Departmental Results Report 2020-21 — Canadian Heritage

This publication is available upon request in alternative formats.

The Honourable Pablo Rodriguez, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Canadian Heritage

The Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Official Languages and
Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency

The Honourable Ahmed Hussen, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion

The Honourable Marci Ien, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Women and Gender Equality and Youth

The Honourable Pascale St-Onge, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Sport and
Minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec

Supplementary information tables

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

Alternate format

Departmental Results Report 2020-21 [PDF version - 1.44 MB]

List of acronyms and abbreviations

2SLGBTQQIA+: Two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning, intersex and asexual plus
CBC: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
CCI: Canadian Conservation Institute
CHIN: Canadian Heritage Information Network
CPAC: Cable Public Affairs Channel
CRTC: Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
ESF: Emergency Support Fund for Cultural, Heritage and Sport Organizations
GBA Plus: gender-based analysis plus
GDP: gross domestic product
HTML: HyperText Markup Language
ISSN: International Standard Serial Number
LGBTI: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex
LGBTQ2: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, two-spirit
PDF: Portable Document Format
SDG: Sustainable Development Goals
TV5: French-language international television network
TV5MONDE: French-language international television network
UNESCO: United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization

Message from the Ministers

We are pleased to present the 2020–21 Departmental Results Report for the Department of Canadian Heritage.

In 2020–21, Canadians were hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Department provided timely assistance through its regular programs, special measures, and the Fall Economic Statement 2020. The Emergency Support Fund for Cultural, Heritage and Sport Organizations provided $500 million. The Department increased the flexibility of its responses to meet the specific needs identified by organizations. It also altered some of the activities planned for 2020. The Frankfurt Book Fair is an excellent example of this approach. Canada’s term as guest of honour was extended to 2021, but a hybrid version of the Fair in 2020 allowed us to boost Canadian visibility on the international stage.

We continued to celebrate and commemorate our heritage, including by supporting the work of museum and heritage organizations. Museums offered many extra work placements and summer jobs for young people. The Department also supported the program commemorating the history and repercussions of residential schools. In 2020, we highlighted the 150th anniversary of Manitoba’s entry into the Canadian Confederation, which occurred thanks to the Métis Nation. On September 30, a day of commemoration was organized across the country by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation to mark the implementation of this new initiative. Starting in 2021, this day will be a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The Department also worked with Indigenous peoples to move forward on establishing the Office of the Commissioner of Indigenous Languages and develop a suitable long-term, stable funding model to support the implementation of the Indigenous Languages Act.

2020–21 was a particularly difficult year for the sport sector in Canada. The closure of sport facilities and the cancellation or postponement of programs and competitions had a major impact on high-performance athletes and the population in general. In addition to the national Emergency Fund, Sport Canada provided extra help to national sports organizations to allow preparations for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games to continue. Sport Canada was also involved in efforts to postpone the Canada Summer Games in the Niagara region to 2022. Finally, we continued efforts to encourage everyone to take part in and enjoy the benefits of sport and exercise.

Canadians are working to build a truly inclusive society for all, including people with disabilities and LGBTQ2 communities. The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified racism towards Indigenous peoples, and Black, Asian, Muslim, Jewish and other racialized and religious minority communities. Statistics Canada found that hate crimes increased by 37 percent in 2020, and those targeting race or ethnicity nearly doubled from the previous year. This past year, we saw the tragic effects of racism, Islamophobia and antisemitism in too many devastating events. People around the world are demanding fair treatment in their society, without discrimination, and calling on their governments to take action and make tangible changes. The Department is rising to the challenge. We continue to promote diversity and inclusion through Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy and Anti-Racism Action Program. The Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat is a centre of expertise that leads the whole-of-government approach to fighting systemic racism and discrimination. Finally, the Youth Secretariat continues to implement Canada’s youth policy and support the Prime Minister’s Youth Council, which welcomed its 5th cohort.

On February 19, 2021, the Department tabled a public document called “French and English: Towards a substantive equality of official languages in Canada,”. This document served as the basis of modernizing the Official Languages Act, reforms that were later introduced in the House of Commons in C-32, An Act for the Substantive Equality of French and English and the Strengthening of the Official Languages Act. Over the past year, the Department also provided valuable support to organizations in official language minority communities. This assistance has helped to tackle problems such as social isolation among seniors during the pandemic. It has also supported projects that aim to address the shortage of French language teachers in Canada, as part of the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy. Thanks to bilateral agreements with provincial and territorial governments, additional funding was also provided to support education in a minority language.

As ministers, we invite you to read the report and find out more about the work of Canadian Heritage.

The Honourable Pablo Rodriguez,
Minister of Canadian Heritage

The Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor,
Minister of Official Languages and
Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency

The Honourable Ahmed Hussen,
Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion

The Honourable Marci Ien,
Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth

The Honourable Pascale St-Onge,
Minister of Sport and
Minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec

Results at a glance

In 2020–21, the Department of Canadian Heritage supported the Minister of Canadian Heritage, the Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth and the Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages in carrying out their mandates and achieving results to advance the Department’s core responsibilities. The Department’s total actual spending in 2020–21 amounted to $1,961,542,247 and its total actual full-time equivalents were 1,844.4.

While nearly every facet of the Department was affected by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic—from cancellations of cultural, art, heritage, community and sport events, the disruptions to operations of partner organizations, to the very means by which business was conducted—Canadian Heritage pivoted at an exceptional speed to virtual work and adapted its delivery of services to Canadians, while supporting the Department’s regular business to the extent possible, in addition to administering the $500 million Emergency Support Fund for Cultural, Heritage and Sport Organizations^{Footnote 2} (ESF) throughout 2020-21, and readying $181.5 million announced in the 2020 Fall Economic Statement Supporting Arts and Live Events Workers in Response to COVID-19.^{Footnote 3}

In the fall of 2020, Canadian Heritage hosted a series of virtual ministerial town halls and roundtables to understand how the Government of Canada can best support the arts, culture, heritage, and sport sectors through challenges related to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A survey of ESF recipients conducted in fall 2020 demonstrated the different ways in which cultural, heritage and sport organizations were affected by the pandemic. Among others, respondents spoke of loss of revenues through ticket sales and advertising revenues, loss of staff and volunteers, as well as financial losses, long-term impacts including loss of talent, losses related to the inability to travel, and the high levels of stress felt across the sectors.

The ESF focused on short-term emergency assistance and helped many organizations maintain operations and employment during the critical early stages of the public health crisis. Results from the ESF recipient survey show that this additional funding helped organizations remain in operation, helped them pay for workforce-related costs, and costs related to adapting their business model, such as implementing digital transformation. This funding was complementary to general measures for individuals (Canada Emergency Response Benefit) and for businesses (Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy, Canada Emergency Business Account).

The Department activated its Business Continuity Plan between March 26 to September 21, 2020, which allowed only activities related to the pandemic response over its limited network. Canadian Heritage worked with Shared Services Canada to stabilize the network and increase its bandwidth while ensuring that program activities as well as the ESF were being delivered. The Department continued to deploy collaborative tools, and develop and optimize flexibilities in staffing and financial systems, while taking into consideration the well-being of its employees. This report reflects the ongoing efforts made across Canadian Heritage to help mitigate the impacts of the pandemic.

Core responsibility 1: Creativity, arts and culture

In 2020–21, the Department continued to deliver on its regular programs and priorities while rapidly designing and delivering emergency support funding and special measures for the arts and culture sectors greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The year was marked by the Department’s mobilization to support these sectors during a prolonged period of crisis. Through the ESF, urgently needed support was provided to arts and culture organizations via Canadian Heritage and its partners, which included the Canada Council for the Arts, Telefilm Canada, and the Canada Media Fund. In addition, the Department worked closely with stakeholders to implement flexibilities to support targeted needs and provide stability in an unpredictable and destabilizing year.

The Department also made significant pivots in its delivery of key cultural activities and events originally planned for 2020, including Canada’s presence at the Frankfurt Book Fair. While Canada’s year as Guest of Honour was extended into 2021, the Fair was still held in a hybrid format in 2020. Canadian Heritage formed more than 40 partnerships at the federal, provincial, and territorial levels, and with the Canadian and German publishing industry. Through these partnerships, video content and more than 100 virtual events were promoted to increase exposure of Canadian authors and artists in Germany and internationally throughout the year.

Core responsibility 2: Heritage and celebration

Commemorate Canada funded 203 projects to commemorate the history and legacy of residential schools. These community activities and initiatives included healing gardens, educational activities and ceremonies, including a large-scale national event organized by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30, 2020.

The 150th anniversary of the Métis Nation entering Confederation was marked in 2020, both through virtual Canada Day programming broadcast coast to coast to coast on July 1st, and through activities funded by Celebrate Canada.

The Building Communities through Arts and Heritage Program provided funding to 782 projects, including 740 local festivals and 42 community anniversary and commemorative capital projects. The program encouraged citizens across the country to connect with one another and engage in their local communities through performing and visual arts, as well as through the expression, celebration, and preservation of local historical heritage.

The Museums Assistance Program provided almost $34 million in emergency financial assistance to 1,238 heritage organizations in order to allow them to continue to care for their heritage collections under these exceptional circumstances so that they may remain accessible to Canadians, particularly for small and medium-sized museums and related heritage institutions, often located in smaller, remote or rural communities. In addition to museums, recipients of ESF funding included historical societies, archives, galleries, libraries, gardens, and cultural centres.

Young Canada Works provided supplemental funding to delivery organizations in the heritage sector to fund more positions in the museums and heritage institutions sector or to increase the funding already provided to eligible organizations. This enabled the creation of an additional 452 summer jobs for Canadian students and 385 internships for young Canadian graduates to gain professional experience in museums and related heritage organizations.

The Canadian Conservation Institute and the Canadian Heritage Information Network offered a fully online learning program for the first time. Travel and gathering restrictions accelerated the transition to virtual service delivery.

Core responsibility 3: Sport

Canadian Heritage provided $86 million of the ESF to help ensure sport organizations’ sustainability and support their viability. Among these, 83 national level organizations received $29.6 million; the 13 provinces and territories received $51.4 million with $37.4 million to help approximately 700 Provincial/Territorial Sport Organizations and Provincial/Territorial Aboriginal Sport Bodies; and $14 million for regional and community sport organizations.

The Department also provided $5 million in direct support to high performance athletes to address impacts caused by the cancellation of national and international training opportunities and competitive events, and postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games to July 23 to August 8, 2021, and August 24 to September 5, 2021, respectively.

While the Games were postponed, Sport Canada continued to develop strong relations with stakeholders, notably the Embassy of Canada to Japan, to prioritize crisis management in the context of the pandemic.

Following the delivery of the first Sport System Report Card in 2019–20, one element of the modernization of the Sport Funding and Accountability Framework, the Department launched the second phase of the Report Card in November 2020. This phase is focused on good governance practices related to board function, accountability and transparency, and organizational leadership and capacity.

Core responsibility 4: Diversity and inclusion

As part of Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy, the Department supports community-based projects that address barriers to employment, justice and social participation among Indigenous, racialized and religious minority groups across Canada. In 2020, a record 1,100 Anti-Racism Action Program applications were processed, where 85 projects were approved for a total of $15 million over two years, including $5.16 million in 2020–21.

The Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat held more than 15 community-based and sector-focused town halls, which helped provide a comprehensive understanding of the needs, realities and recommendations of Indigenous peoples, racialized peoples, and religious minorities.

The Human Rights Program, in collaboration with the Department of Justice and Global Affairs Canada, organized a virtual meeting of Federal, Provincial and Territorial ministers responsible for Human Rights in November 2020. The ministers formalized the Forum of Ministers on Human Rights and endorsed the Protocol for Follow-up to Recommendations from International Human Rights Bodies and the Engagement Strategy on Canada’s International Human Rights Reporting Process.

The Court Challenges Program, administered independently by the University of Ottawa, funded 57 cases in 2020-21 with the objective of providing individuals and groups in Canada with financial support to access the courts for the litigation of test cases of national significance. This support is intended to clarify and assert certain constitutional and quasi-constitutional official language rights and human rights in Canada.

Canadian Heritage continued engagement activities and development of the Federal LGBTQ2 Action Plan. The Department also provided advice to other federal departments and agencies on integrating LGBTQ2 considerations into policy and program files.

The Department continued its work towards fully implementing the Indigenous Languages Act including undertaking 26 virtual consultations with a variety of Indigenous governments, governing bodies and organizations. These consultations informed the appointment of the Commissioner and Directors of the Office of the Commissioner of Indigenous Languages, including qualifications and priorities. The consultations also provided an opportunity for Indigenous peoples to share their views on a new funding model that will better support Indigenous peoples’ efforts to reclaim, revitalize, maintain and strengthen their languages.

The Exchanges Canada Program offered opportunities for approximately 9,350 youth from different backgrounds across the country to come together in exchanges and forums to learn about Canada, to create linkages with one another, and to enhance their appreciation of the diversity and shared aspects of the Canadian experience.

The Youth Secretariat continued to implement Canada’s Youth Policy and pursued interdepartmental meetings on the youth portfolio to support Policy implementation across the federal government. The Secretariat also delivered a coordinated approach to obtaining youth perspectives to ensure that the State of Youth Report will follow an intersectional approach that includes race. In addition, the Secretariat provided departmental support to coordinate and plan meetings of the Prime Minister’s Youth Council and selection process to engage the fifth cohort of youth.

Core responsibility 5: Official languages

On February 19, 2021, in close collaboration with partner departments, Canadian Heritage tabled a public reform document, English and French: Towards a Substantive Equality of the Official Languages,^{Footnote 4} which contained 56 legislative or administrative proposals to modernize the Official Languages Act. The document was circulated to official languages stakeholders, and an expert panel on the language of work and service in federally regulated private businesses was convened to develop recommendations on these subjects.

More than 70 organizations in official language minority communities across the country received financial support from the ESF. To respond to pandemic-related immediate needs, 45 projects were supported to address the shortage of French-language teachers across the country through two calls for projects under the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy.

Bilateral agreements were reached with all provincial and territorial governments on minority-language education and second official-language instruction to cover 2020–21. These bilateral agreements include an additional $15 million per year to support minority-language education from 2019–20 to 2022–23. This additional funding is conditional on provinces and territories committing to improve consultation with key stakeholders and transparency in reporting.

Internal services

In collaboration with Indigenous partners, Canadian Heritage led and coordinated whole-of-government efforts to advance work related to culture as part of the Federal Pathway in response to the Calls for Justice of the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

The Department continued to improve its information management and technology infrastructure, and implement the Government Digital and Service Policy and Data Strategy, such as revamping existing Information Management policies and practices to reflect current circumstances, increasing and facilitating communication and collaboration with internal and external stakeholders, and promoting citizen engagement and user experience for open datasets and online information.

The Department continued to innovate by implementing an integrated human resources planning process. This new process consolidates critical information on needs with respect to resourcing, workforce development, organizational culture, workplace, and health and safety.

Under the Accessibility Canada Act, the Department expanded the mandate of the Bob Fern Centre by creating a single gateway for all accommodation requests in order to support the needs of managers and employees.

Canadian Heritage also implemented a new work unit to support the implementation of the new legislation that falls under the Canada Labour Code in matters of harassment prevention and workplace violence.

In September 2015, Canada and 192 other UN member states adopted the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development^{Footnote 5}. The 2030 Agenda is a 15-year global framework centered on an ambitious set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that integrates social, economic, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development, as well as peace, governance and justice elements. The Department is ideally suited to advance several core principles that inform the SDGs; furthermore, the mandate of the Department aligns directly with the key principle of Agenda 2030, to leave no one behind.

For more information on Canadian Heritage’s plans, priorities and results achieved, see the “Results: what we achieved” section of this report.

Results: what we achieved

Core responsibility 1: Creativity, arts and culture

Description

Ensures that a wide range of Canadian artistic and cultural content is accessible at home and abroad. Provides opportunities for Canadians to participate and engage in Canada’s creative life, fostering a sense of belonging and inclusion. Fosters creativity, innovation, growth and employment opportunities in Canada’s cultural sector, and in the creative economy. Support policy, legislative and regulatory measures; deliver funding programs that support creation, professional training, cultural infrastructure and arts presentation; business development and marketing initiatives; and the establishment of partnerships in Canada and abroad.

Results

The Department advances Core responsibility 1 through several programs: Arts; Cultural Marketplace Framework; and Cultural Industries Support and Development. Canadian Heritage supports marketplace conditions for a strong, innovative, competitive and equitable cultural sector through policy development and advice to ensure a responsive legislative and policy framework. This includes advice on horizontal fields like discoverability of Canada’s creative industries internationally to help creators reach their export potential, and matters related to the digital environment, including advice on content providers in the digital age and disinformation. The Department fosters a vibrant Canadian artistic sector by increasing opportunities for Canadians to connect with the arts, explore artistic excellence and become full partners in supporting a resilient arts sector. Canadian Heritage also encourages the creation of and access to Canadian cultural content, as well as fosters the competitiveness of Canada’s music, book publishing and periodical industries, and film and video.

The actual spending budget allocated to this core responsibility was $811,416,984 and was supported by a total of 416.0 actual full-time equivalents.

Since March 2020, Canadians’ access to arts and culture events and facilities has been severely limited due to closures, cancelations and postponements necessitated by public health measures. Some of the hardest hit sectors are those that have traditionally relied on bringing people together like the performing arts sector.

In spring 2020, the Department quickly pivoted its activities and mobilized to design and deliver funding supports to help the arts and culture sectors weather the impacts of the pandemic. The ESF focused on short-term emergency assistance and helped a large number of arts and culture organizations maintain operations and employment during the critical early stages of the public health crisis.

In addition to providing emergency funding, existing programs worked closely with recipients to ensure that flexibilities were in place to provide stability in an unpredictable year. For example:

The Canada Music Fund increased the maximum program contribution percentage to allow continued support despite lower overall budgets; and removed or increased the percentage limit on expenses related to an organization’s administration, to contribute to ongoing operations in organizations that experienced significant losses to earned revenue.
The Canada Cultural Investment Fund’s Endowment Incentives component made temporary changes to its net asset ratio criteria to ensure that arts organizations remained eligible and that they could continue to grow their endowment fund despite facing short-term financial challenges. A permanent adjustment was also made to the eligibility period of donations to stimulate more private sector investment.

Many other arts and culture programs implemented flexibilities such as these during 2020–21 to help arts and culture organizations receive the support they needed.

In addition to a variety of engagement approaches including roundtables, regular program channels, and an ESF survey, the federal, provincial and territorial ministers responsible for culture and heritage asked members to establish a COVID-19 Forum of Officials to identify opportunities for collaboration and to share information. Canadian Heritage co-chaired the Forum, which met regularly throughout 2020-21, and co-led an initiative to share regular updates on federal, provincial and territorial interventions used to offset the pandemic’s negative impact on the culture and heritage sector. The Department used the Forum to identify where support was needed most and where gaps in support existed, informing both the design and delivery of emergency programs.

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

Bill C-10, an Act to amend the Broadcasting Act and to make related and consequential amendments to other Acts, was introduced and underwent first reading on November 3, 2020. Second reading began November 18, 2020, and the Bill was referred to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage for study on February 16, 2021. Bill C-10 clarified that online broadcasting services fall under the authority of the Broadcasting Act, and it ensured that the Canadian Radio Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) had the proper tools to put in place a modern and flexible regulatory framework for broadcasting. These tools included the ability to make rules, gather information, and assign penalties for non-compliance. Additionally, the Bill supported greater diversity and inclusion in the broadcasting sector, ensuring the promotion of a broad range of Canadian views and talent.

Canadian Heritage is exploring policy options related to CBC/Radio-Canada and will consider potential amendments to its mandate in the Broadcasting Act during a subsequent phase of legislative reform. In 2020-21, the CRTC held public hearings on the renewal of CBC/Radio-Canada’s broadcasting licences during which discussions were held on potential requirements that could be imposed by the CRTC to operationalize CBC/Radio-Canada’s mandate for the next licence term. Canadian Heritage commissioned a study to better understand the nature and extent of CBC/Radio-Canada’s social, cultural, and economic impacts across the broadcasting system. The study also identified a range of social and cultural impacts and contributions associated with CBC/Radio-Canada’s programming, services, and activities.

Following the Parliamentary review of the Copyright Act, Canadian Heritage and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada launched, on February 12, 2021, a public consultation on how to implement an extended term of copyright protection in Canada. Under the Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement, Canada has agreed to extend, by the end of 2022, its general copyright term of protection from 50 to 70 years after the life of the author. This consultation provided the public and interested stakeholders with the opportunity to discuss if measures should be adopted to mitigate the long-term impact. The consultation was transparent, accessible and designed to attract comments and submissions from a wide diversity of stakeholders.

The Department continued its ongoing engagement with experts in the field of Indigenous arts and culture on effective promotion and protection of Indigenous arts and cultural expressions. In 2020–21, one key outcome of this process was the development of a publication demonstrating instances of misuse and misappropriation, as well as potential tools and approaches to promote and protect the arts and cultural expressions of Indigenous peoples.

Launched on April 1, 2020, the modernization of the Canada Music Fund streamlined the program structure from four components to two and moved to a single-window access in each linguistic market with all funding administered by the Canada Music Fund’s initial recipients, FACTOR for the Anglophone market and Musicaction for the Francophone market. The modernization opened funding to a wider spectrum of recipients who are integral to the development and promotion of Canadian artists. It also expanded the annual comprehensive funding envelope offered to a wide variety of Canadian music companies to support their investments in building audiences for their artists’ songs and live performances, at home and abroad.

The additional $10 million in 2020–21, announced in Budget 2019, helped enhance promotion and skills development activities and addressed Canada Music Fund’s oversubscription and underfunding issues. More Canadian artists and music entrepreneurs were able to receive Canada Music Fund support and recipients were provided with support to help with the rising costs of marketing and promotion of Canadian music.

The Canada Music Fund administered $32.9 million of the ESF to help Canadian music sector organizations plan for the future, retain jobs and ensure the continuity of the activities of organizations whose viability has been in danger due to COVID-19. Throughout Phase 1, a total of $7.9 million was allocated to current Canada Music Fund recipients in the form of a top-up funding of 25 percent of the contribution amount received in 2019–20. Throughout Phase 2, a total of $25 million was allocated to Canadian music entrepreneurs and organizations in the live music sector that do not normally receive direct funding from the Canada Music Fund and those who did not receive support through the Canada Music Fund in 2019–20. This includes, among others, booking agents, concert promoters, for-profit festivals and venues as well as Canadian-owned sound recording studios, music video producers, record labels and music publishers that did not receive support under Phase 1. A total of 876 recipients received funding from the Canada Music Fund under the ESF.

In 2020–21, the Department helped to ensure the long-term stability of the Canadian film industry, where more than $29.7 million from the ESF was allocated to Telefilm Canada to help sustain the industry through the pandemic, and $50 million was launched for the Short-Term Compensation Fund, which minimizes the effects of lacking insurance coverage for interruptions in filming and the abandonment of productions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Canadians are able to consume Canadian content on multiple platforms

As part of the ESF, the Canada Book Fund provided emergency payments equivalent to 25percent of amounts received in 2019–20 by recurring recipients of the program. Additionally, emergency funds were used to support new Support for Publishers applicants. The emergency payments totaled over $9.7 million. Also, as part of the ESF, temporary funding for book distribution was introduced. The Support for Distribution component was designed to provide emergency financial relief to Canadian book distributors in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. With a budget of $10 million for 2020-21, the component supported the Canadian book industry by helping Canadian book distributors maintain their operations and supporting the sale of Canadian books. This support helped maintain a robust book supply chain, ensuring access to a diverse range of Canadian books.

In 2019–20, the Canada Book Fund approved over $4.4 million in funding under its Support for Organizations and Support for Publishers subcomponents for projects and activities related to accessibility. In 2020–21, another $3.5 million was approved under both subcomponents for similar initiatives. Approved projects and activities include business development, internships, accessible audiobook conversion, as well as projects focused on increasing accessible publishing capacity in Canada, developing and promoting best practices and implementing industry standards and certification.

The Canada Media Fund continued to invest in innovative television, digital and games content in 2020–21, delivering $347.1 million in support through its regular programs, including for projects on Canadian online platforms and at the early-stage of project development. The more notable effort this year, however, was its delivery of significant emergency support to the sector in response to pandemic impacts, primarily via the Sector Development component. In total, approximately $120 million in support was distributed to a broad swath of businesses within the sector, helping them stay in business and maintain employment during a time of crisis.

The Local Journalism Initiative supports the creation of original civic journalism that covers the diverse needs of underserved communities across Canada. Funding is available to eligible Canadian media organizations to hire journalists or pay freelance journalists. To protect the independence of the press, not-for-profit organizations representing different segments of the news industry have been mandated to administer the Initiative. These organizations will redistribute funding to media outlets charged with directly addressing coverage gaps through the hiring, freelancing and/or retention of journalists.

The ESF was administered in a two-phased approach to accelerate the distribution of funds. In Phase 1, the Department provided a formula-based top-up of 25% to recipients of the Canada Periodical Fund, Aid to Publishers component, designed to provide support to eligible Canadian publishers of print magazines, print community newspapers (non-daily) and digital periodicals. There were 571 periodicals funded for a total of approximately $15.4 million. As part of Phase 2, the Department provided $45.4 million to 793 recipients through the Canada Periodical Fund to assist free, small circulation and digital magazines and community newspapers not normally eligible for the Canada Periodical Fund, including those that serve official-language minority or ethnocultural communities.

Creative industries are successful in global markets

While Canada’s year as Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany was extended to 2021 due to the pandemic, the Fair was still held in a hybrid format in 2020. Canadian Heritage formed more than 40 partnerships at the federal, provincial and territorial levels, as well as partnerships with the Canadian and German publishing industry. Through these partnerships, more than 100 events and video content were promoted to increase exposure of Canadian authors and artists in Germany and internationally throughout the year. The Canada Frankfurther Buchmesse consortium also conducted a promotional campaign with German booksellers to raise awareness of nearly 300 Canadian titles that have been translated since 2017.

As part of the Creative Export Strategy, the Creative Industries Trade Mission to Europe (Germany, Netherlands and Sweden) was scheduled for May 25 to June 2, 2020, but had to be postponed due to the ongoing uncertainty related to travel and health restrictions. As a result, Canadian Heritage organized two virtual trade missions (the Netherlands in November 2020 and Germany in March 2021), which provided the recruited delegation with a temporary alternative to continue international business development, and laying the groundwork for the in-person trade mission to Europe, now tentatively planned for March 2022. In addition, the Creative Export Canada program provided funding to 23 export-ready projects for a total of nearly $7.5 million to support creative businesses in achieving their international objectives.

Throughout the pandemic, Canadian Heritage continued to advance government-to-government partnerships with international counterparts in order to advance Canadian creative industry trade opportunities, including:

Hosting virtually the annual meeting of the Culture and Creativity Working Group, under the Canada-Mexico Partnership, in November 2020 and following up on action plan items to foster collaboration between Canada and Mexico in the creative sector. Attended by more than 50 participants from both countries, it allowed Canadian and Mexican delegations to exchange views on areas of interest and deliverables identified in the working group’s Action Plan. As such, Canada presented and shared knowledge and best practices on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cultural industries; the modernization of the Broadcasting Act; Indigenous peoples’ intellectual property and collective rights; the legal framework of conservation and promotion of Indigenous languages; and diversity of content online.
Initiating government-to-government exchanges with counterparts in Germany and the Netherlands, through high-level bilateral discussions on trade during the two virtual trade missions led by Canadian Heritage, which focused on these two countries.

For TV5, the year 2020–21 was marked by digital transformation. Launched on September 9, 2020, the Francophone digital platform TV5MONDEplus offers Francophones and Francophiles around the world high quality audiovisual content in French. This was a Government of Canada’s investment of $14.6 million over five years announced in 2018. This video-on-demand platform is free and accessible globally, offering more than 4,600 hours of Canadian, Quebec, French, Swiss, Belgian and African programs, of which 1,330 hours come from Canada. Several Canadian programs have been among the top 10 most popular since the launch. This new digital platform aims to increase the online presence of content in French and ensure the discovery and accessibility of Francophone and Canadian programming on a global scale. TV5MONDEplus has made TV5’s digital transformation a reality, and is now one of the priorities of TV5MONDE’s new 2021–24 Strategic Plan. Additionally, in 2020, the TV5 Program granted an additional $345,000 in funding to TV5 Quebec Canada from Phase 2 of the ESF to respond to increased operational needs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Due to travel restrictions, the Sommet de la Francophonie planned for December 2020 has been postponed to November 2021. This Sommet, whose theme is “Digital”, will be another opportunity to highlight TV5 and celebrate the 50th anniversary of La Francophonie as envisioned in 2020.

Canadians have access to cultural facilities in their communities

The Canada Cultural Spaces Fund program approved $42.9 million in support of 204 cultural infrastructure projects, of which $5 million was approved for 11 creative hub projects. A total of $33.6 million was approved for construction or renovation projects and $7.7 million for specialized equipment. In addition, the program approved $1.5 million for feasibility studies related to cultural infrastructure projects. The program’s objective is to provide Canadians in all regions, including underserved communities, with access to new or improved cultural facilities in their communities for creation, collaboration, presentation, preservation and exhibition.

Canadians have access to festivals and performing arts series that reflect Canada’s diversity

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, arts organizations experienced direct and immediate negative economic impacts, threatening their viability. The negative impacts were also felt by vendors and suppliers threatening the sector’s stability in future years. In response to the crisis, arts programs delivered funds from the ESF and adopted specific relief measures to help organizations, particularly:

The Canada Arts Presentation Fund provided $7.6 million to support 506 recipients.
The Canada Arts Training Fund provided $5.2 million to support 29 arts training organizations.
The Harbourfront Centre Funding Program provided $1.25 million.

Following the Fall Economic Statement announced in November 2020, the Support for Workers in Live Arts and Music Sectors Fund was launched in March 2021. This time-limited initiative represents $20 million in new funding in 2021-22 for the Canada Arts Presentation Fund, and aims to incentivize the short-term contracting of live-arts sector workers by providing a substantial subsidy for COVID-19 safe digital and/or live events.

As announced in Budget 2019, the Canada Arts Presentation Fund received a supplement of $16 million over two years starting in 2019–20 to provide additional support to not-for-profit professional performing arts organizations, including festivals and performing arts series. In 2020-21, the Fund invested $35.2 million in 765 projects. This supplement helped support some 30 new recipients from a diversity of communities across the country that had not been previously funded by the program due to high demand and fixed budget.

Canadians have access to more safe, diverse and secure digital environment and are resilient to disinformation

In 2020, the Department established a Multi-Stakeholder Working Group made up of representatives from like-minded countries, civil society and the private sector to develop guiding principles on diversity of content in the digital era. Since its establishment, monthly virtual meetings have taken place to develop these guiding principles, which were publicly released on June 30, 2021. They focus on four key themes deemed essential to the promotion of diversity of content online: the creation, access and discoverability of diverse content online; the fair remuneration and economic viability of content creators; the promotion of diverse, pluralistic sources of news and information, as well as resilience against disinformation and misinformation; and the transparency of the impacts of algorithmic treatments on online content.

Canadian Heritage continues to actively participate in the work of the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Convention on the Protection and Promotion of a Diversity of Cultural Expressions and believes that addressing the impact of digital technology is essential to its effective implementation. In 2020, Canada submitted its third quadrennial report to UNESCO^{Footnote 6}. This report highlighted numerous initiatives that have enabled the advancement and promotion of a diversity of cultural expressions in the digital environment. Additionally, in March 2021, Canada submitted an updated digital roadmap to the Secretariat of the Convention. This roadmap demonstrates good practices that contribute to the implementation of several provisions of the operational guidelines aimed at promoting the diversity of cultural expressions in the digital environment.

In 2020, the Digital Citizen Initiative developed a legislative and regulatory policy proposal to deliver on an interdepartmental Government commitment to take action on combatting hate groups and online hate and harassment. In addition, $4.3 million was provided through ESF for COVID-19 related projects under the Digital Citizen Initiative’s Digital Citizen Contribution Program. Through two calls for proposals, the program funded 34 projects that supported citizens to think critically about the health information they find online, especially related to COVID-19 misinformation and the racism and stigmatization often associated with it.

Further to keeping Canadians informed, in 2020–21 the Department helped Canadian broadcasters withstand the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic while allowing them to continue to provide local news. The Department provided $26 million to independent private and community broadcasters to support the production of local news, and the waiving of regulatory charges for broadcasters by the CRTC (part I and part II fees) provided more than $70 million of financial relief for the broadcasting industry.

Gender-based analysis plus

In the summer of 2020, Canada Heritage designed and delivered a recipient survey to help assess the impacts of the ESF across all core responsibilities. Survey results measured differing vulnerabilities and needs for emergency funding across 16 diverse communities. The survey was designed in consultation with 40 partners, as well as questions to make intersectional analysis possible by providing flexibility to respondents. For example, the Department ensured questions included a “select all that apply” option so that organizations could share belonging to multiple groups, as well as identify with groups not included in the list provided. Results show that in comparison to the average of all survey respondents, a higher percentage of organizations that advocate for the needs of equity-deserving populations reported being significantly affected by the COVID-19 crisis, and higher percentages of such organizations reported that the ESF helped them stay in operation to a large extent.

The activities of the Creative Export Strategy included gender-based analysis plus (GBA Plus) considerations in design and delivery. The Creative Export Canada program encouraged projects that implement gender or diversity considerations for staffing, leadership and decision-making roles. In addition, the guiding principles of the Frankfurt Book Fair Initiative (Innovation in the Creative Industries, Promotion of Women and Youth, and Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples) ensured that the delegation of authors and illustrators, chosen by industry, is representative of Canadian diversity.

The Department led the 2021 edition of the Arts and Heritage Access and Accessibility survey alongside the Canada Council for the Arts. For the first time in 2020-21, it included additional demographic questions to capture more disaggregated data, which will advance the program’s understanding of the arts and heritage participation of equity-deserving groups.

Recognizing the uniqueness and value of Indigenous cultural expression, the Canada Arts Presentation Fund has expanded the eligibility criteria for its Development Component to include unincorporated organizations, as well as ad hoc groups from racialized and Indigenous communities. In that same spirit, the program incentivized applications from equity-deserving organizations by launching an alternative to the regular written applications and began to accept oral applications.

In 2020–21, in addition to continuing its widely recognized efforts towards gender parity in its supported productions, the Canada Media Fund undertook an active and ongoing engagement with other underrepresented communities in the sector, including racialized communities. Informed by these consultations, the Canada Media Fund distributed over $1 million in project funding among 19 organizations owned and controlled by Black People and People of Colour, and created a Data Collection working group with racialized communities to develop common standards and a mechanism to track, share and compare data related to racialized communities and Indigenous peoples. In addition, of the $120 million in COVID-19 Emergency Relief Funds distributed by the Canada Media Fund, approximately $20 million was set aside to support underrepresented communities, including a distribution of $6.6 million for companies owned and controlled in majority by Black People and People of Colour. Finally, in 2020-21, the Canada Media Fund was in the process of developing a three-year Equity and Inclusion Strategy, in consultation with these communities, to help guide its efforts to make deep, long-term structural changes.

The Creative Marketplace Lab on Data, Skills and Technology undertook exploratory research on the creative marketplace, which proactively included diverse and equity-deserving communities (such as Indigenous peoples and LGBTQ2 communities) in research on the economics of podcasting in Canada and the Canadian Artists and Content Creators Economic Survey.

Under the Canada Music Fund, FACTOR and Musicaction made continuous efforts to solicit applications from a broad range of Canadian artists and music entrepreneurs from all regions of Canada, and from official language minority groups and Indigenous peoples. Furthermore, they proactively solicit applications from Canadian artists and music entrepreneurs from other underrepresented groups including female and other minority genders, racialized persons, persons with a disability and LGBTQ2 communities. Not-for-profit industry organizations that are funded under the Canada Music Fund are required to adopt gender equality, diversity and inclusion policies for executive positions and boards of directors, and to report on the measures taken to that end on a yearly basis.

The Canada Periodical Fund affords enhanced funding special eligibility criteria to magazines and community newspapers catering to Indigenous, ethnocultural, official language minority community and LGBTQ2 audiences in order to improve their access to funding. The Local Journalism Initiative requires that Administrator Organizations have mechanisms and practices in place to promote diversity in hiring and coverage.

Experimentation

In 2019–20, the Canada Media Fund implemented a new program that allows for early-stage development through two access points: one for screenwriters and one for collaboration between producers and writers. To date, Canada Media Fund’s Early-Stage Development Program has been extremely well received by stakeholders. Notably, in 2020–21, this program was an important channel for support during the general shutdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, as it allowed many stakeholders to continue working during this period, and helped to ensure a number of projects were ready to begin work when production was able to restart. Moreover, the program was identified by stakeholders as a significant tool to support underrepresented creators in the industry. Of note, 25percent of the Early-Stage Development Program envelope was carved out for production companies that are owned/controlled by members of a diverse community.

The Creative Marketplace Lab on Data, Skills and Technology is a team dedicated to taking innovative and experimental approaches to difficult issues in the creative marketplace such as creator remuneration and technological disruption. In 2020–21, the Lab contracted researchers to conduct targeted economic research focused on the following subjects: the economic impact of streaming platforms on the Canadian music industry; an economic profile of small and medium sized book publishers in Canada; and the economics of podcasting in Canada. Additionally, the Lab internally developed a study on the economic impact of copyright-based industries as well as the Canadian Artists and Content Creators Economic Survey to help create an updated portrait of the artistic and creative community in Canada. Through its work, the Lab adopted innovative approaches to research, including systems mapping, participant referrals in survey sampling and developing a working paper on artificial intelligence in the Creative Marketplace with the Artificial Intelligence Community of Practice.

In the context of the pandemic, which significantly hindered the capacity to conduct international trade activities, Canadian Heritage experimented with new ways to support its stakeholders, and pivoted its trade operations to a virtual format. As such, the Department successfully conducted trade missions virtually, and partnered with several domestic and international trade events that facilitated virtual business-to-business interactions for Canadian creative businesses wishing to make connections with buyers, partners or investors in global markets. Furthermore, Canada had to quickly adapt its Guest of Honour programming at the Frankfurt Book Fair. As travel was no longer possible, 30percent of the annual programming had to be cancelled or postponed. Between October 6-18, 2020, approximately 100 cultural and literary events took place in Germany and online (65percent of the events included a virtual component). Ten authors and illustrators from the Canadian delegation were featured in four short documentaries created for the occasion.

In 2020–21, the Creative Export Canada program experimented with new and innovative program angles and tools. The program requested feedback from Global Affairs Canada’s Trade Commissioner Services in order to help program officers in their assessment of funding applications that show potential to generate export revenues and increase content discoverability. Officers provided feedback on overall project feasibility, market conditions and the potential success of the project in targeted markets, as well as any other areas that may be of interest to program officers. This process allowed Canadian Heritage to connect program recipients with an officer who will then be able to help them make new contacts and create new business opportunities in their target markets.

2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Arts programs support the improvement of physical conditions for arts, heritage, culture and creative innovation making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable (SDG 11).

Canada’s creative industries are key drivers of economic growth and employment for the middle class, and they make an important contribution to Canada’s gross domestic product (SDG 8). The Business Innovation component of the Canada Periodical Fund encourages innovation to adapt to changing market conditions and contributes to the diversity of content sought by Canadian readers, as seen through the funding of 82 print and digital magazine projects in 2020–21, with some relating to podcasting, marketing, digital innovation and start-ups (SDG 9). The Collective Initiatives component of the Canada Periodical Fund helps organizations increase the overall sustainability of the Canadian magazine and community newspaper industries; for instance, in 2020–21, this component funded projects on diversity, inclusion and equity, as well as ways to ensure a sustainable future for periodicals, while other projects received funding to undertake internships (SDG 8).

Cultural entrepreneurs are increasingly looking to global markets to remain viable and competitive. Throughout the year, and despite challenging circumstances due to the pandemic, Canadian Heritage created trade opportunities to help Canadian creative entrepreneurs maximize their export potential through the Government’s Creative Export Strategy, as well as supporting cultural entrepreneurs and innovators in achieving their international business objectives (SDG 9). This included supporting virtual trade programming as part of several international trade events held abroad and in Canada. For example, business-to-business interactions with international counterparts, pitch sessions, networking opportunities, and market briefings during a number of events; supporting export-ready projects through the Creative Export Canada program; hosting two virtual international trade missions to the Netherlands and Germany; and holding over 160 cultural and literary events and video content in Germany in the lead up to Canada’s Guest of Honour year at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2020–21.

The Department helps promote the discovery and distribution of Canadian programming in French at home and abroad through the TV5 program to develop and revitalize the diversity in cultural domains within the global Francophonie (SDG 10).

Results achieved for Creativity, arts and culture
Departmental results	Performance indicators	Target	Date to achieve target	2018–19 Actual results	2019–20 Actual results	2020–21 Actual results
Creative industries are successful in the digital economy, foster creativity and contribute to economic growth.	Gross domestic product (GDP) of the Canadian cultural sector.	$55 billion	March 2021	$53.1 billion	n/a^{footnote 7}	$51 billion^{footnote 8}
	Number of jobs in the cultural sector.	673,138	March 2021	666,474	n/a^{Footnote 7}	578,697^{Footnote 9}
Canadians are able to consume Canadian content on multiple platforms.	Number of video games (entertainment software) produced by Canadian-based studios.	n/a^{Footnote 10}	March 2021	n/a^{Footnote 10}	n/a^{Footnote 10}	n/a^{Footnote 10}
	Number of Canadian Television productions.	1,190	March 2021	1,098	n/a^{Footnote 7}	n/a^{Footnote 11}
	Number of Canadian theatrical feature films produced.	110	March 2021	105	n/a^{Footnote 7}	n/a^{Footnote 11}
	Number of Canadian-authored books published.	6,000^{Footnote 12}	March 2021	6,764	n/a^{Footnote 7}	n/a^{Footnote 7}
	Number of magazines in Canada producing Canadian content.	1,300	March 2021	1,457	1,380	1,212
	Number of non-daily newspapers in Canada producing Canadian content	1,000	March 2021	1,026	1,047	974
	Market share of Canadian artists on top 2,000 domestic album sales chart.	20	March 2022	19	22	19
	Market share of Canadian artists on top 20,000 domestic streaming chart.	15	March 2022	10	10	11
Creative industries are successful in global markets.	Value of creative exports.	n/a^{Footnote 7}	March 2022	n/a^{Footnote 13}	n/a^{Footnote 13}	n/a^{Footnote 14}
Canadians have access to cultural facilities in their communities.	Number of communities with improved cultural facilities.	80	March 2021	93	96	101
	Percentage of Canadians with access to improved cultural facilities.	40	March 2021	41	40	41
Canadians have access to festivals and performing arts series that reflect Canada’s diversity.	Percentage of funded festivals and performing arts series whose programming promotes diversity.	70	March 2021	65	63	66

Budgetary financial resources (dollars) for Creativity, arts and culture
2020–21 Main Estimates	2020–21 Planned spending	2020–21 Total authorities available for use	2020–21 Actual spending (authorities used)	2020–21 Difference (Actual spending minus Planned spending)
513,243,111	513,243,111	825,528,666	811,416,984	298,173,873

Human resources (full-time equivalents) for Creativity, arts and culture
2020–21 Planned full-time equivalents	2020–21 Actual full-time equivalents	2020–21 Difference (Actual full-time equivalents minus Planned full-time equivalents)
430.3	416.0	-14.3

Financial, human resources and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.^{Footnote 15}

Core responsibility 2: Heritage and celebration

Description

Offers opportunities for Canadians to participate in celebrations and commemorations of national significance, and in local festivals and heritage events. Invests in the development of learning materials and experiences that give Canadians opportunities to enhance their understanding of Canada’s history. Facilitates access to heritage and provides support to heritage institutions to preserve and present heritage to all Canadians. Delivers projects, programs and services; grants, contributions and tax incentives; conducts research; provides authoritative information and expertise; and supports the implementation of heritage-related legislation.

Results

The Department advances Core responsibility 2 through several programs: National Celebrations, Commemorations and Symbols; Community Engagement and Heritage; Preservation of and Access to Heritage; and Learning about Canadian History. Canadian Heritage offers opportunities for Canadians to participate in celebrations and commemorations of national significance, recognizes notable people, places, symbols, anniversaries and accomplishments of national significance across Canada, offers events and activities in the National Capital Region, and promotes and protects Canadian symbols. The Department provides funding in support of local festivals, community anniversaries and capital projects. Canadian Heritage ensures that Canada’s cultural heritage is preserved and accessible to Canadians today and in the future, assists Canadian museums in documenting and managing their collections, provides Canadians access to Canadian and international heritage through the circulation of artefacts and exhibitions in Canada, and helps Canadian heritage institutions compete with foreign institutions for the loan of prestigious international exhibitions. Finally, the Department encourages Canadians to learn about Canada’s history, civic life and public policy.

Through the ESF, close to $34 million was allocated to the heritage sector via the Museums Assistance Program. The ESF provided heritage organizations with financial assistance to allow for the continuous care of their heritage collections. Of the 1,282 applications, 1,238 (97 percent) were approved for funding. Recipients of ESF funding, in addition to Museums, included historical societies, archives, galleries, libraries, gardens, cultural centers and other heritage institutions, where 858 (69 percent) of them were identified as new recipients to the Program.

Young Canada Works is a Canadian Heritage initiative in response to the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy, led by Employment and Social Development Canada. As part of the pandemic response, supplemental funding was provided to the delivery organizations in order to fund more positions in the museums and heritage institutions sector or to increase the funding already provided to eligible organizations. These supplements enabled the creation of an additional 452 summer jobs for Canadian students and 385 internships for young Canadian graduates to gain professional experience in museums and related heritage organizations.

The actual spending budget allocated to this core responsibility was $162,057,233 and was supported by a total of 286.8 actual full-time equivalents.

Canadians are engaged in celebrations and commemorations of national significance

Although the inauguration of the Memorial to the Victims of Communism-Canada, a Land of Refuge was scheduled for fall 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused delays and setbacks to the project. New project timelines and next steps are being finalized, with a Budget 2021 commitment of $4 million to complete this Memorial.

The Department saw strong interest in reconciliation activities related to residential schools, despite the challenges caused by the pandemic. Overall, 350 applications were received, totalling $14 million in requested funding. More than $6 million was distributed in 2020–21 for 203 community activities and initiatives best suited to the specific histories, needs and realities and included initiatives such as healing gardens, educational activities and ceremonies. The Department also supported a large-scale national event organized by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30, 2020.

Canada Day 2020 was delivered virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with approximately 4.2 million people in more than 1,323 communities celebrating across the country. Beyond the complexity of delivering the entire Canada Day program, the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Métis Nation in Confederation was achieved. Segments of the national daytime and evening show aired from coast to coast to coast.

The Department also provided increased funding to celebrations highlighting Métis 150 in their programming. While many events were cancelled due to the pandemic, some organizations hosted virtual celebrations and highlighted the Métis culture and Métis 150. For instance, the Manitoba Métis Federation hosted the Métis Nation Jig & Jam virtual celebration on June 21, 2020, to highlight the 150th Anniversary of the Metis Nation joining Canadian Confederation through the establishment of the Province of Manitoba.

Canadians across the country are engaged in their communities through local arts and heritage

The Building Communities through Arts and Heritage Program encouraged citizens across the country to connect with one another and engage in their local communities through performing and visual arts, as well as through the expression, celebration, and preservation of local historical heritage. The Program achieved its objective by funding 782 projects, which included 740 local festivals and 42 community anniversary and commemorative capital projects.

Throughout the pandemic, the Building Communities through Arts and Heritage Program engaged with applicants on an ongoing basis as the Program continued to support regular programming and administer resources through the ESF. Of the 713 recipients eligible for emergency support, a total 531 (74 percent) attested to their need for emergency support, whose projects received a total of $4,463,700 in additional funding.

The Marpole Neighbourhood House project, by the Association of Neighbourhood Houses of British Columbia, is still ongoing due to COVID-19 pandemic-related delays and is expected to reach completion in March 2022. The project commemorates the 125th anniversary of the incorporation of the Association of Neighbourhood Houses of British Columbia with the renovation of a former fire hall into the organization’s eighth neighbourhood house.

The public is provided with access to cultural heritage

A review of the museum policy remains a priority for the Department. Work was paused as the Department focused on the emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic and will most likely resume in 2022. Consultations will involve museums, provincial and territorial museum associations and other stakeholders. The Department will also actively engage with Indigenous peoples. The review of the Museum Policy may also lead to a renewal of the Museums Assistance Program.

The work related to the transition of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Heritage Centre to national museum status was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Preliminary work was initiated in 2020-21 and the next steps will be carried on next year, including public consultations with equity-deserving and other communities.

Under the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Call to Action #67, the Museums Assistance Program continued to monitor the progress of the Canadian Heritage funded Reconciliation Program as administered by the Canadian Museums Association. The Association is working closely with its Reconciliation Council and other stakeholders across the country to survey and collect feedback, identify key issues, and ultimately produce and disseminate a report with clear recommendations for the inclusion and representation of Indigenous communities within museums and cultural centres. A final report on the Reconciliation Program by the Canadian Museums Association is expected to be completed by March 2022.

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

The co-development of a repatriation framework with Indigenous peoples is an important step towards reconciliation. The Department looks forward to co-developing the framework and want to actively engage the museum community in the discussion. The framework will address issues of Indigenous cultural property and ancestral remains in museums and heritage institutions.

The Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI) has continued its research in energy sustainability for heritage institutions in collaboration with the Department. Currently, it is developing accessible online tools to help heritage organizations in reducing their carbon footprint, including revised museum climate guidelines that will help heritage institutions select a type of climate control that is adapted to the needs of their objects and collections instead of assuming that tightly controlled more energy intensive conditions are needed; and a geographic information system hazard map, a self-service tool that will help heritage institutions understand their exposure to certain hazards—some directly related to climate change.

An Indigenous heritage expert with extensive expertise in the museum/conservation sector was appointed to a management position at CCI in September 2020. Consequently, all operational and policy discussions were enriched with perspectives from an Indigenous lens; including but not limited to Section 35 of the Constitution Act, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action.

Engagement with Indigenous heritage practitioners has been slowed due to the pandemic’s averse effect on workplace productivity (network connectivity, illness, care of family, internet requirements). All engagements have been virtual, which can be challenging for some remote communities that are poorly serviced. In the context of the Laboratories Canada Initiative, a follow-up meeting (first meeting held in Ottawa in September 2019) conducted jointly with Parks Canada was convened virtually with Indigenous cultural heritage practitioners across the country to explore programs, services and facilities to better serve Indigenous communities in the future.

All CCI staffing actions have been modified to better explain the context of Reconciliation in which we work and to assess candidate criteria related to knowledge of or engagement with Indigenous communities. CCI began working with the departmental human resources and classifications team to implement a framework for a National Indigenous Development Program for Conservators in Training.

CCI and the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) have also developed a service offer directly aimed to support Indigenous heritage and cultural institutions by providing adapted services that promote the preservation, migration, digitization, and digital preservation of cultural and heritage documents on audiovisual format. It will supplement projects that other federal institutions have already begun in this sector, specifically the Listen, Hear Our Voices initiative launched by Library and Archives Canada and the Canadian Indigenous languages technology project of the National Research Council Canada. Furthermore, by adapting to the unique needs of Indigenous partners in these fields, by sharing its own expertise and by Indigenizing these services, CCI and CHIN will help develop and consolidate the capacity of Indigenous institutions to preserve and digitize their collections and, ultimately, promote Indigenous languages and cultures.

CHIN continued to develop Nomenclature online and enrich the data available online by linking with the Getty Research Institute’s Art and Architecture Thesaurus and Wikidata. CHIN is also continuing work on publishing an endpoint for Nomenclature, in order to publish the standard as linked open data. CHIN has released a first version of the Actor facet of the target model and associated documentation. Based on this work, CHIN has begun the reflection that will guide the conceptualization of the Objects facet of the model.

In 2020–21, CCI-CHIN offered a fully online learning program for the first time. This program consisted of several categories of learning and training activities, including: 12 webinars given by CCI-CHIN professionals through host organizations; 3 online training workshops, of which one was piloted with focus groups; a distance-learning platform and 2 self-paced online courses (including a module dedicated to documenting heritage collections); and several presentations offered virtually to educational institutions or professional associations.

In addition, the following activities contributed to this Core responsibility:

The Canada History Fund is supporting the participation of 250 Canadians in the 2020 Governor General’s Canadian Leadership Conference so that future leaders in business, labour and public administration gain broader perspectives and practical understanding to inform public policy making and the impact of decisions on the communities they serve. The Conference is modifying project activities to comply with COVID-19 public health restrictions, with events postponed to 2022. During the postponement, participants were provided with online activities and resources to continue their leadership development.

The Canada History Fund supported the Canadian Encyclopedia, an initiative of Historica Canada, including the creation of 97 new bilingual articles and updating of 194 bilingual articles, providing users with access to trustworthy and fact-based digital content about Canada in both official languages. Topics included: Black history in Canada, gender identity and gender equity, biographies of people from racialized communities and women athletes, Canadian women’s contributions to the fields of science, technology, engineering, mathematics and computer science, Indigenous leaders, and the environmental movement.

The Historical Thinking Summer Institute and National Meeting of History Educators were postponed due to pandemic restrictions. These events would provide professional development for the history education community across Canada by building national links among history and social studies teachers, museum educators, curators, historians, provincial and territorial education ministries, and history educators based in faculties of education.

In addition, the Association for Canadian Studies’ annual conference marking Manitoba’s entry into Confederation was postponed until 2021. In its place, the Association for Canadian Studies, in partnership with the Ontario History and Social Science Teachers’ Association, the Manitoba Social Science Teachers Association and l’Association Québécoise pour l’enseignement en univers social, hosted a virtual conference that provided educators a unique opportunity to connect with history and social science teachers from across the country and to discuss the challenges of teaching in the COVID-19 era. Some of the conference themes included addressing the calls for greater inclusion in curriculum and how to incorporate technologies more deeply into education. The conference was able to draw 503 online participants.

State funerals provide an opportunity for the public to honour significant Canadians and participate in demonstrations of national grief. In 2020, the Government of Canada held a state funeral for the Right Honourable John Napier Wyndham Turner. The funeral was held on October 6, 2020, at St. Michael’s Cathedral Basilica, in Toronto, in the presence of close family and friends. The ceremony strictly followed public health COVID-19 protocols. The ceremony was broadcast by CBC and Radio-Canada and the Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC).

Gender-based analysis plus

Virtual and in-person events organized by the Major Events, Commemorations and Capital Experience Branch are free, open to the public, and aim to be accessible to all Canadians. The GBA Plus related data collection is limited and done periodically through public opinion research. Surveys conducted typically include demographic questions related to gender, age, household income, education level, language and employment status. For example, in 2020, a public opinion research (2020 Canada Day Satisfaction Survey^{Footnote 16} (PDF format) was conducted on behalf of the Department to gauge Canadians’ satisfaction with Canada Day 2020 virtual programming and a variety of demographic differences emerged from the findings.

As part of its commitment to funding diverse local organizations, the Building Communities through Arts and Heritage Program has increased funding opportunities for LGBTQ2 communities. Following Budget 2019, over two years (2019–20 and 2020–21), the program sought to provide at least $2 million in funding for LGBTQ2 Pride events through its Local Festivals component.

The Museums Assistance Program supports government priorities of reconciliation, GBA Plus and official language minority communities. Although no specific priorities are identified in the program guidelines, careful consideration is given to applications by or serving Indigenous, Black, Asian, racialized and religious minority communities as well as the LGBTQ2 community. The program may be able to examine the possibility of collecting more disaggregated data as it modernizes its reporting structures in upcoming years. In addition, regional program teams may target specific communities for this funding, depending on the region, and will be able to track the results of their outreach strategies.

By funding activities that promote broad perspectives and practical understanding of all Canadian identities across Canada, programs continue to encourage intersectional analysis and social inclusion. These activities promote participation of all Canadians and showcase Canada’s linguistic, cultural, Indigenous and historical diversity in all of its dimensions.

Experimentation

A new application form for the Canada Travelling Exhibitions Indemnification Program was tested with the National Gallery of Canada and is in the process of being tested with the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Audain Art Museum. The form has thus far been well received by both applicant institutions and the members of the Program’s Expert Advisory Panel. Preliminary findings show that the process has been simplified and shortened both in terms of completing the application and the actual review process as the form more clearly identifies what is required and how the applicant intends to fulfill the necessary conditions without providing excessive detail. Minor modifications were made to the form following the review of the National Gallery’s application and the Program will now determine if the form can be considered complete when the two other applications will be seen by the Expert Advisory Panel in 2021–22.

The RE-ORG: Canada initiative was based on a methodology developed by the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property and UNESCO for improving access to collections through storage assessment and reorganization in small to medium-size museums with limited resources or access to outside expertise. The CCI used this methodology in its regional workshops focused on storage reorganization. The innovative nature of this project fostered the acquisition of practical knowledge and networking among members of the museum community.

RE-ORG initiative phase 2, scheduled to be launched in May 2020 at the Canadian Museums Association’s Annual Conference, was cancelled due to health restrictions. However, in the final report of some projects funded through the Collection Management component of the Museums Assistance Program, organizations stated that the techniques learned and tools shared in the RE-ORG initiative phase 1 were used to complete their projects, and contributed to the improvement of their storage solutions. Based on the last program evaluation, the RE-ORG: Canada initiative with CCI has helped several museums improve their museum storage practices.

The Canada History Fund completed two experimentation projects in 2017–18 and 2018–19, related to fast-tracking funding applications and the development of Canada History Week. The success of these experiments has led the program to fold the processes into the regular program delivery method of the Canada History Fund.

2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

The Building Communities through Arts and Heritage Program continues to support diverse local organizations, including marginalized groups, supporting gender equality and fostering inclusivity, thus working towards an equitable and inclusive society (SDG 10). Specifically, the Program provided $942,400 to LGBTQ2 organizations with projects in 2019–20 (an increase from $543,400 in 2018–19) and $1.1 million to Indigenous organizations with projects in 2019–20 (up from $356,600 one year prior) through its Local Festivals component.

The Museums Assistance Program supports heritage institutions and workers in the preservation and presentation of heritage collections. The program fosters the preservation of Indigenous culture and facilitates access to heritage collections for all Canadians. It also promotes professional knowledge, skills and practices related to key museum functions. The Museums Assistance Program is continuing to monitor the progress of the Canadian Heritage funded Reconciliation Program as administered by the Canadian Museums Association, as part of the obligations under the funding agreement and the call to action #67. (SDG 10)

The Young Canada Works-Heritage initiative aims to create and prepare the next generation of heritage workers through short-term employment and internships. Youths hired in these positions allow institutions to carry out important projects in a variety of functions and help ensure the survival of the institution and its continued relevance in Canadian society. The short-term positions aim to help youth to consider career choices in the heritage, arts and cultural sectors and to acquire the overall skills and professional experience to integrate into the labour force in the heritage, arts and cultural sectors. (SDG 8)

The main objective of CHIN’s work is to improve online access to heritage collections. This work of modeling and semantizing the documentation of heritage collections makes it possible to adopt respectful approaches in order to represent, in a culturally appropriate way, the heritage collections of underprivileged and marginalized populations. This work also applies to Indigenous collections and, in this sense, is part of reconciliation efforts. By providing better access to heritage collections and culturally appropriate and respectful access, CHIN contributes to building a more inclusive society that represents diversity in Canada (SDG 10).

CCI’s engagement with Indigenous heritage practitioners and cultural organizations to develop policies, practices, workshops and learning materials that respond more closely to the needs of Indigenous communities supports the core 2030 Agenda principle of leaving no one behind (SDG 10). It also responds to certain Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Results achieved for Heritage and celebration
Departmental results	Performance indicators	Target	Date to achieve target	2018–19 Actual results	2019–20 Actual results	2020–21 Actual results
Canadians feel a strong sense of belonging to Canada.	Percentage of Canadians who report feeling a strong sense of belonging to Canada.	90	March 2021	90^{Table 6 Footnote 17}	90^{Table 6 Footnote 17}	90^{Table 6 Footnote 17}
Canadians are engaged in celebrations and commemora-tions of national significance	Number of Canadians who participate in events and activities by attending or volunteering.	9.5 million	March 2021	10,618,349	9,763,947	5,392^{Table 6 Footnote 18}
	Number of Canadians who participate in events and activities by viewing traditional and new media broadcasts or downloading related information materials.	12 million	March 2021	14,140,000	19,071,892	37,314,650^{Table 6 Footnote 18}
Canadians across the country are engaged in their communities through local arts and heritage.	Number of performers and volunteers in Building Communities through Arts and Heritage funded arts and heritage projects each year.	173,674	March 2021	190,855^{Table 6 Footnote 19}	204,698^{Table 6 Footnote 20}	181,413^{Table 6 Footnote 21}
	Total attendance for Building Communities through Arts and Heritage funded arts and heritage projects each year.	18,088,538	March 2021	21,207,443^{Table 6 Footnote 19}	20,295,082^{Table 6 Footnote 20}	23,221,181^{Table 6 Footnote 21}
The public is provided with access to cultural heritage.	Number of in-person and online visits to cultural heritage rendered accessible through heritage programs and services.	2,000,000	March 2021	2,263,910	1,504,563	740,811^{Table 6 Footnote 22}
Heritage objects and collections are preserved by heritage organizations for current and future generations.	Number of heritage objects and collections whose preservation has been supported by heritage programs and services.	100,000	March 2021	446,436	169,836	43,941,159^{Footnote 23}

Budgetary financial resources (dollars) for Heritage and celebration
2020–21 Main Estimates	2020–21 Planned spending	2020–21 Total authorities available for use	2020–21 Actual spending (authorities used)	2020–21 Difference (Actual spending minus Planned spending)
111,012,915	111,012,915	166,811,819	162,057,233	51,044,318

Human resources (full-time equivalents) for Heritage and celebration
2020–21 Planned full-time equivalents	2020–21 Actual full-time equivalents	2020–21 Difference (Actual full-time equivalents minus Planned full-time equivalents)
326.5	286.8	-39.7

Financial, human resources and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.^{Footnote 15}

Core responsibility 3: Sport

Description

Promotes and enhances Canadian participation in sport, from initial introduction to sport to the highest levels through transfer payments and policy leadership. Ensures that all Canadians have access to quality aligned sport programs in a safe and welcoming environment regardless of race, gender or physical disability. Fosters the development of high-performance athletes, coaches, officials, leaders and organizations within the Canadian Sport System. Assists Canadian communities in hosting the Canada Games and international sport events.

Results

The Department advances Core responsibility 3 through the Sport Development and High Performance Program. Sport Canada aims to establish Canada as a leading sport nation at home and abroad, where all Canadians and their communities enjoy, value and celebrate the benefits of active participation and excellence in sport. It contributes to advancing the goals of the Canadian Sport Policy, funds eligible organizations to deliver sport for social development projects in Indigenous communities in Canada, and supports and promotes gender equity in Sport. The Department further provides direct support to Canadian athletes to foster the development of high-performance athletes, and assists sport organizations to host the Canada Games and international sport events in Canada.

In response to the pandemic, Sport Canada delivered $86 million of the ESF to help ensure sport organizations’ sustainability in contributing to the sector and to help maintain jobs and support business continuity for organizations whose viability had been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Eighty-three national level organizations received $29.6 million; the 13 provinces and territories received $51.4 million with $37.4 million to help approximately 700 Provincial/Territorial Sport Organizations, including Provincial/Territorial Aboriginal Sport Bodies; and $14 million for regional and community sport organizations. The Athletes Assistance Program provided $5 million in direct support to high performance athletes to help address impacts caused by the cancellation of national and international training opportunities and competitive events and postponement of the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Also, Sport Canada worked closely with the sport community to support organizations with pandemic adaptation strategies and protocols to align with rapidly changing public health guidelines.

The actual spending budget allocated to this core responsibility was $321,270,921 and was supported by a total of 96.4 actual full-time equivalents.

Canadian athletes succeed at the highest levels of competition

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games were postponed to July 23 to August 8, 2021, and August 24 to September 5, 2021, respectively. Sport Canada continued to develop strong relations with stakeholders, notably the Embassy of Canada to Japan to prioritize crisis management in the context of COVID-19. Emergency preparedness exercises and documents were developed to address specific COVID-19 protocols and countermeasures to prioritize the health and safety of all Team Canada members as well as the population of Japan.

Sport Canada assumed a leadership role in the development and implementation of a framework to allow Canada to host International Single-Sport Events (such as FIBA Mens’ U-19 Basketball world cup qualifiers), in close collaboration with the Public Health Agency of Canada, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, and the Canada Border Service Agency.

On September 16, 2020, the Canada Games Council and the 2021 Host Society announced the postponement of the 2021 Canada Summer Games due to public health concerns. The next Canada Summer Games were rescheduled for the Niagara region from August 6 to 21, 2022. Sport Canada was actively involved in coordinating the communication with all stakeholders regarding the Games’ postponement and supported the Canada Games Host Society with adaptation strategies, including the temporary reduction of operations and a new plan on moving forward. Sport Canada worked with the province of Ontario to secure additional funding support for the Host Society’s expanded needs further to the impacts of the pandemic.

To support the promotion of Indigenous sport development, Sport Canada supported the inclusion of Men’s and Women’s Box Lacrosse in the next Canada Summer Games.

Sport Canada continued to support the Canada Games Council in their operations and efforts to transfer knowledge to future host societies and provincial and territorial governments, on their role to deliver the Canada Games.

Canadian children and youth are enrolled in a sport activity

In September and October 2020, the Minister of Canadian Heritage hosted a series of virtual roundtables and a town hall with the sport community to discuss the impact of the pandemic and support needed. This followed departmental engagement in April 2020 with all federally funded sport organizations, to understand the impact of the pandemic on their operations and what measures may be needed to support recovery.

The discussions focused on the themes of fostering innovation, resilience and sustainability; diversity and inclusion—increasing the number of individuals from under-represented and equity-deserving groups (women, Indigenous people, youth, persons with disabilities, LGBTQ2 communities, official language minority communities, immigrants and refugees, racialized communities, and religious minorities) and the environment.

To support increased participation of youth and underrepresented groups, Sport Canada’s Innovation Initiative identified girls and women, youth facing barriers and racialized communities among the priority populations for project funding in 2021-22. Pilot projects in the Innovation Initiative also intend to address sport participation challenges for priority populations with added intersecting identity factors (such as Indigenous, age, LGBTQ2, official language minority, newcomers, persons with a disability).

To ensure that safety barriers/concerns do not prevent children from engaging in sport activities, Sport Canada has supported many initiatives, notably in the areas of concussions in sport, prevention of doping, and addressing harassment, abuse and discrimination. Work in this area is conducted in partnerships with other departments, the sport sector and with provinces and territories. Key ongoing initiatives include the development and implementation of a Harmonized Approach on Concussion in Sport, advancing the Federal-Provincial/Territorial Red Deer Declaration to prevent harassment, abuse and discrimination in sport, and the introduction of new safety in sport requirements to national organizations receiving federal funding.

Sport Canada launched Phase 2 of the Sport System Report Card, started in 2019–20. The Report Card is one element of the modernization of the Sport Funding and Accountability Framework, developed to monitor how sport organizations contribute to key Sport Canada and Government of Canada priorities. The first phase of the Report Card focused on sport integrity, as well as good governance, evaluating progress on measures to address harassment and abuse, concussion, diversity and inclusion, and communication and engagement. The second phase of the Report Card is focused on good governance practices related to board function, accountability and transparency, and organizational leadership and capacity. Results are expected in 2021–22.

Sport Canada continues to provide financial support and policy direction towards achieving equity in sport access and to foster and increase sport participation by Indigenous peoples. This includes engagement with the Aboriginal Sport Circle to build its capacity nationally in order to lead initiatives to increase Indigenous peoples’ participation in sport and to ensure quality sport experiences are provided. Sport Canada also supports the Indigenous Long Term Participant Development, and works with the Aboriginal Sport Circle to provide guidance on the availability of resources to support the engagement of Indigenous peoples.

The Sport for Social Development in Indigenous Communities initiative made funding available annually in two streams: Stream One with $5.3 million to the 13 Provincial/Territorial Aboriginal Sport Bodies for delivery of community projects and increasing organizational capacity to develop and support project delivery with funding also provided to the Aboriginal Sport Circle to support the Sport Bodies in their work; and Stream Two with $3.6 million to Indigenous governments and communities, as well as other delivery organizations submitting project proposals in collaboration with Indigenous communities. While the second cycle of Stream One launched in the fall of 2020, the second cycle of Stream Two launched in late summer of 2020 and received 192 applications, and 67 applications were recommended for approval.

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

Sport Canada made adopting or integrating the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport (the Code) into organizational policies and procedures by March 31, 2021, a requirement for all federally funded national level sport organizations.

The Department supported the Sport Information Resource Centre in contracting an independent analysis of the national and international safe sport landscape with recommendations on the most effective means to establish and deliver an independent mechanism for administering the implementation of the Code.

Based on the findings of this report, as well as additional input from stakeholders, Sport Canada worked with the national sport community to identify the essential structure, roles, processes, and services that must be in place to independently administer the Code for federally funded organizations.

In November 2020, Sport Canada released a call for proposals to fund a Canadian organization, on its own or in partnership with other organizations, to establish and deliver an independent mechanism to administer the implementation of the Code for federally funded sport organizations. The mechanism will be established in 2021–22.

Canadian Heritage continued to support National Sport Organizations, National Multisport Service Organizations and Canadian Sport Centres to: provide access to an independent third party to address harassment, abuse and discrimination cases; provide mandatory training on harassment, abuse, and discrimination to members, which includes coaches, athletes, officials, staff and volunteers; and strengthen internal policies to create a workplace free from harassment, abuse or discrimination.

The Department also financially supported the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre to continue the delivery of the Canadian Sport Helpline to assist victims and witnesses of maltreatment in sport; and an independent Investigations Unit to support sport organizations in managing and investigating allegations of maltreatment.

Sport Canada worked with the provinces and territories through the Federal-Provincial/Territorial Sport Committee Work Group on Safety, Integrity and Ethics in sport and through the Sport, Physical Activity and Recreation Committee, in coherence with the Red Deer Declaration to prevent harassment, abuse and discrimination in sport.

The Department continues to work with the provinces and territories through the Federal-Provincial/Territorial Sport Committee Working Group on Safety, Integrity and Ethics in sport and to address concussions through the work of the Federal-Provincial/Territorial Working Group on concussions in sport. This work, in collaboration with the Public Health Agency of Canada and Parachute Canada, supports National Sport Organizations to review and develop sport specific return to play protocols and the development of policy in awareness, prevention, detection, management and surveillance of concussions.

Sport Canada supported the Public Health Agency of Canada in the development of a federal response to the report of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health, Tackling the Problem Head-on: Sports-Related Concussions in Canada, re-tabled in April 2021. The response will be available during the 2021-22 fiscal year.

Federal, provincial and territorial governments agreed in January 2021 that the first Pan-Canadian Week on Awareness on Concussion in Sport will take place in fall 2021.

The Working Group on Gender Equity in Sport continued to gather the experiences, perspectives and insights of 12 champions for gender equity in sport to provide ministerial advice on a range of views and strategies to better understand and serve the needs of women and girls. The members of the Working Group consisted of academic experts, former Olympians and representatives from national level sport organizations.

The Department provided funding for the sport sector to establish mechanisms to increase the participation of girls and women in sport as athletes and leaders. These include: developing a comprehensive, long-term Gender Equity in Sport Strategy; creating a Gender Equity Secretariat and building capacity at Sport Canada to support, administer and monitor existing and emerging gender equity initiatives and programs, and look at innovative ways of addressing the challenges of participation and retention of girls and women in sport; providing support to Canadian Women and Sport to design and deliver a Gender Equity Playbook service to 14 organizations, provide 85 grants totalling $197,500 through the Women in Sport Encouragement Fund, and develop an empathy-based campaign entitled She’s Got it All, which resulted in 2 million impressions to create a more welcoming and inclusive sport system; providing funding to Canadian Parks and Recreation Association to support existing and emerging programs aimed at the retention of priority populations, including girls aged 9 to 15, mothers, and girls with intersecting identity factors, as well as scale up the High-Five Initiative; and launching the Gender Equity in Sport Research Hub at the University of Toronto in partnership with Université Laval to support applied research on gender equity in sport.

Sport Canada is monitoring emerging evidence with regard to the inclusion of trans-identifying athletes and is striving to foster an inclusive athletic environment for all athletes, including transgender athletes. It is seeking a compassionate approach to trans-identifying athletes.

Gender-based analysis plus

Actively Engaged: A Policy on Sport for Women and Girls aims to increase the representation and participation of women and girls in sport. This strategy is implemented and monitored by the Sport Canada’s Gender Equity Secretariat. The Department works closely with key stakeholders with expertise in gender and sport, in implementing the strategy, and this expertise is used in analyzing the programming results.

Sport Canada’s Athlete Assistance Program collects microdata from individual recipients based on GBA Plus principles. This data is disaggregated based on sex, first official language, city and province, Indigenous, and able-bodied status (Olympic or Paralympic).

Sport Canada is currently reviewing how data on gender and other intersectionality factors is being collected to ensure that gender disaggregation across projects is inclusive of the full LGBTQ2 spectrum and goes beyond binary classifications.

The Sport Support Program Innovation Initiative invited proposals to focus on underrepresented communities, such as LGBTQ2, Indigenous groups and official language minority communities.

Experimentation

Budget 2018 invested $2.5 million in funding support over three years to the Sport Support Program Innovation Initiative to introduce innovative practices to promote women’s and girls’ participation in sport, and to encourage greater inclusion of women and girls in all facets of sport as well as generate data in this area.

The Innovation Initiative enables the testing of innovative quality sport approaches, the trial of new programs, strategies and technologies in order to develop evidence-based solutions that can be shared nationwide to address participation and retention challenges for girls and women. The Innovation Initiative launched the call for concepts in the fall of 2019–20 and received 71 applications.

Through this process, four new projects were funded in 2020–21 and focused on engaging youth and equity-deserving communities to participate in sport. Funding was also provided to 16 multi-year projects that were initially funded in 2019–20.

2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

The Department provides funding support to implement projects that expand the use of sport for social development in Indigenous communities, ensuring community driven sport-related programs, which address the self-identified social development needs of Indigenous communities and sustainable development outcomes such as improved health, education, and employability; and the reduction of at-risk behaviour (SDG 4). In addition, Canadian Heritage provides support for the North American Indigenous Games and sport-based employment initiatives to ensure access to quality sport opportunities (SDG 10 and SDG 8).

The Department provides system support to the sport community for return to play strategies and adapting sport due to COVID-19, including stabilizing organizations to maintain employment and volunteer opportunities and provide community economic impacts (SDG 8).

By leading federal government coordination and preparations for both the Tokyo Paralympic Games and Beijing Winter Paralympic Games, as well as providing funding to support Paralympic sport and Special Olympics Canada, Sport Canada is committed to making quality sport accessible for athletes with a disability (SDG 10).

In leading the development of a Canadian approach to bidding for and hosting major sport events, the Major Sport Event Framework intended to proactively sustain a strong interest in hosting major sport events in Canada, to strengthen future Canadian bids and events, and to maximize the benefits of such events for sport communities and residents of Canada. (SDG 11)

Results achieved for Sport
Departmental results	Performance indicators	Target	Date to achieve target	2018–19 Actual results	2019–20 Actual results	2020–21 Actual results
Canadian athletes succeed at the highest levels of competition.	Ranking of Canada relative to other countries in Combined Ranking Index for Olympic Sport.	7	June 2021	9	9	9
	Ranking of Canada relative to other countries in Combined Ranking Index for Paralympic Sport.	12	June 2021	13	10	10
Canadian children and youth are enrolled in a sport activity.	Number of Canadian children and youth enrolled in a sport activity.	5,000,000	June 2021	4,594,540	4,594,540	n/a^{Footnote 24}
Canadians, regardless of gender, physical ability and cultural background, who participate in sport activities are satisfied with the manner in which the activity is provided.	Percentage of Canadians reporting that they experience sport in a welcoming environment.	90	June 2021	86	82	80
	Percentage of Canadians reporting that they experience sport in a safe environment.	80	2021	73	82	82

Budgetary financial resources (dollars) for Sport
2020–21 Main Estimates	2020–21 Planned spending	2020–21 Total authorities available for use	2020–21 Actual spending (authorities used)	2020–21 Difference (Actual spending minus Planned spending)
249,554,510	249,554,510	338,707,615	321,270,921	71,716,411

Human resources (full-time equivalents) for Sport
2020–21 Planned full-time equivalents	2020–21 Actual full-time equivalents	2020–21 Difference (Actual full-time equivalents minus Planned full-time equivalents)
103.5	96.4	-7.1

Financial, human resources and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.^{Footnote 15}

Core responsibility 4: Diversity and inclusion

Description

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

Results

The Department advances Core responsibility 4 through several programs: Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism; Human Rights; Indigenous Languages and Cultures; and Youth Engagement. Through these programs, the Department seeks to build an integrated, socially cohesive society, by supporting communities confronting racism, engaging in discussions on multiculturalism and anti-racism at the domestic and international level, and by strengthening research and evidence to better understand disparities and challenges faced by racialized and religious minority communities. Canadian Heritage also seeks to strengthen and maintain one of the core values relating to Canadian identity—respect for human rights—by addressing barriers to active participation that arise from a lack of awareness, understanding and access to rights.

The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affected vulnerable populations in Canada, including Indigenous peoples as well as Black, Asian, Muslim, Jewish, and other racialized and religious minority communities. Many Indigenous peoples, racialized and religious minority communities were overrepresented in sectors hardest hit by the pandemic and faced economic difficulties while also facing increased harassment and attacks based on race or ethnicity. As the recent tragic effects of racism, Islamophobia and antisemitism were witnessed, people around the world have demanded equitable treatment in society, without discrimination, and have been looking to governments to act and create tangible change. This indicates that systemic racism remains a major issue that must continue to be addressed by the federal public service.

The Department aims to increase awareness among youth of the importance of being active and engaged citizens, increase youth knowledge and understanding of Canada, and strengthen their sense of belonging to Canada, thereby strengthening their sense of shared Canadian identity. Canadian Heritage also focuses on keeping Indigenous languages and Indigenous identity as living elements of Canadian society. By providing investments, it contributes to the efforts of Indigenous peoples to reclaim, revitalize, maintain and strengthen their Indigenous languages and develop and deliver innovative and culturally appropriate projects under the Indigenous Languages Component, Northern Aboriginal Broadcasting, Territorial Language Accords, National Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Scholarships and Youth Initiatives and Indspire.

Furthermore, three secretariats report under this core responsibility. The Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat (Federal Secretariat) continues to lead work across government to coordinate federal action, and identify and develop further areas for action through engagement with Indigenous peoples, racialized and religious minority communities, stakeholders, key sectors of society and other levels of government. The work of the Federal Secretariat is guided by the values of justice, equity, human rights, diversity, inclusion, decolonization, intersectionality, integrity, anti-oppression and reconciliation. The Youth Secretariat is responsible for the federal implementation of the Youth Policy and supporting the Prime Minister’s Youth Council. The Secretariat engages across the federal government to provide advice on youth initiatives and to encourage the inclusion of youth voices in government decision-making. As one of the Youth Policy commitments, the Secretariat is also responsible for the State of Youth Report, which will explore how young people in Canada are doing. The first report is scheduled to be released in 2021 and subsequent reports will be published every four years. The LGBTQ2 Secretariat works to further LGBTQ2 inclusion, promote equality and protect rights. It does so by supporting other federal departments and agencies in the design and delivery of innovative and inclusive policies and programs, building and maintaining positive relationships with community stakeholders to identify and address issues facing LGBTQ2 communities, and creating knowledge through research, information gathering and public engagement. The latter includes a comprehensive community engagement process launched on November 27, 2020, to inform the upcoming LGBTQ2 Action Plan, a key LGBTQ2 mandate commitment.

The actual spending budget allocated to this core responsibility was $107,737,768 and was supported by a total of 194.8 actual full-time equivalents.

Canadians value diversity

In June 2019, the Government unveiled Building a Foundation for Change: Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy (2019–2022). With $45 million over three years, starting in 2019–20, the strategy aims to find ways to counter racism in its various forms, with a focus on community-based projects. As part of the Strategy, the Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat was established to lead a whole-of-government approach to identify barriers and gaps caused by systemic racism, develop new initiatives and examine the impact of new and existing policies, services and programs on Indigenous peoples, racialized and religious minority communities.

As part of the Government’s ongoing commitment to combatting racism and discrimination, the 2020 Fall Economic Statement announced $50 million over two years to enhance Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy. This included expanding its Community Support, Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Initiatives Program and its Anti-Racism Action Program, as well as expanding the Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat (Federal Secretariat) and extending its mandate by another year.

The Federal Secretariat was able to reach over 3,000,000 people across Canada and in 23 countries through its various initiatives:

To respond to systemic racism and racial discrimination exacerbated by the pandemic, the Federal Secretariat established the Equity-Seeking Communities COVID-19 Taskforce in collaboration with Women and Gender Equality Canada in March 2020. The Taskforce has been a space in which federal organizations have obtained access to critical data, learned directly from subject matter experts with lived experience of oppression, and shared information about current initiatives.
The Federal Secretariat also established the Learning Advisory Committee on Systemic Racism and Discrimination alongside the Canada School of Public Service. This working group aims at developing a comprehensive suite of anti-racism courses that will be available for all public servants to address outwardly focusing policy issues.
The Federal Secretariat supports decision-making through an anti-racism lens to ensure that all programs, policies, services and legislation consider the needs and realities of all peoples in Canada.

The Federal Secretariat has held over 15 community-based and sector-focused virtual town halls, and continuously engages with communities, including weekly communication with over 11,000 stakeholders and partners from across Canada. The town halls have provided the Federal Secretariat with a broad-based and comprehensive understanding of the needs, realities and recommendations of Indigenous peoples, racialized and religious minority communities. For example, virtual town halls were held with Indigenous, Black, East and South Asian, Muslim, Jewish, and racialized LGBTQ2 communities, which informed the Equity-Seeking Communities and COVID-19 Taskforce. The Federal Secretariat also held virtual town halls with senior and high-profile leaders of key sectors of society, including, but not limited to the business, labour, philanthropic, healthcare, and housing sectors, to take a closer look at federal policies and programs relating to each of the sectors.

The Federal Secretariat continues to work with provinces and territories on multiculturalism, inclusion and anti-racism to enhance federal, provincial and territorial coordination in advancing anti-racism. In addition, the Federal Secretariat has attended a monthly federal, provincial and territorial working group on Indigenous Peoples.

Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy recognizes that data and evidence are indispensable tools for identifying and addressing inequities and enabling corrective action towards the elimination of racism and discrimination. As such, Canadian Heritage signed formal agreements with Statistics Canada, the Department of Justice, and Public Safety Canada that will see those departments conduct original research on topics that further our collective understanding of racism and discrimination in Canadian society.

Recognizing that qualitative data is also important to consider in order to better understand the barriers faced by Indigenous peoples, racialized and religious minority communities, the Federal Secretariat prepared reports on its various engagement activities summarizing the community feedback it gathered, which were widely shared with other federal institutions to help shape their programs and policies free of systemic barriers.

With an investment of $15 million through Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy, the Anti-Racism Action Program supported 85 community-based projects addressing systemic barriers to employment, justice and social participation among Indigenous, racialized and religious minority groups across Canada. Of these 85 projects, 21 have a focus on countering online disinformation, racism and hate.

In 2020-21, two new commemorative date initiatives were established. The first of these initiatives recognized on March 10, 2021, designating March as Irish Heritage Month and recognizing the invaluable contributions of the Irish community to Canada’s social, economic, and political fabric. The second initiative was passed on March 24, 2021, and officially established August 1 as Emancipation Day. It was on August 1, 1834, that the Slavery Abolition Act took effect, freeing enslaved people in British North America, now Canada. This day would later become known as Emancipation Day. On this day, Canadians are encouraged to recognize and learn about the history of slavery in Canada, including the injustices committed against people of African descent and Indigenous peoples, and salute their courage, resilience and perseverance in overcoming adversity.

The LGBTQ2 Secretariat made substantial progress on the community consultation process to inform the federal LGBTQ2 Action Plan. A national, online survey in the field from November 27, 2020, to February 28, 2021 received over 25,000 survey responses, far surpassing the Secretariat’s target of reaching 10,000 community members, and historically the largest response to a survey delivered by the Department.

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

In 2020–21, the Department continued its work towards fully implementing the Indigenous Languages Act guided by a Joint Implementation Steering Committee comprised of representatives from the Assembly of First Nations, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the Métis National Council and Canadian Heritage. In addition, the Department continued to engage with a variety of other Indigenous governments, Indigenous organizations and territories and provinces to advance the objectives of the Act.

The work to establish the Office of the Commissioner of Indigenous Languages continued in 2020–21 through a series of 26 virtual consultations between September and December 2020 with a variety of Indigenous governments and other Indigenous governing bodies and a variety of Indigenous organizations. These consultations informed the appointments of the Commissioner and Directors, and focused on their qualifications, priorities and roles and responsibilities.

The Notice of Appointment Opportunity for the position of commissioner and directors was posted on the Governor in Council Appointments website on December 7, 2020. A Selection Committee, which included First Nation, Inuit and Métis representatives, was established to enable Indigenous perspectives to directly inform the selection of the Commissioner and Directors of Indigenous Languages. The appointment process for the Commissioner of Indigenous Languages and three Directors continued during 2020–21 and was finalized with the appointment of the Commissioner and three directors on June 13, 2021.

Pandemic-related restrictions affected the activities and timelines set out in program funding agreements. Alternate or adapted activities such as virtual events were implemented in many cases to reduce group-based activities and personal contact. Funding agreements were extended to provide additional flexibility for participants to accommodate situations such as delayed orientation activities or registrations, group activities or interrupted workshops and training. Many organizations explored how activities could be shifted in response to COVID-19 impacts.

The Department introduced several changes to its Indigenous languages programming as progress is being made on a new funding model, including fixed contribution agreements with carry forward funding; the introduction of grants up to $60,000; and increased flexibility in eligible expenses and activities.

In March 2021, the Government of Canada, the Government of Nunavut and Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated signed a memorandum of understanding to support and strengthen the Inuktut language and education across Nunavut. Canada will contribute $42 million over five years, which will result in increased access to Inuktut-language instruction, increase the number of Inuktut-speaking Inuit educators and increase the number of fluent Inuktut speakers in Nunavut.

The Minister of Canadian Heritage’s consultations on the implementation of the Indigenous Languages Act that was held in the fall of 2020 included a focus on a new funding model for Indigenous Languages. Through 26 virtual consultations held across the country between September and December 2020, the Minister heard from Indigenous peoples about the criteria and structure of a new funding model that would better address the Act’s objective of providing adequate, stable and long-term funding to support Indigenous peoples’ efforts to reclaim, revitalize, maintain and strengthen their languages. Based on the input collected throughout these consultations, Canadian Heritage continues to work with the Joint Implementation Steering Committee, comprised of representatives from the Assembly of First Nations, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the Métis National Council and the Department to analyze and develop the funding model.

The Government of Canada recognizes that reconciliation and self-government, described in modern treaties and self-government agreements, require a renewed fiscal relationship, developed in collaboration with Indigenous self-governments, that supports the political, social, economic and cultural development of the Indigenous community. Through Modern Treaties and Self-Government Agreements, the Government of Canada recognizes the jurisdiction of Indigenous governments to preserve, promote and develop their culture and language. Indigenous governments and communities are committed to an ongoing effort to reclaim, revitalize, maintain and strengthen their languages depending on the state of their languages.

The Department is actively and regularly participating in the Collaborative Fiscal Policy Development forum, convened by Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada with the participation of self-governing Indigenous Governments to understand and articulate the associated expenditure need for the reclamation, revitalization, maintenance and strengthening of their languages.

Outside of the Collaborative Fiscal Policy process, the Department is active at 30 ongoing Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada-led self-government negotiations that have prioritized Indigenous Languages.

Canadian Heritage, working with the Assembly of First Nations, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and the Métis National Council, organized a virtual Symposium on Indigenous Languages: Building on Strength and Successes, from January 25 to 29, 2021. The Symposium was another step to guide the implementation of the Act. Involving around 300 participants across Canada and from other countries, the series of discussions and exchanges was dedicated to sharing best practices, discussing the functions of the Office of the Commissioner of Indigenous languages, the priorities of a new funding model for Indigenous languages, and Canada’s involvement in the upcoming International Decade on Indigenous Languages 2022–2032.

Canada was nominated as a member of the UNESCO Global Task Force for making a Decade of Action for Indigenous languages responsible to develop a Global Action Plan for the Decade.

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

The Youth Engagement programs provided Canadian youth the opportunity to learn about and understand Canada’s society, diversity, history and institutions through active engagement and experiential learning. Together, the Exchanges Canada and Youth Take Charge Programs reach an average of 730,000 youth annually (last 5 years) through projects that aimed to increase youth attachment to Canada. Youth also had the opportunity to participate in projects with a focus on reconciliation, diversity and inclusion, and official language minority communities.

The Exchanges Canada Program offered opportunities for approximately 9,350^{Footnote 25} youth to learn about Canada, to create linkages with one another, and to enhance their appreciation of the diversity and shared aspects of the Canadian experience. Youth from different backgrounds across the country came together in exchanges and forums to participate in activities that allowed them to enhance their knowledge and understanding of Canada, as well as develop a sense of shared Canadian identity and attachment to Canada, thereby contributing to a democratic and a cohesive society.

The Youth Take Charge and Exchanges Canada programs supported youth-serving organizations to break down barriers to participation and provide opportunities for diverse youth, such as youth from official language minority communities, racialized and Indigenous communities, and rural, remote and Northern communities to participate in funded activities. In 2020–21, the priorities were reconciliation, diversity and inclusion, and official language minority communities.

For example, the Exchanges Canada Program supported the Forum national des jeunes ambassadeurs (Français pour l’avenir), which was held virtually this year due to the pandemic, and brought together 40 high-school-aged Francophone and Francophile youth from across Canada for interactive conferences and workshops focusing on themes and discussions related to leadership, identity building and bilingualism. Through their participation in the project, youth learned more about their role as ambassadors for bilingualism and how to become bilingual leaders in Canadian society by promoting French-language learning.

The Youth Take Charge Program supported the Active Inclusion Program (SQx Danza), which engaged approximately 6,700 youth aged 7–25 in Western Canada, targeting youth from equity-deserving groups, and engaging them in a new socially conscious dance program, with the aim to disrupt systemic discrimination, intolerance, hate and racism. Daily discussions on topics such as racism, acceptance, reconciliation, and equity encouraged youth to reflect on their behaviours and identify attitude changes that can be translated into solutions in their communities. Through online interactive dance workshops, youth participants also created a dance performance. The complexity of putting together a dance performance with hundreds of students acted as a metaphor for the complexity making Canada a more inclusive and accepting place for everyone.

Young Canadians continue to provide non-partisan advice on issues of importance to them, and the Youth Secretariat continues to support the work of the Prime Minister’s Youth Council and the selection process of future members to ensure that the current and next cohort of Prime Minister’s Youth Council members are provided the opportunity to discuss issues that matter to them, their peers, their communities and their country.

The implementation of the Youth Policy continues to be a critical role for the Youth Secretariat. Since November 2019, this work is ongoing and interdepartmental meetings on the youth portfolio continue to take place to ensure that the Policy is being implemented across the federal government.

Over the last year, the Youth Secretariat delivered a coordinated approach to obtaining youth perspectives for the State of Youth Report and to ensure that the report adopts an intersectional approach that includes race. The Report will be made public later in 2021.

Discussions with the Privy Council Office continued and were held with a view to supporting the implementation of the commitment to have 75 percent of all Government of Canada Crown Corporations include a youth member, as mandated by the Canada Youth Policy.

The Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat managed a national Black youth engagement initiative, called the Black Canadian Youth Approach, which has seen close to 1,000 Black youth, from coast to coast to coast, engaged in developing policy and program priorities for the Government of Canada. The project culminated in February 2021 during a virtual forum, when Black youth presented their policy and programmatic recommendations to five federal ministers and two parliamentary secretaries, on the themes of Justice, Employment, Empowerment, and Community Safety. Several of their recommendations had already been implemented by the Government, including the Black Entrepreneurship Program, a program to address the needs of Black communities related to housing, and capacity-building supports for Black community organizations. The other recommendations were considered in the preparation of Budget 2021.

Individuals or groups have access to funding to initiate or participate in test cases pertaining to rights and freedoms covered by the Court Challenges Program

In 2020–21 the Court Challenges Program, administered by the University of Ottawa, an independent organization at arm’s length from the Government, funded 57 cases in total, providing Canadians with the opportunity to bring cases of national importance to the courts. The funding decisions are made by two independent expert committees, one for Official Language Rights and one for Human Rights. The Human Rights expert panel funded 38 cases, where 37 of the Human Rights cases concerned section 15 of the Charter: Equality rights. The Official Language Rights panel funded 19 cases, where 11 of these concerned section 23 of the Charter: Minority language educational rights.

The percentage of funding allocated to ethnic, racial or religious communities or initiatives varies each year as funding decisions are made by two independent expert panels—one for official languages rights and one for human rights. However, it can be expected that a significant portion of the program budget will go to causes that directly touch on issues of diversity and inclusion since vulnerable communities are more likely to present cases to the Program.

Canadians value human rights

A meeting of federal, provincial and territorial Ministers responsible for human rights took place November 9-10, 2020. During the two half-days of the meeting, ministers discussed priorities on Canada’s international human rights obligations. Ministers endorsed the Protocol for Follow-up to Recommendations from International Human Rights Bodies and the Engagement Strategy on Canada’s International Human Rights Reporting Process. Ministers also formalized the Forum of Ministers on Human Rights, which will meet every two years in order to share information, discuss matters related to Canada’s international human rights obligations, and give direction to the Senior Officials Committee Responsible for Human Rights and the Continuing Committee of Officials on Human Rights on new and ongoing collaborative work concerning the respect for, protection and fulfillment of Canada’s human rights obligations.

Following the Ministerial meeting, ministers welcomed the opportunity to meet with representatives of Indigenous organizations as a way to continue to build relationships and foster dialogue. Ministers had the opportunity to hear the views of Indigenous organizations on human rights priorities, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Indigenous communities, and particularly on Indigenous women and girls, from a human rights perspective, as well as discuss how to continue efforts to address racism against Indigenous peoples.

Ministers also welcomed the opportunity to hear the perspectives of civil society and human rights commissions on the human rights dimensions of the COVID-19 pandemic and the importance of ensuring an equitable recovery. They also discussed issues related to diversity, inclusion and anti-racism, as well as ways to further enhance intergovernmental collaboration in the area of human rights.

The Human Rights Program also prepared social media messages that were shared on Canadian Heritage’s Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for December 10, Human Rights Day. This campaign was prepared in collaboration with other sectors of the Department so that an array of diversity and inclusion themes were well represented.

In December 2020, the Human Rights Program launched an online engagement pilot project on human rights with the objective of gradually develop a platform to share information and engage with stakeholders and Canadians regarding Canada’s international human rights reporting.

In addition, during the month of March 2021, to highlight the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat proposed and worked closely with eight civil society organizations spotlighting grassroots communities, innovators and artists working at the intersection of anti-racism and artistic and cultural expression through virtual regional events opened to the public, which took place in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Northwest Territories.

Gender-based analysis plus

The Multiculturalism Program activities and funding touch on issues that affect various groups differently across Canada in consideration of GBA Plus, which is a factor in research projects and for grants and contributions project funding. The Multiculturalism Program focuses on communities that have experienced racism and discrimination, such as racialized groups, religious minorities and Indigenous peoples—while considering intersectionality, including gender identity. One of the ultimate outcomes of Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy is increasing the percentage of Canadians who feel that ethnic and cultural diversity is a shared value. Present and future generations will benefit from Strategy initiatives, which foster diversity and inclusion as well as address systemic barriers faced by the most disadvantaged groups. In addition, Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy recognizes that data and evidence are indispensable tools for identifying and addressing inequities and enabling corrective action toward the elimination of racism and discrimination. Through Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy, a $3 million investment has been made in an oversampling of Statistics Canada’s 2020 General Social Survey – Social Identity. The oversampling has obtained intersectional data such as gender, education and income level on various ethnocultural population groups.

In support of the development of the federal LGBTQ2 Action Plan, survey results, written submissions findings, and roundtable recommendations are currently being synthesized and summarized into an internal-facing data report. Analysis of community engagement findings will be done through an intersectional lens. This will provide insight into the unique experiences and inequities facing Two-Spirit, Black, and racialized people, as well as people with disabilities, people who identify as women, transgender and non-binary, youth and seniors’ LGBTQ2 communities, and official language minority communities, among others. Intersectional analysis to inform the LGBTQ2 Action Plan aligns with broader Government of Canada efforts to enhance its GBA Plus toolkit. In particular, several demographic factors were collected in the national survey to facilitate a disaggregation of survey results, which will fill key disaggregated data gaps on issues facing a diversity of LGBTQ2 communities.

The collaborative process to support the implementation of the Indigenous Languages Act engaged national Indigenous organizations, self-governing Indigenous governments and other Indigenous governing bodies, in order to take into account a diversity of perspectives and achieve more inclusive outcomes. The Indigenous Languages and Cultures Program continues to consider distinction (First Nation, Inuit and Métis) and place of residence (province or territory) in allocating its funding. Communities implement activities for different age groups that are equally accessible to women, men and people with other gender identities.

The Youth Secretariat applied a youth lens to ensure that considerations of age and youth were undertaken as part of policy and program analysis. Youth represent the full spectrum of Canadian diversity, often with multiple intersecting identities. As such, the Youth Secretariat continued to focus on developing approaches to reach youth furthest from opportunity, racialized youth, as well as First Nations, Inuit and Métis youth.

The Exchanges Canada and Youth Take Charge programs assessed applications against the reach, diversity, and number of youth involved in the proposals. Overall, youth-serving organizations funded by the Exchanges Canada Program delivered projects on a geographic and demographic scope and scale reflective of the overall Canadian youth population, which helped ensure gender and demographic diversity in programming. Also, as part of their funding agreements, organizations were required to submit demographic information on participants. These data were tracked and monitored by the programs to ensure that a range of demographic groups, and youth from throughout Canada, had opportunities to be included in funded activities.

Experimentation

In order to respond to a record number of 1,100 Anti-Racism Action Program applications while teleworking due to the pandemic, a National Grant Review Committee was held virtually for the first time. This allowed applications to be processed with only minor delays.

Absent of an existing, standardized, and disaggregated national data set on LGBTQ2 communities, engagement activities to inform the first federal LGBTQ2 Action Plan included an online all-of-Canada survey. This was identified as a novel approach pre-pandemic, and was strategically designed to fill existing data gaps, including demographic variables to support disaggregation for historically marginalized communities. In the end, the delivery of the survey online proved an effective and efficient means through which to hear from a diversity of LGBTQ2 communities who until then had been more difficult for the LGBTQ2 Secretariat to reach through traditional opportunities for engagement, such as in-person meetings. The survey proved successful, resulting in over 25,000 responses. This far surpassed the initial goal of 10,000 responses, and there is potential for replication in subsequent years to measure progress on bridging inequities.

Investments in 2020–21 were made through the new Indigenous Languages and Cultures Program, with more flexible terms and conditions than the Aboriginal Peoples’ Program, which ended in March 2020. At the same time, the Department is working with Indigenous organizations to put in place a new funding model as early as 2022–23.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, in-person engagement sessions with youth leading towards the State of Youth Report were performed virtually. Between August 2020 and May 2021, nearly 1,000 youth from across Canada shared their experiences, insights, comments and expertise. Rather than being able to rely on larger in-person gatherings to recruit youth, young people were instead engaged through youth-serving organizations and gathered for small virtual conversations via their virtual platform of choice. In addition, a variety of technological considerations were required, including virtual demographics and consent forms as well as use of broadband access in remote and rural locations. In total, 996 diverse youth with a concentration on youth furthest from opportunity were engaged, creating the dataset that was used by youth to draft Canada’s first State of Youth Report.

To advance the principle of “for youth, with youth, and by youth,” the Youth Secretariat convened an advisory group made up of 13 youth external to government to analyze the engagement data and write key sections of the Report. The sections were the priorities outlined in Canada’s Youth Policy. The hypothesis, borne out in their successful contribution, was that youth could partner with government to engage in and express their views on those issues that are important to them. As a result, the State of the Youth Report forges a reciprocal engagement with government and establishes a relationship intended to carry over into subsequent Reports, where the next one is expected in 2024–25. By listening to the issues raised by and affecting young Canadians, the Government of Canada is better able to ensure that it continues to provide youth programs and initiatives that best meet the evolving needs of young people and that provide better outcomes for Canadian youth.

2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

As part of the Government’s ongoing commitment to combatting racism and discrimination, the 2020 Fall Economic Statement announced $50 million over two years to enhance Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy. This includes expanding its Community Support, Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Initiatives Program and its Anti-Racism Action Program, as well as expanding the Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat and extending its mandate by another year, supporting federal action against racism and discrimination in Canada, with a strong focus on community-based projects (SDG 10).

In recognition of the United Nations Decade for People of African Descent, the Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat established, alongside Employment and Social Development Canada, the Working Group on the International Decade for People of African Descent. The Working Group grew to reach over 18 federal institutions who are convened on a regular basis to ensure that government actions effectively address the needs of people of African descent in Canada and further explore government action beyond 2024, the last year of the UN Decade (SDG 16).

The objective of the Court Challenges Program is to provide financial support to Canadians to bring before the courts test cases of national significance that aim to clarify and assert certain constitutional and quasi-constitutional official language rights and human rights. In doing this, the program contributes to creating a more equitable society for Canadians (SDG 10). By facilitating access to justice, the Program contributes to reducing inequalities and proposes a recourse for Canadians to clarify their rights, which contributes to strengthening Canadian institutions (SDG 16).

The Human Rights Program, through the virtual roundtables that took place on November 9-10, 2020, advanced the 2030 Agenda’s commitment to leave no one behind which is fundamentally linked to all SDGs. By inviting the views of Indigenous groups and other vulnerable communities regarding the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department gained an understanding of specific challenges and circumstances faced by these groups while advancing its commitments to all SDGs.

Community engagement activities undertaken to inform the LGBTQ2 Action Plan contributed to SDG 10. The engagement process furthered the political inclusion of LGBTQ2 communities by providing mechanisms through which LGBTQ2 Canadians can draw on their experiences and unique insights to inform the Action Plan measures that will ultimately reach them.

The Indigenous Languages and Cultures Program supports the key principle of the 2030 Agenda, to leave no one behind. More specifically, the Program contributes to advancing equality, advancing reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and fostering an inclusive Canadian society. The Indigenous Languages and Cultures Program supports quality education (SDG 4) through investments in Indigenous language learning and cultural activities and resources, including language nests, language training for instructors, mentorship and immersion programs, audio and video recordings of fluent speakers of the languages and written materials, to restore and maintain the number of speakers. Indigenous men and women have equal access to language learning and cultural activities and resources. The number of participatory activities and the number of resource development activities are proxy indicators used by the program to help measure access to quality education.

The Department is actively participating in the planning phase of the UNESCO International Decade of Indigenous Languages 2022–2032. The International Decade of Indigenous Languages themes are closely connected with SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions). This involvement will ensure an even more fulsome support to SDGs through the specific priorities to be established for Canada’s participation in the Decade.

In 2020–21, the Youth Engagement programs brought together diverse youth from throughout the country, including Indigenous youth, youth from rural and remote communities, and youth from low-income households, to learn about Canada and each other. Funded projects raised youth participants’ awareness around significant issues impacting Canadians today, including reconciliation, anti-racism, and the importance of civic engagement. As a result of their participation, youth created stronger ties among each other and enhanced their appreciation for the diversity and shared aspects of the Canadian experience, thereby promoting a peaceful and inclusive society (SDG 16).

The Youth Secretariat is committed to supporting youth-related programs and policies, through Canada’s Youth Policy and for ensuring they are designed in such a way that multiple demographic groups benefit from an intersectional approach, with a particular focus on youth who are underserved and facing barriers (SDG 10). The implementation of Canada’s Youth Policy is guided by principles drawn from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Priority areas are: Leadership and Impact; Health and Well-being; Innovation, Skills and Learning; Employment; Truth and Reconciliation; and Environment and Climate Action.

The Youth Secretariat continued to play a significant role to promote the SDGs internationally by upholding the youth voice on a global scale (SDG 10). The Youth Secretariat, in collaboration with the Royal Commonwealth Society of Canada, selected two young Canadians to represent Canada at the upcoming Commonwealth Youth Forum which will take place in 2021–22. These delegates will be empowered to discuss issues related to youth in Canada on key global topics through a youth lens and shape a communique that will be shared with the Commonwealth Heads of States. To ensure that economic status is not an issue, the Youth Secretariat and the Royal Commonwealth Society of Canada will cover the delegates’ cost of travel.

The Youth Secretariat regularly provides input on youth-related issues to documents, reports, and forums from various institutions including the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, La Francophonie, and the United Nations. Through its participation in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Friends of Youth Committee over the past year, the Youth Secretariat represented Canada and contributed a youth lens to international priorities. Along with member countries, Canada provided input and data towards two research papers on COVID-19 and youth, titled “Youth and COVID-19: Response, Recovery and Resilience”^{Footnote 26} (June 11, 2020) and “Governance for Youth, Trust and Intergenerational Justice: Fit for All Generations?”^{Footnote 27} (October 22, 2020). These Reports will advise policy-makers on how best to prioritize and empower youth in recovery and planning efforts to ensure economic and environmental sustainability, and intergenerational justice and fairness.

Results achieved for Diversity and inclusion
Departmental results	Performance indicators	Target	Date to achieve target	2018–19 Actual results	2019–20 Actual results	2020–21 Actual results
Canadians value diversity	Percentage of Canadians who feel that ethnic and cultural diversity is a shared value. ^{Table 12 Footnote 28}	89	2021	85	n/a^{Table 12 Footnote 29}	n/a^{Table 12 Footnote 29}
Canadians value diversity	Number of unique visitors to and downloads from the Multiculturalism Program’s website	200,000	2021	164,817	209,183	403,786
Reversal of the current downward trend in the use and fluency of Indigenous languages.	Percentage of First Nations people who can conduct a conversation in an Indigenous language that is not their mother tongue.	4% increase in the number of First Nations people who can conduct a conversation in an Indigenous language that is not their mother tongue	2021	26.7^{Table 12 Footnote 30} (Census 2016)	26.7 (Census 2016)	26.7 (Census 2016)
	Percentage of Métis who can conduct a conversation in an Indigenous language that is not their mother tongue.	4% increase in the number of Métis who can conduct a conversation in an Indigenous language that is not their mother tongue	2021	41.7^{Table 12 Footnote 31} (Census 2016)	41.7 (Census 2016)	41.7 (Census 2016)
	Percentage of Inuit speaking in an Inuit language	63.3	2021	64.3^{Table 12 Footnote 32} (Census 2016)	64.3 (Census 2016)	64.3 (Census 2016)
	Number of participants in language-learning activities.	20 000	March 2021	9,039^{Table 12 Footnote 33}	12 223^{Table 12 Footnote 34}	n/a^{Table 12 Footnote 35}
Youth enhance their appreciation of the diversity and shared aspects of the Canadian experience.	Percentage of participants in the Exchanges Canada Program who report having a better understanding of what Canadians have in common.	80	February 2021	80	82	81^{Table 12 Footnote 36}
	Percentage of participants in the Exchanges Canada Program who report having a greater appreciation of how diverse Canada is.	87	February 2021	87	87	86^{Table 12 Footnote 36}
Individuals or groups have access to funding to initiate or participate in test cases pertaining to rights and freedoms covered by the Court Challenges Program.	Number of cases pertaining to Canadians’ rights and freedoms funded by the Court Challenges Program.	No target^{Table 12 Footnote 37}	March 2021	30	78	57
Canadians value human rights.	Percentage of Canadians who feel that human rights are a shared value.	90	March 2021	n/a	n/a^{Table 12 Footnote 38}	n/a^{Table 12 Footnote 38}
Canadians value human rights.	Number of Canadians accessing the Government of Canada’s website on human rights.	100,000	March 2021	390,429	684,994	864,417

Budgetary financial resources (dollars) for Diversity and inclusion
2020–21 Main Estimates	2020–21 Planned spending	2020–21 Total authorities available for use	2020–21 Actual spending (authorities used)	2020–21 Difference (Actual spending minus Planned spending)
131,234,805	131,234,805	134,607,209	107,737,768	-23,497,037

Human resources (full-time equivalents) for Diversity and inclusion
2020–21 Planned full-time equivalents	2020–21 Actual full-time equivalents	2020–21 Difference (Actual full-time equivalents minus Planned full-time equivalents)
185.4	194.8	9.4

Financial, human resources and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.^{Footnote 15}

Core responsibility 5: Official languages

Description

Supports the promotion of Canada’s two official languages in Canadian society as well as the development of official-language minority communities by collaborating with voluntary organizations and provincial and territorial governments. Fosters a coordinated approach to ensure participation from across the federal government in the implementation of the Official Languages Act, and the coordination of related horizontal initiatives.

Results

The Department advances Core responsibility 5 through the Official Languages Support Program. This Program supports the promotion of both official languages in Canadian society, as well as the development of official-language minority communities, by collaborating with community organizations and provincial and territorial governments. It fosters a coordinated approach to ensure participation from all institutions of the federal government in the implementation of the Official Languages Act, and the coordination of whole-of-government initiatives on Official Languages. The Department also coordinates the implementation of the Action Plan for Official Languages 2018–2023: Investing in our future^{Footnote 39}, a horizontal Government of Canada strategy for official languages. Since March 2020, Official Languages Support Programs pivoted and reprioritized their activities to help support recipients, including the arts and culture organizations in official language minority communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021–22, they will continue to demonstrate flexibility and support departmental efforts to mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The actual spending budget allocated to this core responsibility was $462,296,619 and was supported by a total of 148.8 actual full-time equivalents.

Canadians recognize and support Canada’s official languages

On February 19, 2021, in close collaboration with partner departments, Canadian Heritage tabled a public reform document entitled English and French: Towards a Substantive Equality of the Official Languages, which contained 56 legislative or administrative proposals to modernize the Official Languages Act and later served as the basis of reforms that were later introduced in the House of Commons in C-32, An Act for the Substantive Equality of French and English and the Strengthening of the Official Languages Act. The document was then circulated to official languages stakeholders, and an Expert Panel on Language of Service and Language of Work in Federally Regulated Private Businesses was convened to develop recommendations on the language of work and service in federally regulated private businesses. The Department managed this highly visible project by communicating proactively with official language stakeholders, by supporting the Experts Panel in order to frame and delineate their work, and by drafting a clear and detailed public document.

In addition to the organizations whose annual programming funding was increased and stabilized through the Action Plan for Official Languages 2018–2023, a series of initiatives in the arts and culture, education and community media sectors continued to be offered to communities, particularly youth. The Department implements these initiatives through agreements with third-party organizations that manage and redistribute funds to recipients. This approach, while respecting the terms and conditions and parameters of the Program, allows for a “by and for” perspective on the communities and effective delivery of the initiatives. Over the past year, the Department has organized showcases that have allowed the various third-party organizations to share their experiences and good practices.

A multitude of projects were supported through micro-grants such as Vice-Versa (Fédération de la jeunesse canadienne-française), PassepART (Fédération culturelle canadienne-française) and ArtistsInspire Grants (English-Language Arts Network-Québec) programs, which expose young people from Kindergarten to Grade 12 to civic projects as well as to the arts, culture, and heritage in official language minority communities. The Bursaries for Post-Secondary Studies in French as a Second Language program (Association des collèges et des universités de la francophonie canadienne) supported young people whose first language is English in the pursuit of their post-secondary studies in French. Community media had access to the Community Media Strategic Support Fund (Association de la presse francophone) for various projects. In addition, projects to promote bilingualism in Ottawa were supported by the Ottawa Bilingual Program (Association des communautés francophones d’Ottawa).

More than 70 organizations in official language minority communities across the country received $1.29 million in financial support from the ESF. More targeted initiatives were also supported, including two special projects aimed at breaking the social isolation of seniors due to the pandemic. The Fédération des aînées et aînés francophones du Canada provided online cultural programming and virtual gatherings for Francophone seniors across the country. The English Language Arts Network, in collaboration with Seniors Action Quebec, also offered a series of online cultural activities (concerts, storytelling, interactive activities) that provided English-speaking seniors in Quebec with entertainment and exchange opportunities.

To respond to the immediate needs arising from the pandemic, 45 projects were supported to address the shortage of French-language teachers across the country through two calls for projects under the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy.

The Official Languages Branch and the Government of Ontario established a joint committee to monitor the implementation of the bilateral agreement between the federal and provincial governments for the establishment of the Université de l’Ontario français, and to ensure an ongoing due diligence process with respect to the project. The committee’s terms of reference were approved and three meetings were held in 2020–21. Templates were developed to facilitate the preparation of reports that accurately measure the implementation of activities and the administration of funds provided under the bilateral agreement.

Mauril, a mobile and Web application for learning English and French, was developed by CBC/Radio-Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage as part of the Action Plan for Official Languages 2018–2023: Investing in Our Future. This new platform offers Canadians free access to a virtual learning environment featuring stimulating and entertaining content from CBC/Radio-Canada, to help learners of all levels improve their second official language. The iOS and Android mobile versions of the app were launched in March 2021. The app had been downloaded nearly 30,000 times in its first month, where more than 78 percent of users were using the app to learn and improve their French. CBC/Radio-Canada plans to continue its efforts to promote Mauril, with the launch of the web version of the application. Ultimately, Mauril will help increase the bilingualism rate of Canadians, especially those of the Anglophone majority, and promote the French language. The Department paid a total amount of $2,983,131 in 2020–21 to CBC/Radio-Canada, under the Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2019.

Negotiations with all provincial and territorial governments have resulted in bilateral agreements on minority-language education and second official-language instruction to cover at least fiscal year 2020–21. These bilateral agreements include additional funding of $15 million per year to support minority-language education for the period 2019–20 to 2022–23. This additional funding is conditional on commitments by the provinces and territories to improve consultation with key stakeholders and transparency in reporting.

Negotiations have also resulted in bilateral agreements for minority-language services with the governments of Alberta (2020–21), Nunavut (2020–21), the Northwest Territories (2020–21 to 2022–23) and Yukon (2020–21 to 2024–25) to cover at least fiscal year 2020–21. Negotiations were held with the Government of Quebec, but a bilateral agreement could not be reached to cover fiscal year 2020–21.

Federal institutions develop and implement policies and programs in accordance with Section 41 of the Official Languages Act

The Official Languages Branch, in collaboration with Canadian Heritage’s regional offices, continued the implementation of the final year of the 2018–2021 Interdepartmental Strategy, in which one of the main actions was the implementation of activities to enhance official languages leadership within the Public Service. These activities took place in the context of the pandemic and virtual work mode by mobilizing key partners such as the Network of Official Languages Champions, the Treasury Board Secretariat and the Regional Federal Councils. The branch carried out several activities targeting the community of public service Deputy Ministers, in support of Canadian Heritage’s Deputy Minister who was designated as the Champion of the Official Languages Community by the Clerk of the Privy Council. For example, there were communications, in the context of the pandemic, to Deputy Ministers to call upon their leadership to apply an official languages lens when responding to the pandemic, and to meet the emerging needs of official language minority communities.

The Department organized events for official languages leaders in the public service. For example, a virtual armchair discussion on leadership was held as part of the Official Languages Best Practices Forum, which brought together over 840 public servants from across Canada. This event was an opportunity to exchange and highlight the official languages leadership style of several senior executives and their contribution to bilingual, inclusive and diverse workplaces within the federal public service.

Canadian Heritage continued to develop tools for federal institutions that were communicated to deputy heads, governance committees and the Network of Official Languages Champions, in order to strengthen use of the official languages lens in the development and implementation of the many initiatives in response to the COVID-19. The Guide for Drafting Memoranda to Cabinet—Official Languages Impact Analysis helps to integrate official languages considerations from the outset of policy and program development, starting at the memorandum to the Cabinet stage.

The official languages reform document released by the Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages in February 2021 proposes several administrative measures, including improved analysis of the impact of initiatives developed by departments on official languages and official language minority communities. This guide on memorandum to Cabinet responds to this proposal and contributes to improving oversight and government-wide coordination of the implementation of the Official Languages Act.

The Department produced a short video in collaboration with the Council of the Network of Official Languages Champions intended for federal employees at all levels who can contribute, through their leadership, to the implementation of the Official Languages Act. The bilingual video was produced by Improtéine, a Franco-Ontarian humour group known for their gift of making information accessible to everyone.

Gender-based analysis plus

The Official Languages Branch continues to update its generic GBA Plus resource annually. The generic GBA Plus resource presents the analysis of differentiated data on various topics relevant to the field of official languages (for example, the demography of linguistic communities, the socio-economic performance of linguistic communities and the number of student enrollments in schools). In addition to monitoring statistics that focus on official languages in general, the branch undertakes more in-depth analysis within official language minority communities to obtain disaggregated data, thus highlighting issues that are specific to equity-seeking groups.

Experimentation

In 2020–21, Canadian Heritage undertook a new and experimental approach to creating a modernization proposal. During previous large interdepartmental work, the Department would depend on a systemic call-out for ideas, then work with partners to build an amalgamation of ideas. But for modernization, it was important to have clear and integrated proposals. Rather than undertaking a call-out approach, the Department maximized the work of the Interdepartmental Working Group on the Modernization of the Official Languages Act to flesh out the proposals for the bill to modernize the Official Languages Act. As the co-chair, Canadian Heritage led each meeting and negotiated directly with some departments to develop reform proposals for the Bill. This experimental approach enabled the Department to quickly gather, analyze and draft reform proposals which could quickly be shared with partners, substantially reducing the time required to move on this priority project. To find further efficiencies, it also involved the Deputy Minister Committee on the Modernization of the Official Languages Act, who could quickly review, coordinate and approve the resulting work. While interdepartmental collaboration is often necessary in public policy development, Canadian Heritage was able to harmonize 56 reform proposals across at least eight other key federal institutions over the course of the year. As a result and lesson learned, streamlining efforts to create proposals was very intense but was ultimately successful in leading to viable proposals for this Government of Canada priority.

2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

The Department fosters the building of an effective public service through the participation across the federal government in pursuit of the modernization of the Official Languages Act (SDG 17). In addition, the goal of ensuring inclusive and resilient communities was supported through the implementation of the Action Plan for Official Languages 2018–2023, a whole-of-government initiative that demonstrates the government’s commitment to support and promote our two official languages, which are at the heart of Canadian identity and an essential platform for the inclusion of all Canadians. (SDG 11)

The Department also contributed to the enhancement of quality education of the official languages (SDG 4) through: the negotiations of bilateral agreements on education with the provincial and territorial governments; collaboration with the province of Ontario relating to the Université de l’Ontario français; and the launch of Mauril - a Canadian cultural program for Learning French and English as Second Languages, available online and free.

Results achieved for Official languages
Departmental results	Performance indicators	Target	Date to achieve target	2018–19 Actual results	2019–20 Actual results	2020–21 Actual results
Canadians recognize and support Canada’s official languages.	Percentage of Canadians who agree that Canada’s two official languages (English/French) are an important part of what it means to be Canadian.	60	March 2021	60^{Table 15 Footnote 40}	60^{Table 15 Footnote 40}	60^{Table 15 Footnote 40}
	Number of Canadians who can conduct a conversation in their second official language.^{Table 15 Footnote 41}	6,200,000	March 2021	6,216,070	6,216,070	6,216,070
	Maintenance of the 85% baseline of Official-Language Minority Communities who live within a 25 km radius of a cultural/artistic organization.	85	March 2021	89.8	89.8	85.7^{Table 15 Footnote 42}
	Maintenance of the 85% baseline of Official-Language Minority Communities who live within a 25 km radius of a regional /local community development organization that offers services in the minority language.	85	March 2021	86	86	87.3^{Table 15 Footnote 42}
Federal institutions develop and implement policies and programs in accordance with Section 41 of the Official Languages Act.	Percentage of federal institutions that report concrete results in their annual review in support of Section 41 of the Official Languages Act.	80^{Table 15 Footnote 43}	March 2021	100	n/a^{Table 15 Footnote 44}	73.4^{Table 15 Footnote 45}

Budgetary financial resources (dollars) for Official languages
2020–21 Main Estimates	2020–21 Planned spending	2020–21 Total authorities available for use	2020–21 Actual spending (authorities used)	2020–21 Difference (Actual spending minus Planned spending)
449,167,574	449,167,574	486,451,974	462,296,619	13,129,045

Human resources (full-time equivalents) for Official languages
2020–21 Planned full-time equivalents	2020–21 Actual full-time equivalents	2020–21 Difference (Actual full-time equivalents minus Planned full-time equivalents)
156.7	148.8	-7.9

Financial, human resources and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.^{Footnote 15}

Internal Services

Description

Internal Services are those groups of related activities and resources that the federal government considers to be services in support of programs and/or required to meet corporate obligations of an organization. Internal Services refers to the activities and resources of the 10 distinct service categories that support Program delivery in the organization, regardless of the Internal Services delivery model in a department. The 10 service categories are:

Acquisition Management Services
Communication Services
Financial Management Services
Human Resources Management Services
Information Management Services
Information Technology Services
Legal Services
Material Management Services
Management and Oversight Services
Real Property Management Services

Management and Oversight Services

In the fall of 2020, Canadian Heritage hosted a series of 6 town halls and 15 roundtables to understand how the Government of Canada can best support the arts, culture, heritage, and sport sectors through challenges related to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, which engaged nearly 4,000 individuals and organizations and received close to 1,000 written submissions. Participants had an opportunity to share their views about the impacts of the pandemic on their sectors. They also discussed ideas for a relaunch that will be more fair, inclusive and green. These conversations will help the Government of Canada build towards a stronger and more equitable recovery for Canadians.

Despite the fact that the Department was operating under its Business Continuity Plan, and as the world first tackled the COVID-19 crisis, the Department quickly refocused the data strategy’s objectives and mobilized a great deal of resources for data collection and analysis to help in decision-making, capacity building and recovery. This was an unprecedented effort from many groups within the Department. Of note, the data refocus revealed gaps in disaggregated data on equity-deserving groups early in the crisis. This work was undertaken through horizontal meetings across the Department to identify data gaps, propose and share solutions, and encourage sharing of knowledge and resources. Further, regular discussions were occurring with Statistics Canada to propose changes and questions to their web panel and crowdsourcing surveys to ensure that timely pandemic-related information would also allow for as much disaggregation as possible. Statistics Canada was invited on multiple occasions to discuss with working groups at Canadian Heritage, and needs and suggestions from the Department were forwarded regularly to Statistics Canada to help in their refinement and fielding of survey questionnaires. The Department also provided detailed comments and suggestions to multiple drafts of Statistics Canada Disaggregated Data Action Plan.

Given the pressures on the Department and its employees, new horizontal priorities were identified by management in December 2020, namely: social and economic impacts of COVID-19, equity, diversity and inclusion; grants and contributions; and data governance-roles and responsibilities.

The Department advanced the priorities and each pillar of the data strategy through several activities. For example, progress on the Governance pillar and People and Culture pillar included training and presentations to the COVID-19 Social and Economic Impacts Research Working Group on topics such as First Nations principles of ownership, control, access, and possession. Progress on the Digital Infrastructure pillar included providing access across the Department to PowerBI, an interactive tool and available training resource. Various activities supported Data as a Strategic Assessment pillar, such as the launch of the Official-Languages Minority Communities Dashboard, the development of a quarterly national-level culture indicators, 2019 Provincial and Territorial Cultural Indicators data release, and collaboration with Statistics Canada on economic impact data sets (Culture Satellite Account).

The Regional Diversity and Inclusion Portal was soft-launched with evergreen content. Throughout the year, new analyses and data visualizations were added to the portal with a particular focus on COVID-19 impacts and diversity and inclusion.

Canadian Heritage is the lead Department for the culture theme of the Federal Pathway to address the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning, intersex and asexual plus (2SLGBTQQIA+) people. In this role, Canadian Heritage led work beginning in the summer of 2020 to develop priorities for the culture theme with Indigenous partners as well as Canadian Heritage Portfolio organizations and other federal departments. Beginning in the fall of 2020, the Department engaged representatives of Indigenous communities and organizations, including families and survivors, on this work through a working group structure established by Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada.

In 2020–21, Canadian Heritage continued its work to strengthen Gender-based analysis Plus (GBA Plus) through a $1 million investment in Budget 2019 over two years to improve the collection of disaggregated data and strengthen reporting requirements for four programs. The goal of this work was to identify various ways of improving the collection of disaggregated GBA Plus data and strengthening the reporting requirements for departmental programs, to better support gender equality and diversity in funding allocations. Different projects were undertaken, including a GBA Plus gap analysis for specific programs, the development of a GBA Plus data framework in partnership with Statistics Canada, and contributions to the pilot testing of a smartphone app developed by Statistics Canada that will capture participant data in the field, as well as a literature review on advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion in the arts, culture, heritage and sport sectors. Due to the pause in departmental research activities at the peak of the pandemic, some of the project results were delayed and are expected in the fall of 2021.

In alignment with the Accessible Canada Act and Nothing Without Us strategy, in 2020–21, Canadian Heritage created an Accessibility Office and a new champion role to oversee efforts to strengthen accessibility and inclusion within the workplace. The Accessibility Office provided focused leadership and strategic oversight in developing an Accessibility Framework to raise awareness and render the Department more accessible and inclusive in the following areas: employment, built environment, information and communication technologies, programs and service delivery, transportation, procurement and workplace culture. Work to identify key areas of intervention in the short, medium and longer term was initiated. The Chief Information Office Branch and the Communications Branch supported these efforts by leading the Information and Communications Technology Pillar. A working group has been put in place and members are participating in departmental and interdepartmental working groups. Current state assessment, compliance gap, resource implications and timeline will be part of upcoming planning exercise. In addition, the Department broadened the mandate of the Bob Fern Accessibility Centre by creating a single gateway for all accommodation requests in order to support the needs of managers and employees.

Human Resources Management Services

The Department established the new Prevention and Resolution of Workplace Harassment and Violence Division, in order to move forward with the implementation of the new legislation on harassment prevention and workplace violence, which falls under the Canada Labour Code. In particular, Canadian Heritage has worked on the Notice of Occurrence process and has developed a Notice of Harassment and Violence Occurrence form for the principal party, as well as related documents.

This new division, which will contribute to the continuation of the battle against harassment through the implementation of new mandatory training on workplace harassment and violence, awareness sessions, as well as the future development of an action plan for the prevention of workplace harassment and violence.

The implementation of the new set of policies on the management of people and executives, and the resulting directives, enable the Department to better respond to operational needs by reducing the number of requirements and policies. This will make it possible to clarify responsibilities, to increase innovation opportunities offered to users by optimizing flexibility and encouraging risk management, and to enhance their satisfaction, more particularly during the pandemic.

In the last year, the Department implemented a revisited integrated human resources planning process. This more rigorous process makes it possible to better anticipate and respond to the needs of all sectors and branches. This process consolidates critical information on needs with respect to resourcing, workforce development, organizational culture, workplace, and health and safety. The renewed human resources planning approach has also greatly contributed to, and continues to facilitate the alignment exercise with financial resources, as well as the prioritization of staffing and classification actions to be processed, following funding commitments under Budget 2021.

The Department has completed an entire review of its Instrument of Sub-Delegation of Human Resources Authorities. The approval and implementation of the instrument on April 1, 2021, will now allow for the sub-delegation of certain authorities to the lowest hierarchical management level possible, which will have the effect of significantly reducing approval timelines and increasing the organization’s flexibility and agility in such matters as staffing positions and classification.

The Human Resources and Workplace Management Branch continues to provide personalized support to employees affected by pay issues through mobilization of the branch and managers in the establishment of proactive measures ensuring staffing and compensation, while respecting the timelines established by the Treasury Board Secretariat.

The Department continued to refine its compensation services in order to provide their clientele with more personalized service and thus reduce the number of cases. For instance, employees now have access to Compensation Services through a digital self-serve portal, which makes it possible to analyze pay issues and interact quickly with employees, request personalized information, and ensuring follow-up and communications with employees who are on sick leave through a dedicated resource.

In support of consultations for diverse departmental initiatives with various employee committees having a diversity and inclusion related mandate (the Advisory Committee on (Dis)ability, Committee for Racialized Communities, Indigenous Working Group, LGBTQ2+ Committee and Generaction), the human resource branch provided logistic and financial resources to these committees, who organized five virtual accessible events with 1,200 participants, in 54 different cities (7 countries). The committee organized the first event for public servants translated in Mohawk.

In addition, numerous communications on different matters related to diversity and inclusion were shared with the Department throughout the year. Different celebration and commemoration dates were highlighted, as well as recognition of distressing current events, to invite employees to reflect and learn on the different realities lived by our colleagues and co-citizens.

Much effort has been deployed in response to the dire staffing needs for Canadian Heritage’s regional offices; as a result, a small team assigned to the priorities was created. Flexible and innovative staffing and recruitment measures implemented during the pandemic are ongoing in order to respond to the Public Service Renewal.

As mental health became a major concern over the course of the pandemic, an update of the Well-being Workplace Action Plan has been deferred so that it takes into account emerging needs following the short- and long-term impacts of the pandemic, and contributes to the maintenance of a psychologically healthy and respectful workplace. The update of the Plan will therefore be initiated during the 2021–22 fiscal year thanks to the collaboration of several groups within the Department that wish to make their contribution to the development of new strategic objectives in matters of inclusion, well-being and mental health.

Commitments planned under Canadian Heritage’s 2018–2021 Official Languages Strategy have been implemented to a very large extent, and updates have been made to various governance committees, as well as to the Directors’ Forum. The Department also had to adapt to the context in order to review its official languages priorities, in accordance with needs.

As part of the 50th anniversary of the Official Languages Act, in 2019, specific efforts have been made to give greater visibility to official languages, both in terms of events, initiatives, messages and tools. Thus, in the context of the pandemic, Canadian Heritage proactively initiated a rigorous exercise to determine how official languages are taken into consideration within the organization in an emergency. This exercise concluded with a report presenting suggestions for future improvements.

Canadian Heritage made changes and created new methods and processes dedicated to supporting employees in the context of COVID-19 and the realities of telework, as well the implementation of change in the workplace in the context of partial reintegration and operational requirements. Initiatives include the purchase of cleaning products for all Department-occupied offices and installation of clear signage, installation of Plexiglas in common and visitor areas, and providing a moving service for desk or office chairs to employees’ residences.

Financial Management Services

Within the last year, electronic signatures have been implemented when delegated individuals are exercising spending and financial authorities. In addition, a temporary financial delegation was granted at the program level for the approval of grants and contributions for all programs that received ESF, to avoid delays in the approval and expedition of payments.

The Department worked towards the launch of the new online Canadian Heritage Funding Portal that can receive funding applications on May 31, 2021, with the first program, Official Languages – Support for Interpretation and Translation. Work will continue to improve functionalities within the portal and to include more programs using this as a means to receive their applications in an online format.

A standardized client profile data model is now being used for all programs onboarded to the portal environment and a standardized application profile continues to be developed and tested with programs. These standardized approaches are being included into those programs not yet onboarded to the online portal option, and who continue to use traditional application processes to receive funding applications from stakeholders.

In addition, the Department worked to deploy the Online Emergency Funding Portal for cultural, heritage and sports organizations on August 27, 2021 to support pandemic relief efforts across the Department. The administration and delivery of grants and contributions were simplified, through adjustments to key business processes that helped to expedite activity along various steps of the funding lifecycle, including new approaches to application assessment, funding agreements and payments, monitoring and reporting.

More flexibility was integrated into program terms and conditions to better support stakeholders impacted by the pandemic, including making changes to eligible recipients, expenditures and activities, changes to the maximum amount payable and the inclusion of new components to focus on new activities within established programs. Updated policy guidance regarding the administration and delivery of grants and contributions was provided to programs for their use and interpretation, including the management of funds at fiscal year-end and accepting wet and electronic signatures.

Payment processes were modified to treat the majority of grants and contributions payments in batches to expedite issuance of payments to organizations impacted by the pandemic. All program application guidelines in the Department follow a standardized template. For the integration of common language respecting diversity and inclusion, on a rolling basis, updates will be made to program application guidelines to include this language as changes are required.

Training for program staff transitioned from in-person learning to modernized, online/e-learning modules available on demand, to support the delivery of grant and contribution programs.

Information management and information technology services

While the Department was well equipped to work remotely from a hardware context prior to the pandemic, numerous challenges emerged with the sudden transition and management of the entire workforce into a virtual work setting, most notably with remote connections and network bandwidth. As a result, the Department resorted to identifying and allowing only critical services to operate to ensure the network would remain stable. Through engagements with Shared Services Canada, the issues with remote connections and increased bandwidth were remedied.

Also, the Department acquired and quickly deployed collaborative tools such as Microsoft Teams, as part of the commitment to enhance efficiencies and facilitate communication and collaboration with internal and external stakeholders, although learning to manage teams through such platforms was a steep learning curve. With the transition to new collaborative tools and a virtual work setting, concerns turned to a lack of direction on information management policies, as well as improper measures to manage classified documents.

The Department delivered the Information Management Practice Project to inform and strengthen practices and policies and implement the Government of Canada Secure Infrastructure for the secure handling of classified information.

Under the Data Strategy’s digital infrastructure pillar, the Department strengthened its management and decision-making by offering an Enterprise Data Management Program, Business Intelligence/Data Analytics tools and Visualization (through Office 365).

The Department provided digital tools as required in response to identified stakeholder needs, and invested in data analysis/visualization platforms and technologies. Working with the Office of the Chief Audit Executive, the Chief Information Officer Branch aims to complete a baseline Digital Readiness Assessment in preparation of the next iteration of the Departmental Plan for Service and Digital.

In terms of supporting the goal of a more open and transparent Government, the Department continues to invest considerable resources into sharing all work possible in multiple formats and venues, notably accessible formats. Many research and data projects are shared on the Open Canada Data Portal and work is underway to add more on both the open data and open information sides to complement what we have already posted in other years. The Department has also developed numerous data visualizations that have been shared to Canada.ca in accessible format. The Department also shares information on grants and contributions and has published materials required by Bill C-58 proactive disclosures.

Budgetary financial resources (dollars)
2020–21 Main Estimates	2020–21 Planned spending	2020–21 Total authorities available for use	2020–21 Actual spending (authorities used)	2020–21 Difference (Actual spending minus Planned spending)
80,924,496	80,924,496	90,014,144	96,762,722	15,838,226

Human resources (full-time equivalents)
2020–21 Planned full-time equivalents	2020–21 Actual full-time equivalents	2020–21 Difference (Actual full-time equivalents minus Planned full-time equivalents)
704.3	701.6	-2.7

Analysis of trends in spending and human resources

Actual expenditures

Departmental spending trend graph

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

Departmental spending 2018-19 to 2023-24 in millions of dollars

Departmental spending 2018-19 to 2023-24 in millions of dollars
Fiscal year	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24
Statutory	26	26	450	28	28	27
Voted	1,384	1,525	1,512	1,509	1,483	1,474
Total	1,410	1,551	1,962	1,537	1,511	1,501

The increase observed in 2019–20 is a result of new funding received by the Department. This additional funding includes funds to support the Enhancement of Official Languages Program and Minority-Language Education in Canada through initiatives that improve access to second official languages and promote bilingualism in Canada. Further, it also includes funds to enable new projects in the Indigenous Languages and Cultures Program which are helping preserve, promote and revitalize Indigenous languages. New funding was also received to support artists and cultural events in order to foster a more cohesive Canadian identity. The Sport Program received funds to successfully launch new initiatives for social development in Indigenous communities, Gender equality and Ensuring a Safe and Healthy Sport System. Moreover, the Strengthening Multiculturalism and New Anti-Racism Strategy temporary funding also contributed to this increase in spending.

The ESF implemented to provide additional temporary relief to cultural, heritage and sport organizations affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Funding provided to students and youth, explains the significant increase in statutory spending in 2020–21. The ESF was intended to provide temporary financial support to organizations in these sectors that complements the government’s existing COVID-19 support measures for wages and fixed costs for organizations. Over 5,000 recipients whose viability had been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic received funding directly from the Department to help maintain jobs and support business continuity. Additional payments were also made by third-party organizations to final recipients.

In future years, the planned spending decreases mainly as a result of additional funding announced in Budget 2018 for the Canada Media Fund to compensate for the decline in funds from Canada’s Broadcasting Distribution Undertakings which is not reflected in future years’ authorities as funding is accessed on a yearly basis. The sunset of time-limited funding announced in Budget 2019 such as the support for Artists, Cultural Events and Commemoration also contributes to this decrease. These reductions are partially offset by ongoing funding received to preserve, promote and revitalize Indigenous languages.

It should be noted that additional funding measures were announced in the 2020 Fall Economic Statement to help stabilize the overall environment for the live arts and music sectors, to help address systemic racism in Canada, and scaling up the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy as part of the Youth Recovery Strategy. Funding measures were also announced in Budget 2021 in new support linked to recovery and reopening funds to the culture, heritage, sport and official languages sectors. These funds will be reflected in future departmental estimates and reports.

Budgetary performance summary for Core Responsibilities and Internal Services (dollars)
Core responsibilities and Internal Services	2020–21 Main Estimates	2020–21 Planned spending	2021–22 Planned spending	2022–23 Planned spending	2020–21 Total authorities available for use	2018–19 Actual spending (authorities used)	2019–20 Actual spending (authorities used)	2020–21 Actual spending (authorities used)
Creativity, arts and culture	513,243,111	513,243,111	495,939,870	495,149,612	825,528,666	486,408,233	542,853,062	811,416,984
Heritage and celebration	111,012,915	111,012,915	99,828,478	96,445,114	166,811,819	120,649,174	123,860,201	162,057,233
Sport	249,554,510	249,554,510	248,100,659	230,507,513	338,707,615	228,061,688	243,114,183	321,270,921
Diversity and inclusion	131,234,805	131,234,805	153,821,012	154,938,994	134,607,209	96,275,855	132,989,704	107,737,768
Official languages	449,167,574	449,167,574	454,761,725	454,201,158	486,451,974	392,962,335	423,334,498	462,296,619
Subtotal	1,454,212,915	1,454,212,915	1,452,451,744	1,431,242,391	1,952,107,283	1,324,357,285	1,466,151,648	1,864,779,525
Internal Services	80,924,496	80,924,496	84,128,073	79,318,600	90,014,144	85,206,936	84,423,303	96,762,722
Total	1,535,137,411	1,535,137,411	1,536,579,817	1,510,560,991	2,042,121,427	1,409,564,221	1,550,574,951	1,961,542,247

Creativity, Arts and Culture

The increase in 2019–20 actual spending is explained by time-limited funding received to support the production of original civic journalism for underserved communities, to enhance the production and distribution of accessible digital books by Canadian independent book publishers, to expand support for artists through the Canada Music Fund and Canada Arts Presentation Fund and to invest in a Francophone Digital Platform (TV5). The Harbourfront Centre also received targeted support in 2019–20 for priority infrastructure projects to modernize presentation and recreation facilities and a continued temporary funding to support its operations starting in 2021–22. Budget 2018 confirmed funding to the Canada Media Fund to compensate for the decline in funds from Canada’s Broadcasting Distribution Undertakings. This is reflected in 2020–21 actual spending but not yet in future years’ planned spending as the amount is confirmed on a yearly basis. The implementation of the ESF to support cultural, heritage and sport organizations affected by the COVID-19 pandemic explains the significant increase in spending in 2020–21, more specifically in the following programs: Canada Media Fund, Canada Periodical Fund, Canada Music Fund and Canada Book Fund. Future years’ planned spending return to pre-COVID-19 level.

It should be noted that additional funding measures were announced in the 2020 Fall Economic Statement to help stabilize the overall environment for the live arts and music sectors. Other funding measures were also announced in Budget 2021 in new support to the culture, heritage, sport and official languages sectors. These funds will be reflected in future estimates and reports.

Heritage and Celebration

The increase in spending observed in 2019–20 is due to new funding received to support artists, cultural events and commemorations initiatives, such as the commemorations linked to residential schools. The implementation of the ESF to support cultural, heritage and sport organizations affected by the COVID-19 pandemic explains the significant increase in spending in 2020–21, more specifically in the following programs: Museum Assistance Program and Building Communities through Arts and Heritage. This increase is partially offset by the sunsetting of funds for the Digital Democracy Project and the Youth Employment Strategy. Future years’ planned spending return to pre-COVID-19 level.

Sport

The increase in spending observed in 2019–20 is due to new funding received for the Sport for Social Development in Indigenous Communities initiative, for Gender Equality in Sport (sunsetting in 2021–22), and to time-limited funding invested towards Ensuring a Safe and Healthy Sport System and to support Indigenous Youth and Sport initiatives. The implementation of the ESF to support cultural, heritage and sport organizations affected by the COVID-19 pandemic explains the significant increase in spending in 2020–21, more specifically in the following programs: Sport Support Program and Athlete Assistance Program. The increase in 2020–21 is partially offset by the decrease in spending for the Hosting Program resulting from major sporting events being cancelled or postponed such as the 2020 Summer Olympics, the North American Indigenous Games and many other national and international competitions. Future years’ planned spending return to pre-COVID-19 level.

Diversity and Inclusion

The increase in spending observed in 2019–20 is mainly due to new funding received to Preserve, promote and revitalize Indigenous languages. Additionally, time-limited funding was sought to address racism and discrimination, more specifically to provide funding for projects to build capacity in Black Canadian communities (ending in 2020–21) and to support the creation of an Anti-Racism Secretariat (ending in 2021–22). While the funding to support the creation of an Anti-Racism Secretariat is ending in 2021–22, the 2020 Fall Economic Statement has extended the Anti-Racism Secretariat’s funding until 2023. The decrease in spending observed in 2020–21 is mainly due to the end of funding for the Michaëlle Jean and the Rideau Hall Foundations as both organizations have reached the maximum available matching funds specified in their respective grant agreements. Also, contributing to the decrease in 2020–21 is the reduced spending in the Exchanges Canada Program due to related restriction on travel and in-person gathering following the COVID-19 pandemic and time-limited funding to strengthen Multiculturalism to address racism and discrimination which sunset in 2021–22. The increase observed in the 2021–22 and 2022–23 planned spending is explained by a funding profile increase to Preserve, promote and revitalize Indigenous languages and the implementation of the Indigenous Languages Act.

Official languages

The increase in actual spending observed in 2019–20 and 2020–21 is due in part to the implementation of the Action Plan for Official Languages 2018–2023. This funding will help strengthen official-language minority communities, improve access to services in both official languages, and promote a bilingual Canada. Also contributing to the increase is the following funding: the ten-year investment to support educational infrastructure projects for Official Languages Minority Communities in the provinces and territories (Budget 2017), the four-year funding to Enhance Support for Minority-Language Education in Canada (sunsetting in 2022–23) and the three-year funding for the Post-Census Survey on Official Language Minority Communities, which decreases and sunsets in 2022–23. The implementation of the ESF to support cultural, heritage and sport organizations affected by the COVID-19 pandemic explains the significant increase in spending in 2020–21, more specifically in the following programs: Development of Official-Language Communities Program and Enhancement of Official Languages Program. Planned spending for 2021–22 and 2022–23 is relatively stable.

Internal Services

The actual spending in 2018–19 and 2019–20 is relatively stable. During 2020–21, temporary investments were made in informatics to provide equipment and tools to adapt to a new remote workplace environment as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. These additional investments consisted in resources such as additional bandwidth, laptops and cellular phones, and new maintenance tools. A temporary portal for the delivery of COVID-19 emergency funding was launched during the year with an accompanying client support model, allowing the intake of over 2,500 applications for funding. This portal helped advance the work towards the My PCH Online project, which aims to develop and implement an integrated online portal for clients to submit applications. In addition, the office of the Senior Associate Deputy Minister of Diversity, Inclusion and Youth, which was created in January 2020, was fully staffed in 2020–21. For future years, planned spending decreases due the sunsetting of funding dedicated to investments in departmental transformation efforts to modernize departmental processes.

Actual human resources

Human resources summary for core responsibilities and Internal Services
Core responsibilities and Internal Services	2018–19 Actual full-time equivalents	2019–20 Actual full-time equivalents	2020–21 Planned full-time equivalents	2020–21 Actual full-time equivalents	2021–22 Planned full-time equivalents	2022–23 Planned full-time equivalents
Creativity, arts and culture	426.7	423.9	430.3	416.0	423.7	420.7
Heritage and celebration	346.7	319.4	326.5	286.8	295.1	295.1
Sport	104.8	103.5	103.5	96.4	97.2	97.2
Diversity and inclusion	140.3	164.1	185.4	194.8	180.5	178.0
Official languages	151.4	150.8	156.7	148.8	150.9	149.9
Subtotal	1,169.9	1,161.7	1,202.4	1,142.8	1,147.4	1,140.9
Internal Services	693.0	681.6	704.3	701.6	712.6	708.6
Total	1,862.9	1,843.3	1,906.7	1,844.4	1,860.0	1,849.5

Creativity, Arts and Culture

The actual full-time equivalents in 2018–19 and 2019–20 are stable and decrease in 2020–21 mainly due to the completion of the work for the review and modernization of the Broadcasting Act Review, to unexpected employee departures and the time required to find replacements. The planned full-time equivalents increase again in 2021–22 as a result of anticipated staffing, and then stabilize.

Heritage and Celebration

The large decrease in actual full-time equivalents in 2019–20 is mainly attributable to the National Celebrations, Commemorations and Symbols Program as a result of their unexpected employee departures and the time required to find their replacements. The decrease observed in 2020–21 is mostly due to the virtual delivery of events such as Canada Day and Winterlude, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions. For future years, it is planned that full-time equivalents will be comparable to pre-pandemic levels.

Sport

The actual full-time equivalents in 2020–21 decreases and stabilizing in subsequent years is due to unexpected employee departures and the time required to find replacements, and to cancellation and delays of events due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Diversity and Inclusion

The increase in the actual full-time equivalents in 2019–20 and 2020–21 is due to the new time-limited funding to support the creation of a new Anti-Racism Strategy with a related Anti-Racism Secretariat (time-limited funding ending in 2021–22), the new ongoing funding to Preserve, Promote and Revitalize Indigenous languages announced in Budget 2019, and the transfer of the Youth and the LGBTQ2 Secretariats from the Privy Council Office. The sunsetting of the time-limited funding to strengthen Multiculturalism to address racism and discrimination, more specifically to build capacity in Black Canadian communities (ending in 2020–21) explains the decrease in future year’s planned full-time equivalents.

Official languages

The implementation of the Action Plan for Official Languages 2018–2023 resulted in a relatively stable full-time equivalents level from year to year.

Internal Services

The decrease in actual full-time equivalents in 2019–20 is mainly due to the reorganization within the Chief Information Officer Branch to better align services and financial resources. The actual full-time equivalents increase in 2020–21 and subsequent years to ensure proper support is available to carry out the departmental mandate.

Expenditures by vote

For information on Canadian Heritage’s organizational voted and statutory expenditures, consult the Public Accounts of Canada 2020–2021.^{Footnote 46}

Government of Canada spending and activities

Information on the alignment of Canadian Heritage’s spending with the Government of Canada’s spending and activities is available in GC InfoBase.^{Footnote 15}

Financial statements and financial statements highlights

Financial statements

The Department of Canadian Heritage’s financial statements (unaudited) for the year ended March 31, 2021, are available on the departmental website.^{Footnote 47}

Financial statement highlights

The financial highlights presented within this Departmental Results Report are intended to serve as a general overview of Canadian Heritage’s financial position and the net cost of operations before government funding and transfers. The unaudited financial statements have been prepared using the Government’s accounting policies, which are based on Canadian public sector accounting standards.

The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the departmental financial statements. In summer 2020, Canadian Heritage implemented the ESF for Cultural, Heritage and Sport Organizations to provide temporary relief to meet the financial needs of cultural, heritage and sport organizations facing significant losses due to COVID-19. These funds were to ensure business continuity for organizations negatively impacted by COVID-19, and allow them to continue to support artists and athletes. The ESF also included an investment to support students and youth impacted by COVID-19 and to create up to 1,245 additional job placements and paid internships in various sectors and communities, including official language minority communities.

Condensed Statement of Operations (unaudited) for the year ended March 31, 2021 (thousands of dollars)
Financial information	2020–21 Planned results	2020–21 Actual results	2019–20 Actual results	Difference (2020–21 Actual results minus 2020–21 Planned results)	Difference (2020–21 Actual results minus 2019–20 Actual results)
Total expenses	1,571,311	2,000,375	1,588,485	429,064	411,890
Total revenues	8,091	8,116	8,967	25	(851)
Net cost of operations before government funding and transfers	1,563,220	1,992,259	1,579,518	429,039	412,741

The Department’s total net cost of operations before government funding and transfers increased from the previous year’s total by $412.7 million (26 percent) and is largely due to:

An increase of $267.5 million in the Creativity, Arts and Culture program was primarily due to the ESF payments to support cultural, heritage and sport organizations affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, more specifically in the Canada Media Fund, Canada Periodical Fund, Canada Music Fund and Canada Book Fund.
An increase of $79.3 million in the Sport Support Program was primarily due to the ESF payments made to national sport organizations to provide additional temporary relief to support and help them plan, and maintain jobs and business continuity.
An increase of $40.9 million in the Official Languages Program was primarily due to increased spending to improve support for minority-language education by providing more support to the provinces and territories, the Teacher recruitment and retention initiative and infrastructure projects. A portion of this amount ($5.2 million) was for COVID-19 ESF payments made to provide additional temporary relief to support and help organizations plan for the future, and maintain jobs and business continuity.
An increase of $36.6 million in the Heritage and Celebration Program was primarily due to COVID-19 ESF payments made to provide additional temporary relief to support and help organizations plan for the future, and maintain jobs and business continuity within the Museum Assistance Program.
A decrease of $25 million in the Diversity and Inclusion Program is primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which had an impact on projects, forcing many recipients to defer activities and expenditures into 2021-22, and restrictions on travel and in-person gatherings. Funding for the Michaëlle Jean and Rideau Hall Foundations also ended during the year.
The increase of $12.5 million in Internal Services is primarily due to investments made to provide equipment and tools to adapt to a new remote workplace because of the COVID-19 pandemic. These investments consisted of additional bandwidth, laptops and cellular phones, new maintenance tools, etc. A temporary portal for the delivery of COVID-19 emergency funding was launched during the year, allowing the intake of over 2,500 applications for funding. This portal helped advance the work towards the My PCH Online project, an integrated online portal for clients to submit applications. In addition, the office of the Senior Associate Deputy Minister of Diversity, Inclusion and Youth, which was created in January 2020, was fully staffed in 2020-21.

Condensed Statement of Financial Position (unaudited) as of March 31, 2021 (thousands of dollars)
Financial information	2020–21	2019–20	Difference (2020–21 minus 2019–20)
Total net liabilities	458,106	418,684	39,422
Total net financial assets	439,410	404,314	35,096
Departmental net debt	18,822	14,491	4,331
Total non-financial assets	13,719	16,390	(2,671)
Departmental net financial position	(5,103)	1,899	(7,002)

Total net liabilities were $458.1 million at the end of 2020–21, an increase of $39.4 million (9 percent) over the previous years’ total liabilities of $418.7 million. The increase is mainly explained by accounts payable and accrued liabilities related to contribution agreements not paid out prior to closing of the fiscal year or existing agreements pending the receipt of the recipient’s final report to issue the final payment. Most of the contribution agreements were related to Federal/Provincial and Territorial agreements in the Official Languages program.

Total non-financial assets were $13.7 million at the end of 2020–21, a decrease of $2.7 million (16 percent) from the previous year’s total non-financial assets of $16.4 million. The decrease is largely explained by the write-down of another portion of the online portal ($2.3 million) component of the Grants and Contributions Modernization Project, which was under construction. The project is under ongoing review; only certain portions of the online portal component can be integrated into the new solution.

Corporate information

Organizational profile

Appropriate ministers:

The Honourable Steven Guilbeault, P.C., M.P.,
Minister of Canadian Heritage
The Honourable Bardish Chagger, P.C., M.P.,
Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth
The Honourable Mélanie Joly, P.C., M.P.,
Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages

Institutional head:

Isabelle Mondou

Ministerial portfolio:

Department of Canadian Heritage

Enabling instrument:

Department of Canadian Heritage Act^{Footnote 48}

Year of incorporation/commencement:

The Department of Canadian Heritage was created in June 1993. However, the Department of Canadian Heritage Act received Royal Assent in June 1995.

Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do

“Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do” is available on Canadian Heritage’s website.^{Footnote 49}

For more information on the Department’s organizational mandate letter commitments, see the Ministers’ mandate letters.^{Footnote 50}

Operating context

Information on the operating context is available on Canadian Heritage’s website.^{Footnote 49}

Reporting framework

Canadian Heritage’s Departmental Results Framework and Program Inventory of record for 2020–21 are shown below. They are also available in text version.

Canadian Heritage Departmental Results Framework and Program Inventory 2020-21

Supporting information on the program inventory

Financial, human resources and performance information for Canadian Heritage’s Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.^{Footnote 15}

Federal 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.^{Footnote 51} 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.

Organizational contact information

Mailing address:: Canadian Heritage
15 Eddy St
Gatineau QC K1A 0M5
Canada
Telephone:: 819-997-0055
Toll-free^{Footnote 52}:: 1-866-811-0055
TTY^{Footnote 53} (Toll-free):: 1-888-997-3123
Email:: PCH.info-info.PCH@canada.ca
Website:: www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage.html

Appendix: definitions

appropriation (crédit)

Any authority of Parliament to pay money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

budgetary expenditures (dépenses budgétaires)

Operating and capital expenditures; transfer payments to other levels of government, organizations or individuals; and payments to Crown corporations.

core responsibility (responsabilité essentielle)

An enduring function or role performed by a department. The intentions of the department with respect to a core responsibility are reflected in one or more related departmental results that the department seeks to contribute to or influence.

Departmental Plan (plan ministériel)

A 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 priority (priorité)

A plan or project that a department has chosen to focus and report on during the planning period. Priorities represent the things that are most important or what must be done first to support the achievement of the desired departmental results.

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.

experimentation (expérimentation)

The conducting of activities that seek to first explore, then test and compare the effects and impacts of policies and interventions in order to inform evidence-based decision-making, and improve outcomes for Canadians, by learning what works, for whom and in what circumstances. Experimentation is related to, but distinct from innovation (the trying of new things), because it involves a rigorous comparison of results. For example, using a new website to communicate with Canadians can be an innovation; systematically testing the new website against existing outreach tools or an old website to see which one leads to more engagement, is experimentation.

full-time equivalent (équivalent temps plein)

A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person-year charge against a departmental budget. 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])

An analytical process used to assess how diverse groups of women, men and gender-diverse people experience policies, programs and services based on multiple factors including race ethnicity, religion, age, and mental or physical disability.

government-wide priorities (priorités pangouvernementales)

For the purpose of the 2020–21 Departmental Results Report, those high-level themes outlining the government’s agenda in the 2019 Speech from the Throne, namely: Fighting climate change; Strengthening the Middle Class; Walking the road of reconciliation; Keeping Canadians safe and healthy; and Positioning Canada for success in an uncertain world.

horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)

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

lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, two-spirit (LGBTQ2) (lesbienne, gai, bisexuel, transgenre, queer et bispirituel [LGBTQ2])

This is the designation used by the Government of Canada to refer to the Canadian community. The internationally recognized designation is lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex (LGBTI). LGBTQ2 terminology is continuously evolving. For further information, refer to the LGBTQ2 Secretariat’s webpage for a glossary and common acronyms.^{Footnote 54}

non-budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires)

Net outlays and receipts related to loans, investments and advances, which change the composition of the financial assets of the Government of Canada.

performance (rendement)

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

performance indicator (indicateur de rendement)

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

performance reporting (production de rapports sur le rendement)

The process of communicating evidence-based performance information. Performance reporting supports decision-making, accountability and transparency.

plan (plan)

The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how an organization intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally, a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead 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 an organization, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single organization, policy, program or initiative; instead they are within the area of the organization’s influence.

statutory expenditures (dépenses législatives)

Expenditures that Parliament has approved through legislation other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they may be made.

target (cible)

A measurable performance or success level that an organization, program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative.

voted expenditures (dépenses votées)

Expenditures that Parliament approves annually through an appropriation act. The vote wording becomes the governing conditions under which these expenditures may be made.

Footnotes

Footnote 1

Reporting on Green Procurement

Return to footnote 1 referrer

Footnote 2

Emergency Support Fund

Return to footnote 2 referrer

Footnote 3

Backgrounder: Rollout of funding announced in the 2020 Fall Economic Statement Supporting Arts and Live Events Workers in Response to COVID-19

Return to footnote 3 referrer

Footnote 4

English and French: Towards a substantive equality of official languages in Canada

Return to footnote 4 referrer

Footnote 5

Sustainable Development Goals

Return to footnote 5 referrer

Footnote 6

Quadrennial periodic report Canada 2020

Return to footnote 6 referrer

footnote 7

The actual results were not available at the time of publication.

Return to footnote 7 referrer

footnote 8

Methodology was modified. Calculated using the June 28, 2021 release of the Culture Satellite Account National Culture Indicators, released quarterly.

Return to first footnote 8 referrer

footnote 9

The COVID-19 pandemic had a large impact on cultural sector jobs. Methodology was modified. Calculated using the June 28, 2021 release of the Culture Satellite Account National Culture Indicators, released quarterly.

Return to first footnote 9 referrer

footnote 10

The indicator is no longer valid as the data is no longer available.

Return to first footnote 10 referrer

footnote 11

Results will be available in the winter of 2022 and presented in the Economic report on Screen-Based Media Production Industry in Canada.

Return to first footnote 11 referrer

footnote 12

The indicator measures the number of new Canadian-authored books published by recipients of the Canada Book Fund.

Return to first footnote 12 referrer

footnote 13

According to the Statistics Canada release schedule, 2019 data will be unavailable until 2021.

Return to first footnote 13 referrer

footnote 14

According to the Statistics Canada release schedule, 2020 data will be unavailable until 2022.

Return to first footnote 14 referrer

Footnote 15

GC InfoBase

Return to first footnote 15 referrer

Footnote 16

2020 Canada Day Satisfaction Survey (PDF format)

Return to footnote 16 referrer

Footnote 17

General Social Survey-Social Identity results were last published in 2015 with 2013 data. Next Social Identity cycle collection is in 2020 and data release is in 2021.

Return to Footnote 17 referrer

Footnote 18

Due to the pandemic, the majority of in-person events delivered or funded by the Major Events, Commemorations and Capital Experience Branch were either cancelled or delivered virtually. Thus, the number of Canadians who participated in person is very limited, while virtual participants almost doubled.

Return to first Footnote 18 referrer

Footnote 19

Given that final reports from recipients are compiled once per year, statistics provided here are a carry-over from 2017-18 final reports.

Return to first Footnote 19 referrer

Footnote 20

Given that final reports from recipients are compiled once per year, statistics provided here are a carry-over from 2018-19 final reports.

Return to first Footnote 20 referrer

Footnote 21

Due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the data to explain the differences in engagement levels compared with previous years is not currently available.

Return to first Footnote 21 referrer

Footnote 22

A decrease of 62 percent is due to closures and travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Return to first Footnote 22 referrer

Footnote 23

The project “Collections Management Database Upgrade”, led by The Fraser-Fort George Regional Museum in British Columbia in partnership with The Exploration Place, comprised of the digitization of 1.5 million objects, into a new collections database system. Also, through ESF funding, recipients preserved and/or managed 42,239,272 heritage objects/artefacts.

Return to first Footnote 23 referrer

Footnote 24

The data collected responds to a parent/proxy survey that asks about “participation” and not “enrollment” in sport and therefore does not match this indicator exactly. There is no survey that refers to the number of children and youth “enrolled” as this would require a specific census that would give a number count of children and youth that are enrolled in sport programming. The Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute’s Physical Activity Monitor Parent survey, surveyed parents on whether their child (aged 5 to 17) had participated in sport (broadly defined as physical activities usually involving competition and rules, and that develop specific skills) during the previous 12 months prior to the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2019 to March 2020). That percentage was 79 percent. Parents were also surveyed about the period during the pandemic, March 2020 to March 2021 and this percentage decreased to 45 percent. The Parent survey is a panel study conducted in May-June 2021. These statistics are based on the 1st of 3 waves of data collection and will be updated upon completion of the 2nd and 3rd waves of data collection.

Return to footnote 24 referrer

Footnote 25

The statistics provided are the most recent data available. Results from demographic reports are only made available the following fiscal year. The statistics provided reflect the 2019–20 demographic results.

Return to footnote 25 referrer

Footnote 26

Youth and COVID-19: Response, recovery and resilience

Return to footnote 26 referrer

Footnote 27

Governance for Youth, Trust, and Intergenerational Justice: Fit for All Generations?

Return to footnote 27 referrer

Footnote 28

According to a scan conducted by the Department’s Policy Research Group on May 28, 2019, the most recent direct measurement of this indicator was done by Statistics Canada during the 2013 Social Identity Cycle of the General Social Survey. The 2020 Social Identity Cycle will also collect data for this indicator over the next three years.

Return to Footnote 28 referrer

Footnote 29

General Social Survey-Social Identity results were last published in 2015 with 2013 data. Next data release is in 2021.

Return to first Footnote 29 referrer

Footnote 30

Next Census data release is planned for September 2022. In Census 2016, of all First Nations people (207,760) who reported being able to conduct a conversation in an Indigenous language, 26.7 percent (55,525 people) have learned it as a second language. These respondents have most likely learned English or French as their first language, and learned their Indigenous language later. In 2016, there was 25.8 percent (11,385 people) more second-language speakers than in 2011.

Return to first Footnote 30 referrer

Footnote 31

Next Census data release is planned for September 2022. In Census 2016, of all Métis (9,705) who reported being able to conduct a conversation in an Indigenous language, 41.7 percent (4,050 people) learned it as a second language. These respondents have most likely learned English or French as their first language, and learned their Indigenous language later. In 2016, there was 0.02 percent (75 people) more second-language speakers than in 2011.

Return to first Footnote 31 referrer

Footnote 32

Next Census data release is planned for September 2022.

Return to first Footnote 32 referrer

Footnote 33

The statistics provided are the most recent data available collected in the previous fiscal year. Results were based on 93 percent of the Aboriginal Languages Initiative funding recipients.

Return to first Footnote 33 referrer

Footnote 34

The statistics provided are the most recent data available and reflect the results for 2018–2019. This result is based on 100 percent of interim of final reports of funding recipients.

Return to first Footnote 34 referrer

Footnote 35

Due to the impacts of COVID-19 on program delivery, new data is not yet available.

Return to first Footnote 35 referrer

Footnote 36

The statistics provided are the most recent data available. Results from participant surveys are only made available the following fiscal year, thus the statistics provided in the table reflect the actual survey results from 2019–20.

Return to first Footnote 36 referrer

Footnote 37

Administered by an organization independent of the government.

Return to first Footnote 37 referrer

Footnote 38

General Social Survey on identity results were last published in 2015 with 2013 data. Next data release is in 2021.

Return to first Footnote 38 referrer

Footnote 39

Action Plan for Official Languages 2018–2023 : Investing in Our Future

Return to footnote 39 referrer

Footnote 40

The data comes from an online survey. Given the non-probabilistic nature of the sample (online panel), it is best not to compare the results of this online survey with the results of previous surveys in 2006 and 2012 using a probabilistic sample (telephone).

Return to Footnote 40 referrer

Footnote 41

Data source: Census 2016.

Return to first Footnote 41 referrer

Footnote 42

The methodology for measuring the radius has changed. The target remains the same.

Return to first Footnote 42 referrer

Footnote 43

The methodology for surveying federal institutions has changed; the target for 2020–21 reflects the results expected under this new methodology.

Return to first Footnote 43 referrer

Footnote 44

The actual results were not available at the time of publication.

Return to first Footnote 44 referrer

Footnote 45

Federal institutions report concrete results in their annual reviews, but approximately 40 percent have a more limited potential and report fewer measures.

Return to first Footnote 45 referrer

Footnote 46

Public Accounts of Canada

Return to footnote 46 referrer

Footnote 47

Canadian Heritage financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2021,

Return to footnote 47 referrer

Footnote 48

Department of Canadian Heritage Act

Return to footnote 48 referrer

Footnote 49

Raison d’être, mandate and role

Return to first footnote 49 referrer

Footnote 50

Mandate Letters

Return to footnote 50 referrer

Footnote 51

Report on Federal Tax Expenditures

Return to footnote 51 referrer

Footnote 52

Call toll-free from all regions, Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Time).

Return to footnote 52 referrer

Footnote 53

The TTY is a telecommunication device for people who are deaf, hard of hearing or speech-impaired.

Return to footnote 53 referrer

Footnote 54

LGBTQ2 terminology – Glossary and common acronyms

Return to footnote 54 referrer

Page details

Date modified:: 2022-02-01

Departmental Results Report 2020-21 — Canadian Heritage

On this page

Alternate format

List of acronyms and abbreviations

Message from the Ministers

Results at a glance

Core responsibility 1: Creativity, arts and culture

Core responsibility 2: Heritage and celebration

Core responsibility 3: Sport

Core responsibility 4: Diversity and inclusion

Core responsibility 5: Official languages

Internal services

Results: what we achieved

Core responsibility 1: Creativity, arts and culture

Description

Results

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

Canadians are able to consume Canadian content on multiple platforms

Creative industries are successful in global markets

Canadians have access to cultural facilities in their communities

Canadians have access to festivals and performing arts series that reflect Canada’s diversity

Canadians have access to more safe, diverse and secure digital environment and are resilient to disinformation

Gender-based analysis plus

Experimentation

2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Core responsibility 2: Heritage and celebration

Description

Results

Canadians are engaged in celebrations and commemorations of national significance

Canadians across the country are engaged in their communities through local arts and heritage

The public is provided with access to cultural heritage

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

In addition, the following activities contributed to this Core responsibility:

Gender-based analysis plus

Experimentation

2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Core responsibility 3: Sport

Description

Results

Canadian athletes succeed at the highest levels of competition

Canadian children and youth are enrolled in a sport activity

Canadians, regardless of gender, physical ability and cultural background, who participate in sport activities are satisfied with the manner in which the activity is provided

Gender-based analysis plus

Experimentation

2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Core responsibility 4: Diversity and inclusion

Description

Results

Canadians value diversity

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

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

Individuals or groups have access to funding to initiate or participate in test cases pertaining to rights and freedoms covered by the Court Challenges Program

Canadians value human rights

Gender-based analysis plus

Experimentation

2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Core responsibility 5: Official languages

Description

Results

Canadians recognize and support Canada’s official languages

Federal institutions develop and implement policies and programs in accordance with Section 41 of the Official Languages Act

Gender-based analysis plus

Experimentation

2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Internal Services

Description

Management and Oversight Services

Human Resources Management Services

Financial Management Services

Information management and information technology services

Analysis of trends in spending and human resources

Actual expenditures

Departmental spending trend graph

Creativity, Arts and Culture

Heritage and Celebration

Sport

Diversity and Inclusion

Official languages

Internal Services

Actual human resources