Departmental Plan 2022-23 — Canadian Heritage
This publication is available upon request in alternative formats.
The Honourable Pablo Rodriguez, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Canadian Heritage
The Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Official Languages and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
The Honourable Ahmed Hussen, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion
The Honourable Marci Ien, P.C., M.P.
Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth
The Honourable Pascale St-Onge, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Sport and Minister responsible for the
Economic Development Agency of Canada for
the Regions of Quebec
Supplementary information tables
On this page
- Message from the ministers
- Plans at a glance
- Core responsibility 1: Creativity, arts and culture
- Core responsibility 2: Heritage and celebrations
- Core responsibility 3: Sport
- Core responsibility 4: Diversity and inclusion
- Core responsibility 5: Official languages
- Internal services
- United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
- Experimentation and innovation
- Key risks
- Core responsibilities: planned results and resources, and key risks
- Internal services: planned results
- Planned spending and human resources
- Corporate information
- Supporting information on the program inventory
- Federal tax expenditures
- Organizational contact information
- Appendix: definitions
Alternate format
Departmental Plan 2022-23 [PDF version - 1.07 MB]
Message from the ministers





As the 2022–2023 Departmental Plan shows, the Department of Canadian Heritage is committed to supporting many important spheres of our society, including arts and culture, heritage, official languages, civic engagement, Indigenous languages and cultures, inclusion, youth, and sport. In the coming year, Canadian Heritage will again demonstrate innovation and flexibility in administering its programs to serve Canadians as they recover from the effects of the pandemic and build a greener future. We will continue our work to offer support through the Recovery Fund for Arts, Culture Heritage and Sport sectors and the Reopening Fund, which together will deliver $500 million over two years (2021–22 and 2022–23), allocated through 14 Canadian Heritage programs.Footnote 1
Arts and culture enrich our lives, bring us together and let our society shine. They are a source of comfort, hope and innovation in these difficult times of the pandemic. In 2022–23, Canadian Heritage will continue to support arts and culture, which face repeated challenges due to the health situation. To help them, we will establish the new Canada Performing Arts Workers Resilience Fund and launch an arts and culture recovery program. The Department will also keep working to ensure that Canadian legislation evolves in accordance with industry trends and changes. This work will include tabling a bill to modernize the Broadcasting Act; finding solutions to ensure fair remuneration for news publishers; developing a new regulatory framework for digital platforms; and creating a healthier and more respectful online ecosystem.
In 2022, Canada will mark the 70th anniversary of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. This will be an opportunity to learn more about our history, our symbols, and the role of the Crown in Canada. The Department will also highlight Canada’s resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic by inviting Canadians to share their experiences. It will encourage Canadians to celebrate their local history and take part in heritage activities close to home, while respecting public health measures. Showcasing our history will raise awareness of the various experiences of Indigenous people, including in residential schools, and their traumatic effects on many generations. Finally, the renewal of the Museum Policy will bring tangible benefits to the heritage sector and its workforce.
Sport has countless benefits for our society. Canadian Heritage will encourage sport participation at all levels while helping the sport system return to safe play. It will work to reduce barriers to sport and promote a welcoming environment. Underrepresented groups, such as girls and women, and equity-deserving groups, including Indigenous people, Black and racialized Canadians, members of 2SLGBTQQIA+ communities and new Canadians, will be at the heart of our efforts. The Department will support the hosting of sport events in Canada and the success of the athletes who represent us at the Olympic and Paralympic Games and other international sport competitions.
Canadian Heritage will continue to support diversity and inclusion, and to implement Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy. It will foster dialogue with governments and communities to promote multiculturalism and combat hate and racism. Through its programs, it will promote human rights and a society in which we can all equally participate. It will also continue to work with Indigenous partners on the implementation of the Indigenous Languages Act. It will mark the launch of the 2022–2032 International Decade of Indigenous Languages by mobilizing various partners to develop a national action plan in support of the Decade’s objectives. The Youth Secretariat will implement Canada’s Youth Policy, promote government-wide engagement with youth, and provide support to the Prime Minister’s Youth Council.
English and French, Canada’s two official languages, are at the heart of our national identity. The Department will continue its work on the Official Languages Act and its related instruments; it will modernize and strengthen them, taking into consideration the unique reality of French in Canada, including within the province of Quebec. The Department will finish implementing the Action Plan for Official Languages 2018–2023 and prepare to promote official languages and the vitality of official-language minority communities in the next cycle, until 2028. In collaboration with CBC/Radio-Canada, it will develop new content and broaden the reach of the Mauril application, designed to help people across the country learn and maintain English and French.
As ministers, we invite you to read the report for a more complete picture of Canadian Heritage’s plans for the coming year.
The Honourable Pablo Rodriguez
Minister of Canadian Heritage
The Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor
Minister of Official Languages and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
The Honourable Ahmed Hussen
Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion
The Honourable Marci Ien
Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth
The Honourable Pascale St-Onge
Minister of Sport and Minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec
Plans at a glance
In 2022–23, the Department of Canadian Heritage will support Minister Rodriguez, Minister Petitpas Taylor, Minister Hussen, Minister Ien and Minister St-Onge in carrying out their mandates and in achieving results to advance the Department’s five core responsibilities, as outlined in its Departmental Results Framework.
Core responsibility 1: Creativity, arts and culture
- The Department will continue to deliver an unprecedented number of programs and activities to support the arts and culture sector through recovery and reopening.
- Canadian Heritage will advance an ambitious legislative agenda to ensure better alignment with industry trends and changes. This work includes:
- Reintroducing legislation to reform the Broadcasting Act to ensure foreign web giants contribute to the creation and promotion of Canadian stories and music.
- Introducing legislation to require digital platforms that generate revenues from the publication of news content to share a portion of their revenues with Canadian news outlets to level the playing field between global platforms and Canadian outlets.
- Continuing efforts to develop and introduce legislation as soon as possible to combat serious forms of harmful online content to protect Canadians and hold social media platforms and other online services accountable for the content they host.
Core responsibility 2: Heritage and celebrations
- The Celebration and Commemoration Program will be allocating $750,000 to fund community projects and $500,000 for national-scale projects to mark the 70th anniversary of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 2022. During the year, Canadians will have an opportunity to learn more about our history and symbols, particularly in relation to the role of the Crown in Canada, and to celebrate Her Majesty’s service and dedication to our country.
- As part of funding announcements in Budget 2021 for community events and festivals, the Celebration and Commemoration Program will deliver funding through resources allocated through a special Reopening Fund to highlight the resilience and strength of Canada. Subject to the state of the pandemic and public health guidelines, the funded projects will support the revival of local economies after the hardship of the pandemic, commemorate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, and provide an opportunity for Canadians impacted by COVID-19 to share their stories, experiences and contributions.
- The Local Festivals component of the Building Communities through Arts and Heritage program will support community events – such as Cw Wolahkomiksuwakon in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and Festival des Folies Franco-Fun in New Liskeard, Ontario – as they continue to engage Canadians safely during the COVID-19 pandemic, in keeping with public health measures.
- Community Anniversaries will provide support to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Signing of Treaty 11 in Nahanni Butte, Northwest Territories. “Revisit Nanook of the North” in Inukjuak, Nunavik, in northern Quebec will recognize the 100th Anniversary and celebrate the importance of the film, Nanook of the North, made in 1922.
- The Legacy Fund will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Hudson Bay Trading Post at Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. The Fund will also commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Town of Hearst, Ontario.
- The Building Communities through Arts and Heritage program, along with the Commemorate Canada Program, will continue to deliver project funding to Treaty commemorations using resources allocated through the Reopening Fund. This funding advances commitments towards Reconciliation and support eligible activities towards the commemoration of Treaty 3 (Manitoba and Ontario).
- The Canada History Fund will support the Royal Canadian Geographical Society to create a monthly series of virtual events and learning materials about Canadian history, which can be used in classrooms. The Canada History Fund will support Algoma University to address the need for culturally informed educational resources connected to residential schools.
- The Department will continue its work towards the renewal of the Museums Policy to better meet emerging needs and strengthen the resilience of the heritage sector and its workforce.
- The Department will continue providing funding to heritage organizations to digitize collections, develop digital content and build their capacity in these areas, through a new Digital Access to Heritage component of the Museums Assistance Program.
- The Canadian Conservation Institute and the Canadian Heritage Information Network will implement a new Strategic Plan, with focus areas of projects developed as part of its implementation including working with Indigenous stakeholders and the heritage community on decolonizing museum practises, reaching out to a more diverse community and promoting environmental and operational sustainability.
Core responsibility 3: Sport
- Canadian Heritage will support the Sport System’s recovery from COVID-19 by providing financial means to existing national-level recipient sport organizations to help them continue to participate and host international sporting events.
- Through the Community Sport for All initiative, the Department will provide funding to support organized sport at the community level to increase participation of equity-deserving populations, particularly Black, Indigenous, 2SLGBTQQIA+, and new Canadians.
- The Department will provide Indigenous communities, including Indigenous women and girls, access to meaningful sport activities through the Sport for Social Development in Indigenous Communities component of the Sport Support Program.
- Canadian Heritage will support the creation of an independent mechanism to administer the implementation of the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport for federally funded sport organizations.
Core responsibility 4: Diversity and inclusion
- The Department will pursue the renewal and continue to implement Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy, foster dialogue with provinces, territories and our diverse communities to ensure a coherent whole-of-government approach to advancing multiculturalism and combatting racism. The Community Support, Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Initiatives Program and Anti-Racism Action Program continue to provide funding to community-based projects, initiatives and activities that promote multiculturalism and equity in Canada, tackle racism and discrimination. These planned activities are aligned with the government’s priorities, including commitments to combatting hate and racism, a renewed Anti-Racism Strategy, and investments in the empowerment of Black and racialized Canadians, and Indigenous peoples.
- The contribution agreement with the University of Ottawa, the independent organization that implements and administers the Court Challenges Program at arm’s length from the Government, will expire in 2023. Canadian Heritage will take steps to ensure that the Program continues its activities in the long-term.
- The Department will continue to work with Indigenous partners on the implementation of the Indigenous Languages Act. Since Budget 2019, there have been historic investments of $608.7 million and $117.7 million in ongoing funding to support Indigenous peoples in their efforts to reclaim, revitalize, maintain, and strengthen their languages. These funds will enable more Indigenous communities and organizations to implement a wide range of projects in 2022–23, while the Department works with Indigenous partners to finalize new Indigenous languages funding models that will be more responsive to the unique needs of First Nations, Inuit and the Métis Nation.
- Canadian Heritage will mark the launch of the 2022–2032 International Decade of Indigenous Languages by engaging with Indigenous organizations, partners, and experts to advance a National Action Plan for Canada that will support the objectives of the Decade, which aims to draw attention to the critical loss of Indigenous languages and take urgent steps to preserve, revitalize and promote Indigenous languages.
- The Exchanges Canada and Youth Take Charge programs will continue to support organizations as they adapt to the realities of the pandemic. Additionally, they will support projects, exchanges and forums that will allow youth throughout Canada to connect with one another, have a better understanding of what they have in common, and learn new things about Canada’s diverse cultural expressions, history, and heritage, placing special emphasis on reconciliation, diversity and inclusion, and official language minority communities.
- The Youth Secretariat will continue the implementation of Canada’s Youth Policy and interdepartmental meetings on the youth portfolio to support whole-of-government excellence in youth engagement and accessible supports across the federal government that meet youth’s evolving needs and continue to raise awareness around Canada’s first State of Youth Report. The Secretariat will also continue to provide support to coordinate and plan meetings of the Prime Minister’s Youth Council and the selection process to recruit the next cohort of youth.
Core responsibility 5: Official languages
- The Department will reintroduce legislation to modernize and reinforce the Official Languages Act and its related instruments to secure the future of the French language in Canada.
- Canadian Heritage will complete the implementation of the Action Plan for Official Languages 2018–2023, demonstrating the Government’s commitment to support and promote our two official languages, which are at the heart of Canadian identity and an essential platform for the inclusion of all Canadians.
- The Department will also ensure consultations are held towards the development of a new federal Official Languages initiative which will cover the period 2023–2028.
- Canadian Heritage will pursue the collaboration with CBC/Radio-Canada for new content development and distribution of Mauril, a web, tablet, and mobile platform to learn and maintain both official languages, English and French.
Internal services
- The Department continues to carry out the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Review, which aims to offer a concrete way for a number of programs to undertake a critical analysis of their programs and potential barriers to equity and develop a set of potential solutions. Deliverables will include program-specific recommendations, and a final report on the overall findings of the Review and systemic-level issues for consideration.
- Canadian Heritage will work in close collaboration with other federal and Indigenous partners to advance work related to culture in response to the Calls for Justice of the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. This will support the implementation of the Federal Pathway to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People.
- The Department will carry out the Data Strategy Implementation Plan, pivoting attention and resources on issues related to data governance, with a particular focus on establishing protocols for reviewing and managing research ethics as it relates to human-centred research, specifically engagements, public opinion research, and qualitative research.
- Canadian Heritage will engage the arts, culture, heritage and sport sectors to develop options for taking concrete measures to reduce their environmental footprint. The Department will continue to support the targets and objectives of the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy, through the Department’s Sustainable Development Strategy.
- The Accessibility Office will develop the Department’s first three-year accessibility plan, which will identify barriers and actions to remove or prevent them.
- Canadian Heritage will implement a flexible and scalable workplace reintegration plan, which takes into account the workplace modernization project, as well as central agencies’ direction in relation to the future of work.
- The Department will continue the modernization of the delivery of grants and contributions through My PCH Online, which focuses on improving client service, streamlining interactions with the Department, increasing transparency, and improving data to enhance program administration resulting from standardized collection of client information, as well as the use of common elements of application forms and recipient reports.
United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
As Canadian Heritage and its portfolio organizations continue to play a vital role in the cultural, civic and economic life of Canadians, the Department is uniquely positioned to advance several fundamental principles from the United Nations 2030 Agenda for the Sustainable Development. The United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future.
Canadian Heritage will support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals through direct and indirect contribution in a variety of areas, including Good health and well-being (SDG 3); Quality education (SDG 4); Decent work and economic growth (SDG 8); Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure (SDG 9); Reduced inequalities (SDG 10); Sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11); and Partnerships for the goals (SDG 17).
Experimentation and innovation
In the years after 2015, Canadian Heritage adopted a focus on experimentation in policy and program contexts. From this experience, it has learned that experimentation can be an effective tool for assessing results in certain areas. However, the rigorous concepts of experimentation, trials and impact assessments might not always be the most appropriate when dealing with social issues, including Indigenous, diversity and inclusion, accessibility, as well as anti-racism matters. In this context, Canadian Heritage considers a broader range of approaches to innovation and is actively exploring a variety of methodologies (notably an equity-based design) to make part of its innovation repertoire going forward.
Key risks
The impacts related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic remain the major risk that could limit the ability of the Department to advance planned activities. While these impacts will continue to be important in 2022–23, they provide the Department with unique opportunities and advance on priorities differently, continuously engage with partners and communities and continuously adapt its policies and programs to the evolving context.
For more information on Canadian Heritage’s plans, see the “Core responsibilities: planned results and resources, and key risks” section of this plan.
Core responsibilities: planned results and resources, and key risks
This section contains information on the Department’s planned results and resources for each of its core responsibilities. It also contains information on key risks related to achieving those results.
Core responsibility 1: Creativity, arts and culture
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.
Planning highlights
The Department contributes to Core responsibility 1 through several programs: Arts; Cultural Marketplace Framework; and Cultural Industries Support and Development.
At a high level, Canadian Heritage supports marketplace conditions for a strong, innovative, competitive and equitable cultural sector through policy development and advice to ensure a responsive legislative and policy framework. This includes advice on horizontal fields like discoverability of Canada’s creative industries internationally to help creators reach their export potential, and matters related to the digital environment, including advice on content providers in the digital age and disinformation. The Department fosters a vibrant Canadian artistic sector by increasing opportunities for Canadians to connect with the arts, explore artistic excellence and become full partners in supporting a resilient arts sector. Canadian Heritage also encourages the creation of and access to Canadian cultural content, as well as fosters the competitiveness of Canada’s music, book publishing and periodical industries, and film and video.
COVID-19’s impact has been continuously felt by the arts and culture sector since March 2020, and the Department will continue to deliver an unprecedented number of programs and activities to support recovery and reopening throughout 2022–23. While pandemic impacts have been experienced by all, the types and depths of impact have varied, and the recovery has been uneven across the various subsectors. The Department’s response mechanisms have been informed by continuous stakeholder engagement and cultural sector data throughout the pandemic to ensure that funding is disbursed to areas most in need.
To support the arts and culture sector through the pandemic, the Recovery Fund for Arts, Culture Heritage and Sport sectors and the Reopening Fund will together deliver $500 million over two years (2021–22 and 2022–23) across the arts, culture, heritage and sport sectors, with substantial investments being made in support of Core responsibility 1 in 2022–23 through the following programs and initiatives:
Creative Industries
- Local Journalism Initiative, to facilitate the hiring of more journalists in underserved communities.
- Canada Periodical Fund, to provide support for two years to free Canadian magazines and community newspapers, small circulation and digital periodicals that do not normally receive funding.
- Canada Media Fund, to support the recovery of third-language community productions and to support Production of Local News and Local Programming by Independent Broadcasters.
- Canada Book Fund, to increase promotion and access to Canadian books and support publishers in underserved communities.
- Creative Export Strategy, to provide support to export-ready Canadian businesses and organizations from the performing arts sector through the Creative Export Canada Program and accelerate the growth of creative exporters by providing them with training and mentorship opportunities through the Trade Accelerator Program and the Canadian Creative Accelerator.
Performing arts, infrastructure, and live events
- Canada Arts Presentation Fund, to support not-for-profit organizations in the professional arts presentation sector for costs incurred to encourage the return of audiences including enhancements to programming, marketing and outreach.
- Canada Music Fund, to stimulate economic recovery of for-profit music festivals.
- Strategic Initiatives component of the Canada Cultural Investment Fund to support partnerships initiatives in the arts and heritage sectors
Cultural Infrastructure
- Canada Cultural Spaces Fund, to support not-for-profit professional arts and heritage organization whose infrastructure projects were negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Addressing Capital Deficiencies for the Harbourfront Centre, to undertake urgent capital improvements and repairs including those necessary to reopen safely for staff, visitors, and audiences.
While these represent the Canadian Heritage-delivered components of the Recovery and Reopening Funds related to Core responsibility 1, other components within this fund are delivered by portfolio organizations that will help support film festivals, cinema recovery, and a number of performing arts-related supports.
In addition to funds allocated through the Recovery and Reopening Funds, other initiatives implemented in 2022–23 to support recovery efforts for many subsectors are further discussed in the subsections that follow.
In addition to changes brought forward by the pandemic, there are other factors that have required the sector to rethink its frameworks, policies and programs. In 2022–23, the Department will continue to advance cultural and digital policy objectives that respond to the impacts of online dynamics and new media on consumption practises and business models. The Department will continue to work on a legislative agenda that will contribute to ensuring Canadians have access to Canadian content in a digital world, helping Canada’s creative and cultural industries benefit from the digital economy and marketplace, while also helping Canadians feel safe and able to participate in the digital environment.
Engagement with stakeholders has been critical to the development and delivery of relevant and responsive sectoral supports since March 2020. In 2022–23, the Department will continue its open dialogue through the Arts and Culture summit, a recipient survey on the Recovery and Reopening Funds, though Federal-Provincial-Territorial table engagement and via sector- and theme-specific conversations related to policy development and program delivery.
The planned budget allocated to this core responsibility is $693,223,296 and supported by a total of 431.5 planned full-time equivalents.
Creative industries are successful in the digital economy, foster creativity and contribute to economic growth
In addition to its normal business activities and programming, the Department will undertake the following activities in 2022–23 towards achieving this departmental result by:
- Reintroducing legislation to reform the Broadcasting Act to ensure foreign web giants contribute to the creation and promotion of Canadian stories and music.
- Supporting the Government's commitment to amend the Copyright Act to further protect artists, creators and copyright holders, including to allow resale rights for artists.
- Beginning the work towards modernizing the audiovisual policy framework and funding tools, including increasing funding to support Canadian feature films and television productions.
- Promoting economic growth in the Canadian Indigenous screen sectors through the newly launched Indigenous Screen Office Program. The program includes the following components:
- The Sector Development Component that funds research, industry partnerships and training to increase employment opportunities for Indigenous peoples; and
- The Story Fund component that supports new production activities for Indigenous audiovisual content.
- Support Canadian authors and book publishers by increasing funding for the Canada Book Fund.
- Investing over two years through the Canada Book Fund, as announced in Budget 2021 as an economic recovery measure for the Canadian book sector, to help bookstores increase online sales. The funding will provide Canadian booksellers (a key sales channel for Canadian-authored books) with temporary support for the costs associated with online sales, to be more competitive with foreign-owned online retail platforms.
- Increasing annual contributions to the Canada Music Fund to ensure better and more stable funding for the music sector.
Canadians are able to consume Canadian content on multiple platforms
In addition to its normal business activities and programming, the Department will undertake the following activities in 2022–23 towards achieving this departmental result by:
- Introducing legislation to require digital platforms that generate revenues from the publication of news content to share a portion of their revenues with Canadian news outlets to level the playing field between global platforms and Canadian outlets.
- Reviewing CBC/Radio-Canada’s funding requirements to ensure that it is able to achieve strategic objectives and respond to the challenges and opportunities of the new media environment.
- Increasing support for the production of news in underserved communities by providing additional funding through the Local Journalism Initiative, for journalists serving equity-deserving communities (e.g., Indigenous, ethnocultural and official language minority and 2SLGBTQQIA+ communities). This support will help ensure that communities maintain access to local news and civic information, despite heightened COVID-19 related financial pressure on news organizations.
Creative industries are successful in global markets
In addition to its normal business activities and programming, the Department will undertake the following activities in 2022–23 towards achieving this departmental result by:
- Continuing to support Canada’s creative industries in maximizing their export potential in international markets through the delivery of the Creative Export Strategy. This will be accomplished by:
- supporting export-ready projects from all major Canadian creative industries through the Creative Export Canada program;
- leading one large, multi-sector, high-profile creative industries trade mission and two small-scale, sector-specific trade missions;
- supporting the participation of creative industries at international events where the Department’s presence will help create trade opportunities; and
- advancing strategic international partnerships.
- Ensuring Canada’s creative industries continue to remain visible in Germany and Europe beyond the original scope of Canada’s Guest of Honour Year at the Frankfurt Book Fair. While the initiative concluded in 2021, a number of projects related to this initiative were rescheduled and will carry over into 2022.
- Continuing to advance Canada’s trade and cultural interests on the world stage and in the review of foreign investments, including by promoting a rules-based international orderFootnote 2 that contributes to the success of creative industries in global markets and in the digital economy. Through strategic participation in international trade negotiations, Canada maintains the flexibility to support domestic creative industries while creating conditions favourable for participation in other markets. Foreign investment in the cultural sector will continue to be subject to rigorous and timely review under the Investment Canada Act. Furthermore, the Department will continue to jointly develop tools with Indigenous partners to protect and promote Indigenous cultural expressions.
Canadians have access to cultural facilities in their communities; and festivals and performing arts series that reflect Canada’s diversity
In addition to its normal business activities and programming, the Department will undertake the following activities in 2022–23 towards achieving this departmental result by:
- Launching an Arts and Culture Recovery Program to mitigate the impacts of reduced capacity in cultural venues.
- Establishing the new Canada Performing Arts Workers Resilience Fund to support workers in Canada’s live performance industry. This temporary program will aim to fund new or enhanced sector-led and delivered initiatives that improve the economic, career, and personal circumstances of individual Canadian workers in the live performance sector.
- Delivering supplemental funds in support to existing Canada Cultural Spaces Fund recipients with approved funding for a project that is currently under way, and which have experienced cost overruns or revenue losses due to COVID-19.
- Delivering supplemental funds to address the Canada Arts Presentation Fund's oversubscription and to address COVID-19 financial impact on supported organizations.
Canadians have access to more safe, diverse and secure digital environment and are resilient to disinformation
In addition to its normal business activities and programming, the Department will undertake the following activities in 2022–23 towards achieving this departmental result by:
- Continuing efforts to develop and introduce legislation as soon as possible to combat serious forms of harmful online content to protect Canadians and hold social media platforms and other online services accountable for the content they host.
- Taking steps to build an international coalition to develop a new UNESCO convention on the diversity of content online.
Gender-based analysis plus (GBA Plus)
Various programs under this core responsibility will seek to support increased representation and diversity in the cultural landscape in 2022-23:
- The Canada Media Fund’s Indigenous Program, Diverse Languages Program, Official Language Minority Community programs and regional incentives will continue to support diverse voices and content. The Fund will continue pursuing strategies aimed at improving gender parity.
- The Department’s continued Budget 2021 investments in the Canada Media Fund’s Equity and Inclusion Strategy will support equity-deserving creators, greater diversity in Canadian productions, and provide temporary relief for ethnic and third-language producers facing significant disruption as a result of COVID-19.
- Through its support of the Story Fund and Sector Development Components, the Department will support the Indigenous Screen Office to increase the number of audiovisual productions and training opportunities available to Indigenous creators, including women and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people working in the Canadian audiovisual sector.
- The Department will support the Canadian news industry, which pertains to several demographic groups. Research into options to remunerate news publishers as well as recommendations will use a GBA Plus lens to ensure that the core responsibility’s impact will be gender-balanced.
- The Canada Book Fund will introduce a new measure to support book sales by authors from racialized, Indigenous and official language minority communities. This initiative will further incentivize Canadian independent publishers to publish and promote books by authors from these communities.
- The Local Journalism Initiative will continue to promote diversity in the news ecosystem by requiring that all third-party Administrator Organizations have plans in place to promote hiring and coverage in a manner that is reflective of Canadian diversity. Additionally, $3.1 million will be earmarked specifically for organizations mandated to serve diverse communities (i.e., the National Ethnic Press and Media Council, Reseau.Presse and the Quebec Community Newspaper Association).
- The Creative Export Canada program will encourage projects that implement gender or diversity considerations for staffing, leadership and decision-making roles. This criterion is met when the applicant outlines respect for gender or diversity in their application, but is enhanced when a policy is already in place in terms of human resources, such as gender parity policies, 2SLGBTQQIA+ inclusionary policies and policies that are inclusive of equity-deserving groups.
- Both the Canada Media Fund and the Department’s support to the Canadian news industry will continue pursuing strategies aimed at improving gender parity.
For further information concerning data and capacity, please consult the GBA Plus supplementary table.
United Nations’ (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals
Canada’s creative industries are key drivers of economic growth and employment for the middle class, and they make an important contribution to Canada’s gross domestic product. The Department’s Arts, Cultural Industries and International Trade programs contribute to advancing the Sustainable Development Goals by supporting individual, artistic and cultural expression as well as cultural entrepreneurs and innovators; and ensuring access to and promoting participation in arts and culture.
Cultural entrepreneurs are increasingly looking to global markets to remain viable and competitive. Through funding for export-ready projects and creating trade opportunities, the Government’s Creative Export Strategy aims to maximize the export potential of Canada’s creative industries, including by providing them with in-market support (SDG 8).
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).
The Department is committed to supporting a renewed Broadcasting Act and to ensure economic viability of news publishers. This would have positive impacts on the working realities of creators and support economic growth in the creative marketplace (SDG 8). In addition, research into ensuring the remuneration of news publishers will directly support promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization and fostering innovation (SDG 9) through supporting Canadian cultural industries.
The Department also funds and supports activities that include opportunities to deepen Canadians’ knowledge of digital media literacy, information literacy, and civic literacy to be more resilient in the face of disinformation and quality education (SDG 4).
The Local Journalism Initiative ensures the public has access to information and protection of fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements (SDG 16). The program provides funding for news organizations to hire journalists and provide information of public interest for underserved communities across Canada, including rural and remote, Indigenous, ethnocultural, official language minority and 2SLGBTQQIA+ communities. This support helps ensure that these communities continue to have access to reliable information, irrespective of market pressures or economic fluctuations (SDG 10).
Sustainable development is at the heart of the TV5MONDE Strategic Plan for 2021–2024. The various stakeholders of the TV5 partnership, including the Government of Canada, will confirm their commitment to promoting sustainable development and to ensuring that it is taken into account in all of the responsibilities related to this international multilateral forum (SDG 17).
Experimentation
Canadian Heritage officials will continue to explore results from the Canadian Artists and Content Creators Survey regarding Canadian creative industry workers, to better understand their economic challenges. Canadian Heritage will look at skills-building for the future of work; and will study opportunities and issues around emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, blockchain and non-fungible tokens. The objective of these initiatives is to fill knowledge gaps about the creative marketplace and broadcasting and to explore novel interventions to benefit creators and the creative sector.
The Creative Export Canada program will experiment with funding a limited number of high-value projects with return on investment calculated over the medium and/or long term and across broader economic metrics, rather than only funding projects with a high return on investment, measured against increased export revenue, in the short term. This flexibility will allow a wider range of recipients to meet this expanded return on investment results criteria expected by the Creative Export Canada program and to assess whether this approach should be adopted permanently moving forward.
The Canada Arts Training Fund co-developed a special project with Indigenous training organizations to explore ways to increase applications, retention, and graduation rates of Indigenous students from 2019 to 2022. A preliminary result of the experiment has been the identification of land-based residency programs as a preferred method of culturally appropriate Indigenous arts training. As a result, the project will be extended to include the development and implementation of a two-year land-based residency pilot that will begin in the fall of 2022.
Key risks
- Small and medium businesses, freelancers and gig workers form the backbone of the creative sector. Some planned departmental initiatives or commitments may be disrupted to enable programs to focus on the Department’s response to COVID-19. To mitigate the risks, programs will continue to prioritize activities that are in direct and immediate support of the sector and of its stakeholders.
- Many delivery partners and clients may be unable to achieve their goals in terms of program expenses as a result of activities on the ground being unable to move forward to completion (e.g., productions, performing arts). The Department will work closely with its delivery partners and clients to mitigate this risk, to monitor the situation and to adjust its intervention accordingly. This may include considering additional flexibility to respond to the needs of the sector.
Planned results for Creativity, arts and culture
The following table shows, for Creativity, arts and culture, the planned results, the result indicators, the targets and the target dates for 2022–23, and the actual results for the three most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.
Departmental result | Departmental result indicator | Target | Date to achieve target | 2018–19 actual result | 2019–20 actual result | 2020–21 actual result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Creative industries are successful in the digital economy, foster creativity and contribute to economic growth. | Gross domestic product (GDP) of the Canadian cultural sector (in billions of dollars). | $56 billion | March 2023 | $53.1 billion | n/aFootnote 3 | $51 billionFootnote 4 |
Number of jobs in the cultural sector. | 615,000 | March 2023 | 666,474 | n/aFootnote 3 | 578,697Footnote 5 | |
Canadians are able to consume Canadian content on multiple platforms. | Number of Canadian Television productions. | 1,190 | March 2023 | 1,098 | n/aFootnote 3 | n/aFootnote 6 |
Number of Canadian theatrical feature films produced. | 122 | March 2023 | 105 | n/aFootnote 3 | n/aFootnote 6 | |
Number of Canadian-authored books published. | 6,000 | March 2023 | 6,764 | n/aFootnote 3 | n/aFootnote 3 | |
Number of magazines in Canada producing Canadian content. | 1,200 | March 2023 | 1,457 | 1,380 | 1,212 | |
Number of non-daily newspapers in Canada producing Canadian content. | 900 | March 2023 | 1,026 | 1,047 | 974 | |
Market share of Canadian artists on top 2,000 domestic album sales chart. | 20% | March 2023 | 19% | 22% | 19% | |
Market share of Canadian artists on top 20,000 domestic streaming chart. | 15% | March 2023 | 10% | 10% | 11% | |
Creative industries are successful in global markets. | Value of creative exports (in billions of dollars). | $20 billion | March 2023 | n/aFootnote 7 | n/aFootnote 7 | n/aFootnote 8 |
Canadians have access to cultural facilities in their communities. | Number of communities with improved cultural facilities. | 80 | March 2023 | 93 | 96 | 101 |
Percentage of Canadians with access to improved cultural facilities. | 40 | March 2023 | 41 | 40 | 41 | |
Canadians have access to festivals and performing arts series that reflect Canada’s diversity. | Percentage of funded festivals and performing arts series whose programming promotes diversity. | 70 | March 2023 | 65 | 63 | 66 |
Canadians have access to more safe, diverse and secure digital environment and are resilient to disinformation.Footnote 9 | Percentage of funded Digital Citizen Contribution Program projects with partners. | 80 | March 2023 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Planned budgetary spending for Creativity, arts and culture
The following table shows, for Canadian Heritage, budgetary spending for 2022–23, as well as planned spending for that year and for each of the next two fiscal years.
2022–23 budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates) | 2022–23 planned spending | 2023–24 planned spending | 2024–25 planned spending |
---|---|---|---|
693,223,296 | 693,223,296 | 538,211,248 | 457,082,732 |
Planned human resources for Creativity, arts and culture
The following table shows, in full-time equivalents, the human resources the Department will need to fulfill this core responsibility for 2022–23 and for each of the next two fiscal years.
2022–23 planned full-time equivalents | 2023–24 planned full-time equivalents | 2024–25 planned full-time equivalents |
---|---|---|
431.5 | 407.5 | 407.5 |
Financial, human resources and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.
Core responsibility 2: Heritage and celebration
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.
Planning highlights
The Department contributes to Core responsibility 2 through several programs: National Celebrations, Commemorations and Symbols; Community Engagement and Heritage; Preservation of and Access to Heritage; and Learning about Canadian History. Canadian Heritage offers opportunities for Canadians to participate in celebrations and commemorations of national significance, recognizes notable people, places, symbols, anniversaries and accomplishments of national significance across Canada, offers events and activities in the National Capital Region, and promotes and protects Canadian symbols. The Department provides funding in support of local festivals, community anniversaries and capital projects. Canadian Heritage ensures that Canada’s cultural heritage is preserved and accessible to Canadians today and in the future, assists Canadian museums in documenting and managing their collections, provides Canadians access to Canadian and international heritage through the circulation of artefacts and exhibitions in Canada, and helps Canadian heritage institutions compete with foreign institutions for the loan of prestigious international exhibitions. Finally, the Department encourages Canadians to learn about Canada’s history, civic life and public policy.
To support the heritage sector through the pandemic, the Recovery Fund for Arts, Culture Heritage and Sport sectors and the Reopening Fund will together deliver $500 million over two years (2021–22 and 2022–23) across the arts, culture, heritage and sport sectors, with substantial investments being made in support of Core responsibility 2 in 2022–23 through the following initiatives in the Reopening Fund:
- Celebration and Commemoration Program, to facilitate post-COVID-19 initiatives as the country emerges from the pandemic. Subject to the state of the pandemic and public health guidelines, the Celebration and Commemoration Program funded projects will support local economies through the hardships of the pandemic, commemorate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, and provide an opportunity for Canadians impacted by COVID-19 to share their stories, experiences and contributions.
- Building Communities through Arts and Heritage, to support recurring festivals that offer arts and heritage programming and present the work of local artists, artisans or heritage performers including 2SLGBTQQIA+ events and Indigenous cultural celebrations, and to continue to deliver project funding to Treaty commemorations. This funding will further commitments towards Reconciliation and support eligible activities towards the commemoration of Treaty 3 (Manitoba and Ontario), in 2022–23.
The planned budget allocated to this core responsibility is $190,685,235 and supported by a total of 326.6 planned full-time equivalents.
Canadians are engaged in celebrations and commemorations of national significance
The Department will undertake the following notable activities in 2022–23 towards achieving this departmental result by:
- Coordinating celebrations of the platinum jubilee, the 70th anniversary of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, along with other federal partners, throughout the celebration period of 2022. To date, $750,000 has been dedicated to fund community projects and $500,000 for national-scale projects through the Celebration and Commemoration Program. This is the first time in Canada’s modern era that a Canadian monarch, or any British monarch, celebrates a platinum jubilee. Throughout the year, Canadians will have an opportunity to learn more about our history and symbols, particularly in relation to the role of the Crown in Canada, and to celebrate Her Majesty’s service and dedication to our country.
- Developing new delivery methods and partnerships to ensure that Canadians have opportunities to access and participate, virtually or in person, in the events organized or funded by the Department, while adapting to the evolving COVID-19 restrictions. For instance, for the Canada Day 2022 celebrations, Canadian Heritage plans to invite the public to participate in a midday event and an evening show, both to be broadcast nationally. The Canada Day 2022 program will also include an engaging, national component that will travel across the country.
- Engaging with Indigenous groups, survivor organizations and communities in 2022–23 to determine how best to allocate new and ongoing funds provided in Budget 2021 for the commemoration of the history and legacy of residential schools and the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
- Completing the Memorial to the Victims of Communism – Canada, A Land of Refuge with the additional funding provided in Budget 2021.
- Planning for the building of a Residential Schools National Monument, with a budget of $20 million announced by the Government of Canada. In 2022–23, the primary advisory body that will provide advice, feedback and recommendations throughout the project will be created, a monument site chosen, and work undertaken to launch the design competition.
Canadians across the country are engaged in their communities through local arts and heritage
In 2022–23, the Department will undertake the following notable activities towards achieving this departmental result by:
- Encouraging citizen engagement and social inclusion through local performing and visual arts and the celebration of local heritage as well as through the commemoration and preservation of local history and identity.
- Aligning with the departmental priority to offer opportunities for Canadians to participate in local festivals and heritage events:
- The Local Festivals component will support community events – such as Cw Wolahkomiksuwakon in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and Festival des Folies Franco-Fun in New Liskeard, Ontario – as they continue to engage Canadians safely during the COVID-19 pandemic, in keeping with public health measures.
- Community Anniversaries will provide support to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of Signing Treaty 11 in Nahanni Butte, Northwest Territories. “Revisit Nanook of the North” in Inukjuak, Nunavik, in northern Quebec will recognize and celebrate the importance of the film, Nanook of the North, made in 1922.
- The Legacy Fund will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Hudson Bay Trading Post at Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. The project will see the restoration and transformation of three Hudson Bay Trading Post buildings, established in 1921. Once restored, the buildings will become mini museums that commemorate one hundred years of collaboration and celebrate Inuit culture on an ongoing basis. The Legacy Fund will also commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Town of Hearst, Ontario. The project will include the restoration of a heritage residence currently housing the Hearst Eco-Museum and a historic Finnish sauna. It will also include the establishment of downtown cultural park in collaboration with the First Nation of Constance Lake, creating a dedicated space for Indigenous culture.
- Offering temporary flexibilities to eligible applicants up to 2023–24, which enables the Program to better respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and recovery period by supporting recipients experiencing impacts from public health restrictions on gathering sizes and related financial pressures.
The public is provided with access to cultural heritage
The Department will undertake the following notable activities in 2022–23 towards achieving this departmental result by:
- Advancing the renewal of the Museum Policy, which will have a direct impact on the heritage sector and the heritage workforce.
- Continuing to support the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Heritage Centre as it seeks to become a new national museum.
Heritage objects and collections are preserved by heritage organizations for current and future generations
In 2022–23, the Department will undertake the following notable activities towards achieving this departmental result by:
- Providing funding to heritage organizations to digitize collections, develop digital content and build their capacity in these areas, through a new Digital Access to Heritage component of the Museums Assistance Program. This component was launched in fall 2021 and is available for applicants until 2023–24.
- Implementing a new Strategic Plan for the Canadian Conservation Institute and the Canadian Heritage Information Network, in order to meet new challenges, take advantage of new opportunities and to continue to deliver the specialized expertise, guidance and support the heritage community expects. The focus areas of projects developed as part of the implementation of the Strategic Plan will include, among others: working with Indigenous stakeholders and the heritage community on decolonizing museum practises, reaching out to a more diverse community and promoting environmental and operational sustainability.
- Participating in the Our Collections Matter initiative (led by the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property), which will assist heritage institutions in connecting their collections-based work to sustainable development using the Sustainable Development Goals, thereby demonstrating more effectively their added value to society. With their partners, the Canadian Conservation Institute and the Canadian Heritage Information Network will explore ways to support heritage institutions in playing their fullest part in sustainable development.
- Continuing to work on Canadian Conservation Institute projects related to energy conservation and climate change impacts on facilities and collections to better meet the needs of the heritage community. These projects include the development of online tools to help heritage organizations adopt climate control options that are more environmentally responsible, and to better understand their exposure to various hazards and risks, some of which are related to climate change.
Other
The Canada History Fund will undertake the following notable activities in 2022–23 contributing to this core responsibility:
- Supporting the Royal Canadian Geographical Society to create a monthly series of virtual events and learning materials about Canadian history, which can be used in classrooms. Working in partnership with Exploring by the Seat of Your Pants, the Society will host a series of virtual sessions on YouTube and Facebook with subject matter experts sharing first-hand accounts, research and stories about Canadian history. Each session and monthly theme will be accompanied by learning materials for use in the classroom and an interactive story map. Topics will include Truth and Reconciliation, the early and ongoing exploration of Canada, science, environmental stewardship, security, and defence. The Royal Canadian Geographical Society will share the content with its network of 20,000 member educators.
- Supporting Algoma University to address the need for culturally informed educational resources connected to residential schools. The project draws on the unique archival holdings of the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre and the knowledge held by the Survivors of the Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association to create learning modules to teach children and adults about this important part of Canada’s history. By focusing on Indigenous lived experiences and by drawing from archival sources, this project will help to sensitize learners about the intergenerational impacts of racism on Indigenous peoples. Canadians will be engaged in this project through new learning materials, created specifically for elementary and high school-level students, in both official languages.
- Supporting the Association for Canadian Studies to host a national history conference online marking the 40th anniversary of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The online format responds to the need to shift to different ways of gathering to protect public health in light of COVID-19 and will also facilitate an increased number of participants. The Association for Canadian Studies will publish two bilingual digital editions of Canadian Issues, featuring history-oriented topics and short essays, and will issue four reports from surveys of teachers and high school students. Reports will be used to assess the calibre of student knowledge of Canada and its history.
- Supporting the partnership between the Governing Council of the University of Toronto and l’Université Laval who produce and co-own The Dictionary of Canadian Biography/Dictionnaire biographique du Canada. Established in 1959 and published online since 2003, The Dictionary of Canadian Biography is a unique, fully bilingual and comprehensive national historical biographical dictionary that provides authoritative and easily readable accounts of the lives and times of individuals who contributed to Canada’s development. With 1.25 million visitors per year, The Dictionary of Canadian Biography is a trusted source that documents Canada’s development as a multi-cultural and multi-racial nation and provides a bridge between popular and academic history. The project will make the database more accessible to the Canadian public by developing topic summaries and search engine optimization materials.
Gender-based analysis plus
In 2022–23, various programs under Core responsibility 2 will seek to support increased representation and diversity.
Celebrations and commemorations offered by Canadian Heritage aim to offer all Canadians opportunities to learn more about Canada’s diversity and inclusiveness. Celebration and commemoration activities funded by the Department encourage broad participation of Canadians of all identities across the country, including those living in remote areas, by offering opportunities to participate in community events that are open to the public and free of charge. These events promote and showcase Canada’s linguistic, cultural and regional diversity.
The Building Communities through Arts and Heritage program provides funding to diverse local organizations, including marginalized groups, supporting gender equality and fostering inclusivity. Budget 2019 funds enabled the Program to provide more than $2 million in funding for these groups through 2019–20 and 2020–21. The outreach and additional resources enabled the Program to support 24 2SLGBTQQIA+ events in 2019–20 ($942,400) and 40 in 2020–21 ($1,427,400). In 2021–22, the Program will support at least 46 projects ($1,990,000), including 34 funded through Local Festivals and 12 through the Support for Workers in Live Arts and Music Sectors Fund. In 2022–23, the Program will continue to support diverse and inclusive events in local communities.
The Canada History Fund encourages applicants to address areas or themes, namely the history of official language minority communities, the history of Indigenous peoples in Canada, and the learning needs of young Canadians. It will continue working with a diverse community of recipients who are enriching Canadian history with a variety of inclusive perspectives.
The Museum Assistance Program supports government priorities of Reconciliation, GBA Plus and official language minority communities. Although no specific priorities are identified in the program guidelines, the Program is prioritizing applications by or serving Indigenous, Black, Asian, racialized and religious minority communities as well as the 2SLGBTQQIA+ community.
Since 1990, the Museum Assistance Program has administered an Indigenous Heritage component and following the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission report, it increased its flexibility and funding limits to this component. The program’s 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.
Museum Assistance Program projects can offer limited support for the repatriation of Indigenous cultural property as part of an exhibition or research type project. Movable Cultural Property grants facilitates the acquisition of heritage objects, which can include the repatriation of Indigenous cultural property. Indigenous communities are seeking the return of these objects for many reasons: human rights issues, spirituality, retention or restoration of cultural history and knowledge, and preservation.
The renewal of the Museum Policy will have a direct impact on the heritage sector and the heritage workforce. The heritage sector employs 37,230 paid workers: approximately 13,000 full-time employees, 20,000 part-time employees, and 4,200 contract workers. Part-time employees and contract workers account for approximately 66 percent of the heritage workforce. According to the latest figures from the 2019 Government of Canada Survey of Heritage Institutions, the heritage sector across Canada employs a higher percentage of women than men (66.4 percent of the heritage workforce self-identify as female, while 33.6 percent identify as male). The survey also shows that approximately 4 percent self-identify as a visible minority, which is significantly lower than their population levels or representation in many other sectors.
Indigenous and racialized people are also nearly two times more likely to want a digital or virtual component as part of their ideal cultural experience, suggesting digital can be used as an even broader tool to facilitate engagement for diverse audiences.
For further information concerning data and capacity, please consult the GBA Plus supplementary table.
United Nations’ (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals
The Heritage Group helps Canadians to connect with their vibrant shared heritage, and in doing so, allows for opportunities that will enrich the quality of life for all (SDG 3).
By engaging Canadians in celebrations and commemorations of national significance, the Department fosters positive connections between individuals and the country’s complex national heritage irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status (SDG 3, SDG 10).
The Young Canada Works-Heritage initiative offers short-term employment and internships in organizations with a heritage mandate to young Canadians in order to provide them with the opportunity to develop skills and experience in the workplace. (SDG 4, SDG 8)
The Canadian Conservation Institute and the Canadian Heritage Information Network are participating in the “Our Collections Matter initiative” (led by the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property), which will assist heritage institutions in connecting their collections-based work to sustainable development using the Sustainable Development Goals, thereby demonstrating more effectively their added value to society. (SDG 17)
Experimentation
The Canadian Conservation Institute and the Canadian Heritage Information Network will explore new ways to use Web-based technologies to deliver professional services digitally. This would allow the Canadian Conservation Institute and the Canadian Heritage Information Network to respond in real time to questions from heritage institutions in Canada, to give basic advice on the management, documentation and preservation of collections or even to answer technical questions from heritage professionals.
Key risks
The safety of Canadians and our staff remains the number one priority. As we prepare to deliver in person events and programming in 2022–23, the Department’s biggest challenge remains the uncertainty and unpredictability linked to COVID-19. Mitigation strategies are ready to be deployed in case there is a need to modify the event offerings. Specifically, numerous measures are in place to ensure that events can be broadcast or accessed via the Internet or other virtual methods should in-person lockdowns be implemented.
There is also a risk, with the ongoing pandemic, that further lockdowns may cause delays in monument projects throughout the design, development, and construction phases. As such, the Department remains flexible with regards to project timelines and funding arrangements with partners and stakeholders.
Some organizations funded by the Building Communities through Arts and Heritage program may continue to be impacted by COVID-19 and challenged to deliver in-person activities. To mitigate this risk, to the extent possible, the Program will be flexible and will support organizations as they adapt to the realities of the pandemic so that they can continue to offer events and activities during the pandemic and recovery period.
Human resource and financial constraints may impact the ability to advance the initiatives and activities mentioned above. These risks will be mitigated through advance planning and seeking resources as required.
Planned results for Heritage and celebration
The following table shows, for Heritage and celebration, the planned results, the result indicators, the targets and the target dates for 2022–23, and the actual results for the three most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.
Departmental result | Departmental result indicator | Target | Date to achieve target | 2018–19 actual result | 2019–20 actual result | 2020–21 actual result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Canadians are engaged in celebrations and commemorations of national significance | Number of participants in events and activities by attending or volunteering. | 9,500,000 | March 2023 | 10,618,349 | 9,763,947 | 5,392Footnote 10 |
Number of participants in events and activities by viewing traditional and new media broadcasts or downloading related information materials. | 14,000,000 | March 2023 | 14,140,000 | 19,071,892 | 37,314,650Footnote 10 | |
Canadians across the country are engaged in their communities through local arts and heritage. | Number of performers and volunteers in Building Communities through Arts and Heritage funded arts and heritage projects each year. | 173,674 | March 2024 | 190,855Footnote 11 | 204,698Footnote 12 | 181,413Footnote 13 |
Total attendance for Building Communities through Arts and Heritage funded arts and heritage projects each year. | 18,088,538 | March 2024 | 21,207,443Footnote 11 | 20,295,082Footnote 12 | 23,221,181Footnote 13 | |
The public is provided with access to cultural heritage. | Number of in-person and online visits to cultural heritage accessible through heritage programs and services. | 2,000,000 | March 2023 | 2,263,910 | 1,504,563 | 740,811Footnote 14 |
Heritage objects and collections are preserved by heritage organizations for current and future generations. | Number of heritage objects and collections whose preservation has been supported by heritage programs and services. | 100,000 | March 2023 | 446,436 | 169,836 | 43,941,159Footnote 15 |
Planned budgetary spending for Heritage and celebration
The following table shows, for Canadian Heritage, budgetary spending for 2022–23, as well as planned spending for that year and for each of the next two fiscal years.
2022–23 budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates) | 2022–23 planned spending | 2023–24 planned spending | 2024–25 planned spending |
---|---|---|---|
190,685,235 | 190,685,235 | 127,461,539 | 100,587,269 |
Planned human resources for Heritage and celebration
The following table shows, in full-time equivalents, the human resources the Department will need to fulfill this core responsibility for 2022–23 and for each of the next two fiscal years.
2022–23 planned full-time equivalents | 2023–24 planned full-time equivalents | 2024–25 planned full-time equivalents |
---|---|---|
326.6 | 319.5 | 313.5 |
Financial, human resources and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.
Core responsibility 3: Sport
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 welcoming 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.
Planning highlights
The Department contributes to Core responsibility 3 through the Sport Development and High Performance Program. Sport Canada aims to establish Canada as a leading sport nation at home and abroad, where all Canadians and their communities enjoy, value and celebrate the benefits of active participation and excellence in sport. It contributes to advancing the goals of the Canadian Sport Policy, funds eligible organizations to deliver sport for social development projects in Indigenous communities in Canada, and supports and promotes gender equity in Sport. The Department further provides direct support to Canadian athletes to foster the development of high-performance athletes and assists sport organizations to host the Canada Games and international sport events in Canada.
To support the sport sector through the pandemic, the Recovery Fund for Arts, Culture Heritage and Sport sectors and the Reopening Fund will together deliver $96 million over two years (2021–22 and 2022–23) for the sport sector, with substantial investments being made in 2022–23 through the following programs and initiatives:
- Sport Support Program, to support National Sport Organizations, National Multisport Services Organization, and the Canadian Olympic and the Paralympic Sport Institute Network which are struggling financially to restore programming and services cancelled/stalled due to COVID-19.
- Hosting Program, to help organizations continue to host events by offsetting losses. Including support for International Single Sport Events to offset higher costs due to COVID-19 and to diversify International Single Sport Events locations, hosting the Canada Games in smaller jurisdictions and support for off-setting travel costs, and support for the North American Indigenous Games to offset higher costs of hosting due to COVID-19.
The planned budget allocated to this core responsibility is $327,068,407 and supported by a total of 105.9 planned full-time equivalents.
Canadian athletes succeed at the highest levels of competition
The Department will undertake the following notable activities in 2022–23 towards achieving this departmental result by:
- Continuing to work to advance the Canadian High Performance Strategy and Action Plan, which outlines clear accountabilities that sport system stakeholders have endorsed.
- Providing funding support to eligible athletes through the Athlete Assistance Program, as they continue to prepare for international competitions.
- Disbursing contributions to sport organizations, including support for COVID-19 recovery to maintain sport programming and competition opportunities for Canadian athletes.
- Coordinating federal government activities for international sporting events and fund national team preparations.
- Advancing the development of a Major Sport Event Framework, which is a Canadian approach to bidding for and hosting major sport events to proactively sustain a strong interest in hosting major sport events in Canada, to strengthen future Canadian bids and events, and to maximize the benefits of such events for sport communities and residents of Canada.
Canadian children and youth are enrolled in a sport activity
In 2022–23, the Department will undertake the following notable activities towards achieving this departmental result by:
- Funding Innovation initiatives designed to reduce barriers to sport participation, focusing on the themes of diversity and inclusion, particularly to benefit under-represented groups including $840,000 for pilot projects specifically dedicated to girls and women. The expected result of the Innovation Initiative is to improve sport participation by contributing to increased accessibility to sport programs, increased frequency, rates and retention of participants in sport, reduced or eliminated barriers to participation in sport, increased physical literacy and the achievement of social goals through the intentional use of sport.
- Supporting sport organizations to implement return to play strategies and programs as they adapt to the changing sport environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This support will help ensure that programming is delivered in a safe and welcoming manner and in compliance with public health guidelines. The objective is to increase the overall participation rate in organized sport from youth to high performance by creating an environment where all sport participants and athletes (regardless of their age, background or ability) feel that the sport reflects their interest and needs.
- Providing support for safe and welcoming initiatives including:
- Supporting the creation of an independent mechanism to administer the implementation of the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport for federally funded sport organizations;
- Ensuring organizations have appropriate policies in place on safety in sport, namely on concussions and maltreatment, are offering an independent avenue for reporting and investigating allegations of maltreatment, and are providing training on the prevention of harassment and abuse;
- Addressing concussions through the work of the Federal-Provincial/Territorial Work Group on Concussions in Sport, and collaboration with the Public Health Agency of Canada and Parachute Canada to progress work in the area of awareness, prevention, detection, management and surveillance.
- Continuing to fund projects that expand the use of sport for social development in Indigenous communities, ensuring community driven sport-related programs, which address the self-identified social development needs of Indigenous communities and Indigenous women and girls.
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 notable activities in 2022–23 towards achieving this departmental result by:
- Supporting sport organizations to implement return to play strategies and programs as they adapt to the changing sport environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This support will help ensure that programming is delivered in a safe and welcoming manner and in compliance with public health guidelines. The objective is to increase the overall participation rate in organized sport from youth to high performance by creating an environment where all sport participants and athletes (regardless of their age, gender, physical ability and cultural background) feel that the sport reflects their interest and needs.
- Providing support for safe and welcoming initiatives including:
- Through the Community Sport for All Initiative, allocating $80 million over two years to support organized sport at the community level to remove barriers and increase participation for equity-deserving populations, particularly Black, Indigenous, 2SLGBTQQIA+, and new Canadians.
- The Indigenous Reconciliation and Strength for Indigenous Women and Girls through Sport for Social Development signalled the Government’s commitment to build on progress and continue the work on the National Action Plan in response to the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Calls for Justice, and targets the areas of focus of physical and mental health, suicide prevention, sexual trafficking awareness and prevention, safe and healthy relationships, and sexual positivity (2SLGBTQQIA+).
- Analyzing the results of a domestic scan on greening measures and initiatives in the sport and recreational sport sector that will consider greening of sport infrastructure, hosting of sport events and environmental promotion, protection and education through sport and recreational sport, to better understand the impact of the sport sector on the environment.
Gender-based analysis plus
In 2022–23, various programs under Core responsibility 3 will seek to support increased diversity and inclusivity.
Studies over recent years have revealed that equity-deserving groups, including women and girls, people with disabilities and racialized communities remain under-represented in sport and recreation, as participants, coaches and leaders. Sport Canada’s Gender Equity Strategy aims to achieve gender equality in all facets of sport by 2035. This strategy helps to guide the Department’s diversity and inclusion initiatives. In particular, the work of the Gender Equity in Sport Research Hub will be supported to improve the availability of research and data to support evidence-based decision making.
Data including feedback from consultation with the sport community has driven the key activity of “leading safe and welcoming return to play strategies,” based on the needs of the specific community (Indigenous culturally appropriate programming, women and girls, equity-deserving groups) and the needs of the sport.
Research and media reports have revealed that harassment, abuse and discrimination in sport have negatively affected the perception of a safe and welcoming environment and has reduced levels of participation across many levels of sport. Further to consultation with sport organizations and through Federal-Provincial and Territorial mechanisms, the Department will support the establishment of an independent mechanism to administer the implementation of the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport for federally funded sport organizations.
For further information concerning data and capacity, please consult the GBA Plus supplementary table.
United Nations’ (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals
The Department’s sport initiatives, policies and funding programs support Canada’s efforts to implement the 2030 Agenda through direct and indirect contributions, specifically in the areas of Good health and well-being (SDG 3), Quality education (SDG 4), Gender equality (SDG 5), Decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), Reducing inequalities (SDG 10), Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG 11), and partnerships for the goals (SDG 17).
The Department is committed to working with the sports sector to find solutions to reduce its environmental footprint as well as better involve our athletes in the conversation on the fight against climate change (SDG 13).
Sport Canada leads the Canadian Sport Policy, which promotes the improved health and wellness for all Canadians through community sport, increased accessibility to sport programs, reduced barriers and the achievement of social and economic goals through the intentional use of sport (SDG 3).
Sport Canada will provide funding of $80 million to be allocated over two years for the Community Sport for All Initiative, which will help organized sport at the community level to remove barriers and increase participation for underrepresented populations, particularly Black, Indigenous, 2SLGBTQQIA+, and new Canadians (SDG 3, SDG 10).
Sport Canada provides funding to implement projects that expand the use of sport for social development in Indigenous communities, ensuring community driven sport-related programs, which address the self-identified social development needs of Indigenous communities and sustainable development outcomes (SDG 10, SDG 11).
The Athlete Assistance Program provides funding to eligible athletes for training and tuition, as they continue to prepare for international competitions (SDG 4).
The implementation of the Gender Equity in Sport Strategy to support participation and leadership development of women and girls in sport (SDG 5). The Sport for Social Development component of the Sport Support Program will provide Indigenous communities funding for sport-based employment initiatives with the target of improving health, education and employment in Indigenous communities (SDG 3, SDG 4, SDG 8). This includes Indigenous peoples, members of the 2SLGBTQQIA+ community, persons with disabilities and newcomers to provide access to quality sports activities (SDG 10).
Sport Canada will continue to provide system support to the sport community for return to play strategies and adapting sport due to COVID-19, including providing funding to stabilize organizations to maintain employment and volunteer opportunities (SDG 8). Furthermore, Sport Canada will continue to provide funding to create a safe, welcoming and inclusive sport environment as well as funding to support Paralympic sport, Special Olympics Canada and the North American Indigenous Games. (SDG 3, SDG 10)
The Hosting Program assists sport organizations in hosting the Canada Games and international sport events in Canada. It also delivers sport, economic, social, cultural, and community benefits to Canadian communities, enhancing Canada’s role as a leading sport nation reflecting Canadian culture and values (SDG 11).
Sport Canada supports the implementation of the Canadian Anti-Doping Program and the World Anti-Doping Agency (SDG 3), as well, it encourages safe and welcoming sport initiatives through the implementation of the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport (SDG 3, SDG 16). Finally, Sport Canada supports the capacity of National Sport Organizations to address concussions in sport by progressing work in the area of awareness, prevention, detection, management and surveillance (SDG 3, SDG 4).
Experimentation
Sport Canada is testing a new approach to meet the needs of equity-deserving groups through the Community Sport for All Initiative to help them recover from the impacts of COVID-19. Budget 2021 allocated $80 million over two years to support national-level organizations or those able to implement projects in more than one province or territory to work with community-based groups to undertake organized sport activities aimed at addressing barriers to participation, particularly among Black, Indigenous, 2SLGBTQQIA+ and new Canadians. Funded projects will adhere to the following principles: affordable, results oriented, focused on organized sport, green, accessible and available in underserved communities. Projects will be evaluated and, if proven to be effective, could be shared more broadly to impact sport programming.
Key risks
Some of the key planned initiatives rely on delivery by provincial governments, provincial sport organizations and national sport organizations and multi-sport service organizations. It has been recognized that not all levels of governance have alignment on standards or delivery procedures; as such, program recipients may not all have equitable experience or benefits to federal initiatives. Sport Canada will continue to work with its partners and engage through multiple existing forums to ensure its expectations are clearly communicated. Information sharing will be key to ensuring a common understanding between partners.
Adapting sport programming to the post COVID-19 pandemic reality aligned with public health guidelines, which may be subject to interpretation based on unanticipated prolonged lock downs due to COVID-19, local realities and local safety risk levels. To respond to the uncertainty that the pandemic has presented, Sport Canada will continue to make funding available to support the recovery and reopening of the Sport sector. This includes $60 million over two years (2021–22 and 2022–23) to help existing national level recipient organizations struggling financially to restore programming and services and $17 million in 2022–23 to help existing national-level organizations continue to host sports events.
Planned results for Sport
The following table shows, for Sport, the planned results, the result indicators, the targets and the target dates for 2022–23, and the actual results for the three most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.
Departmental result | Departmental result indicator | Target | Date to achieve target | 2018–19 actual result | 2019–20 actual result | 2020–21 actual result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Canadian athletes succeed at the highest levels of competition. | Ranking of Canada relative to other countries in Olympic Ranking Index, disaggregated for summer and winter sport.Footnote 16 | 7 | June 2022 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Ranking of Canada relative to other countries in Paralympic Ranking Index, disaggregated for summer and winter sport.Footnote 17 | 13 | June 2022 | n/a | n/a | n/a | |
Canadian children and youth are enrolled in a sport activity. | Number of Canadian children and youth enrolled in a sport activity. | 4,000,000 | June 2022 | 4,594,540 | 4,594,540 | n/aFootnote 18 |
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. | Percentage of Canadians (children and youth) reporting that they experience sport in a welcoming environment. | 85 | June 2022 | 86 | 82 | 80 |
Percentage of Canadians (children and youth) reporting that they experience sport in a safe environment. | 80 | June 2022 | 73 | 82 | 82 |
Planned budgetary spending for Sport
The following table shows, for Canadian Heritage, budgetary spending for 2022–23, as well as planned spending for that year and for each of the next two fiscal years.
2022–23 budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates) | 2022–23 planned spending | 2023–24 planned spending | 2024–25 planned spending |
---|---|---|---|
327,068,407 | 327,068,407 | 234,651,201 | 230,127,252 |
Planned human resources for Sport
The following table shows, in full-time equivalents, the human resources the Department will need to fulfill this core responsibility for 2022–23 and for each of the next two fiscal years.
2022–23 planned full-time equivalents | 2023–24 planned full-time equivalents | 2024–25 planned full-time equivalents |
---|---|---|
105.9 | 100.9 | 100.9 |
Financial, human resources and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.
Core responsibility 4: Diversity and inclusion
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. 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.
Planning highlights
The Department contributes to Core responsibility 4 by seeking to change public attitudes by influencing and shaping policy of several programs’ implementation: Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism; Human Rights; Indigenous Languages and Cultures; and Youth Engagement. Through these programs, the Department seeks to build an integrated, socially inclusive society, by supporting communities confronting racism, engaging on multiculturalism, incorporating equity, diversity and inclusion, and by strengthening research and evidence to better understand disparities and challenges faced by Indigenous peoples, racialized peoples, and religious minority communities. Canadian Heritage also seeks to strengthen and maintain one of the core values relating to Canadian identity—respect for human rights—by addressing barriers to active participation that arise from a lack of awareness, understanding and access to rights. The Department aims to increase awareness among youth of the importance of being active and engaged citizens, increase youth knowledge and understanding of Canada, and strengthen their sense of belonging to Canada, thereby strengthening their sense of shared Canadian identity. Canadian Heritage also focuses on keeping Indigenous languages and Indigenous identity as living elements of Canadian society. By providing investments, it contributes to the efforts of Indigenous communities to reclaim, revitalize, maintain and strengthen their Indigenous languages and develop and deliver innovative and culturally appropriate projects under the Indigenous Languages and Cultures Program, including the Indigenous Languages Component, Northern Aboriginal Broadcasting, Territorial Language Accords, National Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and scholarships, youth initiatives and Indspire.
Furthermore, two federal secretariats report under this core responsibility. The Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat continues to lead work across government to coordinate federal action and identify and develop further areas for action through engagement with racialized and religious minority communities and Indigenous peoples, stakeholders, other levels of government, and various sectors (e.g., philanthropy, academia, health, housing, labour, law, etc.). The Youth Secretariat is responsible for the federal implementation of Canada’s Youth Policy and supporting the Prime Minister’s Youth Council. The Secretariat engages across the federal government to provide advice on youth initiatives and to encourage the inclusion of youth voices in government decision-making. As one of the Youth Policy commitments, the Secretariat is also responsible for the State of Youth Report, which was published for the first time on August 11, 2021, and which explores how young people in Canada are doing. Subsequent reports will be published every four years.
The planned budget allocated to this core responsibility is $260,786,472 and supported by a total of 217.8 planned full-time equivalents.
Canadians value diversity
The Department will undertake the following notable activities in 2022–23 towards achieving this departmental result by:
- Developing a National Action Plan on Combatting Hate, as part of the renewal of Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy, sunsetting in 2022. Several key initiatives, activities and actions from the Strategy will continue to be implemented in 2022–23 through funding from the 2020 Fall Economic Statement. The Fall Economic Statement provided $50 million over 2 years, starting in 2021–22, to expand the Community Support, Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Initiatives Program and Anti-Racism Action Program funding, as well as expand the Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat and extend it by another year.
- Continuing to demonstrate leadership through the Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat in overseeing a coherent whole-of-government approach on combatting racism and discrimination, ensuring comprehensive and coordinated actions with measurable impact, and fostering continuing dialogue with provinces, territories, and diverse communities in Canada, including on issues related to COVID-19 and equity-deserving communities and the International Decade for People of African Descent. The Federal Secretariat will support decision-making through an anti-racism lens to ensure that all programs, policies, services and legislation consider the needs and realities of all peoples in Canada. It will also continue to engage with communities with lived experience of racism and discrimination to better inform Government of Canada efforts to combat systemic racism and increase equitable access and services to First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples, Black, Asian and racialized and religious minority communities.
- Delivering targeted community-based projects through the Community Support, Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Initiatives Program and Anti-Racism Action Program to confront racism and discrimination, promote engagement on multiculturalism and diversity, and strengthens research and evidence. Anti-Racism Action Program projects will also focus on addressing systemic barriers to employment, justice and social participation for First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples, Black, Asian and racialized communities, and religious minorities.
- Focusing on disseminating the data and evidence products funded under Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy. This includes research conducted by Justice Canada, Public Safety Canada, and Statistics Canada, to better understand barriers faced by Indigenous peoples, racialized communities, and religious minorities.
- Promoting a National Public Education and Awareness Campaign through the Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat, including marketing products and messaging to the public that address the goal of raising awareness and changing attitudes about racism.
- Working with the International and Intergovernmental Affairs, and Human Rights Directorate, delivering results related to diversity and inclusion as set out in the Canada-United States Roadmap, including the creation of a North American Partnership on Racial Equity and Inclusion, a commitment from the 2021 North American Leaders’ Summit. The Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat will also remain engaged in international activities (including conferences, events, bilateral and multilateral discussions) with like-minded partners on issues related to equity-deserving groups.
- Supporting the domestic mandate of the Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism.
- Continuing the support in the area of justice, where the Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat has worked with Justice Canada on advancing justice reform and policy change through engagement with Black youth, as Canada works towards a Black Community Justice Strategy and an Indigenous Justice Strategy.
Reversal of the current downward trend in the use and fluency of Indigenous languages
In 2022–23, the Department will undertake the following notable activities towards achieving this departmental result by:
- Supporting the Minister’s mandate commitment letter by 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 in order to preserve, promote and revitalize Indigenous languages in Canada.
- Allocating new Budget 2021 investments to support an increased number of Indigenous projects to reclaim, revitalize, maintain, and strengthen Indigenous languages, and to advance new agreements with Indigenous organizations to support improved coordination in Indigenous languages programs and services and advance the purposes of the Act.
- Developing new First Nations, Inuit and Métis Nation funding and costing models to facilitate the provision of adequate, sustainable and long-term funding for Indigenous languages, in collaboration with Indigenous peoples, governments and organizations.
- Working with Indigenous organizations, partners and experts on developing a National Action Plan for Canada that is aligned with a Global Action Plan and the implementation of the Indigenous Languages Act, for the first year of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022–2032). The Decade will be guided by the Global Action Plan which supports the preservation, revitalization, promotion and use of Indigenous languages across socio-economic domains.
- Advancing a pilot project on the provision of federal services in an Indigenous language with Indigenous partners and other federal departments. This initiative will inform opportunities to advance services in Indigenous languages as part of the implementation of the Indigenous Languages Act.
Youth enhance their appreciation of the diversity and shared aspects of the Canadian experience
The Department will undertake the following notable activities in 2022–23 towards achieving this departmental result by:
- Continuing to strengthen youth attachment to Canada by increasing youth participation as well as helping young Canadians learn about Canada, create linkages with each other, and better appreciate the diversity and shared aspects of the Canadian experience, through the Exchanges Canada and Youth Take Charge programs.
- Supporting organizations as they adapt to the realities of the pandemic, and supporting projects, exchanges and forums that will allow youth throughout Canada to connect with one another, have a better understanding of what they have in common, and learn new things about Canada’s diverse cultural expressions, history, and heritage, placing special emphasis on reconciliation, diversity and inclusion, and official language minority communities.
- Exploring options to review the delivery of the Exchanges Canada and Youth Take Charge programs 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.
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
In 2022–23, the Department will undertake the following notable activities towards achieving this departmental result by:
- Ensuring that funds are transferred to the University of Ottawa, the independent organization that implements and administers the Court Challenges Program at arm’s length from the Government; that quorum is maintained on the two independent Expert Panels responsible for funding decisions; and ensuring proper stewardship of the Court Challenges Program.
- Renewing the contribution agreement with the University of Ottawa, which will expire in 2023. An evaluation of the Program will also be undertaken and Canadian Heritage will take steps to ensure that the Program continues its activities in the long term.
Canadians value human rights
The Department will undertake the following notable activities in 2022–23 towards achieving this departmental result by:
- Raising 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; the promotion of the 40th anniversary of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and the distribution of the Charter and the Canadian Bill of Rights to individuals and groups in Canada; and managing the reporting process for Canada’s implementation of international human rights obligations. A meeting of the Forum of Federal, Provincial and Territorial Ministers Responsible for Human Rights is planned for 2022.
Other
In addition, the following key activities in 2022–23 contributing to this core responsibility will be implemented by the Youth Secretariat:
- Continue implementing Canada’s Youth Policy and interdepartmental meetings on the youth portfolio to support whole-of-government excellence in youth engagement and accessible supports across the federal government that meet youth’s evolving needs and continue raising awareness and build upon the six priority areas included in Canada’s first State of Youth Report.
- Continue providing support to coordinate and plan meetings of the Prime Minister’s Youth Council and the selection process to recruit the next cohort of youth. It will ensure that the Prime Minister, the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth, and federal departments and agencies benefit from the advice of an engaged group of young Canadians who provide unbiased advice on issues that are important to them. Current and future cohorts have the opportunity to discuss issues that affect them, their peers, their communities and their country.
- Lead the Prime Minister’s Youth Council recruitment process and actively work to include youth furthest from opportunity, ensuring the membership of the council is diverse and reflective of Canadian society.
- Implement Canada’s Youth Policy and interdepartmental meetings on the youth portfolio will continue to take place to ensure that the Policy is implemented across the federal government. Plans, priorities and expected results were revised according to the Secretariat’s expanded mandate following its transfer to Canadian Heritage in November 2019 to support the role of a Minister dedicated to the youth portfolio.
Gender-based analysis plus
In 2022–23, various programs under Core responsibility 4 will seek to support increased equity and representation.
The Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Program actively contributes to the Government of Canada’s goal to foster and promote an inclusive society where everyone is able to fully participate in the economic, cultural, social and political spheres. Program activities and funding touch on issues that affect various groups differently across Canada in consideration of GBA Plus, which is a factor in research projects and for grants and contributions project funding. In addition, the Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Program will support the Department of Women and Gender Equality Canada in the evaluation process of GBA Plus, with the goal of enhancing the tool, with particular attention to the intersectional analysis of race, indigeneity, rurality, disability and sexual identity, among other characteristics.
The primary objectives of Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy are to increase equity of access among racialized communities, Indigenous peoples, and religious minorities to employment, justice, and social participation. Taking intersectional factors of identities into account, the Strategy aims to increase understanding of the disparities faced by Indigenous peoples, racialized communities, and religious minorities, and change public attitudes and practises that perpetuate racism and discrimination. For example, the Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat, created through the Strategy, undertook several town halls and roundtables with different stakeholders, to assist in identifying gaps and systemic barriers in government initiatives. The Secretariat has applied intersectionality principles to all of its community focused town halls, including those on the issues and needs of Indigenous, racialized, and religious minority 2SLGBTQQIA+ communities. In addition, a key focus of the Strategy is to support grassroots communities with expertise in addressing various forms of racism and discrimination.
The Strategy was designed to respond to existing research on racialized communities, Indigenous peoples, and religious minorities, narrow the gaps in data and evidence for research related to the socio-economic challenges faced by these demographic groups, leave space for innovation, and assess what interventions have the most impact on the communities it serves.
To respond to systemic racism and racial discrimination exacerbated by the pandemic, the Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat established the Equity-Seeking Communities COVID-19 Taskforce with Women and Gender Equality Canada in March 2020. The Taskforce, repurposed to focus on systemic racism from an intersectional perspective, will continue its work into 2022–23 and has been a space in which federal organizations have obtained access to critical data, learned directly from subject matter experts with lived experience of oppression, and shared information about current initiatives.
The Court Challenges Program funds individuals and groups who seek access to the courts because they feel their rights have been infringed upon. In doing so, the Program contributes directly to advancing the rights of women, diverse and vulnerable groups, and all Canadians.
The activities of the Human Rights Program are directed at all Canadians. Greater awareness and understanding of human rights and increased access to the Canadian justice system contribute to the promotion of gender equality, diversity and inclusion.
The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls found that government actions, inaction, policies, and laws have prevented Indigenous peoples from practising and passing on cultural knowledge and languages, and created conditions in which the significant roles and identities of Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people are less valued. Canadian Heritage will continue to support Indigenous languages initiatives that empower and acknowledge Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ individuals as knowledge keepers, educators, and leaders. Reconnection with language and culture fosters positive identity and contributes to their healing and safety.
Canada’s linguistic landscape is complex: approximately 90 living Indigenous languages are spoken across numerous communities, although the level of endangerment for these languages varies. The implementation of the Indigenous Languages Act and the National Action Plan for the Decade will focus on raising awareness of the diversity of Indigenous languages and the plurality of language situations in 2022–23.
The Department has created an initiative to pilot federal services in Indigenous languages which supports the priorities of gender equality, diversity and inclusion. It reflects important elements of the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, notably that access to services in Indigenous languages contributes to greater cultural safety.
Participants of projects supported by the Exchanges Canada and Youth Take Charge programs will reflect the geographic and demographic context of the Canadian youth population, supporting the Government’s goal of diversity and inclusion. The Youth Take Charge Program will assess applications against the reach, diversity, and number of youth involved in the proposals. The Exchanges Canada Program will require funded organizations to deliver projects on a geographic and demographic scope and scale reflective of the overall Canadian youth population.
Youth as a population represents the full spectrum of Canadian diversity, where individuals all have multiple and intersecting identities, such as race, ethnicity, Indigeneity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability, among others. For this reason, a youth lens is applied to documents, analyses and policy initiatives that are developed and/or reviewed by the Youth Secretariat to ensure that age and youth considerations are taken into account. Stakeholder engagement efforts continue to focus on developing approaches to reach youth who face barriers to opportunity, including racialized youth, and First Nations, Inuit and Métis youth.
For further information concerning data and capacity, please consult the GBA Plus supplementary table.
United Nations’ (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals
Canadian Heritage believes that diversity and inclusion is essential to serving Canadians. The Department builds on the multi-facets of social identity to ensure no one is left behind. This core responsibility delivers its mandate through several programs, namely Indigenous Languages and Cultures, Youth Engagement, Multiculturalism and Human Rights, whose initiatives will contribute to the goal of reducing inequalities by offering support to historically marginalized and disadvantaged communities (SDG 10).
More specifically, Building a Foundation for Change: Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy (2019–2022) supports Canadians with $45 million over three years. The Strategy has laid a foundation for long-term federal action against racism and discrimination in Canada, with a strong focus on community-based projects. (SDG 10)
As part of the Government’s ongoing commitment to combatting racism and discrimination, the 2020 Fall Economic Statement announced $50 million over two years to enhance Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy. This includes expanding its Community Support, Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Initiatives Program and its Anti-Racism Action Program, as well as expanding the Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat and extending its mandate by another year, to 2022–23. (SDG 10)
In recognition of the United Nations Decade for People of African Descent, the Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat established, alongside Employment and Social Development Canada, the Working Group on the International Decade for People of African Descent. The Working Group grew to reach over 18 federal institutions who are convened on a regular basis to ensure that government actions effectively address the needs of people of African descent in Canada and further explore government action beyond 2024, the last year of the UN Decade. (SDG 10)
The Court Challenges Program provides financial support to Canadians to 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 (SDG 10). By facilitating access to justice, the Program contributes to reducing inequalities and proposes a recourse for Canadians to clarify their rights, which contributes to strengthening Canadian institutions. (SDG 16)
The activities of the Human Rights Program are directed at all Canadians and the domestic culture of human rights, contributing to the advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Greater awareness and understanding of human rights and increased access to the Canadian justice system foster greater gender equality (SDG 5) and reduce inequalities (SDG 10). Ensuring Canadians have access to information on their rights and on the steps governments across the country have taken to protect them is a crucial component of fostering a domestic culture of human rights in Canada.
Providing support to Indigenous peoples for the reclamation, revitalization, maintenance and strengthening of Indigenous languages continues to be a priority for the Department. Canada’s engagement in the Global Action Plan for the International Decade of Indigenous Languages 2022–2032 contributes to an increase in access to services in Indigenous languages. This helps to further the goal of reducing inequalities (SDG 10), supports Health and Well-Being and Quality Education (SDG 3, SDG 4).
As tomorrow’s leaders, youth are the key to Canada’s future successes as such, the Youth Secretariat will continue to contribute to the advancement of reducing inequalities among youth (SDG 10). Furthermore, the continued implementation of Canada’s Youth Policy focuses on six priority areas, which support the Sustainable Development Goals, including: Leadership and Impact; Health and Wellness (SDG 3); Innovation, Skills and Learning (SDG 4); Employment (SDG 8); Truth and Reconciliation (SDG 10); and Environment and Climate Action (SDG 13).
The Youth Secretariat provides advice to federal departments as they examine youth engagement and the impact of their programs, policies, and initiatives on youth. The Youth Secretariat ensures that a whole-of-government approach is taken in addressing youth issues, with more targeted approaches to supporting youth facing barriers, including homelessness, mental health, food security, education, employment, family and gender-based violence, poverty reduction, health, environment and climate, and anti-discrimination and anti-racism (SDG 10).
Experimentation
The Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat will work with Women and Gender Equality Canada to enhance the GBA Plus analytical tool, with particular attention to the intersectional analysis of race, indigeneity, rurality, disability and sexual identity, among other characteristics.
The Indigenous Languages and Cultures Program is working to advance Pathfinder agreements under sections 8 and 9 of the Indigenous Languages Act. These multi-year agreements are aimed at furthering the purposes of the Act and will serve to pilot new approaches to funding. These agreements will be an opportunity to learn best ways to support other communities in the revitalization of their Indigenous languages. Furthermore, the Program will continue to explore and support innovative approaches to teaching and learning Indigenous languages at a community level.
Key risks
Addressing racism is a long-term objective that requires sustained commitment as well as systemic and generational change. Given the complexity of racism and discrimination issues and the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Department’s multiculturalism programming, resulting in delays or cancellations of funded events, and the difficulty of linking the results of funded initiatives to changes in behaviours or practises, 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 has established a 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 policy-making. In addition, the summative evaluation of the Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Program will be complete by March 2023.
The Human Rights Program’s key partners, the provinces and territories, Indigenous groups and civil society organizations, may be dissatisfied with the results achieved or the timelines associated with the achievement of those results. 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.
Budget 2021 investments include funding to support sections 8 and 9 agreements under the Indigenous Languages Act. These agreements are intended to improve coordination efforts in support of Indigenous languages. There is a risk that the provision of funding for these new agreements may be delayed to respect the process and time that Indigenous organizations may require to engage with Indigenous communities in the development of these agreements. To mitigate the risk, Canadian Heritage is engaging with multiple partners in different forums to identify and prioritize agreements that are more implementation ready.
The policy development work on access to services in Indigenous languages requires a broad engagement process that includes Indigenous partners as well as federal institutions. There is a risk that this engagement may experience issues with coordination and prioritization, and differences in approaches that may limit replicating the proposed pilot project in other contexts. The Department is mitigating this risk through establishing a senior federal interdepartmental oversight committee to guide this work, establish consistent whole-of-government approaches and share best practises and opportunities.
Some organizations funded by the youth programs may continue to be impacted by COVID-19 and may be unable to deliver in-person activities for youth as the pandemic context continues. To mitigate this risk, to the extent possible, the programs will be flexible and will support organizations as they adapt to the realities of the pandemic so that they can continue to offer projects, exchanges, and forums during the pandemic and recovery period.
There is a risk that the Youth Secretariat will be unable to keep pace and continue to deliver effectively on its commitments and to respond to ever-increasing demands in a timely manner. To mitigate the risk, the Youth Secretariat is nimble and will adjust and change course as necessary to focus on priority initiatives.
Planned results for Diversity and inclusion
The following table shows, for Diversity and inclusion, the planned results, the result indicators, the targets and the target dates for 2022–23, and the actual results for the three most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.
Departmental result | Departmental result indicator | Target | Date to achieve target | 2018–19 actual result | 2019–20 actual result | 2020–21 actual result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Canadians value diversity | Percentage of Canadians who feel that ethnic and cultural diversity is a shared value.Footnote 19 | 80 | May 2025 | 85 | n/aFootnote 20 | n/aFootnote 20 |
Reversal of the current downward trend in the use and fluency of Indigenous languages. | Percentage of First Nations people who can conduct a conversation in an Indigenous language that is not their mother tongue. | 4% increase in the number of First Nations people who can conduct a conversation in an Indigenous language that is not their mother tongue | December 2022 | 26.7Footnote 21 (Census 2016) | 26.7 (Census 2016) | 26.7 (Census 2016) |
Percentage of Métis people who can conduct a conversation in an Indigenous language that is not their mother tongue. | 4% increase in the number of Métis people who can conduct a conversation in an Indigenous language that is not their mother tongue | December 2022 | 41.7Footnote 22 (Census 2016) | 41.7 (Census 2016) | 41.7 (Census 2016) | |
Percentage of Inuit speaking an Inuit language | 63.3 | December 2022 | 64.3Footnote 23 (Census 2016) | 64.3 (Census 2016) | 64.3 (Census 2016) | |
Number of participants in language-learning activities. | 30,000 | December 2022 | 9,039Footnote 24 | 12,223Footnote 25 | n/aFootnote 26 | |
Youth enhance their appreciation of the diversity and shared aspects of the Canadian experience. | Percentage of participants in the Exchanges Canada Program who report having a better understanding of what Canadians have in common. | 85 | February 2024 | 82 | 82 | 81Footnote 27 |
Percentage of participants in the Exchanges Canada Program who report having a greater appreciation of how diverse Canada is. | 90 | February 2024 | 87 | 87 | 86Footnote 27 | |
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. | Number of recipients who received funding for cases related to the rights and freedoms of people in Canada under the Court Challenges Program.Footnote 28 | 65 | March 2023 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Canadians value human rights. | Percentage of Canadians who feel that human rights are a shared value. | 90 | March 2023 | n/a | n/aFootnote 29 | n/aFootnote 29 |
Planned budgetary spending for Diversity and inclusion
The following table shows, for Canadian Heritage, budgetary spending for 2022–23, as well as planned spending for that year and for each of the next two fiscal years.
2022–23 budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates) | 2022–23 planned spending | 2023–24 planned spending | 2024–25 planned spending |
---|---|---|---|
260,786,472 | 260,786,472 | 289,843,136 | 184,017,133 |
Planned human resources for Diversity and inclusion
The following table shows, in full-time equivalents, the human resources the Department will need to fulfill this core responsibility for 2022–23 and for each of the next two fiscal years.
2022–23 planned full-time equivalents | 2023–24 planned full-time equivalents | 2024–25 planned full-time equivalents |
---|---|---|
217.8 | 199.6 | 199.6 |
Financial, human resources and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.
Core responsibility 5: Official languages
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.
Planning highlights
Canadian Heritage contributes to Core responsibility 5 through the Official Languages Support Programs. These Programs support the promotion of both official languages in Canadian society, as well as the development of official-language minority communities, by collaborating with community organizations and provincial and territorial governments. They foster a coordinated approach to ensure participation from all institutions of the federal government in the implementation of the Official Languages Act, and the coordination of whole-of-government initiatives on Official Languages. The Department also coordinates the implementation of the Action Plan for Official Languages 2018–2023: Investing in our futureFootnote 30, a federal initiative for official languages. Since March 2020, Official Languages Support Programs pivoted and reprioritized their activities to help support recipients, including the arts and culture organizations in official language minority communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022–23, the Department will continue to demonstrate flexibility and support departmental efforts to mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
To support official languages minority communities through the pandemic, the Recovery Fund for Arts, Culture Heritage and Sport sectors and the Reopening Fund will together deliver $500 million over two years (2021–22 and 2022–23) across the arts, culture, heritage and sport sectors, with substantial investments being made in support of Core responsibility 5 in 2022–23 through the following program:
- Development of Official Language Communities: to support Official Language Support Program clients who received emergency funding last year and who still require assistance with the modernization of their activities and operations for the post-COVID-19 period, and to support arts and culture organizations that are not Program clients, but meet the eligibility criteria, and have needs to re-launch their operations.
The planned budget allocated to this core responsibility is $622,859,750 and supported by a total of 160.9 planned full-time equivalents.
Canadians recognize and support Canada’s official languages
In 2022–23, the Department will undertake the following activities towards achieving this departmental result by:
- Reintroducing legislation to modernize and reinforce the Official Languages Act and its related instruments to secure the future of the French language in Canada.
- Completing the implementation of the Action Plan for Official Languages 2018–2023. These initiatives demonstrate the Government’s commitment to support and promote our two official languages, which are at the heart of Canadian identity and an essential platform for the inclusion of all Canadians.
- Ensuring consultations are held towards the development of a new federal Official Languages initiative which will cover the period 2023–2028.
- Putting in place these three Budget 2021 commitments:
- Make high-quality post-secondary education available by increasing funding for post-secondary institutions in official language minority communities.
- Support the construction, renovation, and expansion of the educational and community spaces that serve official language minority communities, including the protection of Quebec’s English-speaking community’s institutions.
- Support students across the country in achieving greater levels of bilingualism, notably by improving access to French immersion and French second-language programs across the country.
- Pursuing a collaboration with CBC/Radio-Canada for new content development and distribution of Mauril, a web, tablet and mobile platform to learn and maintain both official languages, English and French.
- Launching the renewal process of bilateral agreements in the area of Official Languages.
Federal institutions develop and implement policies and programs in accordance with Section 41 of the Official Languages Act
The Department will undertake the following notable activities in 2022–23 towards achieving this departmental result by:
- Pursuing the implementation of the 2021–24 Interdepartmental Strategy, which puts particular emphasis on strengthening the application of the official languages lens in policy and program development.
- Strengthening the Department’s Interdepartmental Coordination Network by implementing the recommendations of the Interdepartmental Coordination Evaluation related to section 42 of the Official Languages Act.
- Enhancing awareness, accountability, and engagement of the public service’s senior management, notably by supporting the Deputy Minister of Canadian Heritage in her role as Champion of the official languages community, and by implementing the Official Languages Leadership Strategy.
- Strengthening collaboration and dialogue between official language minority communities and federal institutions by fostering exchange, consultations, and presentations.
Gender-based analysis plus
In 2022–23, various programs under Core responsibility 5 will seek to support increased representation and inclusivity.
The Official Languages Branch annually updates its GBA Plus tool and systematically integrates it in the development of its programs and policies and will do so again in 2022–23. Disaggregated data for different population groups further allows the Official Languages Branch to apply a GBA Plus lens to obtain results.
The GBA Plus tool has made it possible to identify revealing observations on the situation experienced by several groups of people, belonging to the French-speaking and English-speaking linguistic minorities in the country. In fact, demographic and socio-economic characteristics distinguish the official language minority Francophone communities outside Quebec from the majority Anglophone population, including a higher proportion of seniors aged 65 and older (39 percent versus 31 percent); a higher proportion of people without a certificate or diploma (20 percent versus 17 percent); and a lower rate of labour force participation (63 percent versus 67 percent). In addition, Francophones outside Quebec are more likely to live in rural areas or small communities than the majority Anglophone population (27 percent versus 16 percent). For Quebec’s Anglophone official language minority communities, compared to the Francophone majority population, we observe a higher proportion of immigrants (33 percent versus 10 percent); a higher proportion of members of visible minority groups (30 percent versus 10 percent); a higher proportion of people reporting an Aboriginal identity (4 percent versus 2 percent); and a lower proportion of people without a certificate or diploma (16 percent versus 20 percent).
Based on this high-level analysis, which highlights the differentiated issues and challenges facing French-speaking and English-speaking linguistic minorities in the country, it is possible to conduct more refined analyses using a multitude of other factors (gender, age group, level of education, income level, unemployment rate, language transmission, etc.) to analyze and take full account of the repercussions on different sub-groups when developing policies and programs to meet their needs.
For further information concerning data and capacity, please consult the GBA Plus supplementary table.
United Nations’ (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals
The Action Plan for Official Languages 2018–2023 contributes to reducing inequalities by promoting our two official languages, which are at the heart of Canadian identity and an essential platform for the inclusion of all Canadians (SDG 10). In addition to completing the implementation of this Plan, the Department will work on the introduction of a new federal initiative on official languages, which will cover the period 2023–2028. The Department is also engaged in a process to modernize the Official Languages Act, which includes the development of regulatory measures aimed at substantive equality of English and French. (SDG 10)
Canadian Heritage is working to renew bilateral agreements with provincial and territorial governments for Minority-Language Education and Second-Language Instruction, which promotes both quality education (SDG 4) and contributes to reducing inequalities (SDG 10).
The Department will continue to collaborate with CBC/Radio-Canada for content development and distribution of Mauril, a web and mobile application to learn and maintain both official languages, French and English (SDG 4). Mauril is available in web, tablet, or mobile versions.
Experimentation
As the Official Languages Branch focuses on the modernization and strengthening of the Official Languages Act and its related instruments, several innovative measures representing worthy opportunities for experimentation as part of innovative, agile and flexible program management such as the improvement of programs “by” and “for” the communities, the transfer of funds allocated from one fiscal year to another and the addition or extension of deadline for project proposals.
Key risks
Canada’s two official languages, English and French, are at the heart of who we are as Canadians. While both our Anglophone and Francophone populations are vibrant and continue to grow, some of the trends are concerning. Among these is the decline in the demographic weight of the country’s Francophone population, as well as the slow growth of bilingualism rates of the population outside of Quebec. These facts could adversely affect the vitality of French in Canada.
The modernization and strengthening of the Official Languages Act, and its related instruments, take into consideration the unique reality of French in Canada. The modernization of the Act will be an opportunity for the Government of Canada to emphasize and reaffirm the status of English and French as Canada’s official languages, their importance in building Canadian identity and their essential role as a vehicle for integration into Canadian society.
Planned results for Official languages
The following table shows, for Official languages, the planned results, the result indicators, the targets and the target dates for 2022–23, and the actual results for the three most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.
Departmental result | Departmental result indicator | Target | Date to achieve target | 2018–19 actual result | 2019–20 actual result | 2020–21 actual result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Canadians recognize and support Canada’s official languages. | Percentage of Canadians who agree that Canada’s two official languages (English/French) are an important part of what it means to be Canadian. | 60 | March 2023 | 60Footnote 31 | 60Footnote 31 | 60Footnote 31 |
Number of Canadians who can conduct a conversation in their second official language. | 6,200,000 | March 2023 | 6,216,070 | 6,216,070 | 6,216,070Footnote 32 | |
Maintenance of the 85% baseline of Official-Language Minority Communities who live within a 25 km radius of an arts/culture organization that offers services in the minority language. | 85 | March 2023 | 89.8 | 89.8 | 85.7Footnote 33 | |
Maintenance of the 85% baseline of Official-Language Minority Communities who live within a 25 km radius of a regional/local community development organization that offers services in the minority language. | 85 | March 2023 | 86 | 86 | 87.3Footnote 34 | |
Federal institutions develop and implement policies and programs in accordance with Section 41 of the Official Languages Act. | Percentage of federal institutions that report concrete results in their annual review in support of Section 41 of the Official Languages Act. | 80Footnote 35 | March 2023 | 100Footnote 36 | n/aFootnote 37 | 73.4Footnote 38 |
Planned budgetary spending for Official languages
The following table shows, for Canadian Heritage, budgetary spending for 2022–23, as well as planned spending for that year and for each of the next two fiscal years.
2022–23 budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates) | 2022–23 planned spending | 2023–24 planned spending | 2024–25 planned spending |
---|---|---|---|
622,859,750 | 622,859,750 | 536,761,136 | 437,320,462 |
Planned human resources for Official languages
The following table shows, in full-time equivalents, the human resources the Department will need to fulfill this core responsibility for 2022–23 and for each of the next two fiscal years.
2022–23 planned full-time equivalents | 2023–24 planned full-time equivalents | 2024–25 planned full-time equivalents |
---|---|---|
160.9 | 158.4 | 158.4 |
Financial, human resources and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.
Internal services: planned results
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
Planning highlights
Management and oversight services
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Review
The Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Review is a two-year project originating from the public commitment to improve equitable access to Canadian Heritage programs. It is one of several new initiatives related to the Department’s goal of becoming a more inclusive, diverse and accessible organization. The Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Review will identify issues like systemic inequalities and inequities, barriers and exclusionary mechanisms that prevent equity-deserving groups from accessing funding and other forms of support from the department.
Culture Theme of the Federal Pathway to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people
Advancing culture is key in restoring and promoting the role of Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people in Indigenous communities and in Canadian society as a whole. More specifically, initiatives to ensure cultural continuity and eliminate the systemic barriers that prevent it creates conditions in which Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people are more socially valued, less at risk of being targeted for violence, and can have more opportunities to fulfill their life goals.
Canadian Heritage is working closely with other federal and Indigenous partners to advance work related to culture in response to the Calls for Justice of the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. This will support the implementation of the Federal Pathway to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People.
Canadian Heritage will continue to work with Indigenous communities and organizations, and federal departments to design, develop and implement initiatives in the short, medium, and long term to advance the Federal Pathway’s culture-related commitments. This includes ongoing implementation of investments at the Department in Indigenous languages, audiovisual productions and sport announced in Budget 2021.
Strengthening 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. In particular, work will be undertaken to advance the mandate commitment held by the Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion to continue “the evaluation process of GBA Plus with the goal of enhancing the framing and parameters of this analytical tool and with particular attention to the intersectional analysis of race, indigeneity, rurality, disability and sexual identity, among other characteristics.”
To this end, three new GBA Plus tools which expand a focus on identity factors beyond gender, released by Women and Gender Equality Canada in summer 2021, will be rolled out across the Department. The tools will inform departmental decision-making, and key corporate products, such as planning, and Cabinet and Budget submissions.
Canadian Heritage Data Strategy
The Department will carry out the Data Strategy Implementation Plan, pivoting attention and resources on issues related to data governance, with a particular focus on establishing protocols for reviewing and managing research ethics as relates to human-centred research, specifically engagements, public opinion research, and qualitative research.
The Department will focus efforts on data literacy and training to ensure that employees have the necessary knowledge to incorporate data as required into their work activities, and will work on issues around data collection, with a focus on identifying current needs and addressing data gaps, particularly in relation to diversity and inclusion and disaggregated data.
The Department will pursue projects that include measurement of COVID-19’s social impacts such as a Well-being App allowing Canadians to report their well-being relative to their activity at a given time. The data gathered can be used to quantify well-being generated by culture and sport relative to other activities. Also, the Arts’ Civic Impact: Researchers in Residence project will share results from an on-going study that explores how the arts can help address civic issues in innovative ways, and which creates tools to articulate the civic impacts of arts on communities.
Greening Government
As climate change is one of the Government’s top priorities, Canadian Heritage will engage the arts, culture, heritage and sport sectors to develop options for taking concrete measures to reduce their environmental footprint. The Department will continue to support the targets and objectives of the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy, through the Department’s Sustainable Development Strategy.
The primary activity for 2022–23 is to advance on key greening priorities identified by stakeholders during the National Summit on the Arts, Culture and Heritage Sectors in Canada taking place early in the first quarter of 2022–23.
The Department will expand data and research efforts by working with Statistics Canada and the Policy Research Group to develop and disseminate tools that will enable arts, culture, heritage and sport organizations to measure their environmental footprints.
Accessibility
The Accessibility Office is contributing to an organizational culture shift towards the inclusion of people with disabilities and provides leadership and horizontal harmonization efforts to ensure that the Department meets its obligations under the Accessible Canada Act. This includes increasing knowledge and awareness across the Department of disability and accessibility issues.
The Accessibility Office will develop, with key partners, including departmental employees with disabilities, clients with disabilities, or those representing people with disabilities, the Department’s first three-year accessibility plan identifying barriers and actions to remove or prevent them for each of the priority areas of the Act.
Human resources and real property management services
The Department will explore possibilities associated with taking advantage of modernized shared work environments; to plan/oversee employees’ return to the workplace in a healthy and safe manner, with appropriate policy instruments and redesigned tools. This includes increasing offers of and diversifying mental health and well-being resources to employees, and updating services, tools and workshops to reflect the new realities of the workplace and government-wide priorities in diversity and inclusiveness.
As outlined in the Clerk’s Call to Action on Anti-Racism, Equity and Inclusion in the Federal Public Service, the Employment Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and action plan aim to implement all the conditions allowing to find a competent and diverse workforce, as well as a welcoming and inclusive workplace within Canadian Heritage by addressing barriers and disadvantages, while combating racism and discrimination.
Starting from actions outlined in the departmental Employment Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2021–24 action plan, the Department will consult and work closely with partners to begin the implementation of activities, including implementing feedback mechanisms; monitoring achievement of results and report/communicate progress made.
Financial management services
The Department will continue to improve results by modernizing financial processes to maintain a high performing and client focused financial management and planning function by investing in systems, digitization and analytics.
Canadian Heritage will continue to promote and implement standardized business processes, supported by sound data models and information architecture, to guide the continued administration, management and delivery of transfer payment programs.
Information management and information technology services
The Department will work with program partners to leverage technology to enhance program effectiveness and efficiency and improve services for Canadians and strengthen management of information resources and promote sound recordkeeping practises within the Department.
The My PCH Online project is committed to delivering a foundational online platform and Portal for funding applicants, and to onboarding representative Programs. My PCH Online will deliver critical results focusing on improved client service; streamlined interactions with Canadian Heritage, increased transparency, improved Program operations via simplified and streamlined funding applications and processes, improved data to enhance program administration resulting from standardized collection of client information as well as the use of common elements of application forms and recipient reports.
Gender-based analysis plus
In 2022–23, the Department’s internal services will seek to support increased representation and inclusivity.
The Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Review is mindful of GBA Plus considerations, in that the Review considers distinct perspectives related to the full range of equity factors. Program participants are challenged to identify structural and systemic barriers that create disadvantages for equity groups relating to program access and outcomes. Through the Review Working Group, colleagues working in the area of GBA Plus and on issues pertaining to specific equity-deserving groups (e.g., Indigenous peoples, youth, anti-racism, 2SLGBTQQIA+) are being engaged to develop collaborative opportunities to create more inclusive outcomes that meet the needs of these communities.
Canadian Heritage’s work on the Culture Theme of the Federal Pathway to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people, is mindful of GBA Plus considerations, especially in that it takes into account the distinct perspectives and experiences of First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities, and other Indigenous people, sex and gender identities and/or sexual orientation, and geography, among other factors. Active engagement with representatives from First Nations, Inuit, and Métis organizations, families and survivors, as well as from urban and 2SLGBTQQIA+ organizations through Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada’s working group structure enables the Department and Indigenous partners to jointly develop future priorities that meet the distinctive needs expressed by Indigenous partners.
The departmental workplace reintegration plan will factor in the use of GBA Plus, as well as equity-deserving groups’ points of view to ensure that it is reflective of an equality, diversity and inclusion perspective.
United Nations’ (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals
The Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Review takes into account the importance of cultural identities and expressions for well-being and aims to make recommendations for equitable policies and programs that will support free expression of culture and identity. In addition, the Review aims to identify barriers and improve outcomes for women and girls, as well gender-diverse communities, including 2SLGBTQQIA+ people, to be able to access and benefit from the full spectrum of support and funding from the Department while creating opportunities for women, girls and gender-diverse people to fulfill their life goals through cultural, arts and sports activities (SDG 5 and SDG 10).
Canadian Heritage will continue to work on responding to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Calls for Justice related to culture which aims to improve outcomes for Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people. Canadian Heritage’s work creates conditions where their cultural identities are celebrated, respected and promoted, and their self-esteem and general well-being are strengthened (SDG 3, SDG 5, SDG 10). Current and future initiatives will work to create conditions in which Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people’s can have increasing opportunities to fulfill their life goals, through cultural employment and other projects in environments where they are not targeted for violence (SDG 5, SDG 10). The Calls for Justice are a call for a transformation of institutions at all levels in order to end enduring discriminatory and racist practises and to ensure inclusion of Indigenous people with a focus on Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people (SDG 16).
The work of the Accessibility Office supports Canada’s commitment to reduce inequalities by providing support for the marginalized and the disadvantaged (SDG 10).
Planned budgetary spending for internal services
The following table shows, for internal services, budgetary spending for 2022–23, as well as planned spending for that year and for each of the next two fiscal years.
2022–23 budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates) | 2022–23 planned spending | 2023–24 planned spending | 2024–25 planned spending |
---|---|---|---|
89,741,629 | 89,741,629 | 80,554,265 | 79,814,144 |
Planned human resources for internal services
The following table shows, in full-time equivalents, the human resources the Department will need to carry out its internal services for 2022–23 and for each of the next two fiscal years.
2022–23 planned full-time equivalents | 2023–24 planned full-time equivalents | 2024–25 planned full-time equivalents |
---|---|---|
823.6 | 794.8 | 796.6 |
Planned spending and human resources
This section provides an overview of the Department’s planned spending and human resources for the next three fiscal years and compares planned spending for 2022–23 with actual spending for the current year and the previous year.
Planned spending
Departmental spending 2019–20 to 2024–25
The following graph presents planned spending (voted and statutory expenditures) over time.

Departmental spending 2019–20 to 2024–25 (in millions of dollars) – text version
2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Statutory | 26 | 450 | 29 | 31 | 28 | 28 |
Voted | 1,525 | 1,512 | 2,115 | 2,153 | 1,779 | 1,461 |
Total | 1,551 | 1,962 | 2,144 | 2,184 | 1,807 | 1,489 |
The Emergency Support Fund implemented to provide additional temporary relief to cultural, heritage and sport organizations affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the funding provided to students and youth explains the significant increase in statutory spending in 2020–21. The Emergency Support Fund was intended to provide temporary financial support to organizations in these sectors that complements the Government’s existing COVID-19 support measures for wages and fixed costs for organizations. 5,000 recipients whose viability had been affected by the pandemic received $420 million in funding directly from the Department to help maintain jobs and support business continuity. Additional payments were also made by third-party organizations to final recipients.
For 2021–22, 2022–23 and 2023–24, to promote recovery from the pandemic for heritage, arts, and sport sectors that contribute so much to the cultural life of Canada, the 2020 Fall Economic Statement and Budget 2021 allocated unprecedented investments to Canadian Heritage and its Portfolio organizations for a variety of programs. These range from supports to performing arts festivals and community-based cultural events, celebrations and commemorations to support for Canadian musicians, concert venues, producers, and distributors; funding for arts and heritage institutions to help upgrade their facilities to meet public health guidelines; and funding for community sports. In addition, Budget 2021 announced the $300 million Recovery Fund to help restore immediate viability for organizations with pandemic-related financial needs and help them adapt to post-pandemic realities and the $200 million Reopening Fund to support local festivals, community cultural events, outdoor theatre performances, heritage celebrations, local museums, amateur sport events, and more, while ensuring events comply with local public health measures. Furthermore, for 2022–23, the Canada Performing Arts Worker Resilience Fund, announced in the 2021 Fall Economic Statement, will help retain specialized workers in the sector during a period of heightened instability for the cultural workforce. Also contributing to the increase in forecast and planned spending is the three-year investment announced in Budget 2021, starting in 2021–22 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 and the additional funding to support Indigenous communities in their efforts to reclaim, revitalize, maintain and strengthen Indigenous languages.
For future years, planned spending decreases due to temporary funding and return to pre-COVID-19 levels.
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 2022–23 and other relevant fiscal years.
Core responsibilities and internal services | 2019–20 actual expenditures | 2020–21 actual expenditures | 2021–22 forecast spending | 2022–23 budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates) | 2022–23 planned spending | 2023–24 planned spending | 2024–25 planned spending |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Creativity, arts and culture | 542,853,062 | 811,416,984 | 775,605,484 | 693,223,296 | 693,223,296 | 538,211,248 | 457,082,732 |
Heritage and celebration | 123,860,201 | 162,057,233 | 183,922,720 | 190,685,235 | 190,685,235 | 127,461,539 | 100,587,269 |
Sport | 243,114,183 | 321,270,921 | 300,936,022 | 327,068,407 | 327,068,407 | 234,651,201 | 230,127,252 |
Diversity and inclusion | 132,989,704 | 107,737,768 | 188,899,803 | 260,786,472 | 260,786,472 | 289,843,136 | 184,017,133 |
Official languages | 423,334,498 | 462,296,619 | 593,798,345 | 622,859,750 | 622,859,750 | 536,761,136 | 437,320,462 |
Subtotal | 1,466,151,648 | 1,864,779,525 | 2,043,162,374 | 2,094,623,160 | 2,094,623,160 | 1,726,928,260 | 1,409,134,848 |
Internal services | 84,423,303 | 96,762,722 | 101,028,593 | 89,741,629 | 89,741,629 | 80,554,265 | 79,814,144 |
Total | 1,550,574,951 | 1,961,542,247 | 2,144,190,967 | 2,184,364,789 | 2,184,364,789 | 1,807,482,525 | 1,488,948,992 |
- Creativity, Arts and Culture
-
Time-limited funding was received in 2019–20 to support the production of original civic journalism for underserved communities, to enhance the production and distribution of accessible digital books by Canadian independent book publishers, to expand support for artists through the Canada Music Fund and Canada Arts Presentation Fund, and to invest in a Francophone Digital Platform (TV5). The Harbourfront Centre also received targeted support in 2019–20 for priority infrastructure projects to modernize presentation and recreation facilities and a continued temporary funding to support its operations starting in 2021–22. Budget 2018 confirmed funding to the Canada Media Fund to compensate for the decline in funds from Canada’s Broadcasting Distribution Undertakings. This is reflected from 2018–19 actual spending to 2021–22 forecast spending but not yet in future years’ planned spending as the amount is confirmed on a yearly basis. The implementation of the Emergency Support Fund to support cultural, heritage and sport organizations affected by the COVID-19 pandemic explains the significant increase in spending in 2020–21, more specifically in the following programs: Canada Media Fund, Canada Periodical Fund, Canada Music Fund and Canada Book Fund.
For 2021–22 and 2022–23, the sunset of the Emergency Support Fund is partially compensated by temporary funding measures announced in the 2020 Fall Economic Statement to help stabilize the overall environment for the live arts and music sectors and in Budget 2021 to support the cultural sector, including the two-year funding totalling $500 million to support the recovery in the heritage, arts, culture, and sport sectors and the reopening for events and in-person experiences and new funding in 2022–23 for the Canada Performing Arts Workers Resilience Fund announced in the 2021 Fall Economic Statement.
For future years, planned spending return to pre-COVID-19 level and also decreases due to the end of temporary funding such as the 5-year investment to support Canada’s Creative Export Strategy, which aims to foster the export of Canadian creative works, the end of the funding for Protecting Canada’s Democracy Project to address online disinformation and the end of the funding received to support the production of original civic journalism for underserved communities.
- Heritage and Celebration
-
Time-limited funding was received in 2019–20 to support artists, cultural events and commemorations initiatives. The steep increase observed in 2020–21 spending is a result of payments made by the Department for the COVID-19 Emergency Support Fund for Cultural, Heritage and Sport Organizations as well as payments to support students and youth impacted by COVID-19.
For 2021–22 and 2022–23, the sunset of the Emergency Support Fund is partially compensated by new temporary funding measures announced in the 2020 Fall Economic Statement and in Budget 2021 including the two-year funding totalling $500 million to support the recovery in the heritage, arts, culture, and sport sectors and the reopening for events and in-person experiences. Also, new funding was received to support performing arts festivals, cultural events, arts and heritage institutions, celebrations, and commemorations to address pressures facing the arts and heritage sectors as well as to commemorate the history and legacy of residential schools. Budget 2021 also announced funding to support the digitization of information and collections by non-national museums and heritage institutions and funding for the RCMP Heritage Centre as it begins the process of transitioning to a national museum.
The sunsetting of these temporary funds explains the decrease in Planned Spending starting in 2023–24 and future years.
- Sport
-
New funding was received in 2019–20 for the Sport for Social Development in Indigenous Communities initiative, for Gender Equality in Sport (sunsetting in 2021–22), and towards Ensuring a Safe and Healthy Sport System and to support Indigenous Youth and Sport initiatives. The implementation of the Emergency Support Fund to support cultural, heritage and sport organizations affected by the COVID-19 pandemic explains the significant increase in spending in 2020–21, more specifically in the following programs: Sport Support Program and Athlete Assistance Program. The increase in 2020–21 is partially offset by the decrease in spending for the Hosting Program resulting from major sporting events being cancelled or postponed such as the 2020 Summer Olympics, the North American Indigenous Games and many other national and international competitions.
For 2021–22 and 2022–23, the sunset of the Emergency Support Fund is partially compensated by temporary funding measures announced in Budget 2021 to support the cultural sector, including the two-year funding totalling $500 million to support the recovery in the heritage, arts, culture, and sport sectors and the reopening for events and in-person experiences and by funding for the Indigenous Reconciliation and Strength for Indigenous Women and Girls through Sport for Social Development and Community Sport for All initiatives.
The sunsetting of these temporary funds explains the decrease in Planned Spending starting in 2023–24 and future years.
- Diversity and Inclusion
-
New funding was received in 2019–20 to Preserve, promote and revitalize Indigenous languages. Additionally, time-limited funding was sought to address racism and discrimination, more specifically to provide funding for projects to build capacity in Black Canadian communities (ending in 2020–21) and to support the creation of an Anti-Racism Secretariat (ending in 2021–22). The decrease in spending observed in 2020–21 is mainly due to the end of funding for the Michaëlle Jean and the Rideau Hall Foundations as both organizations have reached the maximum available matching funds specified in their respective grant agreements. Also, contributing to the decrease in 2020–21 is the reduced spending in the Exchanges Canada Program due to related restriction on travel and in-person gathering following the COVID-19 pandemic and time-limited funding to strengthen Multiculturalism to address racism and discrimination which sunset in 2021–22.
The two-year funding announced in the 2020 Fall Economic Statement to expand Canadian Heritage’s Community Support, Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Initiatives Program and its Anti-Racism Action Program, and to enhance Canadian Heritage’s capacity to deliver on the government’s anti-racism objectives by supporting its Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Branch, including the Anti-Racism Secretariat partially explains the increase in forecast and planned spending for 2021–22 and 2022–23.
Also contributing to the increase in planned spending starting in 2021–22 to 2023–24 is the additional funding announced in Budget 2021 to Indigenous communities in their efforts to reclaim, revitalize, maintain and strengthen Indigenous languages.
The sunsetting of these temporary funds explains the decrease in Planned Spending starting in 2024–25 and future years.
- Official languages
-
New funding was received in 2019–20 for the implementation of the Action Plan for Official Languages from 2018 to 2023. This funding will help strengthen official-language minority communities, improve access to services in both official languages, and promote a bilingual Canada. Also contributing to the overall increase is the following funding: the ten-year investment to support educational infrastructure projects for Official Languages Minority Communities in the provinces and territories (Budget 2017), the 4-year funding to Enhance Support for Minority-Language Education in Canada (sunsetting in 2022–23) and the 3-year funding for the Post-Census Survey on Official Language Minority Communities which decreases and sunsets in 2022–23.
The three-year investment, announced in Budget 2021, starting in 2021–22 to support second-language learning, high-quality postsecondary minority-language education and to the construction, renovation and expansion of educational and community spaces that serve official language minority communities explains the increase in forecast and planned spending and then decreases in 2023–24.
- Internal Services
-
During 2020–21, punctual investments were made in informatics to provide equipment and tools to adapt to a new remote workplace environment as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. A temporary portal for the delivery of COVID-19 emergency funding was launched during the year with an accompanying client support model, allowing the intake of over 2,500 applications for funding. This portal helped advance the work towards the My PCH Online project which aims to develop and implement an integrated online portal for clients to submit applications. Investments will continue to be made in 2021–22 and 2022–23 to support the delivery of Canadian Heritage initiatives and services.
For future years, planned spending decreases and stabilizes due to the sunsetting of funding dedicated to investments in departmental transformation efforts to modernize departmental processes.
Planned human resources
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 for 2022–23 and the other relevant years.
Human resources planning summary for core responsibilities and internal services
Core responsibilities and internal services | 2019–20 actual full-time equivalents | 2020–21 actual full-time equivalents | 2020–21 forecast full-time equivalents | 2022–23 planned full-time equivalents | 2023–24 planned full-time equivalents | 2024–25 planned full-time equivalents |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Creativity, arts and culture | 423.9 | 416.0 | 420.2 | 431.5 | 407.5 | 407.5 |
Heritage and celebration | 319.4 | 286.8 | 315.4 | 326.6 | 319.5 | 313.5 |
Sport | 103.5 | 96.4 | 98.9 | 105.9 | 100.9 | 100.9 |
Diversity and inclusion | 164.1 | 194.8 | 231.1 | 217.8 | 199.6 | 199.6 |
Official languages | 150.8 | 148.8 | 157.9 | 160.9 | 158.4 | 158.4 |
Subtotal | 1,161.7 | 1,142.8 | 1,223.5 | 1,242.7 | 1,185.9 | 1,179.9 |
Internal services | 681.6 | 701.6 | 732.9 | 823.6 | 794.8 | 796.6 |
Total | 1,843.3 | 1,844.4 | 1,956.4 | 2,066.3 | 1,980.7 | 1,976.5 |
- Creativity, Arts and Culture
-
The actual full-time equivalents decrease in 2020–21 mainly due to the completion of the work for the review and modernization of the Broadcasting Act Review, to unexpected employee departures and the time required to find replacements. The forecast and planned full-time equivalents increase again in 2021–22 and 2022–23 as a result of temporary funding measures announced in the 2020 Fall Economic Statement to help stabilize the overall environment for the live arts and music sectors and in Budget 2021 to support the cultural sector, including the two-year funding totalling $500 million to support the recovery in the heritage, arts, culture, and sport sectors and the reopening for events and in-person experiences and new funding in 2022–23 for the Canada Performing Arts Workers Resilience Fund announced in the 2021 Fall Economic Statement.
The sunsetting of these temporary funds explains the decrease in planned full-time equivalents starting in 2023–24 and future years to return to pre-pandemic levels.
- Heritage and Celebration
-
The decrease observed in 2020–21 is mostly due to the virtual delivery of events such as Canada Day and Winterlude as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions.
The forecast and planned full-time equivalents increase again in 2021–22 with a peak in 2022–23 and decrease for future years as a result of temporary funding measures announced in the 2020 Fall Economic Statement and in Budget 2021 including the two-year funding totalling $500 million to support the recovery in the heritage, arts, culture, and sport sectors and the reopening for events and in-person experiences. Also, new funding was received to support performing arts festivals, cultural events, arts and heritage institutions, celebrations, and commemorations to address pressures facing the arts and heritage sectors as well as to commemorate the history and legacy of residential schools.
- Sport
- The actual full-time equivalents in 2020–21 decrease due to unexpected employee departures and the time required to find replacements and to cancellation and delays of events due to COVID-19 pandemic. The forecast and planned full-time equivalents increase again in 2021–22 and 2022–23 and decrease for future years as a result of temporary funding measures announced in Budget 2021 to support the cultural sector, including the two-year funding totalling $500 million to support the recovery in the heritage, arts, culture, and sport sectors and the reopening for events and in-person experiences and by funding for the Indigenous Reconciliation and Strength for Indigenous Women and Girls through Sport for Social Development and Community Sport for All initiatives.
- Diversity and Inclusion
-
The increase in the actual full-time equivalents in 2019–20 and 2020–21 is due to the new time-limited funding to support the creation of a new Anti-Racism Strategy with a related Anti-Racism Secretariat, the new ongoing funding to Preserve, Promote and Revitalize Indigenous languages announced in Budget 2019. This increase continues in 2021–22 and then decreases for future years mainly due to the two-year funding announced in the 2020 Fall Economic Statement to expand Canadian Heritage’s Community Support, Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Initiatives Program and its Anti-Racism Action Program, and to enhance Canadian Heritage’s capacity to deliver on the government’s anti-racism objectives by supporting its Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Branch, including the Anti-Racism Secretariat and due to additional funding announced in Budget 2021 for 2021–22 to 2023–24 to Indigenous communities in their efforts to reclaim, revitalize, maintain and strengthen Indigenous languages.
The sunsetting of these temporary funds explains the decrease in planned spending for future years in addition to the transfer of the LGBTQ2 Secretariat to Women and Gender Equality Canada, effective October 26, 2021.
- Official languages
- The implementation of the Action Plan for Official Languages 2018–2023 results in a relatively stable full-time equivalents level from year to year including the three-year investment, announced in Budget 2021, starting in 2021–22 to support second-language learning, high-quality postsecondary minority-language education and to the construction, renovation and expansion of educational and community spaces that serve official language minority communities.
- Internal Services
- The actual full-time equivalents start increasing in 2020–21 and stabilize in 2023–24 to ensure proper support is available to carry out the departmental mandate and initiatives announced in the 2020 Fall Economic Statement and Budget 2021. The increase in full-time equivalents is also explained by the five Ministers offices responsible for Canadian Heritage’s mandate that will be fully staffed starting in 2022–23 and future years.
Estimates by vote
Information on Canadian Heritage’s organizational appropriations is available in the 2022–23 Main Estimates.Footnote 39
Future-oriented condensed statement of operations
The future-oriented condensed statement of operations provides an overview of Canadian Heritage’s operations for 2021–22 to 2022–23.
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 websiteFootnote 40.
Future-oriented condensed statement of operations for the year ending March 31, 2023 (thousands of dollars)
Financial information | 2021–22 forecast results | 2022–23 planned results | Difference (2022–23 planned results minus 2021–22 forecast results) |
---|---|---|---|
Total expenses | 2,180,120 | 2,215,585 | 35,465 |
Total revenues | 9,813 | 8,743 | (1,070) |
Net cost of operations before government funding and transfers | 2,170,307 | 2,206,842 | 36,535 |
The overall net increase of $36 million in planned results in 2022–23 compared to forecast results in 2021–22 is largely due to an increase in temporary spending to help stabilize the overall environment for the live arts and music sectors and support the cultural sector. Additional spending is planned:
- To support the recovery in the heritage, arts, culture, and sport sectors and the reopening for events and in-person experiences.
- Within Indigenous communities to support their efforts to reclaim, revitalize, maintain, and strengthen Indigenous languages and cultures.
- To support Indigenous Reconciliation and Strength for Indigenous Women and Girls through Sport.
- For the new Canada Performing Arts Workers Resilience Fund.
Substantial increases and decreases in planned results in 2022–23 compared to forecast results in 2021–22 across all sectors contribute to the overall net increase in the department’s planned results.
The largest decrease ($82 million) is observed in the Creativity, Arts and Culture sector, and is largely due to a return to pre-COVID-19 spending levels and the end of temporary funding.
The largest increase ($72 million) is observed in the Diversity and Inclusion sector and is largely a result of additional planned payments to Indigenous communities to support their efforts to reclaim, revitalize, maintain, and strengthen Indigenous languages and cultures.
Increases observed in the Official Languages ($33 million), Sport ($27 million), and Heritage and Celebrations ($5 million) sectors are largely a result of the increase in temporary/additional spending mentioned above, which is offset by decreased spending ($19 million) in the Internal Services sector for the modernization of departmental processes which are to be substantially completed by the end of 2021–22.
Corporate information
Organizational profile
- Appropriate ministers
-
- The Honourable Pablo Rodriguez, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Canadian Heritage - The Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Official Languages and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency - The Honourable Ahmed Hussen, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion - The Honourable Marci Ien, P.C., M.P.
Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth - The Honourable Pascale St-Onge, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Sport and Minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec
- The Honourable Pablo Rodriguez, P.C., M.P.
- Institutional head
- Isabelle Mondou
- Ministerial portfolio
- Department of Canadian Heritage
- Enabling instrument
- Department of Canadian Heritage ActFootnote 41
- Year of incorporation / commencement
- The Department of Canadian Heritage was created in June 1993. However, the Department of Canadian Heritage Act received Royal Assent in June 1995.
Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do
Information on Canadian Heritage’s raison d’être, mandate and role is available on the Department’s websiteFootnote 42.
Information on Canadian Heritage mandate letter commitments is available in the Ministers’ mandate lettersFootnote 43.
Operating context
Information on the operating context is available on Canadian Heritage’s Canadian Heritage’s websiteFootnote 42.
Reporting framework
The Department of Canadian Heritage’s approved departmental results framework and program inventory for 2022–23 are shown below and are also available in text version.

Changes to the approved reporting framework since 2021–22
Canadian Heritage’s Departmental Results Framework was established and brought into use in 2017. Since then, the Department has evolved; Canadian Heritage has taken on new responsibilities to meet the evolving needs of Canadians. The Departmental Results Framework was amended in 2021–22 to fully align programs, results and indicators with the departmental mandate and activities. The updates are reflected in the 2022–23 Departmental Plan.
As part of the changes, the Multiculturalism program was renamed the Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism program to further build on Canada’s strength as a diverse and inclusive society. A new result was also included in the Creativity, Arts and Culture core responsibility to reflect the growing impact of the digital environment on Canadians.
Supporting information on the program inventory
Supporting information on planned expenditures, human resources, and results related to Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.
Federal tax expenditures
Canadian Heritage’s Departmental Plan does not include information on tax expenditures.
Tax expenditures are the responsibility of the Minister of Finance. The Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for government--wide tax expenditures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures.Footnote 44 This report provides detailed information on tax expenditures, including objectives, historical background and references to related federal spending programs, as well as evaluations, research papers and gender-based analysis plus.
Organizational contact information
- Mailing address
- Canadian Heritage
15 Eddy Street
Gatineau QC K1A 0M5
Canada - Telephone
- 819-997-0055
- Toll-freeFootnote 45
- 1-866-811-0055
- TTYFootnote 46
- 1-888-997-3123
- info@pch.gc.ca
- Website
- www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage.html
Appendix: definitions
- appropriation (crédit)
- Any authority of Parliament to pay money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
- budgetary expenditures (dépenses budgétaires)
- Operating and capital expenditures; transfer payments to other levels of government, organizations or individuals; and payments to Crown corporations.
- core responsibility (responsabilité essentielle)
- An enduring function or role performed by a department. The intentions of the department with respect to a core responsibility are reflected in one or more related departmental results that the department seeks to contribute to or influence.
- Departmental Plan (plan ministériel)
- A document that sets out a department’s priorities, programs, expected results and associated resource requirements, covering a three-year period beginning with the year indicated in the title of the report. Departmental Plans are tabled in Parliament each spring.
- departmental result (résultat ministériel)
- A change that a department seeks to influence. A departmental result is often outside departments’ immediate control, but it should be influenced by program-level outcomes.
- departmental result indicator (indicateur de résultat ministériel)
- A factor or variable that provides a valid and reliable means to measure or describe progress on a departmental result.
- departmental results framework (cadre ministériel des résultats)
- A framework that consists of the department’s core responsibilities, departmental results and departmental result indicators.
- Departmental Results Report (rapport sur les résultats ministériels)
- A report on a department’s actual performance in a fiscal year against its plans, priorities and expected results set out in its Departmental Plan for that year. Departmental Results Reports are usually tabled in Parliament each fall.
- experimentation (expérimentation)
- The conducting of activities that explore, test and compare the effects and impacts of policies and interventions in order to inform decision-making and improve outcomes for Canadians. Experimentation is related to, but distinct from, innovation. Innovation is the trying of something new; experimentation involves a rigorous comparison of results. For example, introducing a new mobile application to communicate with Canadians can be an innovation; systematically testing the new application and comparing it against an existing website or other tools to see which one reaches more people, is experimentation.
- full-time equivalent (équivalent temps plein)
- A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person-year charge against a departmental budget. Full-time equivalents are calculated as a ratio of assigned hours of work to scheduled hours of work. Scheduled hours of work are set out in collective agreements.
- gender-based analysis plus (GBA Plus) (analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS Plus])
- An analytical tool used to support the development of responsive and inclusive policies, programs and other initiatives; and understand how factors such as sex, race, national and ethnic origin, Indigenous origin or identity, age, sexual orientation, socio-economic conditions, geography, culture and disability, impact experiences and outcomes, and can affect access to and experience of government programs.
- government-wide priorities (priorités pangouvernementales)
- For the purpose of the 2022–23 Departmental Plan, government-wide priorities are the high-level themes outlining the Government’s agenda in the 2021 Speech from the Throne: building a healthier today and tomorrow; growing a more resilient economy; bolder climate action; fighter harder for safer communities; standing up for diversity and inclusion; moving faster on the path to reconciliation and fighting for a secure, just, and equitable world.
- horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)
- An initiative in which two or more federal organizations are given funding to pursue a shared outcome, often linked to a government priority.
- two spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex and asexual plus people (2SLGBTQQIA+) (les personnes deux esprits, lesbiennes, gaies, transgenres, queers, en questionnement, intersexuées ou asexuelles [2ELGBTQQIA+]
- This is the designation used by the Government of Canada to refer to the Canadian community. The internationally recognized designation is lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex (LGBTI). Gender and sexual diversity terminology is continuously evolving. For further information, refer to the Gender and sexual diversity glossary.Footnote 47
- non-budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires)
- Net outlays and receipts related to loans, investments and advances, which change the composition of the financial assets of the Government of Canada.
- performance (rendement)
- What an organization did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the organization intended to achieve, and how well lessons learned have been identified.
- plan (plan)
- The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how an organization intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally, a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead up to the expected result.
- planned spending (dépenses prévues)
-
For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, planned spending refers to those amounts presented in the Main Estimates.
A department is expected to be aware of the authorities that it has sought and received. The determination of planned spending is a departmental responsibility, and departments must be able to defend the expenditure and accrual numbers presented in their Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports.
- program (programme)
- Individual or groups of services, activities or combinations thereof that are managed together within a department and that focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.
- program inventory (répertoire des programmes)
- An inventory of a department’s programs that describes how resources are organized to carry out the department’s core responsibilities and achieve its planned results.
- result (résultat)
- An external consequence attributed, in part, to an organization, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single organization, policy, program or initiative; instead, they are within the area of the organization’s influence.
- statutory expenditures (dépenses législatives)
- Expenditures that Parliament has approved through legislation other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they may be made.
- target (cible)
- A measurable performance or success level that an organization, program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative.
- voted expenditures (dépenses votées)
- Expenditures that Parliament approves annually through an Appropriation Act. The vote wording becomes the governing conditions under which these expenditures may be made.
© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, 2022
Catalogue No. CH1-36E-PDF
ISSN: 2560-8827
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