Departmental Plan 2025-26 — Canadian Heritage

On this page

• From the Minister
• Plans to deliver on core responsibilities and internal services
  • Core responsibilities and internal services
  • 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 spending and human resources
  • Spending
  • Funding
  • Future-oriented condensed statement of operations
  • Human resources
• Corporate information
  • Departmental profile
  • Departmental contact information
• Supplementary information tables
• Federal tax expenditures
• Definitions

Read a summary of the Departmental results report

Copyright information

© His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of the Department of Canadian Heritage, 2025
Catalogue No. CH1-36E-PDF
ISSN: 2371-7602
This publication is available upon request in alternative formats.

From the Minister

As minister, I present the Department of Canadian Heritage’s 2025–26 Departmental Plan.

Arts and culture offer us a range of experiences, create jobs and grow the economy, strengthen our social fabric and forge our collective identity. Canadian Heritage will strive to modernize its support for festivals and other activities that allow Canadians to immerse themselves in arts and culture in their communities. The Department will continue to support cultural industries to ensure a wide range of Canadian content is produced across a variety of media. It will also continue to help Canadian creative industries maximize their export potential and stand out in the global market. Many other projects, such as strengthening CBC/Radio-Canada, await us in 2025–26. This plan sets out what the Department intends to achieve in support of arts and culture.

In 2025, we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Canadian Flag, the Maple Leaf. Canada’s national flag is one of our country’s most important symbols, and celebrations will take place throughout the year. To keep the memory of our collective history alive, the Department will support the development and construction of several monuments. The Department will continue working on the renewal of its museum policy and offer support to the heritage sector. The Department will strive to broaden access to a heritage that has the power to move us forward in many areas, such as reconciliation.

Through Sport Canada, the Department is focused on the importance of creating safe, welcoming and inclusive sport environments where the benefits of physical activity and excellence in sport are recognized and encouraged. The Department will foster the development of top-level athletes and support their participation in international competitions, such as the Milan–Cortina Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The Department will also support the hosting of high-profile sporting events, such as the FIFA Men’s World Cup and the Canada Games.

The Department will implement Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy 2024–2028 and, for the first time, it will mobilize the entire Government through Canada’s Action Plan on Combatting Hate. Canadian Heritage will continue to work in collaboration with the Office of Canada’s Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism, the Office of Canada’s Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia, and other departments and partners so that its policies and programs are useful and relevant for communities across Canada. In addition, the Department will continue to work with Indigenous partners to implement the Indigenous Languages Act, and it will support the efforts of Indigenous governments, communities and organizations to reclaim, revitalize, maintain and strengthen their languages. In addition, the Department will promote human rights through special days and a range of activities. It will also offer its youth programs so that young people from all walks of life can meaningfully contribute to every aspect of our economy and society and make their voices heard.

In 2025–26, Canadian Heritage will continue to implement the modernized Official Languages Act and its associated measures, including the Use of French in Federally Regulated Private Businesses Act. It will also continue to deliver the initiatives of the Action Plan for Official Languages 2023–2028: Protection-Promotion-Collaboration. Finally, the Department will work with provincial and territorial governments, through bilateral agreements, to support minority-language education, second-language instruction and the provision of minority-language services.

In addition to serving the public within the scope of its mandate, Canadian Heritage will act with a view toward reconciliation, reaffirming our commitment to strengthening our relations with Indigenous communities, which will guide our actions throughout the year.

I am pleased to be joined in this work by my colleagues, the Honourable Adam van Koeverden, Secretary of State (Sport), and the Honourable Nathalie Provost Secretary of State (Nature). As outlined in this Report, Canadian Heritage will continue to promote and protect our cultural heritage and encourage Canadians to build unity and pride in their shared national identity.

Plans to deliver on core responsibilities and internal services

Core responsibilities and internal services

• 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

Core responsibility 1: Creativity, arts and culture

In this section

• Description
• Quality of life impacts
• Indicators, results and targets
• Plans to achieve results
• Key risks
• Planned resources to achieve results
• Related government priorities
• Program inventory

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.

Quality of life impacts

Canada’s Quality of Life Framework measures the well-being of people in Canada. It is organized into domains and subdomains, each of which include several indicators. Core responsibility 1: Creativity, Arts and Culture is aligned with the following key domains, subdomains and indicators.

Indicators, results and targets

This section presents details on the Department’s indicators, the actual results from the three most recently reported fiscal years, the targets and target dates approved in 2025–26 for Core responsibility 1: Creativity, Arts and Culture. Details are presented by departmental result.

Tables 1-5 provides a summary of the target and actual results for each indicator associated with the results under Creativity, Arts and Culture.

Additional information on the detailed results and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC Infobase.

Plans to achieve results

The following section describes the planned results for Core responsibility 1: Creativity, Arts and Culture in 2025–26.

Canadians are able to consume Canadian content on multiple platforms.

Results we plan to achieve

• Continue to support access to reliable news and information in underserved communities through the Local Journalism Initiative.
• Continue to support Indigenous-led storytelling through the Indigenous Screen Office thereby contributing to the authentic representation of Indigenous peoples in Canada on screen and contributing to reconciliation by enabling audiences to discover and enjoy Indigenous audiovisual content, fostering greater awareness and appreciation of Indigenous cultures, stories and perspectives.
• Continue to support the production and distribution of Indigenous audio and video content.
• Implement the second year of additional funding announced in Budget 2024 for Canadian book publishers through the Canada Book Fund to elevate Canadian authors and stories both at home and abroad.
• Implement the final year of additional funding from Budget 2024 for the Canada Music Fund to support a diverse range of Canadian and Indigenous artists on global digital platforms and on stages worldwide.
• Continue working with the Canada Media Fund Corporation to modernize the Canada Media Fund program focusing on platform agnosticism, greater flexibility, improved access, and stability to support the evolving Canadian audiovisual sector.
• Support public-service broadcasters to ensure that they can continue to provide programming and services that are of exceptional importance to the achievement of the policy objectives of the Broadcasting Act.
• Support policy efforts to strengthen and renew CBC/Radio-Canada to ensure its sustainability, independence and accountability.
• Monitor the implementation of the Online News Act to support sustainability of the Canadian news ecosystem.
• Further policy work to encourage and support a sustainable and equitable broadcasting sector, including overseeing the implementation of the Online Streaming Act.
• Continue to support Canadian content in print and digital periodicals through the Canada Periodical Fund.

Professional arts experiences are available to Canadians in their community

Results we plan to achieve

• Deliver additional funds announced in Budget 2024 ($31 million over two years starting in 2024–25) through the Canada Arts Presentation Fund to help support organizations that professionally present arts festivals or performing arts series.
• Continue to implement approaches to refocus the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund and maximize the impact of its resources.

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

Results we plan to achieve

• Continue the policy work, including further stakeholder engagement, to inform the modernization of the policies, institutions and funding tools that support the Canadian screen sector and productions led by people from equity-deserving groups.
• Continue to implement the Changing Narratives Fund to help diverse communities and organizations have their stories and perspectives better represented in the media and culture sectors.
• Explore options to support micro and small firms in the cultural industries to scale-up and grow.
• Advance work with the Department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development to modernize the Copyright Act by addressing different issues including the design of an “artist’s resale right”, educational copying and copyright in the age of generative artificial intelligence.
• Undertake research and stakeholder engagement to understand the impacts of artificial intelligence on the creative sector and explore options to ensure that Canada’s creative industries benefit from artificial intelligence.
• Continue to ensure that foreign investments in Canada’s cultural sector are of net benefit to Canadians, and that sectoral foreign investment policies are updated to reflect current realities.

Creative industries are successful in global markets.

Results we plan to achieve

• Continue to deliver the Creative Export Strategy, which includes funding for export development and export-ready projects through the Creative Export Canada program; leading the development and delivery of creative industries trade missions; and supporting Canada’s creative industries’ participation at international events with business-oriented activities.
• Continue to support the multilateral TV5 partnership to showcase content from la Francophonie in Canada and Canadian Francophone content abroad.
• Continue to negotiate modernized audiovisual coproduction treaties that will make Canada a partner of choice internationally.
• Advance Canada’s creative sector and copyright interests in international trade agreements by negotiating appropriate cultural safeguards to further domestic cultural policy objectives and broaden opportunities in domestic and foreign markets.

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

Results we plan to achieve

• Advance the legislative process for the proposed Online Harms Act (Part 1 of Bill C-63) and lead pre-implementation to establish a Digital Safety Commission, which will oversee new measures to address harmful content online and protect Canadians in the digital space.
• Through the Digital Citizen Initiative, strengthen Canadians’ resilience to online disinformation by supporting digital literacy programs, conducting research, and developing evidence-based approaches to counter the spread and impact of misleading online content.

Key risks

Due to global economic uncertainty, rising operating costs, shifts in technology and consumer behaviour, and increased competition from foreign-owned companies, all of which challenge the vitality of the arts and culture sector, there is a risk that Canadian Heritage may be unable to effectively fund the arts and cultural sector. To mitigate this risk, the Department will conduct research to monitor trends and explore adaptive strategies.

The rise of artificial intelligence poses risks to copyright infringement, the protection of intellectual property and the use of cultural content to train artificial intelligence. To mitigate those risks, the Department will review consultation findings to shape strategies and future policy work that balance the opportunities and risks presented by artificial intelligence and ensure the cultural sector can continue to prosper.

Planned resources to achieve results

Table 6: Planned resources to achieve results for Core responsibility 1: Creativity, arts and culture

Table 6 provides a summary of the planned spending and full-time equivalents required to achieve results.

Complete financial and human resources information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Related government priorities

Gender-based analysis plus

Various programs under this core responsibility will seek to ensure inclusive outcomes for Canadians in the cultural landscape in 2025–26:

• The Digital Citizen Initiative will continue to seek better understanding of how disinformation affects Canadians differently and identify policy measures and interventions to ensure it can protect and support the most vulnerable.
• The Canada Music Fund will continue to incentivize music companies to invest in the career development of artists from equity-deserving groups. Furthermore, it will continue to alleviate systemic barriers faced by equity-deserving groups through short-, medium- and long-term changes to the program.
• The Canada Book Fund will continue to incentivize book publishers to produce and promote more works from authors from official language minority, Indigenous and racialized communities, and encourage the production and sale of accessible digital books.
• Under the Changing Narratives Fund, the Collective Initiatives component of the Canada Periodical Fund and the Local Journalism Initiative will support mentorship, training and professional development opportunities for diverse communities at all career stages, to encourage better participation in the media and cultural industries. It will also support internships and work placements to provide on-the-job training and experience.
• The Local Journalism Initiative will continue to promote diversity in the news ecosystem, in collaboration with its delivery partners, to promote hiring of journalists and coverage in a manner that is reflective of Canadian diversity. To achieve these objectives, the program has a reserved funding for coverage of Indigenous, ethnocultural, official language minority, and 2SLGBTQI+ communities and promotes diversity hiring practices.
• The Creative Export Strategy’s Creative Export Canada program will continue to dedicate up to 30% of its annual funding envelope to Canadian companies and organizations where at least 50% of the owners and/or board members self-identify as Indigenous peoples or members of equity-deserving communities.
• Negotiated undertakings for foreign investments will continue to promote diversity and inclusion.
• The Canada Media Fund will continue to pursue strategies aimed at improving gender parity in its programs and the level of access to federal support mechanisms to continue supporting diverse voices and content. The Department will continue to deliver the Budget 2024 funds to make funding more open to traditionally underrepresented voices.
• The Indigenous Screen Office will continue to provide opportunities for Indigenous women and 2SLGBTQI+ individuals to tell their stories.
• The Canada Arts Presentation Fund will continue to advance efforts for greater inclusivity in program reach.

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

Various activities under this core responsibility will seek to contribute indirectly to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

• The Creative Export Strategy will continue to provide funding opportunities to Canadian creative industries, companies and organizations for export-ready and export-development projects, as well as create trade opportunities. This will lead to economic growth and employment for the middle class (SDG 8—Decent work and economic growth).
• The Canada Media Fund will continue to strengthen the Canadian audiovisual sector by generating jobs in supported productions (SDG 8).
• The modernization of Canada’s broadcasting framework will ensure that Canadian stories and music receive support and visibility on major streaming platforms, positively influencing working realities of creators and fostering economic growth in the creative sector (SDG 8 and SDG 9—Industry, innovation and infrastructure).
• The Indigenous Screen Office will continue to support the development and production of Indigenous audiovisual projects, increasing the representation of Indigenous people and advancing Indigenous narrative sovereignty within the Canadian audiovisual sector (SDG 8 and SDG 10—Reduced inequalities).
• The Northern Aboriginal Broadcasting component will continue to promote Indigenous languages through broadcasting, ensuring that more Indigenous communities have access to culturally relevant content. Northern Aboriginal Broadcasting also amplifies diverse Indigenous voices and perspectives, fostering greater representation in media. Through its initiatives, Northern Aboriginal Broadcasting will continue to enhance local community engagement and cultural resilience (SDG 8 and SDG 10).
• The Canada Cultural Spaces Fund will continue funding to enhance conditions for artistic creativity and innovation, supporting infrastructure projects for professional, not-for-profit, and Indigenous organizations. This will promote more inclusive, safe, and sustainable cities by fostering collaboration and preservation in the arts and heritage sectors (SDG 11—Sustainable cities and communities).
• In collaboration with other TV5 partners, the Government of Canada will continue to emphasize its diplomatic commitment to sustainable development by fostering strong ties with partner governments and stakeholders while investing in Canadian content for TV5MONDEplus (SDG 17—Partnerships for the goals).

More information on Canadian Heritage’s contributions to Canada’s Federal Implementation Plan on the 2030 Agenda and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy can be found in our Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy.

Program inventory

Core responsibility 1: Creativity, Arts and Culture is supported by the following programs:

• Arts
• Cultural Marketplace Framework
• Cultural Industries Support and Development

Additional information related to the program inventory for Core responsibility 1: Creativity, Arts and Culture is available on the Results page on GC InfoBase.

Core responsibility 2: Heritage and celebration

In this section

• Description
• Quality of life impacts
• Indicators, results and targets
• Plans to achieve results
• Key risks
• Planned resources to achieve results
• Related government priorities
• Program inventory

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.

Quality of life impacts

Canada’s Quality of Life Framework measures the well-being of people in Canada. It is organized into domains and subdomains, each of which includes a number of indicators. Core responsibility 2: Heritage and Celebration is aligned with the key domains, subdomains and indicators below.

Indicators, results and targets

This section presents details on the Department’s indicators, the actual results from the three most recently reported fiscal years, the targets and target dates approved in 2025–26 for Core responsibility 2: Heritage and Celebration. Details are presented by departmental result.

Tables 7-10 provides a summary of the target and actual results for each indicator associated with the results under Heritage and celebration.

Additional information on the detailed results and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC Infobase.

Plans to achieve results

The following section describes the planned results for Core responsibility 2: Heritage and Celebration in 2025–26.

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

Results we plan to achieve

• Mark the 60th anniversary of the creation of the Canadian flag. Activities and partnerships to highlight this anniversary are planned throughout the year, helping to support a sense of pride in one of our most important official symbols. Canadians will be encouraged to take part and celebrate other milestones in our history this year, including the 150th anniversary of the Supreme Court of Canada.
• Continue to work with collaborators from various levels of government, from cultural institutions and from the private sector to deliver activities and animate the core area of Canada’s Capital Region. Major events in the Capital such as Winterlude and Canada Day will be catalysts for pride and inclusiveness in 2025–26. The Department will work closely with these collaborators to increase the public offer. Additionally, 2025–26 will mark the first full year of operation of the new Ottawa Visitor Centre. Developed and operating in partnership between Canadian Heritage and Ottawa Tourism, the Centre will offer a welcoming environment to visitors in the Capital. It will provide visitors with access to Ottawa Tourism’s itinerary planning and booking platform and other online tools to facilitate their personalized experience in the Capital. These resources aim to simplify and enhance the visitor experience, allowing them to fully enjoy everything the Capital has to offer.
• Continue the development of the Indian Residential Schools National Monument, which is one of the Calls for action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The Survivor-led Steering Committee will continue to oversee the project and work will be directed towards implementing the process for selecting the Monument design with the support of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada.
• Continue to oversee the development of Thunderhead, the 2SLGBTQI+ National Monument, which is now in the construction phase, on behalf of the LGBT Purge Fund and in collaboration with the National Capital Commission.
• Support the review and renewal of the exhibit at the National Holocaust Monument in Ottawa, part of the Government of Canada’s ongoing efforts to educate current and future generations of Canadians about the Holocaust and raise awareness of the consequences of antisemitism.
• Analyze the results of the engagement initiative with Survivors, their families and Indigenous groups by the Celebration and Commemoration Program, which reached approximately 2,700 people, on the funding for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation activities.

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

Results we plan to achieve

• Support live community festivals, such as the Saskatoon Pride Festival in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, through the Local Festivals component of the Building Communities through Arts and Heritage program.
• Fund local commemorative initiatives, such as activities celebrating the 150th anniversary of the construction the Culbute Canal in Chichester, Quebec, through the Community Anniversaries component of the Building Communities through Arts and Heritage program.
• Support local capital projects, such as the “Pillars of Hope and Strength—Honouring and Remembering Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls” project in Prince George, British Columbia, which will commemorate 150 years since the opening of the Catholic mission in Fort St. James, through the Legacy Fund component of the Building Communities through Arts and Heritage program. Local Indigenous artists will be engaged in the design, creation and carving of pillars that will be located along Highway 16, also known as the Highway of Tears, which crosses the place where the mission was founded. This powerful project will recognize the connection between the impacts of the mission and colonialism overall on Indigenous peoples in terms of intergenerational trauma and violence. With its focus on Hope and Strength, the project will also honour and remember those who have been lost and will raise further awareness of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

The public is provided with access to cultural heritage.

Results we plan to achieve

• Continue working on the renewal of the Museum Policy.
• Continue supporting youth involved with heritage, arts, and cultural sectors through the Young Canada Works—Heritage Program. The program enables heritage organizations to hire youth in short-term jobs and internships, which also boosts organizations’ ability to maintain their operations in key functions, thereby providing the public with access to heritage.
• Continue to offer its support to Canadian institutions through the Canada Travelling Exhibitions Indemnification Program for the presentation of high-quality exhibitions on various themes and subject matters that reach out to various publics across Canada.

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

Results we plan to achieve

• Continue to provide funding through the Museums Assistance Program to heritage organizations 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.
• Continue to support the repatriation and rematriation of belongings and the development of repatriation resources through the Museums Assistance Program, building capacity in support of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (UNDA) Action Plan measure 98.
• Continue to collaborate, through the Canadian Conservation Institute and the Canadian Heritage Information Network, with the Parks Canada Agency and Public Services and Procurement Canada on the design of a new facility for the Cultural Heritage Science Hub.
• Conduct a review of the Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI) and the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) service fee structure to ensure that their products and services are aligned with the Department’s priorities and objectives. This will be undertaken within the scope of the 2021–2026 CCI and CHIN Strategic Plan [PDF document], and will draw on the expertise and resources made available by the Chief Financial Officer Branch.
• In line with the objectives of the 2021–2026 CCI and CHIN Strategic Plan, the Canadian Conservation Institute will release online resources to help heritage institutions rethink their current energy consumption.
• Offer a new advanced workshop from the Canadian Conservation Institute addressing specific needs of the heritage sector, namely the characterization of modern metals in cultural heritage collections.

The Department will also undertake the following initiatives to support the core responsibility Heritage and celebration, through the Canada History Fund:

• Support the Moccasin Identifier, an Indigenous-led organization that aims to have people in Canada understand their treaty responsibilities and Indigenous relationship to land.
• The funding will expand the current project content into a national educational kit that will include hand-drawn moccasin stencils for painting that represent historical First Nations in all provincial and territorial capital cities, lesson plans and a teaching program for grades 1 to 12 and include videos on treaties. This initiative contributes to our continuing efforts to expose people in Canada to knowledge about Canada’s history, civic education and public policy.

Key risks

Human resource limitations and financial constraints posed by global economic uncertainty, rising inflation and cost increases may negatively impact Canadian Heritage’s ability to advance, fund and implement Heritage and Celebration activities and initiatives. To mitigate this risk, adjustments may need to be made to the scale and delivery of activities and initiatives. Increasing collaboration with federal, regional and sectorial partners would also ensure that combined efforts have the greatest impact across the live events and festival sector. The Department will also mitigate this risk by conducting sound resource planning and seeking additional resources as required.

There is a risk posed by various conflicts occurring around the world, growing tensions between various groups and a noted increase in levels of hatred. These factors may result in multiple and ongoing protests during major events to bring attention and pressure to the government. To mitigate this risk, adjustments may need to be made in terms of increased security to offset potential disruption to planned events.

Planned resources to achieve results

Table 11: Planned resources to achieve results for Core responsibility 2: Heritage and celebration

Table 11 provides a summary of the planned spending and full-time equivalents required to achieve results.

Complete financial and human resources information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Related government priorities

Gender-based analysis plus

Various programs under this core responsibility will seek to ensure inclusive outcomes in heritage and commemoration activities in 2025–26:

• Canadian Heritage will continue to ensure that Department-funded celebrations and commemorations encourage the participation of diverse people and communities in Canada, including those living in remote areas to have opportunities to participate in community events that are open to the public and free of charge. Activities offer opportunities to learn more about Canada’s diversity and inclusiveness by promoting and showcasing the country’s linguistic, cultural, and regional diversity. For instance, major events in the Capital such as Winterlude and Canada Day represent a national public platform for promoting diversity and inclusiveness through its programming and the themes celebrated. The Department further endeavours to include artists who represent the many cultures that make up the Canadian mosaic at every event.
• The Celebration and Commemoration Program will continue to work with ethnocultural communities and organizations to increase the number of projects funded for Canadian Multiculturalism Day. The program will also continue the work initiated in 2023–24 to increase the representation of Canada’s historical diversity in its commemorative projects, and to support la Francophonie.
• The Young Canada Works—Heritage program is committed to increasing the percentage of underrepresented youth working in the heritage, arts, and cultural sector over time. It will continue to prioritize activities for the Young Canada Works–Heritage program 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 has increased flexibility for Indigenous applicants and has increased funding limits under the Indigenous Heritage component. The Indigenous Heritage component supports the preservation, presentation, and management of Indigenous cultural heritage in Canada. It also promotes public awareness and understanding of the diverse cultures of Indigenous Peoples.
• Through the publication of its new Application Guide, the Designation of Institutions and Public Authorities Program, under the Movable Cultural Property Program, has recognized that traditional Indigenous knowledge is a recognized expertise for the purposes of designation.

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

Various activities under this core responsibility will seek to contribute indirectly to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

• The Young Canada Works—Heritage Program, as part of the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy, will support the development of strong skills in this sector’s workforce by providing them with quality employment in the heritage, arts, and cultural sector (SDG 8-Decent work and economic growth).
• As part of a commitment to increasing the percentage of underrepresented youth working in the heritage, arts, and cultural sector over time, the Young Canada Works-Heritage Program will also collect diversity data, including gender, of participating youth (SDG 10-Reduced inequalities).
• The funding and delivery of commemorative and celebratory events that are public and free of charge, and that showcase the diversity of Canadian culture, will create positive connections and promote the social inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status (SDG 10).
• As part of the review of their service fee structure, the Canadian Conservation Institute and the Canadian Heritage Information Network will conduct a review of the relevance and the equitable availability of their products and services to better meet the needs of the heritage sector and to reduce inequalities in their delivery (SDG 10).

More information on Canadian Heritage’s contributions to Canada’s Federal Implementation Plan on the 2030 Agenda and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy can be found in our Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy.

Program inventory

Core responsibility 2: Heritage and Celebration is supported by the following programs:

• National Celebrations, Commemorations and Symbols
• Community Engagement and Heritage
• Preservation of and Access to Heritage
• Learning About Canadian History

Additional information related to the program inventory for Core responsibility 2: Heritage and Celebration is available on the Results page on GC InfoBase.

Core responsibility 3: Sport

In this section

• Description
• Quality of life impacts
• Indicators, results and targets
• Plans to achieve results
• Key risks
• Planned resources to achieve results
• Related government priorities
• Program inventory

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.

Quality of life impacts

Canada’s Quality of Life Framework measures the well-being of people in Canada. It is organized into domains and subdomains, each of which includes several indicators. Core responsibility 3: Sport is aligned with the key domains, subdomains and indicators below.

Indicators, results and targets

This section presents details on the Department’s indicators, the actual results from the three most recently reported fiscal years, the targets and target dates approved in 2025–26 for Core responsibility 3: Sport. Details are presented by departmental result.

Tables 12-14 provides a summary of the target and actual results for each indicator associated with the results under Sport.

Additional information on the detailed results and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC Infobase.

Plans to achieve results

The following section describes the planned results for Core responsibility 3: Sport in 2025–26.

Canadian athletes succeed at the highest levels of competition.

Results we plan to achieve

• Continue discussions with the Sport Community to renew the Canadian High Performance Sport Strategy and Action Plan to help Canadian athletes succeed at the highest levels of competition.
• Continue coordinating federal government activities for international sporting events and fund national team preparations. This includes working collaboratively with key Government of Canada partners in preparation for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. It also includes supporting international single sport events providing high-level competition opportunities for Canadian athletes, coaches, and officials.
• Continue to support Canadian participation at the 2026 Commonwealth Games and the 2027 Pan American and Parapan American Games
• Continue coordinating and supporting Government of Canada planning and preparations to co-host the FIFA Men’s World Cup in 2026. This includes oversight of the federal funding and essential service contributions to support event delivery in the two host cities of Toronto and Vancouver, and the host provinces of Ontario and British Columbia, as well as the overall Government of Canada activities to leverage the event.
• Continue working with the Canada Games Council, provinces and territories, the host society, and other stakeholders in the lead up to and through the successful delivery of the 2025 Canada Summer Games in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. Officials also continue to work to support the planning of the 2027 Canada Winter Games in Québec, Quebec and the ongoing process to select the host city or region for the 2029 Canada Summer Games in New Brunswick.
• Continue to directly support Canadian high-performance athletes through the Athlete Assistance Program, which received a boost in funding through Budget 2024 that raised support stipends to match inflation since the last increase to the program. Funding will assist athletes with expenses related to training and competitions, as well as offset some costs associated with tuition costs for post-secondary education.

Canadian children and youth are enrolled in a sport activity.

Results we plan to achieve

• 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 environment.
• Continue to fund projects that expand the use of sport for social development in Indigenous communities, ensuring community driven sport-related projects, which address the self-identified social development needs of Indigenous communities and Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ peoples.

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.

Results we plan to achieve

• Support Canada’s Safe Sport Program (formerly known as the Abuse-Free Sport Program), which is responsible for administering the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport and managing an independent complaint process. This ongoing support will ensure that national-level sport participants are subject to the code and that sport participants have access to an independent complaint mechanism should they experience maltreatment. The Safe Sport Program will be administered by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport as of April 1, 2025, following the program transfer from the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada.
• Provide funding to sport organizations in 2025–26 under a new modernized funding model, consisting of an open, transparent and merit-based approach. The Compliance and Accountability Division will continue to develop new tools, mechanisms and processes to be integrated into Sport Canada’s program delivery and ongoing operational approach to prevent and detect compliance issues.
• Continue funding projects through the Community Sport for All Initiative that aim to increase sport participation in a manner that is consistent with the notion of inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility. Projects under this initiative aim to remove barriers, increase sport participation rates and retention in sport for underrepresented groups, in particular Black, Indigenous, racialized, 2SLGBTQI+, low-income, persons with a disability, seniors and newcomers. National-level organizations receiving funds under this initiative are expected to administer and disburse funds to local community organizations across Canada to reach that goal.
• Continue to provide support for the Canadian Anti-Doping Program, in order to protect and strengthen integrity in sport.

The Future of Sport in Canada Commission, supported by Canadian Heritage, will undertake an independent and forward-looking review of the Canadian sport system and make recommendations on concrete and effective actions with respect to improving safe sport in Canada, including trauma-informed approaches to support sport participants in the disclosure of and healing from maltreatment; and improving the sport system in Canada, including but not limited to policy, funding structures, governance, reporting, accountability, conflicts of interest, systems alignment, culture, and legal considerations.

• Commission activities will include regional and subject-specific roundtables, a public online survey, and a public online submission portal. The Commission may also conduct in-camera sessions, meetings, interviews, focus groups or other activities it considers appropriate to fulfill its mandate. The Commission offers participants a variety of engagement options, as well as the opportunity to provide impact statements. All Canadians are encouraged to participate.
• The Commission will deliver two reports: a Preliminary Report in advance of a National Summit; and a Final Report to be submitted in the final month of the mandate, which will build on the Preliminary Report and reflect on insights and deliberations garnered from the National Summit.

Key risks

As a result of issues related to maltreatment in sport, there is a significant risk related to a lack of trust, among Canadians, in the sport system. To mitigate this risk, the Department will continue to require federally funded sport organizations to become signatories of the Safe Sport Program. Other than the measures specifically in place to mitigate the risk of maltreatment, Canadian Heritage will also implement new mandatory governance requirements for federally funded sport organizations, in addition to enhancing current risk assessment and monitoring approaches to detect any current areas of concern. Combined, these measures will contribute to mitigate issues threatening the integrity of the Canadian sport system, which include maltreatment, doping, competition manipulation, unfair play, discrimination, concussions, corruption and sports betting.

Planned resources to achieve results

Table 15: Planned resources to achieve results for Core responsibility 3: Sport

Table 15 provides a summary of the planned spending and full-time equivalents required to achieve results.

Complete financial and human resources information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Related government priorities

Gender-based analysis plus

Various activities under this core responsibility will seek to ensure inclusive outcomes in the Canadian sport system in 2025–26:

• Sport Canada will continue to apply inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility considerations to surveys on sport and physical activity participation, surveys on safety, ethics and equity in sport, research on female athletes, racism in sport and all other data collection projects relevant to sport.
• To investigate the impact of intersecting identity factors on the motivation and outcomes related to participation in sport, Sport Canada is partnering with the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute and Statistics Canada, Canada’s gold-standard research institutes.
• The Sport Support Program will continue to support projects designed to attract, retain, and support the participation of women and girls in sport. Funds will also improve equity and create opportunities for Indigenous people, people from Black, racialized and religious minority communities, 2SLGBTQI+ people, and newcomers to Canada to participate in sport. Funding is provided through the Sport for Social Development in Indigenous Communities initiative, and the Community Sport for All initiative.

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

Various activities under this core responsibility will seek to contribute indirectly to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

• Funding sports organizations that aim to increase youth participation in sport and physical activity (SDG 3—Good health and well-being).
• Supporting Canada’s Safe Sport Program by continuing to engage with national sport organizations to have a National Team Athlete’s Yearly Training Plan with integrated wellness plan (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 post-secondary level education, and deferred tuition support for previously carded athletes (SDG 4—Quality Education).
• Supporting investments to ensure that Canadian sport better reflects Canadian society by supporting more women in coaching, officiating, and leadership positions; providing more opportunities for girls and women to participate in sport. Continuing to invest in the collection of data and research necessary for decision-making that supports efforts to fund activities that will support the inclusion of women and other underrepresented groups in sport (SDG 5—Gender Equality and SDG 10—Reduced inequalities).
• Advancing sport integrity to ensure all Canadians participate and flourish in a sport system that is fair, safe, and inclusive by: developing national policy to inform and guide sport stakeholders; providing funding for sport integrity initiatives; funding research on sport integrity; coordinating a pan-Canadian approach to sport integrity; and participating in international forums on sport integrity issues (SDG 5 and SDG 10).

More information on Canadian Heritage’s contributions to Canada’s Federal Implementation Plan on the 2030 Agenda and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy can be found in our Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy.

Program inventory

Core responsibility 3: Sport is supported by the following programs:

• Sport Development and High Performance

Additional information related to the program inventory for Core responsibility 3: Sport is available on the Results page on GC InfoBase.

Core responsibility 4: Diversity and inclusion

In this section

• Description
• Quality of life impacts
• Indicators, results and targets
• Plans to achieve results
• Key risks
• Planned resources to achieve results
• Related government priorities
• Program inventory

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.

Quality of life impacts

Canada’s Quality of Life Framework measures the well-being of people in Canada. It is organized into domains and subdomains, each of which includes a number of indicators. Core responsibility 4: Diversity and Inclusion is aligned with the key domains, subdomains and indicators below.

Indicators, results and targets

This section presents details on the Department’s indicators, the actual results from the three most recently reported fiscal years, the targets and target dates approved in 2025–26 for Core responsibility 4: Diversity and Inclusion. Details are presented by departmental result.

Tables 16-20 provides a summary of the target and actual results for each indicator associated with the results under Diversity and inclusion.

Additional information on the detailed results and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC Infobase.

Plans to achieve results

The following section describes the planned results for Core responsibility 4: Diversity and Inclusion in 2025–26.

Canadians value diversity

Results we plan to achieve

• Invest in Changing Systems, Transforming Lives: Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy 2024–2028, launched on June 8, 2024, with $110.4 million aimed at driving action in employment, justice and law enforcement, housing, healthcare and immigration systems. The Strategy encompasses over 70 federal initiatives designed to ensure federal policies, programs and services reflect the needs of Canadians, while also working in partnership with communities by investing over $70 million in local initiatives across the country.
• Invest in Canada’s Action Plan on Combatting Hate, launched on September 24, 2024, with $273.6 million over six years, and $29.3 million ongoing, to tackle hatred from multiple angles to increase support to victims and survivors of incidents of hate; to help communities prevent, address and protect people from hate; to enhance research and data collection; to provide greater resources for law enforcement; and to raise public awareness. This Action Plan represents Canada’s first-ever comprehensive cross-government effort to combat hate.
• Continue to support the office of the Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism and the office of the Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia.
• Support community-based projects through the Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Program that promote discussion and information sharing on multiculturalism, diversity, racism and religious discrimination, and ensure that communities affected by racism, hate or any other form of discrimination have the resources they need to achieve economic, social, cultural and political equality, while raising awareness of issues related to racism and hate in Canada.
• Invest in the new National Holocaust Remembrance Program, which supports initiatives that seek to preserve the memory of the Holocaust and improve Canadians’ understanding and awareness of the Holocaust and of contemporary antisemitism in all its forms.
• Maintain collaboration through memoranda of understanding with Statistics Canada and Justice Canada on research projects to advance the objectives of the Strategy and the Action Plan. These memoranda will contribute to analytical products to support decision-making, including think pieces on racism and hate, intersections between Canada’s Action Plan on Combatting Hate; ongoing research related to online harms; and updating a tracker that captures all anti-racism and anti-hate initiatives at the municipal and provincial level.
• Continue to preserve and promote the multicultural heritage of Canadians through commemorative events and celebrations such as Black History Month and Asian Heritage Month, to highlight the histories, contributions, and achievements of Black and Asian communities in Canada.

Canadians value human rights.

Results we plan to achieve

• Conducting various key activities, through the Human Rights Program, that contribute to raising understanding and awareness of human rights, which include:
  • Promote key national and international commemorative and awareness days, such as Human Rights Day, through social media, events and other activities.
  • Coordinate and participate in federal, provincial and territorial consultations on human rights reporting to the United Nations, including managing the reporting process on Canada’s implementation of international human rights obligations.
  • Plan the next Forum of Ministers on Human Rights, which will take place in Saskatchewan in 2025–26, and following up on the priorities identified as a result of the 2023 Forum of Ministers.
  • Coordinate provincial and territorial participation in the appearance before the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and prepare other reports to the United Nations.
  • Engage with civil society, Indigenous representatives and human rights commissions on the reporting process and on implementation of recommendation from international human rights bodies, including those received during Canada’s Fourth Universal Periodic Review in 2023 and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 2024.
  • Disseminate information with respect to United Nations Treaty Bodies and Mechanisms with partners and stakeholders.
  • Commit, in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act Action Plan, to develop distinction-based mechanisms to formalize participation of Indigenous peoples’ representative institutions throughout the federal government’s processes.
  • Develop and apply Canada’s Federal Human Rights Implementation Framework, including through the organization of meetings and the creation of new mechanisms to strengthen follow-up efforts.

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.

Results we plan to achieve

• Conducting key activities that aim to address 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, including:
  • Ensuring that quorum is maintained on the two independent Expert Panels responsible for funding decisions and ensuring proper stewardship of the Court Challenges Program.
  • Set up a new contribution agreement between Canadian Heritage and the University of Ottawa as the third-party beneficiary delivering the Court Challenges Program.

Increase in the use of Indigenous languages

Results we plan to achieve

• Aligned with the advancement of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act Action Plan, continue to work with First Nations, Inuit and the Métis Nation to ensure that the Indigenous Languages Act continues to be fully implemented and supported by long-term, predictable and sustainable funding to preserve, promote and revitalize Indigenous languages in Canada:
  • Continue to implement the distinctions-based funding models for Indigenous languages to be more responsive to the unique needs of First Nations, Inuit and Métis.
  • Advance the work on access to federal services in Indigenous languages.
  • Initiate the independent review of the Indigenous Languages Act.

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

Results we plan to achieve

• Continue to strengthen youth attachment to Canada through the Youth Engagement Program (Exchanges Canada and Youth Take Charge), by engaging youth as well as helping young Canadians learn about Canada, connect with each other, and better appreciate the diversity and shared aspects of the Canadian experience.

The Department will also undertake the following initiatives to support the core responsibility Diversity and inclusion, through the Youth Secretariat:

• Conclude engagement activities with youth on the development of the second State of Youth Report.
• Continue to support the Prime Minister’s Youth Council.

Key risks

The global rise in racism and xenophobia, including antisemitism and Islamophobia have a direct impact worldwide, making it harder for the Government of Canada to combat these issues effectively.

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 policymaking including through collaboration with other federal departments and/or agencies and external partners.

As Budget 2023 announced the doubling of funding over the next five years for the Court Challenges Program, and although Canadian Heritage has adjusted the 2023–24 increase to assist the program in absorbing additional funding, there is a risk that the Program will be unable to fully disburse its funds when the new contribution agreement with the beneficiary of the Court Challenges Program is completed in March 2025. To mitigate this risk, the Department will work closely with the Program beneficiary to ensure the new funds are absorbed. The Department will also ensure that measures are put in place to ensure the continuation of the program beyond this date.

There is also a risk that stakeholders, in particular those from underrepresented groups, feel that not all of their expectations are being met with regard to consultation and implementation of recommendations from international human rights bodies. Measures are already in place to mitigate this risk, based primarily on ongoing discussions and consultations with partners to ensure their views and comments are incorporated into program activities.

Provinces and territories, which are key partners in reporting on human rights to the United Nations, may face significant workload challenges, resulting in delays. This could affect the perception towards the Government of Canada’s commitment to respond to international human rights bodies. Efforts are underway to identify tools to assist provinces and territories in contributing to Canada’s efforts.

Finally, there is a risk that Canadians will have a negative perception of the human rights progress due to the domestic and international political and human rights landscape affecting them. To address this sentiment and build trust, the Human Rights Program will continue to raise awareness and understanding of human rights principles using accessible language.

Successful implementation of the main priorities of the Indigenous Languages Program identified in this year’s Departmental Plan involve multiple Indigenous partners and stakeholders. Having several Indigenous partners involved also means that there is the potential for time-sensitive and/or capacity-related risks that are outside the control of the Department. To mitigate this risk, the Department will work closely with all partners involved to understand governance and capacity requirements and provide support and guidance on implementation matters. Open and ongoing communication will be prioritized in order to course correct any unforeseen challenges, specifically related to the implementation of funding models and advancing access to services.

Planned resources to achieve results

Table 21: Planned resources to achieve results for Core responsibility 4: Diversity and inclusion

Table 21 provides a summary of the planned spending and full-time equivalents required to achieve results.

Complete financial and human resources information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Related government priorities

Gender-based analysis plus

Various programs in support of this core responsibility will seek to achieve inclusive outcomes in 2025–26:

• The Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Program will continue to actively contribute to the Government of Canada’s goal to preserve and enhance the multicultural heritage of diverse peoples and communities in Canada while working to achieve the equality of all in the economic, social, cultural and political life of Canada. Collaborations on research projects with federal institutions such as Statistics Canada and the Department of Justice support the goal of enhancing data.
• The activities of the Human Rights Program are directed at all people residing in Canada, and include engagement with civil society, Indigenous representatives, and human rights commissions representing a broad array of interests across the country. Greater awareness and understanding of human rights and increased access to the Canadian justice system contribute to the promotion of gender equality, diversity and inclusion.
• The Court Challenges Program does not target specific groups: it can be accessed by all individuals and groups residing in Canada if they feel their constitutional and quasi-constitutional rights covered by the program have been violated. While the characteristics of program funding beneficiaries are not clearly known, given the nature of this program, the Program can expect minorities and people from diverse backgrounds to be among the program’s beneficiaries.
• The Indigenous Languages Branch will continue to work with Indigenous partners on the collection of disaggregated data through new reporting mechanisms to support analysis of intersectional impacts of the program and inform program improvements. Indigenous language revitalization, either through the new funding models or access to services will benefit broad subgroups of Indigenous Peoples, including Elders, knowledge keepers, women, men, girls, boys, gender-diverse people and people of all ages. In advancing its implementation of the Indigenous Languages Act, the Indigenous Languages Branch of Canadian Heritage will continue to advance other key Government commitments, including the Federal Pathway to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People.
• The Exchanges Canada and Youth Take Charge programs will assess youth engagement project applications based on the scope, diversity and number of youth involved in the proposals. It will require funded organizations to implement projects of a geographic and demographic scope and scale that reflects the broader youth population in Canada.
• A youth lens will continue to be applied to documents, analyses and policy initiatives that are developed and/or reviewed by the Youth Secretariat so that age and youth are considered. Stakeholder engagement efforts will continue to focus on reaching youth who face barriers to equity, including racialized youth, and First Nations, Inuit, and Métis youth.
• Furthermore, the Youth Secretariat will conclude a youth-centred engagement approach in the development of the second State of Youth Report planned for summer of 2025. It will support the participation of youth self-identifying with diverse identities, experiences and backgrounds, including but not limited to Indigeneity, race, culture and ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, religion, citizenship and newcomer status, ability, geographic location, economic profiles and circumstances, and language profiles.

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

Various activities under this core responsibility will seek to contribute indirectly to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

• The Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Program will continue to reduce inequalities by offering support to racialized and equity-deserving communities through funding to support community development, anti-racism initiatives, and engagement projects that promote diversity and inclusion by encouraging interaction among community groups (SDG 10—Reduced inequalities).
• The Department will continue to implement Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy, and Canada’s Action Plan on Combatting Hate. This will support the Government’s ongoing commitment to combatting all forms of racism, discrimination and hate (SDG 10).
• The activities of the Human Rights Program will continue to reduce inequalities by fostering greater awareness and understanding of human rights and increased access to the Canadian justice system. They ensure Canadians have access to information on their rights and on the steps governments across the country have taken to protect them (SDG 10).
• Providing financial support through the Court Challenges Program will help people living in Canada bring before the courts test cases of national significance that aim to clarify and assert certain constitutional and quasi-constitutional official language rights and human rights. In doing this, the program contributes to creating a more equitable society for Canadians. By facilitating access to justice, the Program also contributes to reducing inequalities and proposes a recourse for Canadians to clarify their rights, which contributes to strengthening Canadian institutions (SDG 10).
• Continuing to collaboratively implement the Indigenous Languages Act with Indigenous Peoples will help to strengthen Indigenous cultural identity and enhance Indigenous Peoples’ participation in Canadian society (SDG 10).
• The continued implementation of Canada’s Youth Policy will contribute to the reduction of inequalities among youth and build on the six youth-driven priority areas from the first State of Youth Report (SDG 10).
• The Youth Secretariat will continue to engage with youth in Canada, especially equity-deserving individuals and communities as it works towards the development of the second State of Youth Report in 2025 (SDG 10).

More information on Canadian Heritage’s contributions to Canada’s Federal Implementation Plan on the 2030 Agenda and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy can be found in our Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy.

Program inventory

Core responsibility 4: Diversity and Inclusion is supported by the following programs:

• Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism
• Human Rights
• Indigenous Languages
• Youth Engagement

Additional information related to the program inventory for Core responsibility 4: Diversity and Inclusion is available on the Results page on GC InfoBase.

Core responsibility 5: Official languages

In this section

• Description
• Quality of life impacts
• Indicators, results and targets
• Plans to achieve results
• Key risks
• Planned resources to achieve results
• Related government priorities
• Program inventory
• Summary of changes to reporting framework since last year

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.

Quality of life impacts

Canada’s Quality of Life Framework measures the well-being of people in Canada. It is organized into domains and subdomains, each of which includes several indicators. Core responsibility 5: Official Languages is aligned with the key domains, subdomains and indicators below.

Indicators, results and targets

This section presents details on the Department’s indicators, the actual results from the three most recently reported fiscal years, the targets and target dates approved in 2025–26 for Core responsibility 5: Official Languages. Details are presented by departmental result.

Table 22: Canadians recognize and support Canada’s official languages.

Table 22 provides a summary of the target and actual results for each indicator associated with the results under Official languages.

Additional information on the detailed results and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC Infobase.

Plans to achieve results

The following section describes the planned results for Core responsibility 5: Official Languages in 2025–26.

Canadians recognize and support Canada’s official languages.

Results we plan to achieve

• Continue working with federal partners and the community sector to implement the Action Plan for Official Languages 2023–2028 and its various initiatives, including the Official Languages Support Programs.
• Continue the work of implementing the bilateral agreements on official languages with the provincial and territorial governments for first- and second-language education, and for services.
• Continue the regulatory work on the implementation of the Use of French in Federally Regulated Private Businesses Act and the administrative monetary penalties regime.

Key risks

Canada’s two official languages, English and French, are at the heart of Canadian identity. The declining demographic weight of Canada’s Francophone population has raised concerns about the vitality of the French language.

The Department will continue implementing the modernized Official Languages Act and pursue the regulatory work for the implementation of the Use of French in Federally Regulated Private Businesses Act and the administrative monetary penalties regime. To ensure effective implementation, it is essential that the Department put in place the necessary tools and resources to meet its new official languages obligations.

The announcement and implementation of Action Plan for Official Languages 2023–2028 is a testament to the Government’s commitment to the official languages. Action Plan for Official Languages 2023–2028 features 33 new or enhanced initiatives to protect and promote English and French in Canada. These initiatives are backed by a historic investment of $1.4 billion.

Provinces and territories rely on a skilled workforce to continue providing quality education in the minority language in second-language programs, including immersion, and in minority-language schools. There is a risk that labour shortages will continue to have a direct impact on the recruitment and retention of French-speaking teachers across Canada. To mitigate this risk, Pillar 2: Promoting Lifelong Learning Opportunities of the Action Plan for Official Languages includes several initiatives to counter the shortage of French-language teachers across the country. The Department will continue working with the provincial and territorial governments to find solutions to the problems created by labour shortages.

Planned resources to achieve results

Table 23: Planned resources to achieve results for Core responsibility 5: Official Languages

Table 23 provides a summary of the planned spending and full-time equivalents required to achieve results.

Complete financial and human resources information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Related government priorities

Gender-based analysis plus

Various programs in support of this core responsibility will seek to achieve inclusive outcomes for Canadians in 2025–26:

• Using 2021 Census data that has recently been made available, this year’s update will include new revealing observations on the situation of several groups of people belonging to Canada’s English- and French-speaking minority communities, including as it concerns intersecting identity factors such as gender, age group, level of education, income level, unemployment rate and language transmission. This update will further align our programs with a view to addressing the challenges of equity, diversity and inclusion.
• The implementation of the modernized Official Languages Act will benefit official language minority communities. In addition, the Official Languages Branch will continue to consider the specific demographic characteristics of Francophone communities in regions with a strong Francophone presence in implementing the legislative measures, including the Use of French in Federally Regulated Private Businesses Act, and in supporting the Treasury Board Secretariat in the development of regulations for Part VII of the Official Languages Act that requires federal institutions to take positive measures to advance English and French in Canadian society and enhance the vitality of official languages minority communities.

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

Various activities under this core responsibility will seek to contribute indirectly to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

• Initiatives providing new funding for primary, secondary and post-secondary education in the minority language, teacher recruitment and retention in minority French-language schools, French second-language programs and French immersion programs, the construction or rehabilitation of community educational infrastructure; and programs to encourage learning of the second official language will support the education sector (SDG 4—Quality education and SDG 10—Reduced inequalities).
• Expanding access to public services in the minority language through federal, provincial and territorial education agreements will support minority-language education and second-language instruction, and federal, provincial and territorial agreements on minority-language services (SDG 4 and SDG 10).For instance, the Government signed a minority-languages services agreement with the Yukon government on a $1.5 million five-year project (2023–2028) to improve access to health care in French by creating a data strategy on patients’ language preference and digital strategy to facilitate care.
• Promotion of Canada’s two official languages through Action Plan for Official Languages 2023–2028 and the continued implementation of the modernized Official Languages Act will contribute to reducing inequalities (SDG 10). One example is to increase access to quality learning opportunities for francophone and anglophone minorities from preschool to postsecondary studies.

More information on Canadian Heritage’s contributions to Canada’s Federal Implementation Plan on the 2030 Agenda and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy can be found in our Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy.

Program inventory

Core responsibility 5: Official Languages is supported by the following programs:

• Official Languages

Additional information related to the program inventory for Core responsibility 5: Official Languages is available on the Results page on GC InfoBase.

Summary of changes to reporting framework since last year

• The departmental result, “Federal institutions develop and implement policies and programs in accordance with Section 41 of the Official Languages Act,” as well as its supporting indicator “Percentage of federal institutions that report concrete results in their annual review in support of Section 41 of the Official Languages Act,” were removed from the Departmental Results Framework. The modernization of the Official Languages Act now assigns the legislative responsibility to the Treasury Board Secretariat to coordinate the implementation of section 41 of the Act among all federal institutions.

Internal services

In this section

• Description
• Plans to achieve results
• Planned resources to achieve results
• Planning for contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses

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
• material management services
• acquisition management services

Plans to achieve results

This section presents details on how the Department plans to achieve results and meet targets for internal services.

Management and oversight services

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Canadian Heritage has continued to make important progress in implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (UNDA) through the creation of the UNDA Secretariat to coordinate the implementation of the Department’s action plan measures. Canadian Heritage leads 15 Action Plan Measures to advance Indigenous languages, arts, music, and heritage repatriation through culturally appropriate programs. Canadian Heritage also supports the effective implementation of treaties, specializing in areas such as copyright, access to collections (repatriation), broadcasting, and the protection of both tangible and intangible heritage.

Canadian Heritage’s Reconciliation Action Plan

The Canadian Heritage Reconciliation Action Plan 2024/2025 – 2026/2027 is an important milestone in the Department’s ongoing commitment to strengthening relationships with Indigenous communities, based on respect, recognition, and partnership. It establishes a framework to guide the Department’s sustained, strategic, and meaningful actions structured around three foundational pillars: relationship building, embedding reconciliation and capacity building.

As part of the Reconciliation Action Plan, Canadian Heritage is creating awareness of the Inuit Nunangat Policy to ensure that Inuit perspectives and interests are consistently considered throughout Department initiatives and activities.

To help strengthen Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus) efforts, the Department will roll out an Indigenous-Centred Gender Based Analysis Plus, developed in 2024, to integrate the intersectional and culturally sensitive dimensions of reconciliation throughout departmental initiatives, in support of the implementation of the Departmental Reconciliation Action Plan.

Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA) Office

Canadian Heritage will launch the first multi-year IDEA Action Plan and will begin tracking progress over IDEA initiatives across the Department through a comprehensive and coordinated approach to monitoring and managing change. The implementation of the plan will help the Department achieve the goals identified in the Canadian Heritage culture statement to promote and achieve greater inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility within the Department.

The Department will also close out the 2023–2025 Accessibility Plan with a 2025 Annual Accessibility Progress and Feedback Report and will identify key successes and where work must continue to be barrier free by 2040 in accordance with the goals of the Accessible Canada Act.

Finally, Canadian Heritage will launch the Accessibility Plan for 2025–2027 in accordance with the goals of the Accessible Canada Act.

Canadian Heritage Funding Portal

The Canadian Heritage Funding Portal is an online service delivery channel for Canadian Heritage funding programs that allows clients to create a profile and apply for funding online. This digital environment allows the Department to continually improve its service to Canadians, simplify processes and tools for both our employees and clients, and standardize data for improved service, reporting and decision-making. Canadian Heritage is continuing to develop a simplified onboarding approach to enable more programs to use the digital platform in 2025–26.

Thirteen program components will be onboarded to the Portal in 2025–26, thereby continuing to offer clients the ability to apply for programs online. Workload reduction initiatives will also be implemented to free up program resource effort from repetitive work to higher value work such as assessing results and dialogue with stakeholders.

The Department will continue with the implementation of a logical data model aligned with the Government of Canada grants and contributions data model to standardize data collection on the Canadian Heritage Funding Portal, leading to harmonization of forms and process improvements.

Data Strategy

The Department will implement activities to support the four focus areas of the Canadian Heritage Data Strategy. These focus areas include Governance, Disaggregated Data, Ethical Stewardship of Data and Data Literacy. The implementation of the Canadian Heritage Data Strategy includes advancing data disaggregation and research approaches that are consistent with an inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility lens.

Gender-Based Analysis Plus Responsibility Centre

The Department’s Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus) Responsibility Centre will continue to undertake efforts to strengthen the rigour and intersectionality of GBA Plus, with a view to ensuring that 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. Additionally, the GBA Plus Responsibility Centre will leverage insights from the Community of Practice to refine best practices and share success stories, thereby promoting a culture of continuous learning and improvement across the Department. Finally, the GBA Plus Responsibility Centre will continue its activities geared towards building internal GBA Plus capacity among departmental employees and by providing them with GBA Plus tools and resources.

Human resources management services

Canadian Heritage will continue to support partners with tools, training, and advice. The Department will keep developing and making disaggregated workforce data accessible to all employees. Inclusion indicators will be developed in collaboration with relevant groups and will serve as the foundation for our inclusion objectives.

Canadian Heritage will continue to work closely with Public Services and Procurement Canada and other federal departments to relocate departmental staff and operations to other buildings in regions in the context of lease termination. The relocation will minimize interruptions of day-to-day operations and provide accommodation that meets requirements of staff and operations.

The Department will begin planning the return to Les Terrasses de la Chaudière complex, in collaboration with Public Services and Procurement Canada, taking into account the progress of the Envelope Replacement Project.

Financial management services

In 2025–26, Canadian Heritage will continue to align its comptrollership functions resources to Government priorities and to promote accountability, transparency and oversight through effective financial management, risk management, and controls, in a context of fiscal restraint.

Information management services and Information technology services

Digital Workforce Enablement

To support the hybrid and mobile workforce model, the Department is providing employees with the latest, secure, cloud-based tools to enhance productivity and collaboration. The Department is also participating in Workplace Modernization by integrating technological tools that foster digital collaboration and virtual communication within the office environment. This includes the new workplaces at Canadian Heritage buildings until we return to Terrasses de la Chaudière as well as modernizing regional boardroom technologies.

The Department will continue to advance Digital Workforce Enablement by adhering to the mandatory requirements of the Digital Talent Directive. This includes fostering departmental collaboration, sharing information/best practices and resources, and coordinating efforts in planning, talent sourcing, talent management, and leadership development.

Service Delivery to Canadians

Canadian Heritage has made significant progress in modernizing legacy information technology platforms and applications and will continue efforts to strengthen the overall health of the application portfolio. Initiatives include emphasizing the use of cloud-based platforms for their agility, scalability and cost effectiveness, applying secure application development practices to mitigate the risk of vulnerabilities in application software and using standards, tools, and guidance in the application development process, in support of a user-centred approach to accessibility.

Corporate Security

Canadian Heritage will be implementing a new three-year Departmental Security Plan aimed at improving the Department’s overall security posture. This plan seeks to enhance employees’ awareness of the security risks faced by the Department and promotes strategies to better safeguard people, systems, information, facilities, and the delivery of the Department’s core mandate.

Planned resources to achieve results

Table 24: Planned resources to achieve results for internal services this year

Table 24 provides a summary of the planned spending and full-time equivalents required to achieve results.

Complete financial and human resources information for Canadian Heritage’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Planning for contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses

Government of Canada departments are to meet a target of awarding at least 5% of the total value of contracts to Indigenous businesses each year.

In support of the Government of Canada’s commitment to increasing the participation of Indigenous businesses in contracting opportunities, the Department will continue to promote and encourage Indigenous participation through continuous improvement of its processes and procedures and by raising awareness throughout the Department.

Training and information sessions will continue to be provided to procurement stakeholders across the Department to raise awareness of our obligations with respect to the 5% target.

Procurement personnel will continue to work closely with Government of Canada policy leads through participation in interdepartmental working groups and outreach events to establish best practices for Indigenous procurement to be applied within the Department.

Table 25: Percentage of contracts planned and awarded to Indigenous businesses

Table 25 presents the current, actual results with forecasted and planned results for the total percentage of contracts the Department awarded to Indigenous businesses.

Planned spending and human resources

This section provides an overview of Canadian Heritage’s planned spending and human resources for the next three fiscal years and compares planned spending for 2025–26 with actual spending from previous years.

In this section

• Spending
• Funding
• Future-oriented condensed statement of operations
• Human resources

Spending

This section presents an overview of the Department’s planned expenditures from 2022–23 to 2027–28.

Budgetary performance summary

Table 26: Three-year spending summary for core responsibilities and internal services (dollars)

Table 26 presents how much money Canadian Heritage spent over the past three years to carry out its core responsibilities and for internal services. Amounts for the current fiscal year are forecasted based on spending to date.

Analysis of the past three years of spending

Creativity, arts and culture: The $95 million decrease in spending between 2022–23 and 2023–24 is due to the sunsetting of targeted funding received to address the issues created by COVID-19 in the arts and culture sectors. Specifically, one-year funding to support the retention of skilled workers during a period of heightened uncertainty and one-year funding to support the viability of Canada’s creative, cultural and heritage organizations have both expired. The decrease in spending is partially offset by funding for the Creative Export Strategy, the Digital Citizen Initiative, the Online Content Diversity Initiative and the Canada Media Fund program, the latter of which specifically targets traditionally underrepresented voices and French-language audiovisual content. The increase in 2024–25 forecasted spending is explained by new funding for local and diverse journalism, for the Canada Music Fund and the Cultural Spaces Fund.

Heritage and celebration: The $50 million decrease in spending between 2022–23 and 2023–24 is explained by the sunsetting of targeted funding received to address the issues created by COVID-19 in the heritage and celebrations sector, specifically to help heritage organizations and festival celebrations recover from the pandemic. The decrease in 2023–24 spending is further explained by one-year fundings received in 2022–23 to help support the viability of Canadian heritage programs and to publicly honour Queen Elizabeth II’s historic 70-year reign. The decrease in actual spending in 2023–24 and in forecasted spending in 2024–25 is due to the sunsetting of various funding initiatives. In 2023–24, the decrease is partially offset by new funding to renovate and modernize the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver.

Sport: The $54 million decrease in spending between 2022–23 and 2023–24 is due to the sunsetting of targeted funding received to address the issues created by COVID-19 in the sport sectors, and a decrease in the funding received for Indigenous reconciliation and the empowerment of Indigenous women and girls through sport for social development and community sport. The decrease in spending is partially offset by new funding over two years, to support building a diverse Canadian sport system and new funding over three years, for initiatives related to safe sport and enhanced accountability in sport. The $40 million increase in 2024–25 forecasted spending is explained by various investments announced in Budget 2024, the most significant of which is a $220 million funding over four years to support the co-hosting of the FIFA Men’s World Cup 2026 with the Province of British Columbia and the City of Toronto.

Diversity and inclusion: The $71 million increase in spending between 2022–23 and 2023–24 is explained by the variation in the funding profile to support the Indigenous communities in their efforts to reclaim, revitalize, maintain, and strengthen Indigenous languages. While the above funding ended in 2024–25, Budget 2024 announced a new five-year investment plus ongoing funding to support the Indigenous Languages Act. The new funding resulted in a forecasted 2024–25 spending decrease of $18 million.

Official languages: The $20 million decrease in spending between 2022–23 and 2023–24 is explained by the end of various temporary funding, one of which supporting the education of minority languages in Canada. The $30 million increase in 2024–25 forecasted spending is the result of increases in the funding profiles received for Intergovernmental Collaboration on Official Languages and for Official Languages Action Plan 2023–28.

Internal Services: Internal Services spending since 2022–23, including forecasted spending in 2024–25, is stable and consistent with the temporary funds received in those years.

More financial information from previous years is available on the Finances section of GC Infobase.

Table 27: Planned three-year spending on core responsibilities and internal services (dollars)

Table 27 presents how much money Canadian Heritage plans to spend over the next three years to carry out its core responsibilities and for internal services.

Analysis of the next three years of spending

Planned spending for 2025–26 and beyond decreases as various temporary funding initiatives come to an end. Core responsibility 3: Sport maintains its level of planned spending for 2025–26 and even shows an increase for 2026–27, explained by a major investment announced in Budget 2024 for the hosting of the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup. The need to refocus government spending, including travel and professional services, as announced in Budget 2023, also explains the decrease in planned spending. Canadian Heritage is one of the eighty organizations across the government affected by this exercise.

More detailed financial information on planned spending is available on the Finances section of GC Infobase.

Funding

This section provides an overview of the Department’s voted and statutory funding for its core responsibilities and for internal services. For further information on funding authorities, consult the Government of Canada budgets and expenditures.

Graph 1: Approved funding (statutory and voted) over a six-year period

Graph 1: Approved funding (statutory and voted) over a six-year period – Text description

Fiscal year	Total	Voted	Statutory
2022–23	2,300,555,037	2,268,253,483	32,301,554
2023–24	2,152,461,302	2,118,238,534	34,222,768
2024–25	2,159,100,862	2,127,550,088	31,550,774
2025–26	2,095,587,968	2,061,662,468	33,925,500
2026–27	1,911,863,359	1,880,190,174	31,673,185
2027–28	1,740,943,804	1,709,877,643	31,066,161

Analysis of statutory and voted funding over a six-year period

In 2022–23, the Department’s spending reached a high as it continued to support the reopening and recovery of heritage, arts and sports sectors following the pandemic. In addition, the Department received funding to continue its work on initiatives such as combating racism in favour of multiculturalism, promoting official and Indigenous languages, supporting the viability of Canada’s creative, cultural and heritage organizations, supporting online book sales by Canadian retailers, and supporting local and diverse journalism. Finally, the Department received funding for commemorative initiatives in honour of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and for the redevelopment and modernization of the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver.

While most of the post-pandemic assistance concluded in 2023–24, the 2024–25 forecasted spending shows a modest increase due to ongoing work on official languages, anti-racism and multiculturalism initiatives. In addition, Budget 2024 announced additional funding to support festivals, live events and performing arts; build museums and cultural centres, promote access to books, news and journalism; support Indigenous languages and cultures; combat hate; support official languages; support sports; and build diverse and safe communities.

Looking forward to 2025–26 and future years, the Department anticipates a decrease in planned spending as temporary funding initiatives expire. In addition, the Department’s contribution to the refocusing of government spending announced in Budget 2023 also contributes to the decrease in planned spending in future years.

For further information on Canadian Heritage’s departmental appropriations, consult the 2025–26 Main Estimates.

Future-oriented condensed statement of operations

The future-oriented condensed statement of operations provides an overview of Canadian Heritage’s operations for 2024–25 to 2025–26.

Table 28: Future-oriented condensed statement of operations for the year ended March 31, 2026 (thousands of dollars)

Table 28 summarizes the expenses and revenues which net to the cost of operations before government funding and transfers for 2024–25 to 2025–26. 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.

Analysis of forecasted and planned results

The overall net decrease of $117 million in 2025–26 planned results compared to 2024–25 forecast results is largely due to the end of targeted temporary funding initiatives and the Department’s contribution to the refocusing government spending exercise, announced in Budget 2023.

A more detailed Future-Oriented Statement of Operations and associated Notes for 2025–26, including a reconciliation of the net cost of operations with the requested authorities, is available on Canadian Heritage’s website.

Human resources

This section presents an overview of the Department’s actual and planned human resources from 2022–23 to 2027–28.

Table 29: Actual human resources for core responsibilities and internal services

Table 29 shows a summary of human resources, in full-time equivalents, for Canadian Heritage’s core responsibilities and for its internal services for the previous three fiscal years. Human resources for the current fiscal year are forecasted based on the year to date.

Analysis of human resources over the last three years

The decrease in actual full-time equivalents in 2023–24 represents the sunsetting of the temporary funds received to support recovery from the pandemic for the heritage, arts, and sport sectors. The increase in 2024–25 forecasted full-time equivalents and 2025–26 planned full-time equivalents reflects the temporary new funding announced in Budget 2024 for initiatives related to supporting festivals, live events and performing arts; building museums and cultural centres; promoting access to books, news and journalism; supporting Indigenous languages and cultures; countering hate; supporting official languages; supporting sport; and building diverse and safe communities. The number of full-time equivalents begins a gradual decline in 2026–27 as temporary funding ends.

Table 30: Human resources planning summary for core responsibilities and internal services

Table 30 shows information on human resources, in full-time equivalents, for each of Canadian Heritage’s core responsibilities and for its internal services planned for the next three years.

Analysis of human resources for the next three years

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 is available to carry out the departmental mandate.

Corporate information

Departmental profile

Appropriate minister:

• The Honourable Steven Guilbeault, P.C., M.P.
  Minister of Identity and Canadian Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages

Institutional head: Isabelle Mondou

Ministerial portfolio: Department of Canadian Heritage

Enabling instrument: Department of Canadian Heritage Act

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.

Departmental contact information

Mailing address

Canadian Heritage
15 Eddy Street
Gatineau QC  J8X 4B3 Canada

Telephone

1-866-811-0055 Call toll-free from all regions, Monday to Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 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

Canadian Heritage

Supplementary information tables

The following supplementary information tables are available on Canadian Heritage’s website:

• Details on transfer payment programs
• Gender-based analysis plus
• Up-front multi-year funding

Information on Canadian Heritage’s departmental sustainable development strategy can be found on Canadian Heritage’s website.

Federal tax expenditures

Canadian Heritage’s Departmental Plan does not include information on tax expenditures.

The tax system can be used to achieve public policy objectives through the application of special measures such as low tax rates, exemptions, deductions, deferrals and credits. The Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for these measures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures.

This report also provides detailed background information on tax expenditures, including descriptions, objectives, historical information and references to related federal spending programs as well as evaluations and GBA Plus of tax expenditures.

Definitions

List of terms

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, departments 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 report on the plans and expected performance of an appropriated department over a 3-year period. Departmental Plans are usually tabled in Parliament each spring.

departmental result (résultat ministériel)

A consequence or outcome that a department seeks to achieve. 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 quantitative measure of progress on a departmental result.

departmental results framework (cadre ministériel des résultats)

A framework that connects the department’s core responsibilities to its departmental results and departmental result indicators.

Departmental Results Report (rapport sur les résultats ministériels)

A report on a department’s actual accomplishments against the plans, priorities and expected results set out in the corresponding Departmental Plan.

equity-deserving group(s) (groupes méritant l’équité)

A group of people who, because of systemic discrimination, face barriers that prevent them from having the same access to the resources and opportunities that are available to other members of society, and that are necessary for them to attain just outcomes. In Canada, groups generally considered to be equity-deserving groups include women, Indigenous Peoples, people with disabilities, people who are part of 2SLGBTQI+ communities, religious minority groups and racialized people. The types of equity-deserving groups may vary based on factors such as geography, sociocultural context, or the presence of specific subpopulations. Some people argue that this term could be seen to imply that not all people are deserving of equity and may prefer different terminology, such as “equity-seeking group”, which highlights the actions of the communities that fight for equal access to resources and opportunities by actively seeking social justice and reparation. Other terms include “equity-denied group”. For further information, refer to the Guide on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Terminology.

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. For a particular position, the full-time equivalent figure is the ratio of number of hours the person actually works divided by the standard number of hours set out in the person’s collective agreement.

gender-based analysis plus (GBA Plus) (analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS Plus])

Is 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 (including rurality), language, race, religion, and sexual orientation.

Using GBA Plus involves taking a gender- and diversity-sensitive approach to our work. Considering all intersecting identity factors as part of GBA Plus, not only sex and gender, is a Government of Canada commitment.

government priorities (priorités gouvernementales)

For the purpose of the 2025–26 Departmental Plan, government priorities are the high-level themes outlining the government’s agenda in the most recent Speech from the Throne.

horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)

An initiative where two or more federal departments are given funding to pursue a shared outcome, often linked to a government priority.

Indigenous business (entreprise autochtones)

For the purpose of the Directive on the Management of Procurement Appendix E: Mandatory Procedures for Contracts Awarded to Indigenous Businesses and the Government of Canada’s commitment that a mandatory minimum target of 5% of the total value of contracts is awarded to Indigenous businesses, a department that meets the definition and requirements as defined by the Indigenous Business Directory.

non-budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires)

Non-budgetary authorities that comprise assets and liabilities transactions for loans, investments and advances, or specified purpose accounts, that have been established under specific statutes or under non-statutory authorities in the Estimates and elsewhere. Non-budgetary transactions are those expenditures and receipts related to the government’s financial claims on, and obligations to, outside parties. These consist of transactions in loans, investments and advances; in cash and accounts receivable; in public money received or collected for specified purposes; and in all other assets and liabilities. Other assets and liabilities, not specifically defined in G to P authority codes are to be recorded to an R authority code, which is the residual authority code for all other assets and liabilities.

performance (rendement)

What a department did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the department intended to achieve, and how well lessons learned have been identified.

performance indicator (indicateur de rendement)

A qualitative or quantitative means of measuring an output or outcome, with the intention of gauging the performance of a department, program, policy or initiative respecting expected results.

plan (plan)

The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how a department 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 to the expected result.

planned spending (dépenses prévues)

For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, planned spending refers to those amounts presented in 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 the department and focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.

program inventory (répertoire des programmes)

Identifies all the department’s programs and describes how resources are organized to contribute to the department’s core responsibilities and results.

result (résultat)

A consequence attributed, in part, to a department, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single department, policy, program or initiative; instead they are within the area of the department’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 a department, 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 groupes 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.

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.