Canadian Heritage’s 2024-25 Departmental plan at a glance

Departmental results:

• Canadians are able to consume Canadian content on multiple platforms.
• Professional arts experiences are available to Canadians in their community.
• Creative industries are successful in the digital economy, foster creativity and contribute to economic growth.
• Creative industries are successful in global markets.
• Canadians are better equipped to counter the effects of online disinformation.

Planned spending:

$542,269,777

Planned human resources:

412

• Canadian Heritage will foster the creation of and access to diverse Canadian cultural content that is valued at home and abroad by supporting strong marketplace conditions for a creative, innovative and competitive cultural sector and by creating opportunities for Canadians to engage with the arts, contributing to community vibrancy and deepening connections between cultural organizations and their communities.
• Following the enactments of the Online Streaming Act and the Online News Act in 2023, the Department will advance its work toward sustainable and equitable broadcasting and news sectors and a modernized Copyright Act.
• The Department will ensure that professional arts experiences are available to Canadians by supporting arts presenters and their ongoing efforts to restore pre-pandemic audience levels for live events.
• The Department will focus funding on increasing visibility of, and access to, Canadian authored books, Canadian music and Canadian audiovisual content by working toward increasing funding to the Canada Book Fund, Canada Music Fund, Telefilm and the Canada Media Fund. It will also continue its work to modernize audiovisual policies, institutions and funding tools to enable the sector to better respond to evolving trends, and to increase funding access and representation for traditionally underrepresented voices.
• The Department will facilitate and undertake activities to 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, which will fund export-ready projects and export-development projects. It will also lead creative industries trade missions and facilitate targeted industry programming on the margins of key international events for Canadian creative companies and organizations. It will advance Canada’s creative sector and copyright interests in international trade agreements by negotiating the appropriate cultural safeguards to continue pursuing Canada’s domestic cultural policy objectives.
• The Department will continue its efforts toward ensuring Canadians are better equipped to counter the effects of online disinformation. The Digital Citizenship Contribution Program will bring a renewed dual focus on the creation and dissemination of research materials for public use, and the Department will introduce and support new Online Harms legislation.

More information about Creativity, arts and culture can be found in the full departmental plan.

Departmental results:

• Canadians are increasingly engaged in celebrations and commemorations of national significance.
• Canadians across the country are provided regular opportunities to engage in their communities through local arts and heritage activities.
• The public is provided with access to cultural heritage.
• Heritage objects and collections are preserved by heritage organizations for current and future generations.

Planned spending:

$119,411,865

Planned human resources:

326

• Due to factors such as the ongoing Centre Block renovation project and other major construction, activities delivered by Canadian Heritage in the National Capital Region will be changing. Nevertheless, the Department will continue to deliver on its commitment to engage Canadians in celebrations and commemorations of national significance. Significant anniversaries will also be marked by the Department in 2024–25, including the centennial anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force.
• Canadian Heritage will continue the development of major monument projects such as the Residential Schools National Monument, in collaboration with Survivors and Indigenous groups, including the Survivor-led Steering Committee. Construction is also expected to start for the 2SLGBTQI+ National Monument and the Global Affairs Canada Commemorative Artwork.
• The Building Communities through Arts and Heritage program will continue to encourage community engagement by providing financial support for local performances and visual arts and the celebration of local heritage, and for the commemoration and preservation of local history and identity.
• Canadian Heritage will continue working on the renewal of the Museum Policy.
• The Young Canada Works—Heritage Program involves youth with the heritage, arts, and cultural sector through short-term jobs and internships, and provides organizations the ability to maintain their operations in key functions.
• The Museums Assistance Program will continue to provide funding to heritage organizations to support the development of professional skills, practices and knowledge relating to key museum functions, and to reach new audiences through the production and presentation of travelling exhibitions.
• The Canada Travelling Exhibitions Indemnification Program will continue to offer its support to Canadian institutions for the presentation of high-quality exhibitions on various themes and subject matters that reach out to various publics across Canada.
• The Canadian Conservation Institute and Canadian Heritage Information Network will launch their new emerging professionals program, review their service offerings to better meet the needs of the heritage sector, and offer two new advanced workshops on specific needs of the heritage sector related to heritage collections: digitization, and emergency responses.
• The Canada History Fund will 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, providing more information and correct the historical record about the presence of Black people and their contributions to the development of Canada.

More information about Heritage and celebration can be found in the full departmental plan.

Departmental results:

• Canadian athletes succeed at the highest levels of competition.
• Canadian children and youth are enrolled in a sport activity.
• 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.

Planned spending:

$253,589,681

Planned human resources:

148

• Canadian Heritage will support the launch of an independent Future of Sport in Canada Commission to hear from a broad array of stakeholders on how to improve the sport system in Canada, including issues related to safe sport, policy, funding structures, governance, reporting, accountability, conflicts of interest, system alignment, culture, and legal considerations.
• Canadian Heritage will support 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 environments.
• Sport Canada will continue to advance the Canadian High Performance Sport Strategy and Action Plan to help Canadian athletes succeed at the highest levels of competition. The Department 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.
• Canadian Heritage will provide continued support for the delivery of the Abuse-Free Sport program, including 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.
• The Department will strengthen governance, accountability and integrity in the Canadian sport system through the work of the new Compliance and Accountability Division. The new unit will work with recipients to enhance governance and accountability measures.
• Sport Canada will support National Sport Organizations, national Multisport Service Organizations, and other federally incorporated not-for-profit organizations delivering sport through project-based funding to organizations to support the sport system to improve inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility. The purpose of the funding is to expand participation for underrepresented populations and to develop approaches to make sport environments safer and more welcoming to diverse populations.
• Canadian Heritage will continue to support Canadian participation at international sporting events, through the Department’s support of National Sport Organizations and national Multisport Service Organizations as they prepare the Canadian teams for international competitions, including the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games.
• Sport Canada will continue to work with other stakeholders to plan and prepare to host international single sport events, the 2025 Canada Games and co-host the 2026 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Men’s World Cup.

More information about Sport can be found in the full departmental plan.

Departmental results:

• Canadians value diversity.
• 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.
• Canadians value human rights.
• Increase in the use of Indigenous languages.
• Youth enhance their appreciation of the diversity and shared aspects of the Canadian experience.

Planned spending:

$250,734,482

Planned human resources:

203

• The Government of Canada continues to support the commitment in Budget 2022 to launch a new Anti-Racism Strategy, and Canada’s Action Plan on Combatting Hate, and to support the Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism, and the Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia, and Budget 2023, which provides 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 and Islamophobia.
• The Human Rights Program will coordinate provincial and territorial participation in appearances 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; and ensure the translation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms into additional Indigenous languages.
• The Court Challenges Program will ensure that funds, including the doubling of the budget, are processed and transferred to the University of Ottawa; that quorum is maintained on the two independent Expert Panels responsible for funding decisions and ensuring proper stewardship of the Court Challenges Program; and the University of Ottawa continues to deliver the Court Challenges Program for 2023–2025, maintaining activities according to a newly amended contribution agreement.
• The Department will continue to work with Indigenous partners to implement the Indigenous Languages Act, with a focus on its Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act Action Plan commitments, notably by continuing the implementation of the distinctions-based funding models and advancing work on access to federal services in Indigenous languages, including translating key documents in Indigenous languages.
• Canadian Heritage will continue to explore options to modernize its youth engagement programs (Exchanges Canada and Youth Take Charge) to ensure they remain relevant to youth and youth-serving organizations, and that they continue to respond to the needs and expectations of today’s youth.
• Canadian Heritage will 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. The Department will also implement recommendations stemming from a delivery efficiency review of the Youth Take Charge program that was completed in 2023–24. In addition, Canadian Heritage will examine and communicate the results and findings of a survey of youth pertaining to the Exchanges Canada program.
• The federal Youth Secretariat will continue to implement Canada’s Youth Policy and build upon the six priority areas included in the first State of Youth Report, continue to lead and coordinate interdepartmental discussions on the youth portfolio to support the implementation of the youth policy across the Government of Canada, and plan for the release of the next State of Youth Report in 2025.

More information about Diversity and inclusion can be found in the full departmental plan.

Departmental results:

• Canadians recognize and support Canada’s official languages.
• Federal institutions develop and implement policies and programs in accordance with Section 41 of the Official Languages Act.

Planned spending:

$636,203,624

Planned human resources:

176

• An Act for the Substantive Equality of Canada’s Official Languages received Royal Assent in Parliament on June 20, 2023, modernizing the Official Languages Act. Canadian Heritage will thus continue to implement the official languages reform through the commencement of regulatory work and the implementation of strengthened obligations.
• Canadian Heritage will fulfill its new obligations and responsibilities by beginning to develop and implement the new regimes and related obligations:
  • Implementation of the new Use of French in Federally Regulated Private Businesses Act
  • Development of a decree on the Act
  • Development of regulations for the Administrative Monetary Penalties regime
  • Development of regulations for federally regulated private businesses
  • Support for the Treasury Board Secretariat in developing regulations for Part VII of the Official Languages Act
  • Obligations relating to the estimation of the number of children of rights-holders in order to be consistent with the text of the Official Languages Act
  • Periodic review of the Official Languages Act
• The Department will continue to implement the Action Plan for Official Languages 2023–2028 and its included initiatives.
• Canadian Heritage will work to negotiate and conclude bilateral official language agreements with provincial and territorial governments for minority language services, minority language education and second official language instruction.

More information about Official languages can be found in the full departmental plan.