education and second official language instruction.

Canadian Heritage delivers its mission in an environment that is in constant flux. In Budget 2023, the government committed to reducing spending by $14.1 billion over five years starting in 2023–24 and by $4.1 billion every year after that. This is a government-wide effort to which Canadian Heritage is fully committed. Our cost-saving measures, which will take effect in 2024–25, are set out in this plan. Our goal is to make the best possible use of public funds to benefit Canadian society in a way that reflects our current priorities and the values we hold dear.

The Honourable Pascale St-Onge
Minister of Canadian Heritage

The Honourable Carla Qualtrough
Minister of Sport and Physical Activity

The Honourable Kamal Khera
Minister of Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities

The Honourable Randy Boissonnault
Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages

The Honourable Marci Ien
Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth

Plans to deliver on core responsibilities and internal services

Core responsibilities and internal services:

• Core responsibility 1: Creativity, arts and culture
• Core responsibility 2: Heritage and celebration
• Core responsibility 3: Sport
• Core responsibility 4: Diversity and inclusion
• Core responsibility 5: Official languages
• Internal services

Core responsibility 1: Creativity, arts and culture

In this section

• Description
• Quality of life impacts
• Results and targets
• Plans to achieve results
• Key risks
• Snapshot of planned resources in 2024–25
• Related government priorities
• Program inventory

Description

Ensures that a wide range of Canadian artistic and cultural content is accessible at home and abroad. Provides opportunities for Canadians to participate and engage in Canada’s creative life, fostering a sense of belonging and inclusion. Fosters creativity, innovation, growth and employment opportunities in Canada’s cultural sector, and in the creative economy. Support policy, legislative and regulatory measures; deliver funding programs that support creation, professional training, cultural infrastructure and arts presentation; business development and marketing initiatives; and the establishment of partnerships in Canada and abroad.

Quality of life impacts

Canada’s Quality of Life Framework measures the well-being of people in Canada. It is organized into domains and subdomains, each of which include several indicators. Core responsibility 1: Creativity, Arts and Culture is aligned with the following key domains, subdomains and indicators.

Text description of Core responsibility 1: Creativity, Arts and Culture - Quality of Life Impact

• Domain: Prosperity
  Subdomain: Income and growth
  Indicator: Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita
• Domain: Prosperity
  Subdomain: Employment and job quality
  Indicator: Employment
• Domain: Good governance
  Subdomain: Democracy and institutions
  Indicator: Canada’s place in the world
• Domain: Good governance
  Subdomain: Democracy and institutions
  Indicator: Misinformation/ trust in media
• Domain: Society
  Subdomain: Culture and identity
  Indicator: Sense of pride/ belonging to Canada

Results and targets

The following tables show, for each departmental result related to Creativity, Arts and Culture, the indicators, the results from the three most recently reported fiscal years,^{Footnote 1} the targets and target dates approved in 2024–25.

Table 1: Indicators, results and targets for departmental result:
Canadians are able to consume Canadian content on multiple platforms.

Table 2: Indicators, results and targets for departmental result:
Professional arts experiences are available to Canadians in their community.

Table 3: Indicators, results and targets for departmental result:
Creative industries are successful in the digital economy, foster creativity and contribute to economic growth.

Table 4: Indicators, results and targets for departmental result:
Creative industries are successful in global markets.

Table 5: Indicators, results and targets for departmental result:
Canadians are better equipped to counter the effects of online disinformation.

The financial, human resources and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Plans to achieve results

Canadians are able to consume Canadian content on multiple platforms.

The Department will undertake the following activities in 2024–25 to support this departmental result:

• Support access to reliable news and information in underserved communities and equitable, culturally relevant content through the Canada Periodical Fund and its temporarily increased investments under the Special Measures for Journalism component.
• Work toward increasing support for the Canada Book Fund to ensure that readers everywhere can discover and consume Canadian-authored books.
• Support the creation of Canadian Indigenous audiovisual productions for distribution in any format and on any platform in English, French, or Indigenous languages.
• Work toward increasing support for Telefilm and the Canada Media Fund to provide better access to a diverse range of creators, and work toward increasing funding for French audiovisual content.
• Work with the Canada Media Fund Corporation to modernize the Canada Media Fund program to continue supporting the evolving Canadian audiovisual sector and to make funding platform-agnostic, more flexible and more adaptable.
• Support CBC/Radio-Canada and other public-service broadcasters to ensure that they can continue to provide programming and services that are of exceptional importance to the achievement of the policy objectives of the Broadcasting Act. In December 2023, the Minister announced her intention to proceed with a review of the role of CBC/Radio-Canada in the new media environment.
• Implement the Online News Act to support sustainability of the Canadian news ecosystem.
• Further policy work to encourage and support a sustainable and equitable broadcasting sector, including support for implementation of the Online Streaming Act.

Professional arts experiences are available to Canadians in their community.

The Department will undertake the following activity in 2024–25 to support this departmental result:

• To further the Department’s support of the needs of Indigenous arts training organizations, the Canada Arts Training Fund will continue to provide financial support and collaborate with the Indigenous Arts Knowledge Exchange. This initiative is led by a collective of Indigenous arts training organizations with the objective of identifying measures to increase the application, retention, and graduation rates of students in Indigenous arts training program. The initiative also includes the development of self-determined decolonial training models that reflect Indigenous ways of teaching and learning.

Creative industries are successful in the digital economy, foster creativity and contribute to economic growth.

The Department will undertake the following activities in 2024–25 to support this departmental result:

• Work toward increasing support for the Canada Music Fund to help stabilize the sector and support the creation and promotion of Canadian music.
• Work toward modernizing the policies, institutions and funding tools that support the Canadian audiovisual sector to make funding platform-agnostic and open to more traditionally underrepresented storytellers, while promoting Canadian productions and ensuring Canadians are better equipped to own, and benefit from, the content that they produce.
• Advance work with Innovation, Science and Economic Development to modernize the Copyright Act by introducing an Artist’s Resale Right and advancing solutions to ensure a sustainable educational publishing industry.

Creative industries are successful in global markets.

The Department will undertake the following activities in 2024–25 to support this departmental result:

• Maximize the creative industries’ export potential and support the Government of Canada’s trade priorities through the Creative Export Strategy and the Creative Export Canada program. This program funds export-ready projects with a high potential for generating export revenues that drive the discoverability of Canadian works and export-development projects that enable early-stage and seasoned exporters to expand into new and existing international markets and build business networks.
• Lead the development and delivery of tailored creative industries trade missions and facilitate targeted industry programming for Canadian creative companies and organizations on the margins of key international events.
• Advance Canada’s creative sector and copyright interests in international trade agreements by negotiating appropriate cultural safeguards to further domestic cultural policy objectives and broaden opportunities in domestic and foreign markets.
• In the Audiovisual sector:
  • Enable Indigenous creators to develop, produce, and share more stories for distribution in Canada and the global marketplace.
  • Continue to support TV5 Quebec Canada, TV5MONDE and the TV5MONDEplus application to showcase content from la Francophonie in Canada and Canadian Francophone content abroad.
  • Help Canadian organizations make their content more accessible and promote it internationally through the Canada Media Fund.

Canadians are better equipped to counter the effects of online disinformation.

The Department will undertake the following activities in 2024–25 to support this departmental result:

• Introduce new online harms legislation in Parliament and support the legislative process.
• Continue to provide a key non-regulatory component that can leverage tools to address online harm through public awareness, third-party research, and literacy activities, through the Digital Citizen Contribution Program.
• Explore options to formalize the International Guiding Principles on Diversity of Content Online.
• In response to a program evaluation in 2022–23, fully implement commitments for the Digital Citizen Initiative to conduct a yearly review of government-wide efforts relating to disinformation, revise its internal governance committee, and clarify existing roles and responsibilities by June 2024.

Key risks

There is a risk that reductions to program spending resulting from efforts to refocus Government spending may impact the arts and culture sector. To mitigate this risk, the Department will work closely with other federal Departments to explore opportunities and identify additional mechanisms to support the sector in a way that adequately accounts for the diminished support created through spending reductions.

Snapshot of planned resources in 2024–25

• Planned spending: $542,269,777
• Planned full-time resources: 412

Related government priorities

• Gender-based analysis plus

  Various programs under this core responsibility will seek to ensure inclusive outcomes for Canadians in the cultural landscape in 2024–25:

  • Arts programs will conduct an analysis of census data to better understand the makeup of the arts workforce including intersectional factors. It is also undertaking intersectional analysis of the Arts and Heritage Access and Availability Survey data to better understand patterns of Canadians’ arts attendance.
  • The Department will work with the Canada Council and other Canadian arts funders to advance initiatives that will collect demographic data of arts organizations.
  • The Digital Citizen Contribution Program will continue to seek better understanding of how disinformation affects Canadians differently and to identify potential policy measures and interventions to ensure it can protect and support the most vulnerable.
  • The Canada Music Fund will continue to incentivize music companies to invest in the career development of artists from equity-deserving groups. Furthermore, it will continue to work to alleviate systemic barriers faced by equity-deserving groups through short-, medium- and long-term changes to the program. Finally, the Fund requires initial recipients and supported industry associations to establish and report on gender equity, diversity and inclusion policies for executive positions and Boards of Directors which, in turn, helps better report on impacts that these policies are having.
  • The Canada Book Fund will continue to incentivize book publishers to produce and promote more works from authors from official language minority, Indigenous and racialized communities.
  • The Canada Periodical Fund has allocated additional funding and special eligibility criteria to magazines and community newspapers serving Indigenous, ethnocultural, official language minority communities, and 2SLGBTQI+ populations. The Department plans to support research that will deepen its understanding of the extent to which diversity and inclusion are fully embedded as part of the operations and services of magazine and newspaper organizations.
  • The Creative Export Canada program will continue to dedicate up to 30% of its annual funding envelope to Canadian companies and organizations that are at least 50% owned by Indigenous peoples or members of equity-deserving communities.
  • The Trade Policy and Negotiation team will continue to contribute to the negotiation of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions to ensure that all GBA intersecting identity policies are included.
  • Building on its advancements over the past year, the Canada Media Fund will continue to:
    • pursue strategies aimed at improving gender parity in its programs. In addition, through Budget 2023, the Canada Media Fund received $20 million for 2024–25 to make funding more open to traditionally underrepresented voices and to increase funding for French-language content.
    • improve the level of access to federal support mechanisms for underrepresented groups. For instance, the following Canada Media Fund programs will continue to support diverse voices and content: the Pilot Program for Racialized Communities, the Indigenous Program, the Diverse Languages Program, official language minority community programs, the Accessibility Support Program and regional production incentives.
    • maintain its consultation processes with stakeholders to improve the inclusivity of its programs. The Department will assist the Canada Media Fund Corporation in reaching out to these communities to continue to review and bring up to date the Canada Media Fund’s program architecture.
• United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

  Various activities under this core responsibility will seek to contribute indirectly to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

  • Providing funding opportunities to Canadian creative industries, companies and organizations for export-ready and export-development projects, by facilitating trade opportunities abroad through the Creative Export Strategy (SDG 8—Decent work and economic growth).
  • Funding for the Arts supports specialized training to artists and cultural creators for professional national or international artistic careers at the highest levels, leading to productive employment and decent work for all (SDG 8).
  • Continuing to actively contribute to the vitality of the Canadian audiovisual sector. For instance, jobs generated by Canada Media Fund-supported productions (SDG 8).
  • Supporting implementation of a renewed Broadcasting Act to realize positive impacts on the working realities of creators and to support economic growth in the creative marketplace (SDG 8 and SDG 9—Industry, innovation and infrastructure).
  • Supporting the development and production of Indigenous audiovisual projects; supporting sector development and activities; and increasing the representation of Indigenous people within the audiovisual sector (SDG 8 and SDG 10).
  • Improving physical conditions for artistic creativity and innovation through the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund. The program helps make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable (SDG 11—Sustainable cities and communities).
  • Creating opportunities to deepen Canadians’ knowledge of digital media literacy, information literacy, and civic literacy to be more resilient in the face of disinformation (SDG 16—Peace, justice and strong institutions).
  • Ensure the public has access to information and protection of fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements, through the Canada Periodical Fund, and work toward securing increased investments (SDG 16). Support would help ensure that these communities continue to have access to reliable information, irrespective of market pressures or economic fluctuations (SDG 10).
  • Along with other stakeholders of the TV5 partnership, confirming the commitment of the Government of Canada to promote sustainable development and to ensure that it is taken into account in all the responsibilities related to this international multilateral forum (SDG 17—Partnerships for the goals).

  More information on Canadian Heritage’s contributions to Canada’s Federal Implementation Plan on the 2030 Agenda and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy can be found in our Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy.

Program inventory

Creativity, Arts and Culture is supported by the following programs in the program inventory:

• Arts
• Cultural Marketplace Framework
• Cultural Industries Support and Development

Supporting information on planned expenditures, human resources, and results related to Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC Infobase.

Core responsibility 2: Heritage and celebration

In this section

• Description
• Quality of life impacts
• Results and targets
• Plans to achieve results
• Key risks
• Snapshot of planned resources in 2024–25
• Related government priorities
• Program inventory

Description

Offers opportunities for Canadians to participate in celebrations and commemorations of national significance, and in local festivals and heritage events. Invests in the development of learning materials and experiences that give Canadians opportunities to enhance their understanding of Canada’s history. Facilitates access to heritage and provides support to heritage institutions to preserve and present heritage to all Canadians. Delivers projects, programs and services; grants, contributions and tax incentives; conducts research; provides authoritative information and expertise; and supports the implementation of heritage-related legislation.

Quality of life impacts

The Quality of Life Framework for Canada measures the well-being of people in Canada. It is organized into domains and subdomains, each of which include several indicators. The Heritage and Celebration core responsibility is aligned with the key domains, subdomains and indicators below.

Text description of Core responsibility 2: Heritage and celebration - Quality of Life Impact

• Domain: Society
  Subdomain: Culture and Identity
  Indicator: Participation in cultural or religious practices, recreation or sport
• Domain: Society
  Subdomain: Social cohesion and connections
  Indicator: Sense of belonging to local community
• Domain: Society
  Subdomain: Social cohesion and connections
  Indicator: Volunteering
• Domain: Society
  Subdomain: Culture and Identity
  Indicator: Sense of pride/belonging to Canada

Results and targets

The following tables show, for each departmental result related to Heritage and celebration, the indicators, the results from the three most recently reported fiscal years,^{Footnote 1} the targets and target dates approved in 2024–25.

Table 6: Indicators, results and targets for departmental result:
Canadians are increasingly engaged in celebrations and commemorations of national significance.

Table 7: Indicators, results and targets for departmental result:
Canadians across the country are provided regular opportunities to engage in their communities through local arts and heritage activities.

Table 8: Indicators, results and targets for departmental result:
The public is provided with access to cultural heritage.

Table 9: Indicators, results and targets for departmental result:
Heritage objects and collections are preserved by heritage organizations for current and future generations.

The financial, human resources and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Plans to achieve results

Canadians are increasingly engaged in celebrations and commemorations of national significance

The Department will undertake the following activities in 2024–25 to support the departmental result:

• Facilitate changes to activities delivered by Canadian Heritage in the National Capital Region due to various factors, including the end of the Northern Lights edition of the Sound and Light Show on Parliament Hill, the ongoing Centre Block renovation project, as well as other major construction initiatives in surrounding areas. The Department is finding new ways and establishing new partnerships to continue to animate the downtown core and deliver on its commitment to engage Canadians in celebrations and commemorations of national significance. With the upcoming relocation of the Capital Information Kiosk, Visitor Experiences will evolve to meet demand for interpretation services and multicultural activities.
• Mark significant anniversaries where Canadians will be encouraged to take part and celebrate these milestones in our history, including the centennial anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force which will be highlighted through various initiatives.
• Continue the development of the Residential Schools National Monument. Following up on the site selection announcement in 2023, the Survivor-led Steering Committee will continue to oversee the project and work will be directed toward establishing and implementing the process for selecting the Monument design.
• Start the construction of two major monuments: the 2SLGBTQI+ National Monument and the Global Affairs Canada Commemorative Artwork.

Canadians across the country are provided regular opportunities to engage in their communities through local arts and heritage.

The Department will undertake the following activities in 2024–25 to support the departmental result:

• Support community events through the Local Festivals component of the Building Communities through Arts and Heritage program, such as the “Queer Pride Festival” in Toronto, Ontario, which will include a series of 2SLGBTQI+ theatre, music, dance and comedy events, alongside an eclectic mix of grassroots, community activities that shine a light on Toronto’s emerging talent.
• Fund local commemorative initiatives through the Community Anniversaries component of the Building Communities through Arts and Heritage program, such as the “Commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the closure of the village of Saint-Cyriac” in Lac-Kénogami, Quebec, which commemorates the 100th anniversary of the village’s closure following the expropriation of its inhabitants to build dams and exploit the adjacent lake’s hydraulic energy.
• Support local capital projects through the Legacy Fund component of the Building Communities through Arts and Heritage program, such as the “150th Anniversary of Charles Macdonald—Concrete House Restoration” in Centreville, Nova Scotia, which commemorates the 150th anniversary of the birth of Charles Macdonald, who owned and operated a cement and brick factory that was central to the community’s economy, and whose local commitment and views on labour, politics and democracy resulted in improved quality-of-life for his workers and the community.
• Canadian Heritage will advance the implementation of recommendations stemming from the 2022–23 evaluation of the delivery of the Building Communities through Arts and Heritage program between 2015–16 and 2020–21.
• The Department will also examine recommendations stemming from a delivery efficiency review of the Building Communities through Arts and Heritage program that was completed at the end of 2023–24.

The public is provided with access to cultural heritage.

The Department will undertake the following activities in 2024–25 to support the departmental result:

• Continue working on the renewal of the Museum Policy.
• Continue supporting youth involved with heritage, arts, and cultural sectors through the Young Canada Works—Heritage Program. The program enables heritage organizations to hire youth in short-term jobs and internships, which also boosts organizations’ ability to maintain their operations in key functions, thereby providing the public with access to heritage.

Heritage objects and collections are preserved by heritage organizations for current and future generations.

The Department will undertake the following activities in 2024–25 to support the departmental result:

• Continue to provide funding through the Museums Assistance Program to heritage organizations to support the development of professional skills, practices and knowledge relating to key museum functions such as collections management, to increase understanding and awareness of Indigenous cultural heritage in Canada, and to reach new audiences through the production and presentation of travelling exhibitions.
• Continue to offer its support to Canadian institutions through the Canada Travelling Exhibitions Indemnification Program for the presentation of high-quality exhibitions on various themes and subject matters that reach out to various publics across Canada.
• Launch their new emerging professionals program through the Canadian Conservation Institute and Canadian Heritage Information Network. This program will offer paid internships and increase their capacity to serve the heritage community while providing professional development opportunities.
• Review the Canadian Conservation Institute and the Canadian Information Network service offerings in 2024–25, following a series of engagements with provincial and territorial museum associations in 2023–24, to better meet the needs of the heritage sector.
• Offer two new advanced workshops by the Canadian Conservation Institute and the Canadian Heritage Information Network in 2024-25, addressing specific needs of the heritage sector with respect to heritage collections, namely the digitization for heritage institutions and emergency salvage for heritage collections.

The Department will also undertake the following initiatives to support the core responsibility Heritage and celebration:

• Continue to ensure that people in Canada have access to knowledge about Canada’s history, civic education and public policy, including through the Canada History Fund.
• Support the creation of new learning resources, such as Hungry Eyes Media Inc. to develop learning materials for educators and students centred around the documentary series, BLK: An Origin Story. The learning materials will provide more information and correct the historical record about the presence of Black people and their contributions to the development of Canada, notably in Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario, and British Columbia, where they had a significant impact.

Key risks

Human resource limitations and financial constraints posed by global economic uncertainty, rising inflation, cost increases and departmental spending reductions puts at risk Canadian Heritage’s ability to advance, fund and implement Heritage and Celebration activities and initiatives. To mitigate this risk, adjustments may need to be made to the scale of activities and initiatives to allow for successful project delivery. Effective solutions will also be identified through engaging in advance planning, seeking additional resources and working with internal and portfolio partners, as well as other stakeholders.

Snapshot of planned resources in 2024–25

• Planned spending: $119,411,865
• Planned full-time resources: 326

Related government priorities

• Gender-based analysis plus

  Various programs under this core responsibility will seek to ensure inclusive outcomes in heritage and commemoration activities in 2024–25:

  • Canadian Heritage will continue to ensure that Department-funded celebrations and commemorations encourage participation of diverse people and communities in Canada, including those living in remote areas, to have opportunities to participate in community events that are open to the public and free of charge. Activities offer opportunities to learn more about Canada’s diversity and inclusiveness by promoting and showcasing the country’s linguistic, cultural, and regional diversity. The Department further endeavours to include artists who represent the many cultures that make up our country’s diverse social fabric at every event.
  • The Building Communities through Arts and Heritage program and the Canada History Fund will be working to implement the recommendations stemming from the 2022–23 departmental Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Review, including those that pertain to capacity, representation and resourcing.
  • The Young Canada Works-Heritage program is committed to increasing the percentage of underrepresented youth working in the heritage, arts, and cultural sector over time. It will continue to prioritize activities such as: projects from Indigenous employers; projects aimed at Indigenous participants; projects focused on Indigenous cultural heritage; and projects aimed at participants facing barriers to employment and equity-deserving participants.
  • The Museums Assistance Program has identified specific priorities in its published guidelines, including projects originating from or actively engaging Indigenous, ethnocultural and/or racialized, official language minority, 2SLGBTQI+, youth, people with disabilities or other underserved communities. In addition, projects advancing reconciliation with Indigenous peoples are also prioritized.
  • As well, the Museums Assistance Program has increased flexibility for Indigenous applicants and increased funding limits under the Indigenous Heritage component. The Indigenous Heritage component supports the preservation, presentation, and management of Indigenous cultural heritage in Canada. It also promotes public awareness and understanding of the diverse cultures of Indigenous Peoples.
  • Through the publication of its new application guide, the Designation of Institutions and Public Authorities Program, under the Movable Cultural Property Program, has formally recognized that traditional Indigenous knowledge is a recognized expertise for the purposes of designation.
  • The Canadian Conservation Institute and the Canadian Heritage Information Network will launch their new Emerging Professionals Program, offering paid internships in keeping with the Department’s hiring practices that encourage the inclusion of diverse demographic groups. As well, the Canadian Conservation Institute and the Canadian Heritage Information Network will review their service offerings to better meet the needs of the heritage sector as well as to advance reconciliation and inclusiveness in the delivery of their services. This review will be informed by the series of engagements with provincial and territorial museum associations that took place in 2023–24 as well as internal working groups on reconciliation with Indigenous communities, and on equity, diversity and inclusion.
• United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

  Various activities under this core responsibility will seek to contribute indirectly to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

  • The Young Canada Works-Heritage program, as part of the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy, offering youth the opportunity to gain skills and experience necessary for transition into the labour market by providing them with quality employment in the heritage, arts, and cultural sector through the Young Canada Works-Heritage program. As the only program component of Youth Employment and Skills Strategy specifically dedicated to supporting this sector, Young Canada Works-Heritage program is best positioned to support the development of strong skills in this sector’s workforce, ensuring that the needs of this significant sector of the economy are met. (SDG 8—Decent work and economic growth)
  • Increasing the participation of Canadians at various commemorative and nationally significant events. By funding and delivering a variety of commemorative and celebratory events that are public and free of charge, and that showcase the diversity of Canadian culture, the Department aims to create positive connections and promote the social inclusion of all, irrespective of age, gender, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status (SDG 10—Reduced inequalities).
  • Review the service offering of the Canadian Conservation Institute and the Canadian Heritage Information Network to better meet the needs of the heritage sector and to reduce inequalities in the delivery of their services. (SDG 10)

  More information on Canadian Heritage’s contributions to Canada’s Federal Implementation Plan on the 2030 Agenda and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy can be found in our Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy.

Program inventory

Heritage and celebration is supported by the following programs:

• National Celebrations, Commemorations and Symbols
• Community Engagement and Heritage
• Preservation of and Access to Heritage
• Learning about Canadian History

Supporting information on planned expenditures, human resources, and results related to Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC Infobase.

Core responsibility 3: Sport

In this section

• Description
• Quality of life impacts
• Results and targets
• Plans to achieve results
• Key risks
• Snapshot of planned resources in 2024–25
• Related government priorities
• Program inventory

Description

Promotes and enhances Canadian participation in sport from initial introduction to sport to the highest levels through transfer payments and policy leadership. Ensures that all Canadians have access to quality aligned sport programs in a safe and welcome environment regardless of race, gender or physical disability. Fosters the development of high-performance athletes, coaches, officials, leaders and organizations within the Canadian Sport System. Assists Canadian communities in hosting the Canada Games and international sport events.

Quality of life impacts

Canada’s Quality of Life Framework measures the well-being of people in Canada. It is organized into domains and subdomains, each of which include several indicators. The Sport core responsibility is aligned with the key domains, subdomains and indicators below.

Text description of Core responsibility 3: Sport - Quality of Life Impact

• Domain: Society
  Subdomain: Culture and Identity
  Indicator: Participation in cultural or religious practices, recreation or sport
• Domain: Good Governance
  Subdomain: Democracy and institutions
  Indicator: Confidence in institutions

Results and targets

The following tables show, for each departmental result related to Sport, the indicators, the results from the three most recently reported fiscal years, the targets and target dates approved in 2024–25.

Table 10: Indicators, results and targets for departmental result:
Canadian athletes succeed at the highest levels of competition.

Table 11: Indicators, results and targets for departmental result:
Canadian children and youth are enrolled in a sport activity.

Table 12: Indicators, results and targets for departmental result:
Canadians, regardless of gender, physical ability and cultural background, who participate in sport activities are satisfied with the manner in which the activity is provided.

The financial, human resources and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Plans to achieve results

Canadian athletes succeed at the highest levels of competition.

The Department will undertake the following activities in 2024–25 to support the departmental result:

• Continue to advance the Canadian High Performance Sport Strategy and Action Plan to help Canadian athletes succeed at the highest levels of competition. Sport Canada will provide funding to the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Sport Institute Network to ensure the delivery of a welcoming, accessible, and healthy Daily Training Environment. It will also monitor and evaluate performance data of Canadian Olympic and Paralympic athletes and support non-Olympic and non-Paralympic sports in their development.
• Coordinate federal government activities for international sporting events and fund national team preparations. In 2024–25, this includes working collaboratively with key Government of Canada partners in preparation for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games on elements such as incident management and security oversight to ensure the safety of Team Canada. It also includes supporting about 60 International Single Sport Events in support of 2,000 participants.
• Continue to support and coordinate federal activities to host and leverage the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Men’s World Cup in 2026, as first-time co-hosts for this event.
• Continue to work with the Canada Games Council and stakeholders in preparation for the 2025 Canada Games in St. John’s, Newfoundland to ensure the Games are adequately funded, and safe and effective games will be delivered.
• Continue to directly support Canadian high performance athletes through the Athlete Assistance Program. Funding will assist athletes with expenses related to training and competitions, as well as offset some costs associated with tuition costs for post-secondary education.
• Contribute $2 million to the Paralympic Foundation of Canada for an endowment fund to provide financial recognition to Paralympic medallists to match what Olympic athletes currently receive when they medal at the Games.

Canadian children and youth are enrolled in a sport activity.

The Department will undertake the following activities in 2024–25 to support the departmental result:

• Lead the endorsement and launch of the renewed Canadian Sport Policy that provides federal, provincial and territorial governments with sport priorities for the next 10 years. Sport Canada will consider how to implement the Canadian Sport Policy while supporting federal priorities of increasing sport program accessibility and participation for all, and fostering healthy, safe and welcoming sport experiences and environment.
• Continue to fund projects that expand the use of Sport for Social Development in Indigenous Communities, ensuring community driven sport-related projects, which address the self-identified social development needs of Indigenous communities and Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ peoples. Projects delivered in 2024–25 will be aligned with the revised Sport for Social Development in Indigenous Communities program design and delivery, which followed a public consultation process and recommendations presented to Sport Canada in the fall of 2023.

Canadians, regardless of gender, physical ability and cultural background, who participate in sport activities are satisfied with the manner in which the activity is provided.

The Department will undertake the following activities in 2024–25 to support the departmental result:

• Support the Government of Canada in the launch of a Future of Sport in Canada Commission to review and report on systemic causes of maltreatment in sport in Canada. The Commission will undertake an independent and forward-looking review of Canada’s sport system using a trauma-informed, survivor-centred, human rights-based approach to support healing and engage on how to improve the sport system in Canada. These efforts will support better informed policy and program development as the Government of Canada receives recommendations on how to improve the Canadian sport system, including but not limited to issues related to safe sport, policy, funding structures, governance, reporting, accountability, conflicts of interest, systems alignment, culture, and legal considerations.
• Continue to financially support the delivery of the Abuse-Free Sport program, which includes the services of the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner. The Abuse-Free Sport program is an independent program aimed at eliminating all forms of harassment, discrimination and abuse in Canadian sport. Abuse-Free Sport is responsible for investigating reported violations of the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport and imposing sanctions against individuals who violate the Code. In 2024–25, the Abuse-Free Sport program will continue to provide the following services to sport participants and sport organizers: a sport helpline, a sport research grant program, a sport educational library, an educational accreditation program, a legal aid program, mental health services and policy support.
• Continue to support the sport system through the implementation of gender equity and equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives. This will include activities to improve research and data to support evidence-based decision-making such as partnerships with the Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute, Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Statistics Canada; supporting National Sport Organizations to build gender equality and equity, diversity and inclusion capacity through policy, action planning, and governance; funding for gender equality and equity, diversity and inclusion projects focused on increasing participation of women, girls and equity-deserving persons in sport; and sustaining Sport Canada’s Gender Equity, Inclusion and Innovation Unit, including program delivery and corporate costs.
• Sport Canada established a Compliance and Accountability Division, which will further develop and implement enhanced compliance, monitoring, and accountability functions, based on a risk assessment tool that will be integrated in the funding framework. The Compliance and Accountability Division will build expertise in governance and compliance and develop escalating measures for sport organizations that do not comply with their contribution agreements and expectations related to governance, safe sport, and equity, diversity, and inclusion requirements.
• Ensure that all federally funded sport organizations have appropriate policies in place on safety and integrity in sport, namely on concussions, doping and maltreatment, and are offering a safe and independent avenue to report and investigate allegations of maltreatment and are providing training on the prevention of harassment and abuse.
• Support the implementation of a Canadian Anti-Doping Program compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code and the UNESCO Anti-Doping Convention.

Key risks

Issues in sport safety put at risk the trust Canadians have in sport programs, activities and initiatives, including those funded and implemented by Canadian Heritage. To mitigate this risk, the Department will continue to support the Abuse-Free Sport program, including the services of the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner, and encourage and incentivize federally funded sport organizations to become signatories of the program. The Department will build greater accountability into contribution agreements with recipients and require all funded National Sport Organizations to have developed gender equity and equity, diversity and inclusion policies and action plans with the goal of creating a culture of inclusion for all sport participants. The Department will also continue to communicate, through media and questions in Parliament, the Government of Canada’s commitment to strengthening accountability and combatting maltreatment in sport.

Due to the lack of resources to National Sport Organizations to adequately address new and emerging challenges, there is a risk that Canadian Heritage may be unable to meet certain objectives. To mitigate this risk, the Department will target funding in key priority areas (i.e., safe sport, governance, gender equity, equity, diversity and inclusion). The Department will also continue to work with stakeholders, particularly provincial and territorial governments, to identify priorities and align efforts, when possible, to optimize impacts.

Snapshot of planned resources in 2024–25

• Planned spending: $253,589,681
• Planned full-time resources: 148

Related government priorities

• Gender-based analysis plus

  Various activities under this core responsibility will seek to ensure inclusive outcomes in the Canadian sport system in 2024–25:

  • Building on a funding announcement in June 2023, $7 million will be provided to the Sport Support Program in 2024–25 in support of gender equity and equity, diversity and inclusion in sport. Funding will be allocated to support projects designed to attract, retain and support the participation of women and girls in sport, as well as improve equity and create opportunities for Indigenous Peoples, people from Black, racialized and religious minority communities, 2SLGBTQI+ people, and newcomers to Canada to participate and excel in sport. Expected outcomes include more women and equity-deserving people in coaching, officiating and leadership positions, as well as more opportunities for girls, women, and equity-deserving people to participate in sport.
  • All National Sport Organizations receiving reference-level funding will report on plans for improving equity, diversity and inclusion in their organization and their sport. They will be reporting on these plans in 2024–25.
  • Sport Canada’s Gender Equity, Inclusion, and Innovation unit will continue to work to recognize and inform sport policy and programming with consideration for the complexity of intersecting identities in the context of sport equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility.
• United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

  Various activities under this core responsibility will seek to contribute indirectly to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

  • Funding sport organizations that aim to increase youth participation in sport and physical activity (SDG 3—Good health and well-being).
  • Providing funding through the Athlete Assistance Program to support tuition costs to help carded athletes who meet high performance training and competitive requirements obtain a post-secondary level education, and deferred tuition support for previously carded athletes (SDG 4—Quality education).
  • Renewing investments to ensure that Canadian sport better reflects Canadian society by supporting more women in coaching, officiating, and leadership positions; providing more opportunities for girls and women to participate in sport (SDG 5–Gender equality, and SDG 10–Reduced inequalities).
  • Investing in the collection of data and research necessary for decision-making that supports efforts to fund activities that will support the inclusion of women and other underrepresented groups in sport (SDG 5 and SDG 10).

  More information on Canadian Heritage’s contributions to Canada’s Federal Implementation Plan on the 2030 Agenda and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy can be found in our Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy.

Program inventory

Sport is supported by the following program in the program inventory:

• Sport Development and High Performance

Supporting information on planned expenditures, human resources, and results related to Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Core responsibility 4: Diversity and inclusion

In this section

• Description
• Quality of life impacts
• Results and targets
• Plans to achieve results
• Key risks
• Snapshot of planned resources in 2024–25
• Related government priorities
• Program inventory
• Summary of changes to reporting framework since last year

Description

Focuses on celebrating Canada’s diversity, identity and multicultural heritage, promoting resilient communities and reinforcing the rights of Canadians, as a means to foster diversity and inclusion and supports legislation on multiculturalism. Promotes and supports domestic implementation of international human rights treaties, constitutional and quasi-constitutional rights in Canada. Works in collaboration with a variety of governmental and non-governmental organizations to support the provision of programs and services on matters of diversity and inclusion. Supports the engagement, participation and inclusion of Canadian youth in their communities and in exchange activities. Revitalizes, preserves and promotes Indigenous languages and cultures and celebrates achievements, and strengthens Indigenous communities through investments in a variety of initiatives.

Quality of life impacts

Canada’s Quality of Life Framework measures the well-being of people in Canada. It is organized into domains and subdomains, each of which include a number of indicators. The Diversity and inclusion core responsibility is aligned with the key domains, subdomains and indicators below.

Text description of Core responsibility 4: Diversity and inclusion - Quality of Life Impact

• Domain: Good governance
  Subdomain: Justice and human rights
  Indicator: Discrimination and unfair treatment
• Domain: Good governance
  Subdomain: Justice and human rights
  Indicator: Access to fair and equal justice (civil and criminal)
• Domain: Society
  Subdomain: Culture and identity
  Indicator: Positive perceptions of diversity
• Domain: Society
  Subdomain: Culture and identity
  Indicator: Sense of pride/belonging to Canada
• Domain: Society
  Subdomain: Social cohesion and connections
  Indicator: Sense of belonging to local community
• Domain: Society
  Subdomain: Culture and identity
  Indicator: Indigenous languages

Results and targets

The following tables show, for each departmental result related to Diversity and inclusion, the indicators, the results from the three most recently reported fiscal years,^{Footnote 1} the targets and target dates approved in 2024–25.

Table 13: Indicators, results and targets for departmental result:
Canadians value diversity.

Table 14: Indicators, results and targets for departmental result:
Canadians value human rights.

Table 15: Indicators, results and targets for departmental result:
Individuals or groups have access to funding to initiate or participate in test cases pertaining to rights and freedoms covered by the Court Challenges Program.

Table 16: Indicators, results and targets for departmental result:
Increase in the use of Indigenous languages.

Table 17: Indicators, results and targets for departmental result:
Youth enhance their appreciation of the diversity and shared aspects of the Canadian experience.

The financial, human resources and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Plans to achieve results

Canadians value diversity

Budget 2023 is providing an additional $25.4 million over five years, starting in 2023–24, and $0.6 million ongoing to continue to support Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy and fight all forms of racism, including but not limited to anti-Indigenous racism, anti-Black racism, anti-Asian racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia. In line with this priority, the Department will also undertake the following activities in 2024–25 to support this departmental result:

• Launch the renewed Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy, and the new Canada’s Action Plan on Combatting Hate. This work will support community projects that ensure affected communities have access to resources that work to achieve the equality of all Canadians in the economic, social, cultural and political life of Canada, while also raising awareness of issues related to racism and hate in Canada.
• Continue to collaborate with Statistics Canada and Justice Canada on research projects through memoranda of understanding to advance the Strategy’s objectives.
• Continue to provide funding for community-based projects through the Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Program.
• Continue to support the Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism.
• Continue to support the Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia.
• Continue to preserve and enhance the multicultural heritage of Canadians through events like commemorations for Black History Month, Asian Heritage Month, Jewish Heritage Month and Islamic Heritage Month.

Canadians value human rights.

The Department will undertake the following activities in 2024–25 to support this departmental result:

• Raise understanding and awareness of human rights, through the promotion of key national and international commemorative and awareness days, such as Human Rights Day, through social media, events and other activities.
• Coordinate the translation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms into additional Indigenous languages.
• Coordinate and participate in federal, provincial and territorial consultations on human rights issues. This includes follow-up on the priorities identified as a result of the 2023 Forum of Ministers on Human Rights; the planning of the Forum of Ministers on Human Rights, which will take place in Saskatchewan in 2025–26; the management of the reporting process on Canada’s implementation of international human rights obligations.
• Coordinate provincial and territorial participation in the appearance before the Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women for the Review of Canada’s 10th Report under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and before the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on Canada’s second and third Report under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
• Disseminate information with respect to United Nations treaty bodies and mechanisms with partners and stakeholders.
• Develop distinction-based mechanisms to formalize participation of Indigenous peoples’ representative institutions throughout the federal government’s processes for ongoing implementation of Canada’s obligations under international human rights treaties, monitoring and reporting on Canada’s obligations under those treaties; follow-up on recommendations by international human rights bodies, and consideration of adherence to international human rights treaties to which Canada is not yet party but a commitment, in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act Action Plan.
• Develop and apply Canada’s Federal Human Rights Implementation Framework, including through the organization of meetings of the interdepartmental DG Rights Forum.

Individuals or groups have access to funding to initiate or participate in test cases pertaining to rights and freedoms covered by the Court Challenges Program.

The Department will undertake the following activity in 2024–25 to support this departmental result:

• Ensure that funds are transferred to the University of Ottawa and that quorum is maintained on the two independent Expert Panels responsible for funding decisions and ensuring proper stewardship of the Court Challenges Program.

Increase in the use of Indigenous languages

The Department will undertake the following activities in 2024–25 to support this departmental result:

• Implement the Indigenous Languages Act, focusing on key Indigenous language commitments identified in the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act Action Plan, namely to continue to implement the distinctions-based funding models for Indigenous languages, and to advance the work on access to federal services in Indigenous languages.
• Working with First Nations, Inuit and the Métis Nation to ensure that the Indigenous Languages Act continues to be fully implemented and supported by long-term, predictable and sustainable funding to preserve, promote and revitalize Indigenous languages in Canada.

Youth enhance their appreciation of the diversity and shared aspects of the Canadian experience.

The Department will undertake the following activities in 2024–25 to support this departmental result:

• Advance the implementation of recommendations stemming from the 2022–23 evaluation of the delivery of the Exchanges Canada program between 2014–15 and 2018–19.
• Implement recommendations stemming from a delivery efficiency review of the Youth Take Charge program that was completed in mid-2023–24.
• Examine the results and findings of a survey of youth pertaining to the Exchanges Canada program.

In support of the core responsibility, the Federal Youth Secretariat will also undertake the following activities in 2024–25:

• Continue to support the Prime Minister’s Youth Council to ensure that the Prime Minister, the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth, and various federal departments and agencies benefit from the non-partisan advice of an engaged group of young people on issues that are important to them, to the Government and to all people in Canada.
• Continue to highlight opportunities for implementation of Canada’s Youth Policy and build on priorities outlined in the first State of Youth Report. It will work with an organization selected through a competitive request for proposals process to engage with youth and relevant partners to develop the second State of Youth Report for release in 2025.
• Continue to ensure that Canada’s Youth Policy and youth-identified priorities outlined in the first State of Youth Report are supported across the Government of Canada at interdepartmental meetings on the youth portfolio.

Key risks

Addressing racism is a long-term objective that requires sustained commitment as well as systemic and generational change. There is a risk that Canadian Heritage may face challenges in getting evidence-based, measurable, and accurate data on the impact of its grants and contributions investments. This would undermine the Government of Canada’s capacity to show its results. To mitigate this risk, the Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Program will continue to enhance its performance measurement methodology and tools to assess the effectiveness of interventions, measure program impacts, build evidence of what works in anti-racism programming, and support improved reporting and policymaking.

As Budget 2023 has announced the doubling of funding over the next five years for the Court Challenges Program, and even though Canadian Heritage has adjusted the 2023–24 increase to assist the program in absorbing additional funding, there is a risk that the Program could be unable to fully disburse its funds. The Department will work closely with the beneficiary of the program to ensure the absorption of the new funds.

The Human Rights Program has been working with key partners on consultation and implementation. There is a risk that stakeholders could feel that not all of their expectations are being met, such as those from underrepresented groups. Measures are already in place to mitigate this risk, based primarily on an ongoing process of discussion and consultation with these partners so that their views and comments can be incorporated into program activities.

Provinces and territories, who are key partners in reporting on human rights to the United Nations, may face significant workload challenges resulting in delays in this reporting, which in turn would affect the perception of the Government of Canada’s commitment to respond to international human rights bodies. Efforts are under way to identify tools to assist provinces and territories in contributing to Canada’s efforts.

Human resource limitations and financial constraints posed by global economic uncertainty, rising inflation, cost increases and departmental spending reductions puts at risk Canadian Heritage’s ability to advance, fund and implement programs. To mitigate this risk, Canadian Heritage will work with internal partners to communicate as clearly and transparently as possible to manage expectations of program applicants and recipients. The Department will also work to communicate results and implement recommendations from program-related efficiency reviews and/or surveys to maximize the relevance and effectiveness of programs.

Snapshot of planned resources in 2024–25

• Planned spending: $250,734,482
• Planned full-time resources: 203

Related government priorities

• Gender-based analysis plus

  Various programs in support of this core responsibility will seek to achieve inclusive outcomes in 2024–25:

  • The Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Program will continue to actively contribute to the Government of Canada’s goal to preserve and enhance the multicultural heritage of Canadians while working to achieve the equality of all Canadians in the economic, social, cultural and political life of Canada.
  • The Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Program will also launch the renewed Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy, and continue work toward the new Canada’s Action Plan on Combatting Hate. This work will support community projects that ensure affected communities have access to resources that work to achieve the equality of everyone in Canada in the economic, social, cultural and political life of Canada, while also raising awareness of issues related to racism and hate in Canada.
  • In advancing its implementation of the Indigenous Languages Act and its commitments in the UNDA Action Plan, the Indigenous Languages Branch will continue to advance other key government commitments, including the Federal Pathway to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People.^{Footnote 42}
  • Building on work under way to apply a decolonial, anti-racism and accessibility-by-design lens to departmental programs that support youth engagement, the Department will:
    • examine and advance the implementation of recommendations stemming from the 2022–23 evaluation of the delivery of the Exchanges Canada Program between 2014–15 and 2018–19;
    • implement recommendations stemming from a delivery efficiency review of the Youth Take Charge program that was completed in 2023–24; and
    • examine and communicate the results and findings of a survey of youth pertaining to Exchanges Canada program, all with a view to maximizing the reach, relevance and effectiveness of its youth engagement programs.
  • In addition, to follow through on opportunities identified in a GBA Plus exercise that was completed in 2023–24, the Department will:
    • assess applications for youth engagement projects against the reach, diversity, and number of youth involved in the proposals; and
    • require funded organizations to deliver projects on a geographic and demographic scope and scale reflective of the overall youth population in Canada.
  • The Youth Secretariat will continue to:
    • Encourage and support departments and agencies across government in using a GBA Plus lens for youth when conducting policy analysis and providing advice on youth issues;
    • Promote its Youth Impact Analysis Tool to government decision-makers, which deepens the age considerations that are part of GBA Plus; and
    • Conduct stakeholder engagement to reach youth who face barriers to equity, including racialized youth, and First Nations, Inuit, and Métis youth.
  • Furthermore, the Youth Secretariat will utilize a youth-centred engagement approach for the development of the second State of Youth Report. It will support the participation of youth self-identifying with diverse identities, experiences and backgrounds, including but not limited to Indigeneity, race, culture and ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, religion, citizenship and newcomer status, ability, geographic location, economic profiles and circumstances, and language profiles.
• United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

  Various activities under this core responsibility will seek to contribute indirectly to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

  • Providing funding through the Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Program to support community development, anti-racism initiatives, and engagement projects that promote diversity and inclusion by encouraging interaction among community groups. This responds directly to the goal of reducing inequalities by offering support to racialized and equity-deserving communities (SDG 10—Reduced inequalities).
  • Launching a new Anti-Racism Strategy, and continuing work toward the new Canada’s Action Plan on Combatting Hate as part of the Government’s ongoing commitment to combatting all forms of racism, discrimination and hate (SDG 10).
  • Continuing to collaboratively implement the Indigenous Languages Act with Indigenous Peoples, with a focus on Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act Action Plan commitments will help to strengthen Indigenous cultural identity and enhance Indigenous Peoples’ participation in Canadian society (SDG 10).
  • Contributing to the reduction of inequalities among youth through the continued implementation of Canada’s Youth Policy, building on the six youth-driven priority areas from the first State of Youth Report (SDG 10).
  • Canadian Heritage will support knowledge sharing to facilitate a whole-of-government approach to addressing youth issues providing advice to federal departments as they examine youth engagement and the impact of their programs, policies and initiatives on youth (SDG 10).
  • Providing financial support through the Court Challenges Program to help Canadians bring before the courts test cases of national significance that aim to clarify and assert certain constitutional and quasi-constitutional official language rights and human rights. In doing this, the program contributes to creating a more equitable society for Canadians. By facilitating access to justice, the program contributes to reducing inequalities and provides a recourse for Canadians to clarify their rights, which contributes to strengthening Canadian institutions (SDG 10 and SDG 16—Peace, justice and strong institutions).
  • The activities of initiatives like the Human Rights Program are a crucial component of fostering a domestic culture of human rights in Canada. They ensure that Canadians have greater awareness and understanding of their rights and the steps governments across the country have taken to protect them (SDG 10 and SDG 16).

  More information on Canadian Heritage’s contributions to Canada’s Federal Implementation Plan on the 2030 Agenda and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy can be found in our Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy.

Program inventory

Diversity and Inclusion is supported by the following programs in the program inventory:

• Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism
• Human Rights
• Indigenous Languages
• Youth Engagement

Supporting information on planned expenditures, human resources, and results related to Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Summary of changes made to reporting framework since last year

• The Indigenous Languages and Cultures Program changed its name to the Indigenous Languages Program to clarify the goals of the program; meanwhile, Indigenous cultural expressions are supported by other programs managed by Canadian Heritage and other federal organizations. The Program description has also been modified accordingly.
• All Indigenous Languages Program departmental results and indicators have been modified to focus on the actual use of Indigenous languages.

Core responsibility 5: Official languages

In this section

• Description
• Quality of life impacts
• Results and targets
• Plans to achieve results
• Key risks
• Snapshot of planned resources in 2024–25
• Related government priorities
• Program inventory

Description

Supports the promotion of Canada’s two official languages in Canadian society as well as the development of official-language minority communities by collaborating with voluntary organizations and provincial and territorial governments. Fosters a coordinated approach to ensure participation from across the federal government in the implementation of the Official Languages Act, and the coordination of related horizontal initiatives.

Quality of life impacts

Canada’s Quality of Life Framework measures the well-being of people in Canada. It is organized into domains and subdomains, each of which include several indicators. The Official languages core responsibility is aligned with the key domains, subdomains and indicators below.

Text description of Core responsibility 5: Official languages - Quality of Life Impact

• Domain: Society
  Subdomain: Culture and identity
  Indicator: Knowledge of official languages
• Domain: Society
  Subdomain: Culture and identity
  Indicator: Positive perceptions of diversity

Results and targets

The following tables show, for each departmental result related to Official Languages the indicators, the results from the three most recently reported fiscal years,^{Footnote 1} the targets and target dates approved in 2024–25.

Table 18: Indicators, results and targets for departmental result:
Canadians recognize and support Canada’s official languages.

Table 19: Indicators, results and targets for departmental result:
Federal institutions develop and implement policies and programs in accordance with Section 41 of the Official Languages Act.

The financial, human resources and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Plans to achieve results

Canadians recognize and support Canada’s official languages.

The Department will undertake the following activities in 2024–25 to support this departmental result:

• Establish the Centre for Strengthening Part VII of the Official Languages Act in collaboration with the Treasury Board Secretariat, with the objective of implementing its function dedicated to increased collaboration with the community sector in all regions:
  • Ongoing collaboration with stakeholders outside the Government of Canada with a “by, for and with” lens by Canadian Heritage
  • Regional coordination by Canadian Heritage
• Work with federal partners and the community sector to implement the Action Plan for Official Languages 2023–2028 and its various initiatives.
• Renew bilateral agreements with provincial and territorial governments on official languages for first- and second-language education, and services.

Federal institutions develop and implement policies and programs in accordance with Section 41 of the Official Languages Act.

The Department will undertake the following activities in 2024–25 to support this departmental result:

• Establish the Centre for Strengthening Part VII of the Official Languages Act, in collaboration with the Treasury Board Secretariat, with the objective of implementing the following support functions for federal institutions:
  • Coordination, implementation and accountability of Canadian Heritage’s five-year federal official languages strategies (Action Plans for Official Languages) and the initiatives they encompass;
  • Support for the Treasury Board Secretariat in developing the Part VII Regulations;
  • Strengthen collaboration and cooperation between key partners, including official language minority communities, and federal institutions, using a “by, for and with” lens in the development of policies and programs that are key to advancing the substantive equality of both official languages in Canadian society;
  • Regional coordination to foster partnerships, consultations and regular communication with provincial and territorial governments, community stakeholders and other key players.
• Increase awareness, accountability and engagement of the various federal institutions, as well as senior public service management, by supporting the Deputy Minister of Canadian Heritage in her role as Champion of the official languages community.

The Department will also undertake the following activities in 2024–25 to support the Official languages core responsibility:

• Continue the implementation of the Use of French in Federally Regulated Private Businesses Act by private companies under federal jurisdiction.
• Develop pre-consultations, statutory consultations and information sessions with various stakeholders in preparation for the drafting of a regulation and the issuing of a decree.
• Inform federally regulated private businesses of new rights and obligations regarding language of service and language of work.
• Develop and provide access to tools to support the implementation of these new rights and obligations.
• Establish a process for the Government to periodically estimate the number of children whose parents have the right to have them receive their instruction in the language of the English or French linguistic minority population of a province or territory:
  • Foster a data ecosystem that includes information such as the Census of Population questions and Statistics Canada’s linguistic projections. To support data disaggregation, the Department will strengthen collaboration with the provinces and territories, which are responsible for the school boards.
  • Collaborate with Statistics Canada on enumeration of rights-holders and population projections.
  • Plan the development of the data ecosystem (collection of quantitative and qualitative data) and the development of performance indicators to obtain an accurate picture of the situation.
• Establish a new practice for periodic statutory review of the Official Languages Act that includes the following:
  • Consider the period from 2023 to 2033, including a comprehensive analysis of the enhancement of the vitality of the English and French linguistic minority communities and of the protection and promotion of the French language in Canada.
  • Plan the implementation of the tools, structures and a conceptual and methodological framework to compile the collection and systematic analysis of data. This will prepare the Department for this periodic and in-depth review of the Official Languages Act over a period of 10 years and every ten years thereafter.
  • Manage internal and external stakeholders, including responding to requests from the public.

Key risks

Canada’s two official languages, English and French, are at the heart of the Canadian identity. Data from the 2021 census confirms a decline in the demographic weight of the country’s French-speaking population, as well as a slight decrease in the bilingualism rate of the population living outside Quebec. Given these results, there is a risk that the vitality of the French language, including the rate of bilingualism outside Quebec, will continue to decline across the country.

To mitigate this risk, the Department is notably working to implement the modernized Official Languages Act and the Use of French in Federally Regulated Private Businesses Act. The announcement and implementation of the Action Plan for Official Languages 2023–2028 will also mitigate this risk by supporting the protection of French in Quebec and providing more opportunities for English-speaking communities in Quebec and the rest of Canada to learn and appreciate French.

A skilled workforce is essential if provinces and territories are to continue to provide quality French-language education in French-second-language programs, including French immersion, as well as in French-language schools. There is a risk that labour shortages will continue to have a direct impact on the recruitment and retention of French-language teachers across the country. To mitigate this risk, Pillar 2 of the Action Plan for Official Languages, called Promoting Lifelong Learning Opportunities, includes several projects to counter the shortage of French-language teachers across the country. The Department will continue to work with provincial and territorial governments to find solutions to the problems created by labour shortages.

Snapshot of planned resources in 2024–25

• Planned spending: $636,203,624
• Planned full-time resources: 176

Related government priorities

• Gender-based analysis plus

  Various programs in support of this core responsibility will seek to achieve inclusive outcomes for Canadians in 2024–25:

  • The Official Languages Branch will continue to update its generic GBA Plus document annually, which serves as a baseline for any specific policy or program development exercise.
  • The Official Languages Branch will consider the specific demographic characteristics of Francophone communities residing in certain regions with a strong Francophone presence when putting in place legislative measures, implementing the Use of French in Federally Regulated Private Businesses Act, and supporting the Treasury Board Secretariat in developing regulations for Part VII of the Official Languages Act.
  • In addition, the capacity of community organizations will be strengthened, and innovative projects or projects linked to government priorities will receive greater support under the GBA Plus and capacity-building categories for smaller organizations or organizations in regional locations.
• United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

  Various activities under this core responsibility will seek to contribute indirectly to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

  • Implementing a number of initiatives to support the education sector, including new funding for post-secondary education in the minority language; recruitment and retention of teachers for French-language minority schools, French second-language learning and French immersion programs; and construction or rehabilitation of infrastructure and programs to encourage learning of the second official language (SDG 4—Quality education).
  • Strengthening access to public services in the minority language through federal-provincial-territorial education agreements, which support minority-language education and second-language instruction, and federal-provincial-territorial agreements on minority-language services (SDG 4 and SDG 10—Reduced inequalities).
  • Continuing the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy in minority French-language schools and in French immersion and French as a second-language programs across Canada (SDG 4 and SDG 10).
  • Developing a national strategy to support provincial and territorial governments in the area of post-secondary education in the official language of the minority. This strategy will be developed in collaboration with the provinces and territories, and will include the establishment of a new cooperation mechanism (SDG 4 and SDG 10).
  • Contributing to reducing inequalities by promoting Canada’s two official languages as part of the Action Plan for Official Languages 2023–2028, and by continuing to implement the modernized Official Languages Act (SDG 10).

  More information on Canadian Heritage’s contributions to Canada’s Federal Implementation Plan on the 2030 Agenda and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy can be found in our Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy.

Program inventory

Official Languages is supported by the following program in the program inventory:

• Official Languages

Supporting information on planned expenditures, human resources, and results related to Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Internal services

In this section

• Description
• Plans to achieve results
• Snapshot of planned resources in 2024–25
• Related government priorities

Description

Internal services are the services that are provided within a department so that it can meet its corporate obligations and deliver its programs. There are 10 categories of internal services:

• management and oversight services
• communications services
• legal services
• human resources management services
• financial management services
• information management services
• information technology services
• real property management services
• materiel management services
• acquisition management services

Plans to achieve results

Management and oversight services

Canadian Heritage Data Strategy

The Department will launch the Canadian Heritage Data Strategy in alignment with the 2023–2026 Data Strategy for the Federal Public Service.

Canadian Heritage Reconciliation Action Plan

The Canadian Heritage Reconciliation Action Plan will advance reconciliation through a series of commitments to act, measure, and report to remain accountable and demonstrate progress. The Action Plan will provide a framework for organizational change by enabling employees to individually improve their cultural knowledge and skills regarding services to Indigenous Peoples. By adopting a Reconciliation Action Plan, Canadian Heritage will ensure to define and measure its reconciliation progress, equip employees to respond in a culturally effective manner, and consolidate its creative service relationships with Indigenous communities and organizations.

Implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act

Canadian Heritage supports Justice Canada in the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. Canadian Heritage will engage with Indigenous governing bodies, organizations and communities to advance federal services in Indigenous languages, arts, music and heritage repatriation through culturally appropriate programs. This will ensure the application of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act at modern treaty and self-government agreement negotiation tables, where Indigenous partners advance Declaration-related interests, but which are not necessarily linked to specific Action Plan Measures.

Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA)

The IDEA Office, launched in the fall of 2023, will oversee the development of the IDEA Action Plan that transforms the Department’s Culture Statement, into measurable and impactful actions as well as the Canadian Heritage Accessibility Plan 2023–2025. This office was created following the conclusion of the Department’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Review in 2022–23. The Department will also produce an Accessibility Progress and Feedback Report in 2024 and will provide guidance, advice and tools to dismantle systemic barriers in order to drive organizational change related to inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility within the workplace.

Medium-Term Policy

The Strategic Policy and International Affairs Branch will continue engaging with the departmental policy community on medium-term policy work, to inform ongoing policy development processes in light of key trends and strengthen horizontal collaboration. The Department will also partner with external collaborators to convene discussions on core and emerging areas of policy interest with academic and cultural sector experts.

International Affairs

At the international level, the Strategic Policy and International Affairs Branch supports the various sectors of the Department by advancing its strategic priorities internationally, both at the multilateral level (UNESCO, G20, G7, Francophonie) and by strengthening priority bilateral relations for Canada, including with our partners in North America, Europe, and the Indo-Pacific region.

Canadian Heritage Funding Portal

Launched in May 2021, the Canadian Heritage Funding Portal is an online service delivery channel for Canadian Heritage funding programs that allows clients to create a profile and apply for funding online. This digital environment allows the Department to continually improve its service to Canadians, simplify processes and tools for both our employees and clients, and standardize data for improved service, reporting and decision-making. More than 17,000 funding requests have been submitted through the funding portal as of January 2024. The Canadian Heritage Funding Portal is continuing to onboard and re-onboard programs and is developing a simplified onboarding approach in 2024–25. The team is also advancing work on data standardization for grants and contributions, namely with respect to IDEA data.

Human resources management services

Canadian Heritage will continue to support partners with tools, training and advice as well as data sharing regarding decisions and actions related to employment equity, approaches to increase representation, diversity and inclusion to ensure impartial and barrier-free recruitment processes. In addition, it will implement activities to meet the Employment and Built environment pillars to meet the requirements of the Accessible Canada Act.

Canadian Heritage will work closely with Public Services and Procurement Canada and other federal departments to temporarily relocate departmental staff and operations to the Fontaine building for the duration of the Envelope Replacement Project affecting buildings within the Les Terrasses de la Chaudière complex. The relocation will minimize interruptions to day-to-day operations and provide accommodation that meets requirements of staff and operations.

Information management services and Information technology services

Digital Workforce Enablement

In support of the hybrid and mobile workforce model, Canadian Heritage will continue to provide its employees with the most current, secure and cloud-based tools to support productivity and collaboration. The Department is also participating in Workplace Modernization to create a more open, modern, flexible, and collaborative office environment. These activities include upgrades to services such as audiovisual and videoconferencing, wireless mobility and Wi-Fi technology.

With major renovations under way at the Department’s headquarters, work continues to ensure that the necessary IT infrastructure and office safety in the new Hybrid workplace located at the Fontaine building.

Service Delivery to Canadians

Canadian Heritage will continue efforts to strengthen the overall health of its application portfolio by prioritizing cloud services, leveraging common enterprise solutions as well as exploring the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The Department will also apply secure application development practices to mitigate the risk of vulnerabilities in application software and use of standards, tools, and guidance in the application development process, in support of a user-centred approach to accessibility and disability.

Canadian Heritage will continue to work with program partners to leverage technology to enhance program effectiveness and improve services to Canadians. This includes priority initiatives for the replacement of major business applications and Grants and Contributions Evolution.

Enterprise Information Management

The Department is developing an Information Management (IM) Program Action Plan to help position information as a Strategic Asset and ensure best practices are applied across the department. Options are being explored for an Enterprise Information Management Solution, which will be based on common IM priorities, key capabilities and in alignment with the various policy considerations (e.g., IM, accessibility, security and privacy, official languages, Cloud). In support of the major renovations under way at the Department headquarters, work is continuing to ensure sound IM clean-up through the depersonalization of workspaces.

Financial management services

In 2024–25, Canadian Heritage will continue to ensure sound public funds management and alignment of resources to Government priorities. The Department will start the implementation of its plans to reduce operating expenses as well as grants and contributions spending, towards achieving Budget 2023 commitments to refocus spending.

Program Integrity

Canadian Heritage will focus efforts on the design and implementation of program integrity risk management, which was started last fiscal year, with the goal of enhancing the monitoring of grants and contributions to mitigate risks beyond financial ones, such as the risk of providing funding to organizations and projects that do not adhere to Canadian values. Over the coming year, efforts will be pursued to continue the design and implementation of a Program integrity risk management framework for the Department’s grants and contributions programs. As part of this work, the Department will advance its risk mitigation and response strategy: it will refine, communicate, and implement a rapid response protocol; finalize and deploy standardized products across funding programs to assist with risk prevention; and maintain a Program Integrity Risk Management Advisory Board to support effective governance.

Snapshot of planned resources in 2024–25

• Planned spending: $91,058,611
• Planned full-time resources: 700

Related government priorities

• Gender based Analysis plus

  The Department’s GBA Plus Responsibility Centre will continue to undertake efforts to strengthen the rigour and intersectionality of GBA Plus, with a view to ensuring GBA Plus is undertaken as part of a meaningful analysis of the broader context, and is meaningfully integrated into policy and program development, implementation, and outcomes measurement. The GBA Plus Responsibility Centre will continue to participate in the Government’s work toward enhancing GBA Plus. Finally, the GBA Plus Responsibility Centre will continue its activities geared toward building internal GBA Plus capacity among Canadian Heritage employees and by providing them with GBA Plus tools and resources, including through the departmental GBA Plus Community of Practice.

• Advancing Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility

  The work of the IDEA Office, in partnership with equity-deserving groups and adhering to the principle of “Nothing Without Us,” supports government-wide goals related to:

  • diversity (including workforce diversity), equity, accessibility and inclusion as per the Clerk’s Call to Action on Anti-Racism, Equity and Inclusion in the Federal Public Service;
  • hiring 5,000 new employees with disabilities by 2025 to close the gap between workforce availability and representation of persons with disabilities; and
  • transitioning to a hybrid work model which brings new workplace challenges, particularly for equity-deserving communities.
• United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

  Various activities within the Department’s internal services will seek to contribute indirectly to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

  • Through the Reconciliation, Treaties and Engagement Branch, Canadian Heritage participates in the federal effort to eradicate violence against Indigenous women by responding to their Calls to Action and promoting their social progress in the areas of Languages and Culture, Arts and Indigenous Heritage. These initiatives mostly take place within the framework of the Federal Pathway led by the Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (SDG 5—Gender equality).
  • Canadian Heritage is implementing active policies and strategy intended to support the Government’s effort to reduce inequalities between Indigenous peoples and the rest of Canadians, in the areas of culture, art, sports and heritage. The Reconciliation, Treaties and Engagement Branch is cooperating with the Department of Justice to implement the Action Plan that resulted from this commitment, as well as providing support by coordinating departmental policies and compiling data for use by departmental employees supports this commitment by coordinating departmental policies and compiling data for use by departmental employees (SDG 10—Reduced inequalities).
  • By working to identify, prevent and remove barriers for persons with disabilities, the Accessibility component of the IDEA Office works to create a world where everyone is empowered to achieve their full potential (SDG 10).

  More information on Canadian Heritage’s contributions to Canada’s Federal Implementation Plan on the 2030 Agenda and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy can be found in our Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy.

Planning for contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses

In support of the Government of Canada’s commitment to increasing the participation of Indigenous businesses in contracting opportunities, the Department will continue to develop and improve procurement strategies, processes and procedures to further enhance the participation of Indigenous Businesses in federal procurement. Canadian Heritage continues to advance its efforts to ensure compliance with the target to have a minimum of 5% of the total annual value of federal contracts awarded to businesses managed and led by Indigenous Peoples.

In 2024–25, the Department will continue to ensure its procurement personnel receive training on Indigenous considerations in procurement, will continue to offer in-house training and information sessions to managers administering programs, and will seek further outreach opportunities with Indigenous businesses to better understand market capacity and increase participation of Indigenous firms into a variety of procurement processes.

Table 20: Planning for contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses

The following table illustrates the results achieved and those targeted by the Department in terms of the total value of contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses.

Planned spending and human resources

This section provides an overview of Canadian Heritage’s planned spending and human resources for the next three fiscal years and compares planned spending for 2024–25 with actual spending from previous years.

In this section

• Spending
• Funding
• Future-oriented condensed statement of operations
• Human resources

Spending

The following graphs show a summary of spending by core responsibility for Canadian Heritage, explained in a pie and bar chart.

• Text description of Figure 1: Spending by core responsibility in 2024–25 - pie and bar chart

  Core responsibility	2024–25 planned spending
  Core Responsibility 1: Creativity, arts and culture	$542,269,777
  Core Responsibility 2: Heritage and celebration	$119,411,865
  Core Responsibility 3: Sport	$253,589,681
  Core Responsibility 4: Diversity and inclusion	$250,734,482
  Core Responsibility 5: Official languages	$636,203,624
  Internal Services	$91,058,611

• Explanation of Figure 1: Spending by core responsibility in 2024–25 - pie and bar chart

  The planned spending in 2024–25 totals $1.9 billion across the five core responsibilities of Canadian Heritage. It is more in line with pre-pandemic levels of spending as the temporary funding received to recover from the pandemic ended in 2022–23. However, significant investments were announced in Budget 2022 and Budget 2023, most notably to support Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy 2023–28, the Action Plan for Official Languages 2023–28, and to support Intergovernmental collaborations on Official Languages, which are considered in the 2024–25 planned spending and are partially offsetting the sunsetting of COVID-19 relief funding.

Table 21: Actual spending summary for core responsibilities and internal services (dollars)

The following table shows information on spending for each of Canadian Heritage’s core responsibilities and for its internal services for the previous three fiscal years. Amounts for the current fiscal year are forecasted based on spending to date.

Explanation of Table 21: Actual spending summary for core responsibilities and internal services (dollars)

Creativity, Arts and Culture: The decrease of $112 million in spending between 2022–23 and 2023–24 is explained by the sunsetting of multiple temporary funding that ended in 2022–23, received to help restore immediate viability for organizations and Canadians working with pandemic-related financial needs and compensate for revenue losses due to public health restrictions and capacity limits. Funding also helped organizations and workers adapt to post-pandemic realities while supporting local festivals, community cultural events and outdoor theatre performances and ensuring events comply with local public health measures. Further explaining the decreased spending in 2023–24 is the Canada Performing Arts Worker Resilience Fund, a one-year funding received in 2022–23, to help retain specialized workers in the arts and cultural sector during a period of heightened precarity for the cultural workforce.

Heritage and Celebration: The increase of $50 million in spending between 2021–22 and 2022–23 is explained by temporary funding received through existing transfer payment programs to support heritage institutions, celebrations, and commemorations, which play a vital role in the Canadian cultural and social fabric all while helping build strong communities. The two-year temporary funding to support the viability of Canadian Arts, Culture and Heritage organizations also contributed to the 2022–23 spending increase. This measure aimed to compensate those organizations for revenue losses due to public health restrictions and capacity limits, specifically, funding to help restore immediate viability for museums with pandemic-related financial needs. The increase is also due to expenses incurred to publicly honour Queen Elizabeth II’s historic 70-year reign, her lifelong commitment to duty and service, and her special relationship with Canada.

Sport: Contributing to the $50.7 million increase in spending between 2021–22 and 2022–23 is the Recovery Fund for the Arts, Culture and Sport Sectors, announced in Budget 2021, to support sports organizations, amongst others, that were struggling with operational viability due to the pandemic and provide financial means to help restore immediate viability for organizations with pandemic-related financial needs and help build organizational resilience and pursue business innovation and transformation. The increase in spending is also explained by the funding received for Community Sport for All, to support organized sport at the community level to help Canadians and communities recover from the impacts of COVID-19.

Diversity and inclusion: The increase in spending of $139.7 million between 2021–22 and 2023–24 is explained by additional funding received by the Department:

• In Budget 2021, which announced additional funding of $275 million over five years and $2 million ongoing, starting in 2021–22, to support Indigenous communities in their efforts to reclaim, revitalize, maintain, and strengthen Indigenous languages and to support Indigenous organizations in their ongoing engagement on the implementation of the Indigenous Languages Act.
• In Budget 2022, which announced an additional three years of funding of $85 million for Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy 2023–28 and to support the work of the Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia.

Official Languages: Contributing to the net increase in spending of $110.5 million since fiscal year 2021–22 is a three-year investment totalling $381.6 million announced in Budget 2021, to support second-language learning, high-quality postsecondary minority-language education and the construction, renovation and expansion of educational and community spaces that serve official language minority communities.

Budget 2023 also announced a five-year investment starting in 2023–24 that provided $108.6 million for Canadian Heritage to fund the Action Plan for Official Languages 2023–28 and $679.2 million for the Department to support intergovernmental collaboration on official languages by contributing to the vitality of official language minority communities and to greater bilingualism among Canadians.

Internal Services: The spending in internal services since 2021–22 has remained stable.

Table 22: Budgetary planning summary for core responsibilities and internal services (dollars)

The following table shows information on spending for each of Canadian Heritage’s core responsibilities and for its internal services for the upcoming three fiscal years.

Explanation of Table 22: Budgetary planning summary for core responsibilities and internal services (dollars)

The reduction in planned spending from $2.1 billion in 2023–24 to $1.9 billion in 2024–25 and down to $1.7 billion by 2026–27 is the result of the sunsetting of various temporary funding. Consequently, planned expenditures by core responsibilities will return to pre-COVID-19 levels.

In addition, the exercise to Refocus Government Spending announced in Budget 2023 further explains the decrease in planned spending. The Department will implement measures to realize savings of $14.4 million in 2024–25, $25.2 million in 2025–26 and $39.7 million in 2026–27 and thereafter.

Funding

The following graph presents planned spending (voted and statutory expenditures) over time.

• Text description of Figure 2: Departmental spending 2021–22 to 2026–27 (in millions of dollars)

  Fiscal year	2021–22 Actuals	2022–23 Actuals	2023–24 Forecasted	2024–25 Planned	2025–26 Planned	2026–27 Planned
  Statutory	30	32	32	31	30	29
  Voted	1,977	2,268	2,105	1,862	1,734	1,634
  Total	2,007	2,300	2,137	1,893	1,764	1,665

• Explanation of Figure 2: Departmental spending 2021–22 to 2026–27

  During 2021–22 and 2022–23, the Department saw an exceptional rise in its expenditures as it continued to promote the recovery from the pandemic for heritage, arts, and sport sectors that contribute profoundly to the cultural, civic, and economic life of Canada.

  Even though the impacts of the pandemic on spending levels gradually decreased over the years, significant new investments were announced over the last few years supporting Canadian Heritage in the achievement of its mandate, more notably in the areas of multiculturalism and anti-racism as well as official and Indigenous languages.

  Looking forward to 2024–25 and future years, the Department expects a decrease in planned spending due to the sunsetting of temporary funding initiatives. In addition, the Department’s contribution to the Refocusing of Government Spending announced in Budget 2023, to prioritize what matters to Canadians the most, also contributes to the decrease of planned spending in future years.

Estimates by vote

Information on Canadian Heritage’s organizational appropriations is available in the 2024–25 Main Estimates.

Future-oriented condensed statement of operations

The future-oriented condensed statement of operations provides an overview of Canadian Heritage’s operations for 2023–24 to 2024–25.

The forecast and planned amounts in this statement of operations were prepared on an accrual basis. The forecast and planned amounts presented in other sections of the Departmental Plan were prepared on an expenditure basis. Amounts may therefore differ.

A more detailed future-oriented statement of operations and associated notes, including a reconciliation of the net cost of operations with the requested authorities, are available on Canadian Heritage’s website.

Table 23: Future-oriented condensed statement of operations for the year ending March 31, 2025 (dollars)

Explanation of Table 23: Future-oriented condensed statement of operations for the year ending March 31, 2025 (dollars)

The overall net decrease of $249 million in planned results in 2024–25 compared to forecasted results in 2023–24 is largely due to the end of targeted temporary funding initiatives, a return to pre-COVID-19 departmental program activity levels, and the Department’s contribution in the refocusing government spending exercise, announced in Budget 2023.

While planned spending for most core responsibilities under Canadian Heritage are planned to decrease in 2024–25 for these reasons, the Official Languages core responsibility is still expected to incur a net increase in spending as a result of funding received for the Action Plan for Official Languages 2023–2028: Protection-promotion-collaboration.

Human resources

Table 24: Actual human resources summary for core responsibilities and internal services

The following table shows information on human resources, in full-time equivalents (FTEs), for Canadian Heritage’s core responsibilities and for its internal services for the previous three fiscal years. Human resources for the current fiscal year are forecasted based on year to date.

Explanation of Table 24: Actual human resources summary for core responsibilities and internal services

The increase in actual FTEs in 2021–22 and 2022–23 is in line with the multiple temporary funding received to promote the recovery from the pandemic for heritage, arts, and sports sectors that contribute profoundly to the cultural, civic, and economic life of Canada. The number of FTEs begins a gradual decline in 2023–24 as temporary funding comes to an end.

Table 25: Human resources planning summary for core responsibilities and internal services

The following table shows information on human resources, in full-time equivalents (FTEs), for each of Canadian Heritage’s core responsibilities and for its internal services planned for 2024–25 and future years.

Explanation of Table 25: Human resources planning summary for core responsibilities and internal services

The departmental FTE trend is in line with the fluctuations seen in its planned funding levels. Nonetheless, it is important to note that most new funding is received in Grants and Contributions with modest portions to support the operations of the Department needed to facilitate in delivering these new or renewed initiatives.

Corporate information