Departmental Evaluation Plan 2025-26 to 2029-30

List of acronyms

FAA

Financial Administration Act

PCH

Canadian Heritage

List of tables

• Table 1: Core responsabilities and expenditure forecasts, 2025-26
• Table 2: Evaluation Services Directorate budget, 2025-26
• Table 3: Schedule of evaluations, 2025-26 to 2029-30
• Table 4: Dates of approval and publication of the evaluations
• Table 5: Changes to previous evaluation plan
• Table 6: Cultural Affairs
• Table 7: Community and Identity
• Table 8: Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism
• Table 9: Official Languages, Heritage and Regions
• Table 10: Sports, Major Events and Commemorations
• Table 11: Strategic Policy, Planning and Corporate Affairs
• Table 12: Internal Services

List of figures

• Figure 1: Evaluation in the Government of Canada

Objective

The Departmental Evaluation Plan describes the evaluation priorities and the schedule of projects for the five-year period from 2025-26 to 2029-30.

Message from the Deputy Minister

I confirm that this five-year rolling Departmental Evaluation Plan:

• allows Canadian Heritage to evaluate, at least every five years, all ongoing grants and contributions programs with five-year average actual expenditures of $5 million or greater per year, in accordance with the requirements of section 42.1 of the Financial Administration Act;
• meets the requirements of the Mandatory Procedures for Evaluation; and
• supports the requirements of the expenditure management system, including, as applicable, Memoranda to Cabinet, Treasury Board Submissions, and resource alignment reviews.

I approve the Departmental Evaluation Plan of the Department of Canadian Heritage for the fiscal years 2025-26 to 2029-30 for submission to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat as required by the Policy on Results (2016).

The Department has a broad mandate and plays an important role in the lives of Canadians. Canadian Heritage supports cultural industries, the arts, heritage and celebration, sports, official languages, Indigenous languages, diversity and inclusion, as well as youth.

Evaluation results support evidence-based decision-making at Canadian Heritage. A strong evaluation function contributes to the improvement of the Department’s many programs and initiatives, enabling Canadians to create, share, and participate in a diverse and inclusive society.

This current five-year evaluation plan takes a risk-based approach to prioritize projects to respect the Policy on Results and the Financial Administration Act while being useful and timely for senior management decision-making. The Department will continue to improve how evaluations support government priorities, including those related to Gender-based Analysis Plus, Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility, reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, and the implementation of the modernization of the Official Languages Act.

I will ensure that this plan is updated annually, and I will provide information about its implementation to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, as required.

Original signed by:

Isabelle Mondou
Deputy Minister
Department of Canadian Heritage

The Department of Canadian Heritage

The Department focuses on strengthening and promoting “Canadian identity and values, cultural development, and heritage.”

The Department of Canadian Heritage Act provides jurisdiction over: human rights; multiculturalism; arts; cultural industries and heritage; sports; official languages; state ceremonial and Canadian symbols; broadcasting; conservation, export and import of cultural property; and national libraries, archives, and museums.

Canadian Heritage’s Departmental Results Framework sets out five core responsibilities. In 2025-26, the Department’s total spending is forecasted to be almost $2.1 Billion.

Source: Canadian Heritage – 2025-26 Departmental Plan. The figures include the following expenditures: salaries, operations and maintenance, capital, statutory expenditures, grants and contributions, and the cost of employee benefit plans.

Figure 1: Evaluation in the Government of Canada – alternative text

Standards/ Requirements:

• Treasury Board Policy on Results (2016) and related directives
• Financial Administration Act: section 42.1
• Guidance for Ethical Evaluation Practice - Canadian Evaluation Society

Evaluation is the systematic and neutral collection and analysis of evidence to judge merit, worth or value:

• Program implementation
  • Inform program improvement
  • Advise on performance information
• Program reporting
  • Support results reporting
  • Contribute to corporate reporting
• Program planning
  • Advice on Memorandum to Cabinet’s and Treasury Board submissions
  • Input into corporate planning

Results:

• Required Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat accountability and reporting
• Analysis and advice to support senior management decision making and risk management
• Departmental and Program Learning

Canadian Heritage Evaluation Governance

The Canadian Heritage Executive Committee serves as the Performance Measurement and Evaluation Committee.

The Assistant Deputy Minister of the Strategic Policy, Planning and Corporate Affairs Sector assumes the role of Head of Evaluation and reports directly to the Deputy Minister.

The Head of Evaluation and the Director General of the Planning, Evaluation and Research Branch are supported by the work of the Evaluation Services Directorate which is led by the Director of Evaluation.

Canadian Heritage Evaluation Services Directorate

The Evaluation Services Directorate:

• provides quality and timely evaluations and advice to support accountability, decision-making, expenditure management, continuous program improvement, and policy development;
• offers an internal evaluation function with experienced and qualified evaluators supplemented by external consultants as needed; and
• a summary of Evaluation Services Directorate achievements in 2024-25 is presented in Annex 1.

Source: Planning, Evaluation and Research Branch operational budget, 2025-26

Evaluation Priorities 2025-26

1. Respect the evaluation requirements of the Treasury Board Policy on Results:
   • complete planned evaluations, prioritizing those required by the Financial Administration Act;
   • conduct the annual planning exercise and prepare the risk-based five-year evaluation plan;
   • publish evaluation reports within 120 days of Deputy Minister approval;
   • report on the progress of implementing Management Action Plans;
   • integrate Gender Based Analysis Plus in all projects; and
   • advise on all Memorandums to Cabinet, Treasury Board of Canada Submissions.
2. Conduct strategic initiatives that support decision making:
   • support the implementation of the Canadian Heritage Data Strategy, the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility Action Plan, and the Transformation of Grants and Contributions Initiative;
   • lead a strategic analysis of the Creative Export Strategy to supplement findings from the 2023 evaluation; and
   • with the support of artificial intelligence tools, conduct horizontal analysis of evaluation findings on key topics such as program efficiency, performance measurement, evaluation recommendations, and lessons learned/best practices related to the Departmental response to COVID-19.
3. Address key evaluation challenges and opportunities:
   • implement actions identified in the Action Plan for the Neutral Assessment of the Evaluation Function (2024) to support and strengthen:
     • timely completion of evaluations;
     • strong performance measurement across programs and systems; and
     • the neutrality and independence of the evaluation function.
4. Maintain and strengthen evaluation capacity to fulfill objectives:
   • ensure a healthy workplace, including respect for employment equity, diversity, and inclusion;
   • maintain and strengthen internal evaluation capacity through staffing, training and development, planning with focus on ethical use of artificial intelligence, evaluation with Indigenous communities, performance measurement, efficiency, and calibration, including rapid, thematic, and grouped evaluations; and
   • review and update evaluation tools and guidelines that support strong and streamlined practices.

Overview of the PCH 5-year Evaluation Plan^{Footnote 1}

A total of 29 projects covering 26 programs or initiatives to be evaluated over the 5-year period:

• 100% of ongoing grants and contribution programs with 5-year average actual expenditures of $5 million or greater annually as well as all commitments outlined by Treasury Board Submissions:
  • 88 % of the Department’s total expenditures for 2025-26.
• 3 projects that will not respect the Financial Administration Act (FAA) for 5-year timing.
• Compared to the 5-year plan 2024-25 to 2028-29, this plan presents some changes in projects and timing based on needs and risks (Annex B).

Year 1: 2025-26

• 6 ongoing evaluations
• 5 new to launch

Year 2: 2026-27

• 6 ongoing evaluations
• 4 new to launch

Year 3: 2027-28

• 4 ongoing evaluations
• 4 new to launch

Year 4 : 2028-29

• 4 ongoing evaluations
• 6 new to launch

Year 5 : 2029-30

• 7 ongoing evaluations
• 4 new to launch

Annex A: Evaluation achievements in 2024-25

• Seven evaluations approved in 2024-25. Another seven evaluations in various stages of progress.
• Contributed to the Horizontal Evaluation of the Youth Employment Skills Strategy (led by Employment and Social Development Canada), approved in February 2025.
• 96% satisfaction ratings from program clients.
• 71% reduction in operations and materials spending (mostly contracting) to $165,620 in 2024-25 from a previous 5-year spending average of $580,741.
• Follow-up on progress in implementing approved evaluation management action plans:
  • 2024-25 mid-year exercise reported on 19 evaluations with 40 outstanding recommendations: 4 completed, 24 in progress, 12 delayed.
• Deputy Minister’s approval of the Neutral Assessment of the Evaluation Function with progress made on the management action plan to address its 3 recommendations:
  • completed horizontal analysis projects: performance measurement;
  • conducted a review of past project timelines including lessons learned on delays and best practices for achieving shorter project durations.

Annex B: Modifications from the 2024-25 evaluation plan

Annex C: Evaluations per sector

© His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of Canadian Heritage, 2025.
Cat. No. CH1-39E-PDF
ISSN 2561-018X