Departmental Plan 2023-24 — Canadian Heritage

Errata

Following the tabling of the 2021-22 Departmental Results Report, it was determined that the result for the indicator "Percentage of Canadians who agree that Canada’s two official languages (English/French) are an important part of what it means to be Canadian." for the year 2021-22 should be 60% rather than 66%.

The result was corrected in the Departmental Results Report 2021-22, the Departmental Plan 2023-24, and in GC InfoBase.

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

• Details on transfer payment programs
• Gender-based analysis plus
• United Nations 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals

On this page

• Message from the ministers
• Plans at a glance
  • Core responsibility 1: Creativity, arts and culture
  • Core responsibility 2: Heritage and celebration
  • Core responsibility 3: Sport
  • Core responsibility 4: Diversity and inclusion
  • Core responsibility 5: Official languages
  • Internal Services
  • Innovation
• Core responsibilities: planned results and resources, and key risks
  • Core responsibility 1: Creativity, arts and culture
  • Core responsibility 2: Heritage and celebration
  • Core responsibility 3: Sport
  • Core responsibility 4: Diversity and inclusion
  • Core responsibility 5: Official languages
• Internal services: planned results
  • Description
  • Planning highlights
• Planned spending and human resources
  • Planned spending
  • Planned human resources
  • Estimates by vote
  • Future-oriented condensed statement of operations
• Corporate information
  • Organizational profile
  • Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do
  • Operating context
  • Reporting framework
• Supporting information on the program inventory
• Federal tax expenditures
• Organizational contact information
• Appendix: definitions

Alternate format

Departmental Plan 2023-24 [PDF version - 1.56 MB]

Message from the ministers

As ministers, we are pleased to present the Department of Canadian Heritage’s 2023–24 Departmental Plan.

These are challenging times for Canadian society, and we are navigating them with resilience, courage and mutual support. Many sectors supported by Canadian Heritage have seen their activities gradually resume in recent months. The Department plans to provide more strategic and long-term support through its regular programs, while remaining responsive to changes in society. In the coming year, equity, diversity, inclusion and reconciliation will remain at the heart of all our work.

In the areas of arts and culture, Canadian Heritage will continue to modernize Canada’s legislative framework to ensure a level playing field for online platforms in Canada, fair compensation for news publishers, and a safe and inclusive online environment. As the rising cost of living may have an impact on the cultural sector, the Department will continue to be attentive to new realities, including workforce needs and the reopening of the cultural sector.

Celebrations of our history and heritage are unifying projects that bring us together and include everyone in community life. The Department will support local heritage celebrations and renew the Canadian Museum Policy in collaboration with the heritage community and the Canadian public. On the road to reconciliation, the Residential Schools National Monument project will move forward, as will our conversations with Indigenous organizations to develop National Day for Truth and Reconciliation projects. Finally, we will continue to support the efforts of Indigenous communities to reclaim, revitalize, maintain and strengthen their languages.

In response to the call from Canadians for a more socially inclusive sport culture, the Department will champion a safe and welcoming sport environment across the country. We will support the work of the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner in implementing the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport. We will strengthen our safe sport requirements for the organizations we fund. We will also renew the Canadian Sport Policy, while promoting access to safe and welcoming sport experiences for all, including members of Indigenous communities, women, girls, and members of 2SLGBTQI+ communities.

In 2023–24, the Department plans to launch a new Anti-Racism Strategy and an Action Plan on Combatting Hate. These initiatives build on our commitment to fight racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia and hate, and to promote the development of all people, including Indigenous persons, Black and racialized persons, and members of religious minorities. We will continue to promote respect for human rights. We will also provide opportunities for young people to learn about Canada, connect with each other, and appreciate the diversity and shared aspects of the Canadian experience. We will plan for the next State of Youth Report in 2025 and support the activities of the Prime Minister’s Youth Council.

Finally, the Department will continue to modernize and strengthen the Official Languages Act, taking into account the unique reality of the French language in Canada, including in Quebec. We will begin implementing the new Action Plan for Official Languages, which will cover the period 2023–28. This initiative demonstrates our government’s commitment to promoting our two official languages and official-language minority communities across the country.

Canadian Heritage will achieve its mission through a flexible hybrid work model in which the principle of accessibility is central. By fostering a healthy, respectful and inclusive workplace, we aim to provide high-quality programs and services to every Canadian.

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 2023–24, 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 shift from supporting culture organizations through short-term emergency and recovery measures to more strategic and long-term supports through regular program funding, given the evolving impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the culture sector and the reopening of venues.
• Canadian Heritage is renewing enabling frameworks for the culture sector so that they reflect a better alignment with the current industry trends and changes. This work includes:
  • Modernizing the screen sector policy framework to support Canadian feature films and television productions.
  • Updating or creating new legislation to ensure alignment of our rules with new digital realities. This will ensure the fair compensation of news publishers, level the playing field when it comes to online platforms in Canada and promote a safer and more inclusive online environment.

Core responsibility 2: Heritage and celebration

• Announced in 2021, Canadian Heritage will continue developing the Residential Schools National Monument, in collaboration with Survivors and Indigenous groups.
• The Building Communities through Arts and Heritage program will continue to encourage 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.
  • The Local Festivals component will support community events, such as the Montcalm Heritage Festival in Manitoba, as they continue to engage Canadians.
  • The Community Anniversaries component will provide support to commemorate the Yuquot Centennial in Gold River, British Columbia.
• Canadian Heritage is working on the renewal of the Museum Policy through extensive engagement with a range of heritage stakeholders and Canadians.
• The Canada History Fund will support the Canadian Studies Program at Glendon College, York University, to create and promote a video and podcast series to address inclusion and diversity in Canadian history with complementary learning materials for Canadian history teachers.

Core responsibility 3: Sport

• Canadian Heritage will continue to support the Canadian Sport System and champion sport environments that are safe and welcoming to all, by:
  • Strengthening accountability for funded organizations and funding for the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner to implement the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport for federally funded sport organizations.
  • Supporting the renewed Canadian Sport Policy that provides federal, provincial and territorial governments with sport priorities for the next 10 years.

Core responsibility 4: Diversity and inclusion

• The Department will introduce Canada’s new Anti-Racism Strategy, and Canada’s new Action Plan on Combatting Hate, both of which will support community projects that ensure that Indigenous people, Black and racialized Canadians, and religious minorities have access to resources that support their full participation in Canadian society, while also raising awareness of issues related to racism and hate in Canada.
• Canadian Heritage will continue to support the Court Challenges Program, which provides individuals and groups in Canada with financial support to access the courts for the litigation of test cases of national significance. The Government of Canada has allocated an annual investment of $5 million, of which a minimum of $1.5 million is dedicated to the clarification of official language rights.
• The Human Rights Program will be planning a meeting of the Forum of Federal, Provincial and Territorial Ministers Responsible for Human Rights for spring 2023, which will strengthen intergovernmental collaboration to fulfill and implement Canada’s human rights obligations.
• Canadian Heritage will continue to work with Indigenous organizations on the implementation of the Indigenous Languages Act. This includes implementing new Indigenous languages funding models that will be more responsive to the unique needs of First Nations, Inuit and Métis.
• The Youth Engagement programs (Exchanges Canada and Youth Take Charge) will continue to strengthen youth attachment to Canada by engaging youth as well as by helping young Canadians learn about Canada, create linkages with each other, and better appreciate the diversity and shared aspects of the Canadian experience.
• The federal Youth Secretariat will continue to implement Canada’s Youth Policy and build upon the six priority areas included in the first State of Youth Report and plan for the release of the next State of Youth Report in 2025.

Core responsibility 5: Official languages

• The Department will continue to modernize and strengthen the Official Languages Act, and its related instruments, taking into consideration the unique reality of French in Canada, including in Quebec.
• Canadian Heritage will begin the implementation of the new Action Plan for Official Languages that will cover the period 2023–2028, that demonstrates the government’s commitment to supporting and promoting our two official languages, which are at the heart of Canadian identity, and constitutes an essential platform for the inclusion of all Canadians.

Internal Services

• The Department will update the Canadian Heritage Data Strategy to ensure it aligns with the renewed Data Strategy Roadmap for the Federal Public Service. This update will ensure that the Department proactively considers data needs when designing initiatives; establishes data stewardship approaches; creates systems and mechanisms for using and sharing data; and equips teams with the talent and tools that they require to integrate data into their work.
• Canadian Heritage is implementing its Accessibility Plan 2023–25, a guide to becoming a model of accessibility in the public service. This Plan marks an important step to give equitable access to our programs and services to the 6.2 million Canadians with disabilities.
• The Department is also continuing the third year of implementation of the Canadian Heritage Employment Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and Action Plan 2021–2024.
• The Office of Values and Ethics will coordinate the update of the Canadian Heritage Workplace Wellbeing Action Plan and continuing to raise awareness of the importance of well-being and mental health in the workplace, which includes prevention of conflict, mental health and emotional intelligence.
• Canadian Heritage is modernizing financial processes through digitization and data analytics to provide accessible, reliable and accurate information.
• In support of a hybrid and mobile workforce, the Chief Information Officer Branch will continue to leverage Enterprise-wide tools, as well as barrier-free platforms and technologies to empower departmental employees to work collaboratively and securely with internal and external partners.
• The My PCH Online project will transition to operations in 2023–24. Building on the project’s success, the Department will continue to evolve the Canadian Heritage Funding Portal and improve its client-centric service delivery.

Innovation

Canadian Heritage will contribute to building a future-fit organization through the Innovation and Impact Program. The program would provide guidance on public service innovation and experimentation, and access to resources such as funding, technical experts and senior leadership to support innovation activities. This will equip the Department with the experience, skills and resources required to make transformative impact, leading to an organization that is relevant to Canadians.

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

Canadian Heritage 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.

In 2023–24, the culture sector will continue to move forward from the pandemic’s impacts. A recent survey of recipients of the Recovery and Reopening Fund temporary pandemic measure showed that 98% of recipients are operating and plan to continue operating, and approximately three quarters (76%) had recovered from the pandemic’s impacts to a large or moderate extent. Due to the changing environment, including venues reopening, in 2023–24, the Department will shift from supporting culture organizations through short-term COVID-19 emergency and recovery measures to more strategic supports, while staying abreast of future needs of stakeholders in the arts and culture sectors.

Alongside this direct industry support, the Department is working on renewing the enabling frameworks that establish the rules around which the sector operates to ensure that these are updated to better align with the current industry trends, and support integration and fairness within a changing environment. This includes:

• Developing an integrated framework for the modernization of the Canadian screen sector that ensures the coherence and effectiveness of all screen sector policy tools while enhancing the competitiveness and resilience of Canadian production companies in a digital marketplace.
• Ensuring that regulation and frameworks are aligned with new digital realities. For example, online streaming services are shifting audiences and have altered the way we consume audio and audiovisual content. There is also an increased need for more equitable news remuneration. Lastly, while social media platforms are increasingly central to civic life, there is a need to address the ways in which they can also be used to threaten, intimidate, and harass, and to undermine social cohesion. The Department is continuing to work on these key priorities.

Looking forward, Canadian Heritage is also monitoring potential emerging challenges related to the increasing cost of living that may impact the costs for culture organizations as well as consumer spending habits in the culture sector. The Department will explore these emerging research questions as well as the issue of audience return to cultural activities and labour shortage issues.

In addition, the Department will continue to ensure that the implementation of its activities be done in consultation with Canadians, stakeholders, provinces and territories, Indigenous people, and equity-deserving Canadians and in alignment with Government of Canada horizontal priorities. The activities of the Department have an impact on inclusion of different equity-deserving groups and Indigenous reconciliation. The Department will:

• Work to make programs more inclusive and remove systemic barriers for equity-deserving groups by funding organizations mandated and supporting specific projects.
• Work with Indigenous peoples to support the development of effective tools to promote and protect Indigenous arts and cultural expressions, support, and advance Indigenous narrative sovereignty, increase the creation and consumption of Indigenous audiovisual products, and build overall capacity for the Indigenous screen sector in Canada.
• Provide increased funding to existing and new Indigenous and other equity-deserving organizations through the Canada Arts Training Fund “Supporting a More Inclusive Arts Sector” initiative, to address historic inequities in funding levels for Indigenous and racialized arts training organizations.
• Use the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Table on Culture and Heritage to engage with its counterparts on related key policies and priorities.

In addition to the social impacts of the culture sector, the culture sector is also important to the Canadian economy. On the economic front, the arts and culture sector accounts for 3% of Canadian gross domestic product (GDP) and will continue to contribute to the vitality of the Canadian economy through jobs and training, economic inclusion, capital investments, and funding that supports local economies across Canada.

The planned budget allocated to this core responsibility is $581,358,679 and activities are supported by a total of 454.0 planned full-time equivalents.

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

To help achieve this departmental result, the Department will undertake the following activities in 2023–24, in addition to its normal business activities and programming, by:

• Continuing the support to the legislative process and monitoring the implementation of the new regulatory framework. In February 2022, Bill C-11, the Online Streaming Act, was reintroduced in Parliament 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 to artists.
• Beginning the work towards modernizing the institutions and funding tools that support the Canadian screen sector, supporting productions led by people from equity-deserving groups in the Canadian screen industry.
• Continuing to support the Indigenous audiovisual sector so that more Indigenous stories can be told and seen.
• Continuing the implementation of the Canada Music Fund modernization which provides flexible funding to a wider variety of Canadian music entrepreneurs to help ensure that a diverse range of Canadian artists connect with audiences everywhere amidst the ongoing digital-led transformations and new challenges that have emerged during the pandemic.

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 2023–24 to help achieve this departmental result by:

• Continuing the support to the legislative process and monitoring the implementation of the new regulatory framework. In April 2022, Bill C-18, the Online News Act, was introduced in Parliament 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 to support CBC/Radio-Canada to ensure that it can continue creating public value for Canadians, taking into account the needs and interests of underserved regions, communities and groups.
• Continuing to support the Canada Media Fund in encouraging innovation and responding to disruption in the industry, including an exploration of platform-agnostic approaches to production support and enabling a broader set of options for Canadian production.
• Supporting the creation of Canadian Indigenous audiovisual products through the Story Fund component of the Indigenous Screen Office, for distribution in any format and on any platform in English, French, or Indigenous languages.
• Investing in the Local Journalism Initiative to support the production of news in underserved communities.
• Investing in the Canada Periodical Fund to support free and low circulation print magazines, non-daily print community newspapers, and digital periodicals, that typically do not receive funding.

Creative industries are successful in global markets.

In addition to its normal business activities and programming, the Department will undertake the following activities in 2023–24 to help achieve this departmental result by:

• Helping Canadian businesses expand the accessibility of their content and promote it internationally through the Canada Media Fund. By increasing the overall volume of Canadian television and digital content export, the Canada Media Fund will help in finding new revenue sources for these Canadian businesses. By adapting to the global market and modernizing our audiovisual support framework, the Department will contribute to establishing Canada as a global player in this space and support meaningful opportunities for economic recovery for sector businesses post-pandemic.
• Enabling Indigenous creators to develop, produce, and share more stories for distribution in Canada and the global marketplace through the Story Fund component of the Indigenous Screen Office. Additionally, the Sector Development component of the Indigenous Screen Office will increase the visibility of Canadian Indigenous content both at home and abroad, such as by providing the opportunity for Indigenous creators to attend and present their stories at international film festivals.
• Undertaking economic research, market and financial data analysis on the strengths and capabilities of Canadian creative industry subsectors to support the Business Development Canada (BDC) and Export Development Canada (EDC). The results of this research will provide the BDC and EDC with an evidence-based analytical foundation that they can use when making informed decisions on how to tailor their products and service offerings that will support the growth of creative industries in existing and new markets.
• Launching a renewed Creative Export Strategy that maximizes the export potential of Canadian creative industries abroad.
• Providing funds for the purchase of Canadian content for broadcast on TV5MONDE channels internationally.

Professional arts experiences are available to Canadians in their community.

To help achieve this departmental result, the Department will undertake the following activities in 2023–24, in addition to its normal business activities and programming, by:

• Delivering the final year of supplemental funding for the Canada Arts Presentation Fund that was announced in Budget 2021 over two years, to provide additional support for professional arts festivals, performing arts series presenters, and presenter support organizations, as well as new arts presenters in underserved regions and enabling more Canadians to see, hear and celebrate the talents of Canadian artists and have access to artistic experiences that reflect Canada’s diversity.

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

In addition to its normal business activities and programming, the Department will undertake the following activities in 2023–24 towards achieving this departmental result by:

• Continuing to play a leading role in the issue of online safety and develop and support the Government in tabling legislation to combat serious forms of harmful online content to protect Canadians, and to inject transparency and accountability into how online services address harmful content and behaviours on their platforms.
• Disseminating and mobilizing knowledge gained in the field of online disinformation with researchers, civil society and intergovernmental stakeholders, and foreign partners to increase understanding of the disinformation phenomena.
• Providing funding support through arm’s-length Connection Grants, Postdoctoral Fellowship supplements and Doctoral Award supplements through the Joint Initiative for Digital Citizen Research, a partnership with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
• Exploring options to formalize the International Guiding Principles on Diversity of Content Online in an international framework and to inspire voluntary actions by international government partners, civil society organizations, and online intermediaries to mitigate the risks posed by online algorithms and artificial intelligence to social and cultural cohesion and inclusion.

Gender-based analysis plus

Various programs under this core responsibility will seek to ensure inclusive outcomes for Canadians in the cultural landscape in 2023–24:

Screen industry

• The Department will continue to support Canadian broadcasters and content creators through broadcasting legislation and related measures, including the issuance of a policy direction to the Canada Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. This could include an incentive-based approach to support the production of programs that are tailored to the needs of equity-deserving communities, such as Indigenous peoples, French-language creators, official language minorities, Black and other racialized groups and 2SLGBTQI+ communities.
• Building on its advancements over the past year, the Canada Media Fund will continue to pursue strategies aimed at improving gender parity in its programs.
• In addition, the Canada Media Fund will continue to improve the level of access to federal support mechanisms for underrepresented groups. For instance, the following Canada Media Fund programs will continue to support diverse voices and content: the Pilot Program for Racialized Communities, the Indigenous Program, the Diverse Languages Program, Official Language Minority Community programs and regional incentives. The Canada Media Fund will also analyze its first data collection conducted with the Persona ID tool on diversity and inclusion in the companies and projects it funds.
• The Canada Media Fund will also maintain its consultation processes with stakeholders, such as the Indigenous Screen Office, the Black Screen Office group, and the Black Industry Leaders group, to improve the inclusivity of its programs. The Department will assist the Canada Media Fund in reaching out to these communities to continue to review and bring up to date the Canada Media Fund’s program architecture.
• Through its Story Fund and Sector Development Components, the Indigenous Screen Office will increase the number of audiovisual productions and training opportunities available to Indigenous creators, including women and 2SLGBTQI+ people working in the Canadian audiovisual sector.

Disinformation

• The Digital Citizen Contribution Program will continue to seek better understanding of how disinformation affects Canadians differently and to identify potential policy measures and interventions to ensure it can protect and support the most vulnerable.

Arts

• The Department will continue to review existing statistical information related to GBA Plus considerations, including conducting comparative analysis of disaggregated data captured through the Arts and Heritage Access and Availability Survey. These more nuanced disaggregated data will advance the program’s understanding of the arts and heritage participation of equity-deserving groups.
• An increase to the Canada Arts Training Fund budget in 2023–24 is specifically targeted to Indigenous and other equity-seeking arts training organizations (including racialized, Deaf and Disability communities and 2SLGBTQI+) as well as other arts training organizations demonstrating significant engagement with those communities.
• The Development component of the Canada Arts Presentation Fund will continue to provide support for new and emerging professional arts festivals and performing arts series presenters from underserved communities and populations. This component has flexibility to support applicants that may not yet meet all eligibility criteria of the Canada Arts Presentation Fund’s Programming component and therefore provides greater access to funding for organizations from equity-deserving communities, including those from Indigenous, ethnocultural and racialized, 2SLGBTQI+, Deaf and Disabled and official-language minority communities.

Creative Export

• 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 or inclusionary policies related to 2SLGBTQI+ Indigenous, Black, or racialized people.
• The selection of delegations for trade missions and amplification events, where feasible, will give specific consideration to applicants of equity-deserving and/or underrepresented communities.

Magazine industry

• Results from a magazine benchmarking study are expected in 2023–24. It will gather data on employment in the Canadian magazine industry (e.g., gender of full-time and part-time employees), business models, revenue sources, and operating costs of magazine organizations. More importantly, the study will collect information on the number of Canadian magazines titles by language (e.g., English, French, other language), geography, and by equity-deserving community (e.g., ethnocultural, Indigenous, official language minority, and 2SLGBTQI+).

United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Various activities under this core responsibility will seek to contribute indirectly to the UN 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals by:

• Providing funding opportunities to Canadian entrepreneurs in the creative industries for export-ready projects, creating trade opportunities and providing in-market support through the Creative Export Strategy (SDG 8).
• Providing funding through the Arts, Cultural Industries and International Trade programs to support specialized training to artists and cultural creators to encourage the pursuit of professional national or international artistic careers at the highest levels (SDG 8).
• Continuing to actively contribute to the vitality of the Canadian audiovisual sector. For instance, jobs generated by Canada Media Fund-supported productions (SDG 8).
• Supporting the legislative process for the renewed Broadcasting Act and implementing the new regulatory framework when it receives Royal Assent. The renewed act is expected to improve economic viability of news publishers, address the working realities of creators and support economic growth in the creative marketplace (SDG 8 and SDG 9).
• Supporting the improvement of physical conditions for arts, heritage, culture, and of creative innovation in Canadian communities through the Department’s various Arts programs, including the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund (SDG 11).
• Creating opportunities to deepen Canadians’ knowledge of digital media literacy, information literacy, and civic literacy to be more resilient in the face of disinformation (SDG 16).
• Participating in 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 considered in all the responsibilities related to this international multilateral forum (SDG 17).

Key risks

Small and medium-sized enterprises, not-for-profit cultural organizations, freelancers, and self-employed workers are the backbone of the creative sector. In 2023–24, the program areas of this core responsibility will continue to support the creative sector and Canadians, and provide world-class services and programs. There is, however, a risk that some planned departmental initiatives or commitments could be impacted by increases in the cost of living that could affect operating costs for cultural organizations as well as consumption patterns in the cultural sector. To mitigate these risks, programs will continue to prioritize activities that provide direct and immediate support to the sector and its stakeholders. Also, exploratory research will be conducted with stakeholders to monitor trends so that the Department can appropriately pivot.

In recent years, viewers have been consuming more content outside of the paid television subscription model. If this trend increases, it would continue to lead to further declines in television subscriptions and therefore to private sector contributions to the Canada Media Fund. To mitigate this risk, the Department will continue to provide the Canada Media Fund with an annual top-up to offset this decline. In addition, the Department is exploring phased approaches to updating the Canada Media Fund program to address these issues and ensure ongoing alignment with the modernization of the Broadcasting Act and Telecommunications Act and any subsequent legislative or regulatory changes.

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 2023–24, 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	2019–20 actual results	2020–21 actual results	2021–22 actual results
Creative industries are successful in the digital economy, foster creativity and contribute to economic growth.	Gross domestic product (GDP) of the Canadian cultural sector	$56 billion	March 2024	n/aFootnote 1	$51 billionFootnote 2	$61 billion
	Number of jobs in the cultural sector.	615,000	March 2024	n/aFootnote 1	578,697Footnote 3	653,780
Canadians are able to consume Canadian content on multiple platforms.	Number of Canadian Television productions.	1,190	March 2024	n/aFootnote 1	n/aFootnote 1	n/aFootnote 4
	Number of Canadian theatrical feature films produced.	117Footnote 5	March 2024	n/aFootnote 1	n/aFootnote 1	n/aFootnote 4
	Number of Canadian-authored books published.	6,000Footnote 5	March 2024	n/aFootnote 1	n/aFootnote 1	n/aFootnote 6
	Number of magazines in Canada producing Canadian content.	1,000Footnote 7	March 2024	1,380	1,212	1,079
	Number of non-daily newspapers in Canada producing Canadian content.	950	March 2024	1,047	974	950
	Market share of Canadian artists on the top 10,000 domestic streaming chart.	15%Footnote 5	December 2024Footnote 8	n/a	n/a	n/aFootnote 9
Creative industries are successful in global markets.	Value of creative exports.	$20.0 billionFootnote 5	March 2024	n/aFootnote 1	n/aFootnote 1	n/aFootnote 1
Professional arts experiences are available to Canadians in their community	Percentage of Canadians with access to new or improved cultural facilities in their community.	40%	March 2024	40%	41%	41%
	Number of not-for-profit Canadian performing arts companies making arts experiences available to CanadiansFootnote 10	1,729Footnote 11	March 2024	New indicator	New indicator	New indicator
Canadians are better equipped to counter the effects of online disinformation	Percentage of projects with at least two new research products available to Canadians on disinformation and efforts to prevent and counter itFootnote 12	80%	March 2024	New indicator	New indicator	New indicator
	Percentage of citizen-focused activity participants reporting an increase in media literacyFootnote 13	88%	March 2024	n/a	n/a	88%

Financial, human resources and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.^{Footnote 14}

Planned budgetary spending for Creativity, arts and culture

The following table shows, for Creativity, arts and culture, budgetary spending for 2023–24, as well as planned spending for that year and for each of the next two fiscal years.

2023–24 budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates)	2023–24 planned spending	2024–25 planned spending	2025–26 planned spending
581,358,679	581,358,679	488,199,021	463,651,565

Financial, human resources and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.^{Footnote 14}

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 2023–24 and for each of the next two fiscal years.

2023–24 planned full-time equivalents	2024–25 planned full-time equivalents	2025–26 planned full-time equivalents
454.0	432.7	414.2

Financial, human resources and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.^{Footnote 14}

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.

The planned budget allocated to this core responsibility is $135,638,306 and activities are supported by a total of 350.0 planned full-time equivalents.

Canadians are increasingly engaged in celebrations and commemorations of national significance.

In 2023–24, the Department will undertake notable activities towards achieving this departmental result and prioritizing Reconciliation, focusing on initiatives that are Indigenous-led and that engage Indigenous organizations:

• Continuing the development of the Residential Schools National Monument, announced in 2021, in collaboration with Survivors and Indigenous groups. During 2023–24, planning and development phases will continue to make this monument a reality in Canada’s Capital Region.
• Continuing outreach and conversations with Indigenous organizations to deliver projects related to the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The Department will engage further with Indigenous groups, Survivor organizations and communities to ensure that the funding approach meets community needs and the need for public commemoration of the history and legacy of residential schools.
• Building upon the co-development of the Indigenous Reflection moment for Canada Day 2023 celebrations in Canada’s Capital Region, inaugurated in 2022, to include a focus on Indigenous contributions and history.

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

The Department will undertake the following notable activities in 2023–24 towards achieving this departmental result by:

• 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 the Montcalm Heritage Festival in Manitoba, as they continue to engage Canadians.
  • The Community Anniversaries component will provide support to commemorate the Yuquot Centennial in Gold River, British Columbia.
  • The Legacy Fund component will commemorate the “Un centenaire à commémorer: prolongement de la Fabrique d’autonomie collective au Bâtiment 7” in Montréal, Quebec. The project includes the reconstruction of Building 7 and commemorates the 100th anniversary of one of the earliest Grand Trunk Railway structures. Building 7 is a symbol of the working-class past and Montréal’s industrial history in the Pointe-Saint-Charles district.
• Continuing to support Treaty commemorations projects through the Building Communities through Arts and Heritage program, along with the Commemorate Canada Program. Funding will advance Reconciliation and support eligible activities towards the commemorations, including Treaty 4 (Manitoba and Saskatchewan) and Treaty 8 (Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Alberta, and Northwest Territories).
• Offering temporary flexibilities to eligible applicants to the Building Communities through Arts and Heritage program, to help them better respond to the COVID-19 pandemic 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

In 2023–24, the Department will undertake the following notable activities towards achieving this departmental result by:

• Working on the renewal of the Museum Policy, which would impact the cultural heritage sector.
• Facilitating heritage organizations to hire youth in short-term jobs and internships through the Young Canada Works-Heritage Program. The program involves youth with the heritage, arts, and cultural sector and provides organizations the ability to maintain their operations in key functions, thereby providing the public with access to heritage.
• Increasing access for Canadians to heritage through the exchange of artifacts and exhibitions in Canada, by assuming the risk related to the loan of cultural property through the Canada Travelling Exhibitions Indemnifications Program.

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

The Department will undertake the following notable activities in 2023–24 towards achieving this departmental result by:

• Continuing to provide funding to heritage organizations through the Museums Assistance Program to support the development of professional skills, practices and knowledge relating to key museum functions such as collections management, to increase understanding and awareness of Indigenous cultural heritage in Canada, and to reach new audiences through the production and presentation of travelling exhibitions.
• Providing funding for applicants until 2023–24 through the new temporary Digital Access to Heritage component of the Museums Assistance Program, launched in fall 2021. The component provides funding to heritage organizations to digitize collections, develop digital content and build their capacity in these areas.
• Carrying out a part of Canadian Conservation Institute and Canadian Heritage Information Network’s 2021-26 strategic plan, with the following:
  • Implementing three internal working groups on key issues: reconciliation with Indigenous communities, sustainable development, and equity, diversity and inclusion. One of the goals of these working groups will be to identify improvements to the specialized services that the Canadian Conservation Institute and the Canadian Heritage Information Network provide to the heritage community.
  • Building expertise in conservation and preservation of modern materials. Several projects pertaining to this will be underway in 2023–24, such as a research project on materials used by Canadian artists in contemporary paintings and a research project examining shoe cleaning methods common within the sneaker collecting community.

Other

The Canada History Fund will support the Canadian Studies Program at Glendon College, York University, to create and promote a video and podcast series to address inclusion and diversity in Canadian history with complementary learning materials for Canadian history teachers. The project is intended to reach an audience of 7,500 Canadian history teachers, teacher candidates, and other Canadian history educators. This project aims to support primary and secondary school students in learning about Canada’s past while addressing the traditional and often exclusionary narrative of Canadian history.

Gender-based analysis plus

Various programs under this core responsibility will seek to ensure inclusive outcomes for Canadians in heritage and commemorations activities in 2023–24:

• The Department will continue to ensure that funded celebrations and commemorations reflect and encourage broad participation by Canadians of all identities across the country, including those living in remote areas, and that all have opportunities to participate in community events that are free of charge. As such, events will continue to promote and to showcase Canada’s linguistic, cultural and regional diversity and include artists who represent the many cultures that make up our country’s mosaic at every event.
• The Building Communities through Arts and Heritage program will continue to provide funding to diverse local organizations, including marginalized groups, as well as those supporting gender equality and fostering inclusivity. It will also keep supporting diverse and inclusive events in local communities, building upon initial investments from Budget 2019.
• The Young Canada Works-Heritage program will carry on its work to increase the percentage of underrepresented youth working in the heritage, arts and cultural sector. As part of the “youth facing barriers to employment” initiative of Employment and Social Development Canada’s Youth Employment and Skills Strategy, the program will collect participants’ self-identified data, including factors such as one or many of the following: gender, Indigenous person, racialized person, person with a disability, a member of an official-language minority community.
• In addition, the Young Canada Works-Heritage program will prioritize activities that support government priorities, such as:
  • projects from Indigenous employers;
  • projects aimed at Indigenous participants;
  • projects focused on Indigenous cultural heritage; and
  • projects aimed at participants facing barriers to employment and equity-deserving participants.
• The Museums Assistance Program will continue to encourage eligible applications from Indigenous groups by increasing flexibility for some Indigenous applicants and has increased funding limits under the Indigenous Heritage component. In doing so, this program component will keep supporting the preservation, presentation, and management of Indigenous cultural heritage in Canada. The Indigenous Heritage component of the Museums Assistance Program will also continue to promote public awareness and understanding of the diverse Indigenous cultures.
• The Canadian Conservation Institute and the Canadian Heritage Information Network will implement internal working groups on reconciliation with Indigenous communities as well as on equity, diversity and inclusion. These working groups will examine ways to advance reconciliation and inclusiveness in the delivery of their services.
• The Canada History Fund will continue to encourage applicants to address areas or themes that have traditionally been underrepresented, such as the history of official language minority communities, the history of Indigenous peoples, and the learning needs of young Canadians. It will continue to work with a diverse community of recipients who are enriching Canadian history with a variety of inclusive perspectives.

United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Various activities under this core responsibility will seek to contribute indirectly to the UN 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals by:

• Continuing to offer youth the opportunity to gain skills and experience necessary to transition into the labour market by providing them with quality employment in the heritage, arts, and cultural sector, such as through the Young Canada Works-Heritage Program. (SDG 8)
• Creating internal working groups on reconciliation with Indigenous communities as well as on equity, diversity and inclusion at the Canadian Conservation Institute and the Canadian Heritage Information Network. One of the goals of these two working groups will be to identify ways to reduce inequalities in the delivery of services provided by the Canadian Conservation Institute and the Canadian Heritage Information Network. (SDG 10)
• Creating an internal working group on sustainable development at the Canadian Conservation Institute and the Canadian Heritage Information Network that will explore approaches and actions that they can take to establish sustainable consumption practices. (SDG 12)

Key risks

The upcoming year may see increased risks posed by global economic uncertainty, specifically inflation. Rapid inflation may put at risk events and projects due to significant cost increases. Adjustments may need to be made (reduction in travel, holding of virtual events for example) to allow for successful project delivery under these circumstances.

As the arts and heritage sectors emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, impacted organizations funded by the Building Communities through Arts and Heritage program continue to face challenges related to the delivery of in-person activities. To mitigate this risk, the Program remains flexible in supporting organizations as they adapt so that they can continue to offer events and activities during and beyond the recovery period.

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 2023–24, 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	2019–20 actual results	2020–21 actual results	2021–22 actual results
Canadians are increasingly engaged in celebrations and commemorations of national significance	Number of participants in events and activities by attending or volunteering.	9,500,000Footnote 15	March 2024	9,763,947	5,392Footnote 16	345,304
	Number of participants in events and activities by viewing traditional and new media broadcasts or downloading related information materials.	14,000,000Footnote 17	March 2024	19,071,892	37,314,650Footnote 16	40,291,024Footnote 18
Canadians across the country are provided regular opportunities to engage in their communities through local arts and heritage activities.	Number of performers and volunteers in Building Communities through Arts and Heritage funded arts and heritage projects each year.	145,000Footnote 19	March 2025	204,698Footnote 20	181,413	47,988Footnote 21
	Total attendance for Building Communities through Arts and Heritage funded arts and heritage projects each year.	21,700,000	March 2025	20,295,082Footnote 20	23,221,181	21,410,746Footnote 22
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.	2,000,000Footnote 23	March 2024	1,504,563	740,811Footnote 24	756,002Footnote 25
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 2024	169,836	43,941,159Footnote 26	60,808,711Footnote 27

Financial, human resources and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.^{Footnote 14}

Planned budgetary spending for Heritage and celebration

The following table shows, for Heritage and celebration, budgetary spending for 2023–24, as well as planned spending for that year and for each of the next two fiscal years.

2023–24 budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates)	2023–24 planned spending	2024–25 planned spending	2025–26 planned spending
135,638,306	135,638,306	107,320,673	100,570,987

Financial, human resources and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.^{Footnote 14}

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 2023–24 and for each of the next two fiscal years.

2023–24 planned full-time equivalents	2024–25 planned full-time equivalents	2025–26 planned full-time equivalents
350.0	340.5	341.0

Financial, human resources and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.^{Footnote 14}

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 welcome environment regardless of race, gender or physical disability. Fosters the development of high-performance athletes, coaches, officials, leaders and organizations within the Canadian Sport System. Assists Canadian communities in hosting the Canada Games and international sport events.

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 foster the development of high-performance athletes and assists sport organizations to host international sport events in Canada.

The planned budget allocated to this core responsibility is $264,497,322 and activities are supported by a total of 102.8 planned full-time equivalents.

Canadian athletes succeed at the highest levels of competition.

In 2023–24, the Department will undertake the following notable activities towards achieving this departmental result by:

• Supporting the commitment to advance the Canadian High Performance Sport Strategy and Action plan through:
  • Providing funding support to eligible athletes through the Athlete Assistance Program, as they continue to prepare for international competitions such as world championships, Olympic and Paralympic Games; and
  • Supporting the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Sport Institute Network to deliver the Daily Training Environment to Athlete Assistance Program targeted athletes. The Daily Training Environment supports athletes and coaches by providing access to the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Sport Institute Network training facilities and provides them with optimal training times through specific programs, resources, and services related to their individual performance plan.
• Coordinating federal government activities for major sport event bids, such as the Canada Games and the 2026 FIFA World Cup, putting to use the experience gained and lessons learned from previous major multisport events. This includes working collaboratively across franchise holders, provincial and territorial governments, and host municipalities, as well as horizontally across the Government of Canada with essential service and leveraging partners.
• Continuing to support the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action 88 with support for the North American Indigenous Games from July 15 to 23, 2023, bringing together over 750 Indigenous Nations to celebrate, share and reconnect through sport and culture in Kjipuktuk (Halifax), Dartmouth and Millbrook First Nation. Indigenous youth aged 13 to 19 will compete in 17 contemporary and traditional summer sport events.

Canadian children and youth are enrolled in a sport activity.

The Department will undertake the following notable activities in 2023–24 towards achieving this departmental result by:

• Supporting Indigenous sport leadership, including the Aboriginal Sport Circle, through renewed funding of $20 million over five years from Budget 2022 for Indigenous youth and sport. Increased funding will be provided to federal and provincial/territorial bilateral agreements to increase culturally relevant sport programming for Indigenous children and youth and to strengthen Indigenous leadership capacity of the provincial/territorial Aboriginal sport bodies.
• Continuing to support increased participation of equity deserving populations, particularly Black, Indigenous, racialized, 2SLGBTQI+, low income, persons with a disability and newcomers to Canada in organized sport at the community level through the Community Sport for All Initiative.
• Supporting gender equity and equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives and help the Canadian sport system better reflect Canadian society, with additional programming to increase Canadian participation in sport through a three-year investment of $25.3 million announced in October 2022. Activities will support the goals of having more women in coaching, officiating, and leadership positions; providing more opportunities for girls and women to participate in sport; and enhancing the collection of data and research necessary for decision-making. Funding will also be used to support activities that expand efforts to include additional demographic groups that are underrepresented in sport.
• Funding Innovation initiatives designed to test solutions to reduce barriers to sport participation, focusing on the themes of diversity and inclusion, particularly to benefit underrepresented groups. 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.

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.

In 2023–24, the Department will undertake the following notable activities towards achieving this departmental result by:

• Supporting the renewal of the Canadian Sport Policy that will provide Federal, Provincial and Territorial governments with sport priorities for the next 10 years. Sport Canada will consider how to implement the Canadian Sport Policy while supporting federal priorities of increasing access to sport programs, creating safe and welcoming sport experiences and greening the sport sector.
• Supporting safe, welcoming, and inclusive environments for everyone, so that all Canadians experience a sport environment that is free of maltreatment, by:
  • Providing funding to support the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner to implement the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport for federally funded sport organizations;
  • Reviewing and strengthening accountability to combat abuse, harassment and maltreatment in federally funded sport organizations;
  • Ensuring federally funded sport organizations have appropriate policies in place on safety in sport, namely on concussions and maltreatment, and are offering an independent avenue to report and investigate allegations of maltreatment and are providing training on the prevention of harassment and abuse;
  • Participating in the Federal-Provincial/Territorial Work Group on Concussions in Sport and collaborating with the Public Health Agency of Canada and Parachute Canada to advance work in the area of awareness, prevention, detection, management and surveillance;
  • Supporting the implementation of a Canadian Anti-Doping Program compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code and the UNESCO Anti-Doping Convention.
• Supporting organized sport at the community level, removing barriers and increasing participation for equity-deserving communities, particularly Black, Indigenous, 2SLGBTQI+, low-income, persons with a disability and newcomers to Canada, through a Budget 2021 allocation over two years. The Community Sport for All Initiative will allocate $20 million in 2023–24.
• Providing funding for 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, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ communities.
• Broadening the gender equity focus to consider intersecting identity factors in the design of the new funding of $25.3 million over three years, with an expanded scope to include funding for equity, diversity and inclusion in sport.

Gender-based analysis plus

Various activities under this core responsibility will seek to ensure inclusive outcomes in the Canadian sport system at all levels–from playground to podium–in 2023–24:

• Building on renewed funding of $25.3 million over three years announced in October 2022 for Gender Equity, Sport Canada will support initiatives to recruit and retain women and girls in sport and will continue its efforts to move towards gender equity in all facets of sport by 2035. Sport Canada will do so by:
  • supporting more women in coaching, officiating, and undertaking leadership positions;
  • providing more opportunities for girls and women to participate in sport;
  • enhancing the collection of data and research necessary for decision-making;
  • expanding efforts to include other demographic groups that are underrepresented in sport such as Indigenous peoples, people with disabilities and members of racialized communities; and
  • supporting a better understanding of intersecting identity factors, including gender expression, in sport participation.
• As announced in Budget 2022, Sport Canada will provide $1.8 million of ongoing funding to support Special Olympics Canada to enrich the lives of people with intellectual disabilities in Canada through sport.
• To better understand and measure participation rates of the Community Sport for All Initiative, contribution agreements will require disaggregated data by gender in addition to geography and priority population focus, such as Black, Indigenous, racialized, 2SLGBTQI+, low income, persons with a disability and newcomers.
• Sport Canada will ensure that all staff complete the Canada School of Public Service’s Introduction to GBA Plus course, developed by Women and Gender Equality Canada, by early 2023–24.

United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Various activities under this core responsibility will seek to contribute directly and indirectly to the UN 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals by:

• Funding sport organizations that aim to increase youth participation in sport and physical activity and testing new approaches to increase sport participation through the Innovation Initiative. (SDG 3)
• Providing funding through the Athlete Assistance Program to support tuition costs to help carded athletes who meet high-performance training and competitive requirements obtain a postsecondary level education, and deferred tuition support for previously carded athletes. (SDG 4)
• Renewed investments to ensure that Canadian sport better reflects Canadian society with support for the inclusion of women and other underrepresented groups in sport. This will be achieved by supporting more women in coaching, officiating, and leadership positions; providing more opportunities for girls and women to participate in sport; and investing in the collection of data and research necessary for decision-making. (SDG 5 and SDG 10)

Key risks

Sport Canada will continue to support the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner (OSIC) as the national safe sport mechanism. There is a risk that some federally funded organizations may be slow to transition to the OSIC’s services as organizations already have an established relationship with an independent third party. To mitigate this risk, Sport Canada will continue to encourage and closely monitor the transition of all federally funded national sport organizations to become signatories to the Abuse-Free Sport program, including the services of the OSIC.

There is a risk that Sport Canada will need to postpone the launch of a redesigned program due to challenges encountered during the review on the design and delivery of the Sport for Social Development in Indigenous Communities program component. To mitigate this risk, while awaiting the final report and recommendations from the consultation, Sport Canada will launch a one-year intake of the Sport for Social Development in Indigenous Communities program component basing the design and delivery on the model previously used. The results from the consultation will be considered and implemented ahead of the following intake, now planned for fall 2023 for 2024-26.

Planned results for Sport

The following table shows, for Sport, the planned results, the result indicators, the targets and the target dates for 2023–24, 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	2019–20 actual results	2020–21 actual results	2021–22 actual results
Canadian athletes succeed at the highest levels of competition.Footnote 28	Canada’s Olympic Ranking Index for summer sport.	15th	March 2024	New indicator	New indicator	New indicator
	Canada’s Olympic Ranking Index for winter sport.	3rd	March 2024	New indicator	New indicator	New indicator
	Canada’s Paralympic Ranking Index for summer sport.	14th	March 2024	New indicator	New indicator	New indicator
	Canada’s Paralympic Ranking Index for winter sport	6th	March 2024	New indicator	New indicator	New indicator
Canadian children and youth are enrolled in a sport activity.	Number of Canadian children and youth enrolled in a sport activity.	4,000,000	March 2024	4,594,540	n/aFootnote 29	3,652,198
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.Footnote 30	Percentage of Canadians (children and youth) reporting that they experience sport in a welcoming environment.	86%	March 2024	82%	80%	79%
	Percentage of Canadians (children and youth) reporting that they experience sport in a safe environment.	85%	March 2024	82%	82%	83%
	Percentage of Canadian high performance sport participants reporting that they experience sport in a welcoming environment.	n/aFootnote 31	March 2025	New indicator	New indicator	New indicator
	Percentage of Canadian high performance sport participants reporting that they experience sport in a safe environment.	n/aFootnote 31	March 2025	New indicator	New indicator	New indicator

Financial, human resources and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.^{Footnote 14}

Planned budgetary spending for Sport

The following table shows, for Sport, budgetary spending for 2023–24, as well as planned spending for that year and for each of the next two fiscal years.

2023–24 budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates)	2023–24 planned spending	2024–25 planned spending	2025–26 planned spending
264,497,322	264,497,322	237,180,444	233,447,336

Financial, human resources and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.^{Footnote 14}

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 2023–24 and for each of the next two fiscal years.

2023–24 planned full-time equivalents	2024–25 planned full-time equivalents	2025–26 planned full-time equivalents
102.8	102.8	102.8

Financial, human resources and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.^{Footnote 14}

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

Planning highlights

The Department contributes to Core responsibility 4 by working to build a more equitable and inclusive society through the following program areas: 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, data and evidence to better understand disparities and challenges faced by Indigenous peoples, racialized 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 supporting Indigenous peoples in their efforts to reclaim, revitalize, maintain and strengthen their Indigenous languages. 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, Scholarships, Youth initiatives and Indspire.

Furthermore, two federal secretariats and a branch dedicated to advancing reconciliation 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 working in collaboration with federal departments to support in designing, reviewing, and delivering policies and programs from an intersectional anti-racism perspective based on its extensive engagement including with Indigenous peoples and racialized and religious minority communities.
• The federal 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 explores how young people in Canada are doing. Subsequent reports will be published every four years. The next report is planned for 2025.
• The Reconciliation, Treaties and Engagement Branch serves to develop relevant and effective strategies to support Canadian Heritage in its mandate related to reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. It helps advance the understanding of Indigenous issues within the Department and to better integrate Indigenous public servants by creating safe spaces for them to express their concerns. It has developed the Reconciliation Strategic Framework, which lays the foundation for long-term change.

The planned budget allocated to this core responsibility is $322,704,475 and activities are supported by a total of 212.2 planned full-time equivalents.

Canadians value diversity

The Department will undertake the following notable activities in 2023–24 towards achieving this departmental result by:

• Launching Canada’s new Anti-Racism Strategy, and Canada’s new Action Plan on Combatting Hate. This work will support community projects that ensure that Indigenous peoples, Black and racialized Canadians, and religious minorities have access to resources that support their full participation in Canadian society, while also raising awareness of issues related to racism and hate in Canada.
• Continuing to demonstrate leadership through the Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat in supporting 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.
• Continuing to deliver targeted community-based projects through the Community Support, Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Initiatives Program and Anti-Racism Action Program.
• Continuing to support the Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism.
• Supporting the new Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia.
• Advancing the work on the North American Partnership for Racial Equity and Inclusion as part of the North American Leaders Summit process.
• Continuing to commemorate historic moments through such events as Black History Month and Asian Heritage Month.
• Completing the evaluation of Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy 2019–2022.

Building a Foundation for Change: Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy is guided by a vision of Canada where all Canadians benefit from equitable access to and participation in the economic, cultural, social and political spheres. To achieve this vision, the Government of Canada is supporting communities with lived experience of and expertise in addressing various forms of racism and discrimination. The Community Support, Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Initiatives Program and the Anti-Racism Action Program were both designed to support communities in confronting racism and discrimination, promoting intercultural and interfaith understanding and fostering equitable opportunities to participate fully in Canadian society. There is no place in Canada for racism, discrimination or hate.

Canadian Heritage will continue to implement new measures to strengthen these programs, including enhanced assessment criteria, and clarifying responsibilities and expectations of funding recipients in the application process as well as through the contribution agreement. Organizations or individuals that are found to have adopted racist, antisemitic, and other forms of hateful content, will be ineligible to receive funding through these programs that support Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy. For example, any applicant will now be required to sign an attestation committing to adhere to the goals that underpin Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy, the values underlying the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Canadian Human Rights Act. Applicants will be informed of the expectations for them to receive any funding; and should they receive funding, the consequences of non-compliance.

Reversal of the current downward trend in the use and fluency of Indigenous languages

In 2023–24, the Department will undertake the following notable activities towards achieving this departmental result by:

• Continuing to work with Indigenous groups on the implementation of the Indigenous Languages Act, through the implementation of new funding models that meet the unique needs of First Nations, Inuit and Métis. Since Budget 2019, historic investments of $840.1 million and $117.7 million in ongoing funding have been made to support Indigenous peoples in their efforts to reclaim, revitalize, maintain, and strengthen their languages. Finalized in 2022–23, new distinction-based funding models will be implemented in 2023–24 to respond to the unique needs of First Nations, Inuit and Métis. The funding models will seek to support long-term and increased Indigenous autonomy over funding for Indigenous communities and organizations to implement a wide range of activities.
• Advancing new agreements to support improved coordination and innovation in Indigenous languages initiatives and advancing a pilot project on access to federal services in Indigenous languages.
• Continuing to focus on a National Action Plan for the International Decade of Indigenous languages 2022–2032, as the Decade continues to offer an opportunity to amplify the implementation of the Indigenous Languages Act.
• Continuing to implement recommendations stemming from the Evaluation of the Aboriginal Peoples’ Program 2014–15 to 2018–19, finalized in 2022, to improve the delivery of its services and the financial flexibilities available to Indigenous funding recipients.

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

The Department will undertake the following notable activities in 2023–24 towards achieving this departmental result by:

• Continuing to strengthen youth attachment to Canada through the youth engagement programs (Exchanges Canada and Youth Take Charge), by engaging youth 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.
• Continuing to explore options to modernize the delivery of Exchanges Canada and Youth Take Charge to ensure they remain relevant to youth and youth-serving organizations, and that they continue to respond to the needs and expectations of today’s youth.

The federal Youth Secretariat will undertake the following key activities:

• Continuing to implement Canada’s Youth Policy and build upon the six priority areas included in the first State of Youth Report.
• Continuing to hold interdepartmental meetings on the youth portfolio to support the implementation of the policy across the federal government.
• Continuing 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.

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 2023–24, the Department will undertake the following notable activities towards achieving this departmental result by:

• Addressing barriers to active participation that arise from lack of access to rights, and access to the Canadian justice system through funding delivered by the Court Challenges Program. These include ensuring that funds are transferred to the University of Ottawa and that quorum is maintained on the two independent Expert Panels responsible for funding decisions and ensuring proper stewardship of the Court Challenges Program.

Canadians value human rights

The Department will undertake the following notable activities in 2023–24 towards achieving this departmental result by:

• Raising understanding and awareness of human rights through activities including the promotion of key national and international commemorative and awareness days, such as Human Rights Day, through social media, events and other activities; the distribution of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Canadian Bill of Rights to individuals and groups in Canada; managing the reporting process for Canada’s implementation of international human rights obligations; and leading the development and application of Canada’s first Federal Human Rights Implementation Framework. In 2023–24, Canada will undergo its fourth Universal Periodic Review, which provides an important opportunity for Canada’s human rights record to be assessed.
• Planning a meeting of the Forum of Federal, Provincial and Territorial Ministers Responsible for Human Rights for spring 2023. The Forum strengthens intergovernmental collaboration to fulfill and implement Canada’s human rights obligations, provides leadership on adherence to and implementation of international human rights instruments, and ensures high-level dialogue on issues raised by international human rights bodies, Indigenous representatives, and civil society organizations, as well as providing direction on priorities for discussion between and within governments.

Other

Assessment of Memoranda to Cabinet and Treasury Board Submissions

The Reconciliation, Treaties and Engagement Branch supports the entire Department to ensure that considerations concerning Indigenous peoples and modern treaty obligations have been assessed in all program and policy proposals (e.g. Memorandum to Cabinet, Treasury Board submissions) sent to Cabinet. The Branch thus contributes to oversight and awareness of commitments and initiatives to help Canadian Heritage officials to better participate in the Reconciliation process and to meet departmental obligations.

Gender-based analysis plus

Various programs under this core responsibility will seek to ensure inclusive outcomes for Canadians through various activities in 2023–24:

• Further to the survey disseminated to the Anti-Racism Action Program funding recipients in 2022 to enhance the program’s performance measurement, the Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Branch will analyze data collected on gender, ethnicity, and religious affiliation and formulate recommendations.
• Through the Court Challenges Program, the Department will continue to advance gender equality by funding test cases to clarify and reinforce constitutional and quasi-constitutional rights, including section 15 (equality rights) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which states: “Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.”
• The Department will continue to raise greater awareness and understanding of human rights, including equality rights, and to provide increased access to the Canadian justice system contribute to all Canadians through the Human Rights Program.
• In its work to further implement the Indigenous Languages Act, the Indigenous Languages and Cultures Branch will continue to advance key Government commitments, including the Federal Pathway to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People^{Footnote 32}, by:
  • continuing to draw on quantitative and qualitative data that reflect on the diverse needs of Indigenous communities, including Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people;
  • piloting access to federal services in an Indigenous language as a means to contribute to greater cultural safety; and
  • implementing additional agreements under sections 8 and 9 of the Indigenous Languages Act to ensure that the Department continues the road to reconciliation with Indigenous peoples which highlights and promotes Indigenous women as traditional keepers of language and culture.
• The Exchanges Canada and Youth Take Charge programs will ensure that project participants supported reflect the geographic and demographic context of the Canadian youth population. The Youth Take Charge Program will assess applications against the reach, diversity, and number of youth involved in the proposals, and will undertake a GBA Plus analysis of the program. 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, and the program will conduct a GBA Plus analysis to identify barriers to participation from diverse communities and work to eliminate or reduce them.
• The federal Youth Secretariat will continue to:
  • emphasize gender equality, diversity and inclusiveness in the selection process for the Prime Minister’s Youth Council;
  • use a GBA Plus lens for youth when conducting policy analysis and providing advice on youth issues;
  • create a Youth Impact Analysis Tool for use by federal government decision-makers, which deepens the “age considerations” that are part of GBA Plus; and
  • continue to develop approaches to reach youth who face barriers to equity, including racialized youth, and First Nations, Inuit, and Métis youth.

United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Various activities under this core responsibility will seek to contribute directly and indirectly to the UN 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals by:

• Implementing new funding models that are responsive to the needs of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples in order to develop culturally appropriate tools and methods for Indigenous languages learning. (SDG 4)
• Launching Canada’s new Anti-Racism Strategy and new Action Plan on Combatting Hate. (Leave No One Behind and SDG 10)
• Continuing to lead a whole-of-government approach through the Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat by helping departments and federal institutions identify gaps and systemic barriers in policies, programs, legislation and international agreements, and identify opportunities for new responsive initiatives that affect the lives of Indigenous peoples, racialized communities and religious minorities as part of Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy. (Leave No One Behind and SDG 10)
• Developing a pilot project on access to services in an Indigenous language for increased accessibility of federal services within the Department. (Leave No One Behind and SDG 10)
• Supporting the Department’s collaboration on internal culture change to advance reconciliation and strategies to increase recruitment, retention and promotion of Indigenous peoples within Canadian Heritage. (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. (SDG 10 and SDG 16)
• Providing financial support to Canadians through the Court Challenges Program 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. (SDG 16)

Key risks

Addressing racism is a long-term objective that requires sustained commitment as well as systemic and generational change. There is a risk that Canadian Heritage may face challenges in getting evidence-based, measurable, and accurate data on the impact of its grants and contributions investments. This would undermine the Government of Canada’s capacity to show its results. To mitigate this risk, the Multiculturalism and Anti-racism program will continue to enhance its performance measurement methodology and tools to assess the effectiveness of interventions, measure program impacts, build evidence of what works in anti-racism programming, and support improved reporting and policy-making. In addition, the summative evaluation of the Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Program will be complete by March 2023.

The Human Rights Program engages with key partners, including Indigenous representatives and civil society organizations in order to ensure that they are fully part of the conversation on reporting to the United Nations on Canada’s international human rights obligations. In the context of these consultations, concerns regarding the results achieved and follow-up to United Nations recommendations can be raised. Measures are already in place to mitigate this risk, based primarily on an ongoing process of discussion and consultation with these groups so that their views and comments can be incorporated into program activities.

The implementation of the Indigenous Languages Act by the Indigenous Languages and Cultures Program includes new distinction-based funding models aiming to increase self-determination, and to provide long-term, sustainable and predictable funding. There is a risk that the implementation of the new funding models may require more time to implement for some Indigenous communities and organizations based on their specific needs, state of readiness and funding availability. To mitigate this risk, the program will provide an opportunity for short-term funding to support readiness, while also enabling Indigenous communities and organizations qualified for long-term, sustainable and predictable funding to benefit from the enhanced approach. This approach will also allow for a gradual implementation of new agreements.

As the arts and heritage sector emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, impacted organizations funded by youth programs may continue to face challenges related to the delivery of in-person activities. To mitigate this risk, to the extent possible, the programs will remain flexible in supporting organizations as they adapt so that they can continue to offer projects, exchanges, and forums during the pandemic recovery period.

There is a risk that the federal Youth Secretariat will find greater challenges to deliver effectively on its commitments (such as with the Prime Minister’s Youth Council or providing policy and research support). To mitigate the risk, the Secretariat can continue to be nimble and adjust as priority initiatives are refined.

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 2023–24, 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	2019–20 actual results	2020–21 actual results	2021–22 actual results
Canadians value diversity	Percentage of Canadians who feel that ethnic and cultural diversity is a shared value.	80%	May 2030Footnote 33	n/aFootnote 34	n/aFootnote 34	80% (GSS-SI 2020 data)
Reversal of the current downward trend in the use and fluency of Indigenous languages.	Percentage of First Nations who can conduct a conversation in an Indigenous language that is not their mother tongue.	4% increase in the number of First Nations who can conduct a conversation in an Indigenous language that is not their mother tongueFootnote 35	March 2024	26.7% (Census 2016)	26.7% (Census 2016)	26.7%Footnote 36 Census 2016)
	Percentage of Métis who can conduct a conversation in an Indigenous language that is not their mother tongue.	4% increase in the number of Métis who can conduct a conversation in an Indigenous language that is not their mother tongue	March 2024	41.7% (Census 2016)	41.7% (Census 2016)	41.7%Footnote 37 (Census 2016)
	Percentage of Inuit speaking in an Inuit language	63.3%	March 2024	64.3% (Census 2016)	64.3% (Census 2016)	64.3%Footnote 38 (Census 2016)
	Number of participants in language-learning activities.	30,000	March 2024	12,223Footnote 39	n/aFootnote 40	n/aFootnote 40
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 2025Footnote 41	82%	81%	75%Footnote 42
	Percentage of participants in the Exchanges Canada Program who report having a greater appreciation of how diverse Canada is.	90%	February 2025Footnote 41	87%	86%	81%Footnote 42
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.	58	November 2024	78	57	41Footnote 43
Canadians value human rights.	Percentage of Canadians who feel that human rights are a shared value.	92%	March 2024	n/a	n/a	n/aFootnote 44

Financial, human resources and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.^{Footnote 14}

Planned budgetary spending for Diversity and inclusion

The following table shows, for Diversity and inclusion, budgetary spending for 2023–24, as well as planned spending for that year and for each of the next two fiscal years.

2023–24 budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates)	2023–24 planned spending	2024–25 planned spending	2025–26 planned spending
322,704,475	322,704,475	218,407,189	186,678,990

Financial, human resources and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.^{Footnote 14}

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 2023–24 and for each of the next two fiscal years.

2023–24 planned full-time equivalents	2024–25 planned full-time equivalents	2025–26 planned full-time equivalents
212.2	202.2	200.2

Financial, human resources and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.^{Footnote 14}

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

The Department 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 future^{Footnote 45}, a horizontal Government of Canada strategy for official languages.

Over the past two years, the Official Languages Support Programs have shown flexibility in the delivery of the various program subcomponents, particularly by supporting departmental efforts to mitigate the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic for the beneficiaries. Lessons learned will be put forward by the programs to streamline their processes, where possible, to support beneficiaries, particularly arts and cultural organizations from official language minority communities. The Department will also continue its efforts to modernize and strengthen the Official Languages Act and its related instruments.

The planned budget allocated to this core responsibility is $522,774,917 and activities are supported by a total of 171.6 planned full-time equivalents.

Canadians recognize and support Canada’s official languages.

In 2023–24, Canadian Heritage will undertake the following activities towards achieving this departmental result by:

• Continuing the efforts to modernize and strengthen the Official Languages Act, and its related instruments, taking into consideration the unique reality of French in Canada, including within Quebec.
• Beginning the implementation of the new Action Plan for Official Languages that will cover the period 2023–2028, demonstrating the Government’s commitment to supporting and promoting our two official languages, which are at the heart of Canadian identity, and constituting an essential platform for the inclusion of all Canadians.
• Finalizing the implementation of Budget 2021 commitments, which promote the provision of quality postsecondary education in the minority language across Canada, support the development and upgrading of educational and community spaces that support official language minority communities and encourage students across the country to aim for high levels of bilingualism.
• Continuing to develop a strategy aimed at substantive equality^{Footnote 46} for postsecondary education in collaboration with various stakeholders and the provinces and territories.
• Renewing 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 2023–24 towards achieving this departmental result:

• Pursuing the implementation of the 2021–24 Interdepartmental Strategy, which emphasizes 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 exchanges, consultations, and presentations.
• Facilitating the implementation of new guidelines and new clarifications provided by the recent judgment of the Federal Court of Appeal in the case between the Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique and Canada (Employment and Social Development Canada) for positive measures taken by all federal institutions. Bill C-13 provides additional details regarding the taking of positive measures by federal institutions. According to the bill, these positive measures will intend to enhance the vitality of official language minority communities, foster English and French, protect and promote the French language and advance learning in minority language. The Department will be able to engage in activities such as leading tool development, training and awareness activities.

Gender-based analysis plus

Various activities under this core responsibility will seek to ensure inclusive outcomes for Canadians in 2023–24:

• The Official Languages Branch will undertake the annual update of its generic GBA Plus, which serves as a basis for any specific policy or program development process. The generic GBA Plus presents the analysis of differentiated data on various topics relevant to the field of official languages (e.g., the demography or socio-economic performance of official language communities, or the number of student enrollments in schools).
• The Official Languages Branch will continue to use GBA Plus to ensure that developed policies and programs are implemented in an inclusive manner, taking into account gender, race, ethnicity, religion, age, mental or physical disability, and a multitude of other factors.

United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Various activities under this core responsibility will seek to contribute directly and indirectly to the UN 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals by:

• Implementing numerous initiatives to support education, such as: new funding for postsecondary education in a minority language; recruitment and retention of teachers in minority French-language schools or for learning French as a second official language and French immersion programs; construction or renovation of educational and community infrastructure; and programs for promoting second official language learning. (SDG 4)
• Strengthening access to public services in the language of the linguistic minority, thanks to: Federal-Provincial-Territorial agreements in education, which support minority language education and second language instruction; and Federal-Provincial-Territorial agreements in minority-language services. (SDG 4 and SDG 10)
• Pursuing the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy in minority French-language schools and in French immersion, and French as a second-language programs across Canada. (SDG 4 and SDG 10)
• Developing a national strategy to support provinces and territories for postsecondary education in the minority official language. This strategy will be developed in collaboration with provinces and territories and the efforts will include setting up a new cooperation mechanism. (SDG 4 and SDG 10)
• Contributing to reduced inequalities by promoting our two official languages, under the Action Plan for Official Languages 2018–2023 and modernizing the Official Languages Act. (SDG 10)

Key risks

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

To mitigate this risk, the Department’s work on the modernization and strengthening of the Official Languages Act and its related instruments take into consideration the unique reality of French in Canada, including within Quebec. The modernization of the Act is therefore an opportunity for the Government of Canada to advance towards substantive equality for the status of French and English as official languages of Canada, to highlight their importance in the construction of Canadian identity and to promote their essential role as a vector of integration into Canadian society. Similarly, the announcement and implementation of the Government of Canada’s next Action Plan for Official Languages will make it possible to reiterate its commitment to our official languages.

A competent workforce is essential so that the provinces and territories can continue to provide quality French-language education in French as a second language programs, including French immersion, as well as in French-language schools. There is a risk that labour shortage will continue to have a direct impact on the recruitment and retention of French-language teachers across the country. To mitigate this risk, the Department will continue to support several projects to counter the shortage of French-language teachers across the country, including a symposium on teacher recruitment and retention. We will also continue to work with the provinces and territories to find solutions to alleviate problems caused by the labour shortage.

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 2023–24, 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	2019–20 actual results	2020–21 actual results	2021–22 actual results
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 2024	60%	60%	60%
	Number of Canadians who can conduct a conversation in their second official language.Footnote 47	6,200,000	March 2024	6,216,070	6,216,070	6,216,070
	Maintenance of the percentage 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 2024	89.8%	85.7%	85.7%
	Maintenance of the percentage 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 2024	86%	87.3%	87.3%
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.	80%	March 2024	n/a	73.4%	n/aFootnote 48

Financial, human resources and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.^{Footnote 14}

Planned budgetary spending for Official languages

The following table shows, for Official languages, budgetary spending for 2023–24, as well as planned spending for that year and for each of the next two fiscal years.

2023–24 budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates)	2023–24 planned spending	2024–25 planned spending	2025–26 planned spending
552,774,917	552,774,917	457,607,688	451,041,083

Financial, human resources and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.^{Footnote 14}

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 2023–24 and for each of the next two fiscal years.

2023–24 planned full-time equivalents	2024–25 planned full-time equivalents	2025–26 planned full-time equivalents
171.6	149.6	147.6

Financial, human resources and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.^{Footnote 14}

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

In addition to core governance and business processes, Canadian Heritage will take on notable initiatives regarding its data strategy, re-engaging medium-term policy work and supporting its accessibility plan.

The Department will update the Canadian Heritage Data Strategy to ensure it aligns with the renewed Data Strategy Roadmap for the Federal Public Service. This update will ensure that the Department proactively considers data needs when designing initiatives; establishes data stewardship approaches; creates systems and mechanisms for using and sharing data; and equips teams with the talent and tools that they require to integrate data into their work.

Canadian Heritage will also 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 explore options for elaborating on its data governance and data stewardship mechanisms. It will also continue to improve processes related to research and data ethics, especially as relates to human-centred research and the protection of individual privacy and confidentiality.

The Department will participate in interdepartmental working groups and committees to ensure that best practices and initiatives to better collect, manage, analyze, communicate, and optimize data.

In 2023–24, Canadian Heritage plans to re-engage its departmental policy community on medium-term policy work, to inform ongoing policy development processes and strengthen horizontal collaboration.

Canadian Heritage’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Review presented its findings to senior management in early 2023. Work on implementing changes in response to those findings has already begun and will continue in 2023–24. GBA Plus as well as other tools will be employed in support of this and other input. Changes may include initiatives like the Innovation and Impact Program, which would be managed by the Department’s Innovation Lab. The Innovation and Impact Program would be both a supported process and an innovation fund. It would offer a structured yet flexible process, guidance on public service innovation and experimentation, and access to resources such as funding, technical experts and senior leadership. It is intended to provide employees of Canadian Heritage with the experience, mindsets, skills and resources required to make a transformative impact, leading to an organization that is relevant to Canadians.

The Accessibility Office will continue to lead efforts to implement Canadian Heritage’s Accessibility Plan 2023–2025; support the Department in meeting its obligations under the Accessible Canada Act and in engaging with persons with disabilities in the spirit of Nothing without Us^{Footnote 49}; foster cultural change towards people with disabilities who face the highest rates of harassment and discrimination, increase accessibility knowledge and skills of our employees, address concerns raised through internal/external feedback mechanisms, and produce an annual progress report accessibility.

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 for the Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion to continue “to support the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth in 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.” Finally, the GBA Plus Responsibility Centre will continue its activities geared towards building internal GBA Plus capacity among Canadian Heritage employees and providing them with GBA Plus tools and resources.

The Accessibility Office works to create a respectful and inclusive culture at all levels of society, and supports government-wide goals related to:

• diversity (including workforce diversity), equity and inclusion as per the Clerk’s Call to Action on Anti-Racism, Equity and Inclusion in the Federal Public Service.
• hiring 5,000 new employees with disabilities across the federal government by 2025 to close the gap between workforce availability and representation of persons with disabilities.
• transitioning to a hybrid work model in response to the pandemic, which brings new accessibility challenges.

United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

The work of the Accessibility Office will seek to contribute directly and indirectly to the UN 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals by:

• Identifying, preventing and address barriers to disability inclusion that are not only physical, but also systemic, cultural and societal. It will enhance employee knowledge and engagement with disability inclusion to equip employees to design and deliver more accessible government funding programs and services for Canadians with disabilities. It will ensure that the Department’s employment policies and practices are inclusive of persons with disabilities to improve their opportunities for recruitment, retention and promotion (Leave No One Behind and SDG 10)

Human resources management services

The Department will continue optimizing the new work model, including: updating human resources policies, guidelines and learning products; workplaces reorganization for the National Capital Region and regional offices; participating in the GCcoworking space pilot project as well as transforming how space is used, creating a modern workplace consistent with Treasury Board Secretariat directives.

Starting from actions outlined in the Canadian Heritage’s Employment Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and Action Plan 2021–2024, the Department will consult and work closely with partners for the implementation of activities; update the action plan to reflect new departmental and government reports and action plans; monitor achievement of results and report/communicate progress made.

The Department will also coordinate activities linked to the “Employment” and “Built environment” pillars in order to meet the requirements of the Accessible Canada Act.

The Office of Values and Ethics will continue to promote various platforms and resources fostering well-being by renewing its agreement with Health Canada to continue to offer the virtual well-being platform LifeSpeak to employees and by renewing its agreement as a strategic partner of the Canadian Centre for innovation for Mental Health in the Workplace to allow the Department access, in a timely manner, to the workshops, conferences and information sessions offered by the Centre on mental health, leadership and well-being.

The Office of Values and Ethics also plans to continue offering sessions of The Working Mind training sessions and will renew its agreement with Health Canada in 2023–24 to offer Mental Health First Aid training.

For continuous improvements of its services, tools and trainings, the Office of Values and Ethics plans to use qualitative and quantitative results of the Annual Canadian Heritage Mental Health Survey, the “Over to you!” survey and the survey on the Office of Values and Ethics’ services.

Gender-Based Analysis Plus

The new model of work 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.

The Canadian Heritage Employment Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and Action Plan 2021–24 aim to implement all the conditions that will allow for a competent and diverse workforce, as well as a welcoming and inclusive workplace within the Department.

The Office of Values and Ethics reviews and updates its services, tools and workshop on a regular basis. In doing so, it ensures that these reflect the needs and realities of the employees’ workplace, as well as respect governmental-wide priorities in diversity and inclusiveness, such as: the Accessible Canada Act and the Accessibility Plan; the Canadian Heritage Employment Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and Action Plan 2021–24, and all proceedings related to Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.

To achieve this, the Office of Values and Ethics plans to consult with various departmental employment equity committees and employee networks to implement adapted services, tools and trainings that will contribute to strengthening a healthy, diversified, and respectful workplace.

Financial management, material management and acquisition management services

Canadian Heritage will continue to strengthen the Department’s accountability measures by ensuring good internal controls and enhanced compliance monitoring and modernizing financial processes through digitization and data analytics to provide accessible, reliable and accurate information. The Department will support this through the development of user-friendly tools for managers such as a dashboard and an expense forecasting tool to promote sound financial management and informed decision-making.

Client service will remain a driving factor and business processes will be reviewed and aligned, equipping the Department with the ability to stay nimble and flexible to respond to governmental and departmental objectives such as Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility.

Information management and information technology services

The Chief Information Officer Branch will continue to provide the Department with the most current, secure and cloud-based tools to support productivity and collaboration, and will participate in Workplace Modernization to create a more open, modern, flexible, and collaborative office environment. These activities include upgrades to audiovisual and videoconferencing, wireless mobility and Wi-Fi technology.

In support of the Government’s Digital and Data Strategy, the Chief Information Officer Branch will provide the Department with workforce Data Analytics and Visualization tools to enhance management insights and strengthen evidence-based, decision-making.

Canadian Heritage will continue efforts to strengthen the overall health of our application portfolio. Initiatives include the prioritization of cloud services; leveraging common enterprise solutions and cloud-based solutions such as Software as a Service (SaaS); monitoring and investing resources as needed to keep the application portfolio in good health; applying secure application development practices to mitigate the risk of vulnerabilities in application software; the use of standards, tools, and guidance in the application development process, in support of a user-centred approach to accessibility and disability; and continue to work with program partners to leverage technology to enhance program effectiveness and improve services to Canadians. With the increased risk of cyber security events, the Chief Information Officer Branch strives to protect the Department’s data, information, and information technology assets. We review and update our processes, procedures, and reporting mechanism to ensure we can respond to cyber security events in a consistent, coordinated, and timely manner.

The Chief Information Officer Branch has developed an action plan, with a focus on the three technical dimensions of accessible information and communication technologies (Software—information systems, desktop applications, mobile applications; Information and Communication Devices; and Assistive Technologies). The focus will be on the implementation of the plan, and monitoring and reporting on progress against stated objectives.

The Department will continue its effort to strengthen information and records management practices by providing advice, guidance, workshops, and tools related to information management generally, and records management specifically. As the Department moves forward with its hybrid work environment, and the major renovations underway at the Department’s headquarters, we are ensuring sound information management clean-up through the depersonalization of workspaces. Furthermore, the Department is currently exploring options for storing electronic information of business value from available resources, in accordance with current policies and directives.

Building on the success of the My PCH Online project, the Department will continue to modernize the delivery of grants and contributions. Key priorities centre on enabling an accessible, responsive, consistent client experience; improving service levels and satisfaction; and improving data-driven administration. The Department will continue to drive Canadian Heritage Funding Portal program onboarding and improvements in support of these priorities.

Planning for contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses

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

In addition to the mandatory, voluntary and conditional set-asides practices currently in place, and where Indigenous market capacity is identified, the Contracting and Materiel Management Directorate continues to seek opportunities to increase the participation of Indigenous firms across all its procurement activities.

An approach being pursued is to increase Indigenous participation through use of Public Services and Procurement Canada’s suite of procurement tools. These tools are often used by the Contracting and Materiel Management Directorate and has accounted for 11.3% of our total number of contracts awarded this fiscal year. Of those contracts issued via Public Services and Procurement Canada tools, 16.5% of those contracts were awarded to Indigenous firms.

Based on current practices and through the exploration of new approaches and opportunities, the Contracting and Materiel Management Directorate is well positioned to meet and exceed the required minimum 5% baseline without complications.

Percentage of contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses

The following table shows in percentages, the actual, forecasted and planned value for the target.

5% reporting field description	2021-22 actual % achieved	2022-23 forecasted % target	2023-24 planned % target
8.4%	9.1%	9%	10%

Planned budgetary spending for internal services

The following table shows, for internal services, budgetary spending for 2023–24, as well as planned spending for that year and for each of the next two fiscal years.

2023–24 budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates)	2023–24 planned spending	2024–25 planned spending	2025–26 planned spending
83,128,810	83,128,810	80,685,340	80,751,533

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 2023–24 and for each of the next two fiscal years.

2023–24 planned full-time equivalents	2024–25 planned full-time equivalents	2025–26 planned full-time equivalents
780.5	780.5	780.5

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 2023–24 with actual spending for the current year and the previous year.

Planned spending

Departmental spending 2020–21 to 2025–26

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

ln 2020-21, Canadian Heritage saw over $400 million of statutory funding come through the Department by way of the Public Health Events of National Concern Payment Act in order to establish a COVID-19 Emergency Support Fund for Cultural, Heritage and Sport Organizations as well as to support students and youth impacted by COVID-19. Together, these initiatives explain the significant increase in statutory spending seen in 2020-21.

To further promote recovery from the pandemic for heritage, arts, and sport sectors that contribute profoundly to the cultural, civic and economic life of Canada, the 2020 Fall Economic Statement and Budget 2021 allocated unprecedented investments of $2.3 billion to Canadian Heritage and its Portfolio organizations for a variety of programs, starting in 2021-22. These include funding of $181.5 million to support the planning and presentation of COVID-19-safe events and in the arts—both live and digital—and to stimulate work opportunities in these sectors and to provide $89.1 million in support over five years, for performing arts festivals, cultural events, arts and heritage institutions, celebrations, and commemorations which all play a vital role in the Canadian cultural and social fabric all while helping build strong communities. Budget 2021 also announced that starting in 2021-22, over two years, the distribution of 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 and amateur sport events, while ensuring events comply with local public health measures. Lastly, the 2020 Fall Economic Statement also announced an expansion of Canadian Heritage’s Community Support, Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Initiatives Program and its Anti-Racism Action Program by $50 million over two years, starting in 2021-22, to deliver on the government’s anti-racism objectives.

Contributing to the increase in the 2021-22 expenditures and 2022-23 forecast spending as well as 2023-24 planned spending is the $383.5 million 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 $215.7 million additional funding, to support Indigenous communities in their efforts to reclaim, revitalize, maintain and strengthen Indigenous languages. Furthermore, the increase in 2021-22 actuals and 2022-23 forecast spending is impacted by another Budget 2021 announcement: an investment of $14.3 million over five years and ongoing for Indigenous Reconciliation and Strength for Indigenous Women and Girls through Sport to ensure that Indigenous women and girls have access to meaningful sports activities through the Sport for Social Development in Indigenous Communities Initiative and to respond to the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Additionally, another Budget 2021 initiative that explains the peak seen in the 2022-23 Planned Spending: Community Sport for All which sought $80 million over two years, starting in 2021-22, to support organized sport at the community level to help Canadians and communities recover from the impacts of COVID-19.

Announced in the 2021 Fall Economic Statement and contributing to the culmination of the 2022-23 forecast spending, is the $62.3 million Canada Performing Arts Worker Resilience Fund initiative which will help retain specialized workers in the sector during a period of heightened precarity for the cultural workforce.

Further adding to the increase in 2022-23 forecast spending is the delivery of a temporary $62.1 million for Canadian Heritage and portfolio organization for a measure announced in Budget 2022 to compensate Canadian arts, culture, and heritage organizations for revenue losses due to public health restrictions and capacity limits. The funding will be delivered mostly in 2022-23.

Lastly, for 2022-23 forecast spending, the Prime Minister’s announced a legacy gift to the Queen Elizabeth Scholars Program of $20 million on September 19, 2022.

Starting in 2023-24 and future years, a downward slope in planned spending is foreseen due to the ceasing of the aforementioned temporary funding initiatives and a return to pre-COVID-19 departmental program activity 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 2023–24 and other relevant fiscal years.

Core responsibilities and internal services	2020–21 actual expenditures	2021–22 actual expenditures	2022–23 forecast spending	2023–24 budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates)	2023–24 planned spending	2024–25 planned spending	2025–26 planned spending
Creativity, arts and culture	811,416,984	786,146,182	778,695,757	581,358,679	581,358,679	488,199,021	463,651,565
Heritage and celebration	162,057,233	170,227,101	223,477,700	135,638,306	135,638,306	107,320,673	100,570,987
Sport	321,270,921	285,863,288	342,466,598	264,497,322	264,497,322	237,180,444	233,447,336
Diversity and inclusion	107,737,768	172,146,413	265,379,679	322,704,475	322,704,475	218,407,189	186,678,990
Official languages	462,296,619	491,573,181	648,200,774	552,774,917	552,774,917	457,607,688	451,041,083
Subtotal	1,864,779,525	1,905,956,165	2,258,220,508	1,856,973,699	1,856,973,699	1,508,715,015	1,435,389,961
Internal Services	96,762,722	100,578,014	104,524,179	83,128,810	83,128,810	80,685,340	80,751,533
Total	1,961,542,247	2,006,534,179	2,362,744,687	1,940,102,509	1,940,102,509	1,589,400,355	1,516,141,494

Creativity, arts and culture, Heritage and celebration and Sport: As previously mentioned, the increase in spending since 2020–21 and decrease in 2023–24 are explained by targeted temporary funding received to support the planning and presentation of COVID-19-safe events and in the arts, both live and digital; to stimulate work opportunities in these sectors; and to provide support over five years, for performing arts festivals, cultural events, arts and heritage institutions, celebrations, and commemorations, which all play a vital role in the Canadian cultural and social fabric all while helping build strong communities. Also, other temporary funding include:

• The Recovery Fund, which helps restore immediate viability for organizations with pandemic-related financial needs and helped them adapt to post-pandemic realities.
• The Reopening Fund, which supports local festivals, community cultural events, outdoor theatre performances, heritage celebrations, local museums and amateur sport events, while ensuring events comply with local public health measures.
• One-year funding received in 2022–23 for the Canada Performing Arts Worker Resilience Fund initiative, which helped retain specialized workers in the sector during a period of heightened precarity for the cultural workforce.
• Community Sport for All, which sought $80 million over two years, starting in 2021–22, supporting organized sport at the community level to help Canadians and communities recover from the impacts of COVID-19.

Diversity and inclusion: The 2020 Fall Economic Statement also announced an expansion of Canadian Heritage’s Community Support, Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Initiatives Program and its Anti-Racism Action Program by $50 million over two years, starting in 2021–22, to deliver on the Government’s anti-racism objectives. Additional funding was also received to support Indigenous communities in their efforts to reclaim, revitalize, maintain and strengthen Indigenous languages.

Official languages: Contributing to the increase in the 2021–22 expenditures and 2022–23 forecast spending as well as 2023–24 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.

Internal services: Starting in 2023–24 and future years, a downward slope in planned spending is foreseen due to the ceasing of the aforementioned temporary funding initiatives and a return to pre-COVID-19 departmental program activity levels.

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 2023–24 and the other relevant years.

Human resources planning summary for core responsibilities and internal services

Core responsibilities and internal services	2020–21 actual full-time equivalents	2021–22 actual full-time equivalents	2022–23 forecast full-time equivalents	2023–24 planned full-time equivalents	2024–25 planned full-time equivalents	2025–26 planned full-time equivalents
Creativity, arts and culture	416.0	430.2	470.0	454.0	432.7	414.2
Heritage and celebration	286.8	323.9	357.9	350.0	340.5	341.0
Sport	96.4	100.6	107.8	102.8	102.8	102.8
Diversity and inclusion	194.8	234.3	243.2	212.2	202.2	200.2
Official languages	148.8	163.3	182.6	171.6	149.6	147.6
Subtotal	1,142.8	1,252.3	1,361.5	1,290.6	1,227.8	1,205.8
Internal Services	701.6	739.3	789.2	780.5	780.5	780.5
Total	1,844.4	1,991.6	2,150.7	2,071.1	2,008.3	1,986.3

The departmental full-time equivalents trend is in line with the fluctuations seen in its planned funding levels. Nonetheless, it is important to note that most new funding is received in grants and contributions with modest portions going to the operating vote to facilitate in delivering these new or renewed initiatives. The Department ensures that its employee base is adequate to ensure proper support and is available to carry out the departmental mandate.

Estimates by vote

Information on Canadian Heritage’s organizational appropriations is available in the 2023–24 Main Estimates.^{Footnote 50}

Future-oriented condensed statement of operations

The future-oriented condensed statement of operations provides an overview of Canadian Heritage’s operations for 2022–23 to 2023–24.

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

A more detailed future-oriented statement of operations and associated notes, including a reconciliation of the net cost of operations with the requested authorities, are available on Canadian Heritage’s website.^{Footnote 51}

Future-oriented condensed statement of operations for the year ending March 31, 2024 (thousands of dollars)

Financial information	2022–23 forecast results	2023–24 planned results	Difference (2023–24 planned results minus 2022–23 forecast results)
Total expenses	2,403,201	1,970,711	(432,490)
Total revenues	11,349	8,032	(3,317)
Net cost of operations before government funding and transfers	2,391,852	1,962,679	(429,173)

The overall net decrease of $429 million in planned results in 2023–24 compared to forecasted results in 2022–23 is largely due to a return to pre-COVID-19 spending levels and to the end of temporary funding.

The largest decrease ($201 million) in planned results is seen in the Creativity, Arts and Culture sector as a result of temporary funding ending in 2022–23. This funding supports community cultural events, outdoor theatre performances, performing arts workers, provide compensation to Canadian arts and culture organizations because of revenue losses due to public health restrictions and capacity limits, and help them adapt to post-pandemic realities. The greatest impact of this decrease can be seen in the Support for cultural workers ($61 million), the Canada Music Fund ($23 million), the Canada Media Fund ($37 million), and the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund ($30 million).

Another substantial decrease ($95 million) in planned results is observed in the Official Languages sector and is due to the three-year investment of second-language learning, postsecondary minority-language education and the construction, renovation, and expansion of educational and community spaces, which ends in 2022–23.

Decreases in Heritage and Celebrations ($90 million) and the Sport ($77 million) sectors are largely a result of a return to pre-COVID-19 spending levels and an end to temporary funding to support heritage celebrations, local museums, and amateur sport events, to provide compensation to organizations in these sectors because of revenue losses due to public health restrictions and capacity limits and help them adapt to post-pandemic realities. Another contributing factor is the Prime Minister’s one-time legacy gift to the Queen Elizabeth Scholars Program of $20 million in 2022–23.

Notwithstanding these decreases, there will be an increase ($61 million) in planned results in 2023–24 compared to 2022–23 forecasted results which is largely for planned payments ($69 million) to Indigenous communities to reclaim, revitalize, maintain, and strengthen Indigenous languages. This increase is offset by a decrease in planned payments ($8.7 million) under the Anti-Racism Action Program.

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

Institutional head:

Isabelle Mondou

Ministerial portfolio:

Department of Canadian Heritage

Enabling instrument:

Department of Canadian Heritage Act^{Footnote 52}

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

“Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do” is available on Canadian Heritage’s website^{Footnote 53}.

For more information on the Department’s organizational mandate letter commitments, see the Ministers’ mandate letters^{Footnote 54}.

Operating context

Information on the operating context is available on Canadian Heritage’s website^{Footnote 53}.

Reporting framework

Canadian Heritage’s approved departmental results framework and program inventory for 2023–24 are shown below and are also available in text version.

Changes to the approved reporting framework since 2022–23

The Departmental Results Framework was amended to fully align programs, results and indicators with the departmental mandate and activities. The updates are reflected in this Departmental Plan.

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.^{Footnote 14}

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 55} 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 St
Gatineau QC  J8X 4B3
Canada

Telephone:

819-997-0055

Toll-free:

1-866-811-0055 Call toll-free from all regions, Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Eastern time)

TTY:

1-888-997-3123 (for people who are deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired)

Email:

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.

fiscal year (exercice)

The period beginning on April 1 in one year and ending on March 31 in the next year.

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. GBA Plus is a process for understanding who is impacted by the issue or opportunity being addressed by the initiative; identifying how the initiative could be tailored to meet diverse needs of the people most impacted; and anticipating and mitigating any barriers to accessing or benefitting from the initiative. GBA Plus is an intersectional analysis that goes beyond biological (sex) and socio-cultural (gender) differences to consider other factors, such as age, disability, education, ethnicity, economic status, geography, language, race, religion, and sexual orientation.

government-wide priorities (priorités pangouvernementales)

For the purpose of the 2023–24 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.

high impact innovation (innovation à impact élevé)

High impact innovation varies per organizational context. In some cases, it could mean trying something significantly new or different from the status quo. In other cases, it might mean making incremental improvements that relate to a high-spending area or addressing problems faced by a significant number of Canadians or public servants.

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.

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.

Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and additional sexually and gender diverse people (2SLGBTQI+) (personnes aux deux esprits, lesbiennes, gaies, bisexuelles, transgenres, queers, intersexuées et celles qui indiquent leur appartenance à divers groups sexuels et de genre [2ELGBTQI+])

This is the designation used by the Government of Canada to refer to the Canadian community. Gender and sexual diversity terminology is continuously evolving. For further information, refer to the Gender and sexual diversity glossary.^{Footnote 56}

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.

©His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of the Department of Canadian Heritage, 2023.
Catalogue No. CH1-36E-PDF
ISSN 2371-7602