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

A departmental plan describes a department’s priorities, plans and associated costs for the upcoming three fiscal years.

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Key priorities

Aligned with government-wide priorities and the Ministers’ mandate letter commitments:

  • The Department will continue advancing legislation and regulation to safeguard Canada’s creative content and stay current with industry trends in copyright, broadcasting, online news, and foreign investment. The Department will also work toward modernizing the audiovisual sector policy framework to ensure that its policies, institutions and funding tools are responsive to contemporary issues and needs.
  • Canadian Heritage will continue to support the Canadian sport system and advocate for the promotion of safety in sport and foster sporting environments that are free from maltreatment and grounded in ethics.
  • The Department will launch a new Anti-Racism Strategy, supporting Indigenous Peoples, Black, racialized and religious minority communities, and Canada’s new Action Plan on Combatting Hate, advancing initiatives to support Indigenous, Black and other racialized, ethno-religious minority, 2SLGBTQI+ communities and persons with disabilities.
  • Canadian Heritage will continue to raise understanding and awareness of human rights by managing federal, provincial and territorial consultations and coordination on human rights issues, by managing the reporting process for Canada’s implementation of international human rights obligations, and by promoting human rights instruments through the dissemination of information via numerous channels including social media.
  • The Department will continue implementing the Indigenous Languages Act, with a particular focus on key Indigenous language priorities found in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act Action Plan.
  • The federal Youth Secretariat will continue its efforts to engage youth in Canada and connect them with government policy makers through the Prime Minister’s Youth Council, the interdepartmental Director General’s Committee on Youth, in-person and virtual engagement sessions, and an online tool that will be implemented in support of the development of the second State of Youth Report, to be published in 2025.
  • Canadian Heritage will continue its work to achieve the substantive equality of English and French in Canadian society. To this end, the Department will continue to implement the modernized Official Languages Act and related instruments, as well as the Action Plan for Official Languages 2023–2028: Protection-Promotion-Collaboration.
  • Canadian Heritage will continue to advance the many facets of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA) department-wide through its IDEA Office, continuing efforts to make the Department a more accessible and inclusive employer and service provider, and promoting leadership accountability for inclusivity and to foster a healthy and inclusive work environment.
  • As part of the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Canadian Heritage will engage with Indigenous governing bodies, organizations and communities to advance federal services in Indigenous languages, arts, music and heritage repatriation through culturally appropriate programs.

Refocusing Government Spending

Budget 2023 included a commitment to bring the growth of government spending back to a pre-pandemic path and asked federal institutions to identify savings through the reallocation of contracting, other professional services and travel expenditures, as well as through a review of programs and operations.

Coupled with global economic precarity, there have been more demands on departmental programs. Working with the ministers it supports, Canadian Heritage used the Refocusing Government Spending exercise as an opportunity to ensure public funds are being spent in the areas most aligned with the Department’s core mission and activities that deliver the most impact in arts and culture, heritage, Indigenous languages, safe sport, strengthening official languages, and combatting racism and hate.

Canadian Heritage will move forward with plans to realize $64.0 million in savings by 2026–27 across its Grants and Contributions programs and reduce operational spending by $15.2 million through operational efficiencies and further prioritizing travel and professional services needs throughout the organization, across its core responsibilities and internal services (outlined below).

  • 2024–25: $14,369,375
  • 2025–26: $25,161,954
  • 2026–27 and after: $39,671,151

The reductions will realize savings over the course of several years in a way that is sustainable, minimizes future delivery and program integrity pressures and reduces overall impacts on sectors and Canadians.

In identifying the reductions, the Department minimized the scope of impacts by targeting specific grants and contributions programs, listed below, based on considerations such as efficiency and results. Targeted reductions will be implemented across four core responsibilities within the Department.


Core responsibility 1: Creativity, arts and culture

The following will be eliminated:

  • Canada Periodical Fund – Business Innovation component
  • Canada Cultural Investment Fund – Strategic Initiatives component

The following will be reduced:

  • Canada Cultural Investment Fund – Endowment Incentives component
  • Canada Cultural Spaces Fund

Core responsibility 2: Heritage and celebration

The following will be reduced:

  • Museums Assistance Program – Digital Access to Heritage component

Core responsibility 3: Sport

The following will be reduced:

  • Sport Support Program

Core responsibility 4: Diversity and inclusion

The following will be eliminated:

  • Exchanges Canada Program – Encounters with Canada

The following will be reduced:

  • Indigenous Languages and Cultures Program (unallocated funds to the Office of the Commissioner of Indigenous Languages)

Internal services

The Department will also implement efficiencies and further prioritize travel and professional services needs throughout the organization to reduce operating spending.


Key risks

Canadian Heritage will face risks in implementing spending reductions in 2024–25 and subsequent years. The Refocusing Government Spending exercise will impact the level of funding available to recipients in targeted programming areas and could strain departmental capacity as well as the capacity of some delivery partners.

The Department aims to mitigate these risks by supporting recipients through active communication intended to help them understand changes in impacted programs and funding processes, and highlighting alternative measures or funding mechanisms available where applicable. The risk to departmental capacity to deliver will be managed through robust governance and oversight of both risk-based financial management strategies and implementation of departmental spending reduction plans.


Highlights

A Departmental Results Framework consists of an organization’s core responsibilities, the results it plans to achieve, and the performance indicators that measure progress toward these results.

  • Core responsibility 1: Creativity, arts and culture
    Departmental results:
    • Canadians are able to consume Canadian content on multiple platforms.
    • Professional arts experiences are available to Canadians in their community.
    • Creative industries are successful in the digital economy, foster creativity and contribute to economic growth.
    • Creative industries are successful in global markets.
    • Canadians are better equipped to counter the effects of online disinformation.
    Planned spending:
    $542,269,777
    Planned human resources:
    412
    • Canadian Heritage will foster the creation of and access to diverse Canadian cultural content that is valued at home and abroad by supporting strong marketplace conditions for a creative, innovative and competitive cultural sector and by creating opportunities for Canadians to engage with the arts, contributing to community vibrancy and deepening connections between cultural organizations and their communities.
    • Following the enactments of the Online Streaming Act and the Online News Act in 2023, the Department will advance its work toward sustainable and equitable broadcasting and news sectors and a modernized Copyright Act.
    • The Department will ensure that professional arts experiences are available to Canadians by supporting arts presenters and their ongoing efforts to restore pre-pandemic audience levels for live events.
    • The Department will focus funding on increasing visibility of, and access to, Canadian authored books, Canadian music and Canadian audiovisual content by working toward increasing funding to the Canada Book Fund, Canada Music Fund, Telefilm and the Canada Media Fund. It will also continue its work to modernize audiovisual policies, institutions and funding tools to enable the sector to better respond to evolving trends, and to increase funding access and representation for traditionally underrepresented voices.
    • The Department will facilitate and undertake activities to maximize the creative industries’ export potential and support the Government of Canada’s trade priorities through the Creative Export Strategy and the Creative Export Canada program, which will fund export-ready projects and export-development projects. It will also lead creative industries trade missions and facilitate targeted industry programming on the margins of key international events for Canadian creative companies and organizations. It will advance Canada’s creative sector and copyright interests in international trade agreements by negotiating the appropriate cultural safeguards to continue pursuing Canada’s domestic cultural policy objectives.
    • The Department will continue its efforts toward ensuring Canadians are better equipped to counter the effects of online disinformation. The Digital Citizenship Contribution Program will bring a renewed dual focus on the creation and dissemination of research materials for public use, and the Department will introduce and support new Online Harms legislation.

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

  • Core responsibility 2: Heritage and celebration
    Departmental results:
    • Canadians are increasingly engaged in celebrations and commemorations of national significance.
    • Canadians across the country are provided regular opportunities to engage in their communities through local arts and heritage activities.
    • The public is provided with access to cultural heritage.
    • Heritage objects and collections are preserved by heritage organizations for current and future generations.
    Planned spending:
    $119,411,865
    Planned human resources:
    326
    • Due to factors such as the ongoing Centre Block renovation project and other major construction, activities delivered by Canadian Heritage in the National Capital Region will be changing. Nevertheless, the Department will continue to deliver on its commitment to engage Canadians in celebrations and commemorations of national significance. Significant anniversaries will also be marked by the Department in 2024–25, including the centennial anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force.
    • Canadian Heritage will continue the development of major monument projects such as the Residential Schools National Monument, in collaboration with Survivors and Indigenous groups, including the Survivor-led Steering Committee. Construction is also expected to start for the 2SLGBTQI+ National Monument and the Global Affairs Canada Commemorative Artwork.
    • The Building Communities through Arts and Heritage program will continue to encourage community engagement by providing financial support for local performances and visual arts and the celebration of local heritage, and for the commemoration and preservation of local history and identity.
    • Canadian Heritage will continue working on the renewal of the Museum Policy.
    • The Young Canada Works—Heritage Program involves youth with the heritage, arts, and cultural sector through short-term jobs and internships, and provides organizations the ability to maintain their operations in key functions.
    • The Museums Assistance Program will continue to provide funding to heritage organizations to support the development of professional skills, practices and knowledge relating to key museum functions, and to reach new audiences through the production and presentation of travelling exhibitions.
    • The Canada Travelling Exhibitions Indemnification Program will continue to offer its support to Canadian institutions for the presentation of high-quality exhibitions on various themes and subject matters that reach out to various publics across Canada.
    • The Canadian Conservation Institute and Canadian Heritage Information Network will launch their new emerging professionals program, review their service offerings to better meet the needs of the heritage sector, and offer two new advanced workshops on specific needs of the heritage sector related to heritage collections: digitization, and emergency responses.
    • The Canada History Fund will support the creation of new learning resources, such as Hungry Eyes Media Inc. to develop learning materials for educators and students centred around the documentary series, BLK: An Origin Story, providing more information and correct the historical record about the presence of Black people and their contributions to the development of Canada.

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

  • Core responsibility 3: Sport
    Departmental results:
    • Canadian athletes succeed at the highest levels of competition.
    • Canadian children and youth are enrolled in a sport activity.
    • Canadians, regardless of gender, physical ability and cultural background, who participate in sport activities are satisfied with the manner in which the activity is provided.
    Planned spending:
    $253,589,681
    Planned human resources:
    148
    • Canadian Heritage will support the launch of an independent Future of Sport in Canada Commission to hear from a broad array of stakeholders on how to improve the sport system in Canada, including issues related to safe sport, policy, funding structures, governance, reporting, accountability, conflicts of interest, system alignment, culture, and legal considerations.
    • Canadian Heritage will support the endorsement and launch of the renewed Canadian Sport Policy that provides Federal, Provincial and Territorial governments with sport priorities for the next 10 years. Sport Canada will consider how to implement the Canadian Sport Policy while supporting federal priorities of increasing sport program accessibility and participation for all, and fostering healthy, safe and welcoming sport experiences and environments.
    • Sport Canada will continue to advance the Canadian High Performance Sport Strategy and Action Plan to help Canadian athletes succeed at the highest levels of competition. The Department will provide funding to the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Sport Institute Network to ensure the delivery of a welcoming, accessible, and healthy Daily Training Environment. It will also monitor and evaluate performance data of Canadian Olympic and Paralympic athletes and support non-Olympic and non-Paralympic sports in their development.
    • Canadian Heritage will provide continued support for the delivery of the Abuse-Free Sport program, including the services of the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner. The Abuse-Free Sport program is an independent program aimed at eliminating all forms of harassment, discrimination and abuse in Canadian sport. Abuse-Free Sport is responsible for investigating reported violations of the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport and imposing sanctions against individuals who violate the Code.
    • The Department will strengthen governance, accountability and integrity in the Canadian sport system through the work of the new Compliance and Accountability Division. The new unit will work with recipients to enhance governance and accountability measures.
    • Sport Canada will support National Sport Organizations, national Multisport Service Organizations, and other federally incorporated not-for-profit organizations delivering sport through project-based funding to organizations to support the sport system to improve inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility. The purpose of the funding is to expand participation for underrepresented populations and to develop approaches to make sport environments safer and more welcoming to diverse populations.
    • Canadian Heritage will continue to support Canadian participation at international sporting events, through the Department’s support of National Sport Organizations and national Multisport Service Organizations as they prepare the Canadian teams for international competitions, including the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games.
    • Sport Canada will continue to work with other stakeholders to plan and prepare to host international single sport events, the 2025 Canada Games and co-host the 2026 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Men’s World Cup.

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

  • Core responsibility 4: Diversity and inclusion
    Departmental results:
    • Canadians value diversity.
    • Individuals or groups have access to funding to initiate or participate in test cases pertaining to rights and freedoms covered by the Court Challenges Program.
    • Canadians value human rights.
    • Increase in the use of Indigenous languages.
    • Youth enhance their appreciation of the diversity and shared aspects of the Canadian experience.
    Planned spending:
    $250,734,482
    Planned human resources:
    203
    • The Government of Canada continues to support the commitment in Budget 2022 to launch a new Anti-Racism Strategy, and Canada’s Action Plan on Combatting Hate, and to support the Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism, and the Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia, and Budget 2023, which provides an additional $25.4 million over five years, starting in 2023–24, and $0.6 million ongoing to continue to support Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy and fight all forms of racism, including but not limited to anti-Indigenous racism, anti-Black racism, anti-Asian racism, antisemitism and Islamophobia.
    • The Human Rights Program will coordinate provincial and territorial participation in appearances before the Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women for the Review of Canada’s 10th Report under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and before the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on Canada’s second and third Report under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; and ensure the translation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms into additional Indigenous languages.
    • The Court Challenges Program will ensure that funds, including the doubling of the budget, are processed and transferred to the University of Ottawa; that quorum is maintained on the two independent Expert Panels responsible for funding decisions and ensuring proper stewardship of the Court Challenges Program; and the University of Ottawa continues to deliver the Court Challenges Program for 2023–2025, maintaining activities according to a newly amended contribution agreement.
    • The Department will continue to work with Indigenous partners to implement the Indigenous Languages Act, with a focus on its Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act Action Plan commitments, notably by continuing the implementation of the distinctions-based funding models and advancing work on access to federal services in Indigenous languages, including translating key documents in Indigenous languages.
    • Canadian Heritage will continue to explore options to modernize its youth engagement programs (Exchanges Canada and Youth Take Charge) to ensure they remain relevant to youth and youth-serving organizations, and that they continue to respond to the needs and expectations of today’s youth.
    • Canadian Heritage will advance the implementation of recommendations stemming from the 2022–23 evaluation of the delivery of the Exchanges Canada program between 2014–15 and 2018–19. The Department will also implement recommendations stemming from a delivery efficiency review of the Youth Take Charge program that was completed in 2023–24. In addition, Canadian Heritage will examine and communicate the results and findings of a survey of youth pertaining to the Exchanges Canada program.
    • The federal Youth Secretariat will continue to implement Canada’s Youth Policy and build upon the six priority areas included in the first State of Youth Report, continue to lead and coordinate interdepartmental discussions on the youth portfolio to support the implementation of the youth policy across the Government of Canada, and plan for the release of the next State of Youth Report in 2025.

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

  • Core responsibility 5: Official languages
    Departmental results:
    • Canadians recognize and support Canada’s official languages.
    • Federal institutions develop and implement policies and programs in accordance with Section 41 of the Official Languages Act.
    Planned spending:
    $636,203,624
    Planned human resources:
    176
    • An Act for the Substantive Equality of Canada’s Official Languages received Royal Assent in Parliament on June 20, 2023, modernizing the Official Languages Act. Canadian Heritage will thus continue to implement the official languages reform through the commencement of regulatory work and the implementation of strengthened obligations.
    • Canadian Heritage will fulfill its new obligations and responsibilities by beginning to develop and implement the new regimes and related obligations:
      • Implementation of the new Use of French in Federally Regulated Private Businesses Act
      • Development of a decree on the Act
      • Development of regulations for the Administrative Monetary Penalties regime
      • Development of regulations for federally regulated private businesses
      • Support for the Treasury Board Secretariat in developing regulations for Part VII of the Official Languages Act
      • Obligations relating to the estimation of the number of children of rights-holders in order to be consistent with the text of the Official Languages Act
      • Periodic review of the Official Languages Act
    • The Department will continue to implement the Action Plan for Official Languages 2023–2028 and its included initiatives.
    • Canadian Heritage will work to negotiate and conclude bilateral official language agreements with provincial and territorial governments for minority language services, minority language education and second official language instruction.

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

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