Departmental Results Report 2023-24 — Canadian Heritage

On this page

• Message from the ministers
• Results – what we achieved
  • Core responsibilities and internal services
  • Core responsibility 1: Creativity, arts and culture
  • Core responsibility 2: Heritage and celebration
  • Core responsibility 3: Sport
  • Core responsibility 4: Diversity and inclusion
  • Core responsibility 5: Official languages
  • Internal services
• Spending and human resources
  • Spending
  • Funding
  • Financial statement highlights
  • Human resources
• Corporate information
  • Departmental profile
  • Departmental contact information
• Supplementary information tables
• Federal tax expenditures
• Definitions

Read a summary of the report

Message from the ministers

As Ministers, we are pleased to present the Departmental Results Report 2023–24 for the Department of Canadian Heritage.

Over the course of the last year, Canadian Heritage has continued to support the arts and culture sector. The major legislative work undertaken in this sector is a testament to this determination to prepare for the future. In 2023–24, the Department worked hard to ensure a fair, inclusive and safe online space for the creative community and the Canadian public. Two pieces of legislation were passed: the Online Streaming Act and the Online News Act. In addition, Bill C-63, the Online Harms Act, was introduced to provide better protection against hate and other types of harmful content online. The Department also undertook research on artificial intelligence, an extremely important topic for the years ahead.

Following the Right Honourable Brian Mulroney’s passing on February 29, 2024, the Department held a state funeral in Ottawa and Montréal. This major event gave people across the country the opportunity to remember the life and achievements of Canada’s 18th prime minister. A state funeral was also held for the Honourable Ed Broadbent in January 2024, to honour the memory of this great political leader. In collaboration with First Nations organizations and Survivors, Canadian Heritage also moved forward with its reconciliation projects, including the Residential Schools National Monument. This same spirit of collaboration and dialogue was at work during the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation activities and continues to guide the Department’s initiatives. Lastly, in Ottawa, Canadian Heritage held a celebration of the coronation of His Majesty King Charles III. This festive day focused on the history of Canada and its relationship with the monarchy.

Canadian Heritage’s support for sport is aimed not only at excellence but also at building a welcoming, barrier-free sport community. While support for high-performance athletes prepared Canada for the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games, support for the larger sport community also strengthened Indigenous sport, equity, diversity and inclusion as well as the Special Olympics movement. The Abuse-Free Sport Program and the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner also provided consistent support for sport safety. These efforts were aimed at creating environments where everyone can safely enjoy the benefits of sport, regardless of gender, physical ability and cultural background.

The launch of the new Anti-Racism Strategy in June and the development of a national action plan on Combatting Hate have been major focuses of this past year. These tools will change the lives of many people in Canada by helping to fight all forms of hate, including, but not limited to, anti-Indigenous racism, anti-Black racism, anti-Asian racism, antisemitism and Islamophobia. Canadian Heritage also supported the work of the Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism and the Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia. In addition, the Department began implementing new Indigenous languages funding models developed jointly by First Nations, Inuit and Métis. Canadian Heritage continues to support Indigenous languages as part of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages. The Department was involved in numerous other accomplishments, particularly through maintaining its dialogue with youth and promoting human rights, as shown in this report.

On June 20, 2023, the Act for the Substantive Equality of Canada’s Official Languages received Royal Assent. Following this important milestone, the Department joined forces with the Treasury Board Secretariat to begin developing instruments related to this Act and to the Use of French in Federally Regulated Private Businesses Act. In 2023–24, Canadian Heritage also unveiled and began implementing the Action Plan for Official Languages 2023–2028: Protection—Promotion—Collaboration. The Department is working with some 20 partner institutions to provide a total of $4.1 billion in funding over five years. Lastly, the Department continued to deliver its official languages support programs, which are having a significant impact across the country.

Every year, Canadian Heritage strives to deliver quality programs and services. We invite you to read this report to learn more about the many achievements of Canadian Heritage in 2023–24.

The Honourable Pascale St-Onge
Minister of Canadian Heritage

The Honourable Carla Qualtrough
Minister of Sport and Physical Activity

The Honourable Kamal Khera
Minister of Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities

The Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor
Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence

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

The Honourable Arif Virani
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Results – what we achieved

Core responsibilities and internal services

• Core responsibility 1: Creativity, arts and culture
• Core responsibility 2: Heritage and celebration
• Core responsibility 3: Sport
• Core responsibility 4: Diversity and inclusion
• Core responsibility 5: Official languages
• Internal services

Core responsibility 1: Creativity, arts and culture

In this section

• Description
• Progress on results
• Details on results
• Key risks
• Resources required to achieve results
• Related government priorities
• Program inventory

Description

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

Progress on results

This section presents details on how the Department performed to achieve results and meet targets for Creativity, arts and culture. Details are presented by departmental result.

Targets and results for Creativity, arts and culture

Tables 1-5 provide a summary of the target and actual results for each indicator associated with the results under Creativity, arts and culture.^{Footnote 1}

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

Details on results

The following section describes the results for Creativity, arts and culture in 2023–24 compared with the planned results set out in Canadian Heritage’s Departmental Plan for the year.

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

In 2023–24, the new Online Streaming Act received Royal Assent, and envisions the modernization of Canada’s broadcasting framework. The Act allows the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to require streaming services to showcase Canadian music and stories and supports our creators and producers. Also, to support greater equity between digital platforms and news media businesses, the Online News Act was adopted to ensure that the revenues of dominant digital platforms are shared more fairly with Canadian news outlets.

In partnership with Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, consultations on Copyright in the Age of Generative Artificial Intelligence were undertaken in 2023–24. Canadian Heritage and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada also hosted seven roundtables with a range of stakeholders, including Indigenous stakeholders. The written submissions and the feedback heard during the roundtables are summarized in a “What We Heard” report.

In addition, Canadian Heritage and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada are working collaboratively on the development of an Artist’s Resale Right. This is an important step towards improving the economic conditions of Canadian visual artists by enabling them to financially benefit from their growing reputations and secondary sales as their careers progress. To help shape next steps in this work, an Arts Market Survey was circulated in fall 2023 to collect more feedback from artists and art market professionals to further inform policy work.

Meanwhile, in 2023, the Department began work towards modernizing institutions and funding tools supporting the Canadian screen sector to support productions led by people from equity-deserving groups. The Department pursued its dialogue with a wide breadth of audiovisual industry stakeholders (such as professional guilds, Indigenous stakeholders, creators from equity-deserving groups, digital first creators), federal and territorial institutions supporting audiovisual media, and departments of culture. Further stakeholder engagement and ongoing policy work will inform the next steps of audiovisual modernization.

Canadians are able to consume Canadian content on multiple platforms.

The Online News Act, which came into force on December 19, 2023, was enacted to address the growing imbalance between digital platforms and news businesses in Canada by establishing a bargaining regime to ensure news businesses are fairly compensated for the news they produce. The Act provides platforms the opportunity to reach fair commercial agreements with news businesses, including the possibility of a single agreement with a group of news businesses, to contribute to the overall sustainability of the Canadian news marketplace.

Canadian Heritage continued to support CBC/Radio-Canada to ensure that it can continue creating public value for Canadians, taking into account the needs and interests of underserved regions, communities and groups. In 2023–24, the Department mobilized to support the work of a new expert panel to reflect on the future of CBC/Radio-Canada with a view to ensuring its longer-term sustainability.

Meanwhile, in response to the new audiovisual environment and the evolving needs of the industry, the Canada Media Fund worked on adapting and making significant changes to its programs and procedures. As part of the modernization process, the Canada Media Fund has focused on platform agnosticism, greater flexibility, improved access, and stability.

Creative industries are successful in global markets.

In 2023–24, the Government of Canada launched the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act Action Plan, which identified increased ongoing funding for the Indigenous Screen Office as one of its measures. Ongoing funding for the Indigenous Screen Office directly responds to the action plan and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action. In the same year, ongoing funding was announced to support Indigenous-led storytelling through the Indigenous Screen Office as part of Budget 2024. The funding enables more First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples to tell their own stories and see themselves reflected on screen.

The renewed Creative Export Strategy, which launched in April 2023, helped Canadian creative industries maximize their export potential and stand out in global markets in 2023–24 through:

• The Creative Export Canada Export Ready Stream, which provided funding to 21 projects totalling nearly $8 million, and the new Export Development Stream, which provided funding to 80 projects totalling $4.5 million, to support creative business and organizations in achieving their international business objectives including helping them to build capacity and expand into new markets.
• Trade Missions, including a creative industries trade mission to Australia and New Zealand featuring a delegation of 18 Canadian creative industries companies and organizations who benefited from over 198 business-to-business meetings, leading to an estimated $4.5 to $7.5 million in anticipated commercial benefits. Additionally, the Department collaborated with Global Affairs Canada on the Team Canada Trade Mission to Japan. The Mission included 15 Canadian creative industries companies and organizations who benefited from over 100 business-to-business meetings. This has led to the signature of one a commercial agreement worth over $1 million, and an additional 11 commercial negotiations are ongoing. Further, the Department partnered with Global Affairs Canada to deliver an amplification event at the Games Developer Conference 2024 in San Francisco. The project supported the participation of 160 Canadian Interactive and Digital Media companies, which resulted in 969 business-to-business meetings, generating an anticipated commercial benefit of $3.6 to $4.7 million.
• Eighteen international creative industries events that helped create trade opportunities through business-to-business meetings and pitch sessions to international buyers.
• The Creative Export Navigator Service, which helps creative industries navigate government programs and services by assisting them with sector-specific expertise. In total, 63 personalized services were offered, and five Export Seminars took place.

In 2023–24, Canadian Heritage developed economic profiles for Canada’s major creative sectors based on economic research, market and financial data analysis, which were shared with the Business Development Bank of Canada and Export Development Canada. The profiles were completed to help inform the Business Development Bank of Canada and Export Development Canada to understand the evolving and unique financial capacity and capabilities of the Canadian creative sector and enable them to enhance and tailor their existing support for Canadian companies in the creative industries.

In 2023–24, Canadian Heritage further enriched TV5MONDEplus’ Canadian catalogue, which included more series and films over longer periods, thereby enhancing discoverability, strengthening the positioning of Canadian content, and increasing ease of access to French-language and Canadian programming worldwide. In addition, the annual Canadian contribution to TV5MONDE continues to ensure Canadian programs for broadcast on TV5MONDE channels abroad.

Professional arts experiences are available to Canadians in their community.

In 2023–24, the Department delivered the final year of supplemental funding allocated to the Canada Arts Presentation Fund in Budget 2021. These additional funds allowed the Canada Arts Presentation Fund to partly address program oversubscription and enhance funding amounts to not-for-profit organizations that present professional arts festivals or performing arts series, as well as the organizations that support them. These additional funds have also allowed the Canada Arts Presentation Fund to fund new recipients, most of whom are from or supporting equity-deserving groups, which are a program priority, including Indigenous, Black, racialized, people living with a disability, official language minority communities, 2SLGBTQI+, and women-led organizations.

The additional funds enabled the program to support approximately 150 new recipients, representing a 22% increase in the overall number of funding recipients.

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

On February 26, 2024, the Government introduced Bill C-63, which aims to create stronger protections for children online, and better safeguard everyone in Canada from online hate and other types of harmful content. The Bill sets out a new vision for safer and more inclusive participation online. It would hold social media services, including live streaming and adult content services, accountable for reducing users’ exposure to harmful content on their platforms and for helping prevent its spread.

Bill C-63 proposed amendments to the Criminal Code and the Canadian Human Rights Act to better address and denounce hate crimes and hate speech, and to provide recourse for victims of these crimes. It also strengthens the requirement to report child pornography by amending the Act respecting the mandatory reporting of Internet child pornography by persons who provide an Internet service (Mandatory Reporting Act).

In 2023–24, the Digital Citizen Contribution Program funded projects to raise awareness about non-governmental tools and services to counter online harms against children and more generally hate speech, incitement to violence, child sexual exploitation material, and the non-consensual distribution of intimate images.

In partnership with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Digital Citizen Contribution Program also funded 19 recipients of the arm’s-length Connection Grants, Postdoctoral Fellowship supplements and Doctoral Award supplements which support events and outreach activities geared toward short-term initiatives targeting knowledge mobilization.

Key risks

Canadian Heritage implemented measures to mitigate impacts of risks related to increasing operating costs for cultural organizations as well as changing consumption patterns in the cultural sector due to factors such as new media. Programs maximized support for the cultural sector and Canadians by prioritizing activities that are in direct support of the sector and of its stakeholders. Additional targeted supports and investments were added to some programs and the Department worked closely with its delivery partners and clients to implement flexibility to support targeted needs.

To help mitigate declining contributions to the Canada Media Fund from subscription television services impacted by changing technology and media consumption habits, the Department provided a top-up of $42.5 million to the Canada Media Fund in 2023–24 to offset declining revenues.

With the adoption of the Online Streaming Act, the Canada Media Fund will be able to offer more flexibility and balance to the industry with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s ability to require online streamers to contribute to the sustained success of Canada’s cultural sector and to provide financial support to the audiovisual industry through spending requirements or contribution to funds, such as the Canada Media Fund.

Resources required to achieve results

Table 6: Snapshot of resources required for Creativity, arts and culture

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

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

Related government priorities

Gender-based analysis plus

In 2023–24, several programs under core responsibility 1 sought to provide equitable access to Canadian Heritage’s arts and culture programming funding for equity-deserving groups. For example:

The Online Streaming Act, which received Royal Assent in April 2023, gives people and communities in Canada, including equity-deserving groups, more opportunities to see themselves in what they watch and hear. This includes ensuring that online streaming services make meaningful contributions to diverse Canadian and Indigenous content. Creators will have opportunities to tell their stories and Canadians will have access to a greater variety and diversity of content.

Budget 2023 provided funding for the Canada Media Fund to improve access to traditionally underrepresented voices and to increase funding for French-language screen content. The Canada Media Fund also published its first Diversity Report, which includes comprehensive gender parity data, showcasing its commitment to equity and inclusivity. As well, under the pilot program “Racialized Communities” launched in 2021, the Canada Media Fund supported projects by companies owned by Black and other racialized people, thereby contributing to creating employment opportunities for members of these communities. Following the success achieved in 2021–22 and 2022–23, the Canada Media Fund announced that the pilot will become an ongoing program.

On March 14, 2024, Minister of Canadian Heritage announced permanent funding to support Indigenous-led storytelling through the Indigenous Screen Office. This includes $65 million over five years starting in 2024–25 and $13 million per year ongoing. The Indigenous Screen Office continued to provide opportunities for Indigenous creators, including women and 2SLGBTQI+ individuals to tell their stories.

Launched in 2019, the Digital Citizen Initiative aims to strengthen Canadians’ resilience to online harms and supports the Government’s work in the Gender Results Framework, which is aimed at eliminating Gender-Based Violence and increasing Access to Justice. In support of these efforts, the Digital Citizen Contribution Program funded projects focused on increasing digital media and civic literacy, helping people and communities in Canada to identify content created by artificial intelligence, developing, and publishing resources to prevent and address online violence and cyberbullying, and building capacity in Canada to fight disinformation and other online harms that disproportionately affect members of equity-deserving groups.

Furthermore, Bill C-63, the Online Harms Act was introduced on February 26, 2024. Bill C-63 allows for the creation of stronger online protection and better safeguards from online hate. This is a key issue for equity-deserving communities, as online hate often has a disproportionate impact on women, 2SLGBTQI+ communities, and other groups.

The Development Component of the Canada Arts Presentation Fund has enabled organizations that might not otherwise be able to access program funding to engage in performing arts presentation activities and to develop these activities in their communities. New recipients included Indigenous, Black, racialized, official language minority communities and 2SLGBTQI+ organizations, and organizations that are women-led or support people living with a disability. The Canada Arts Presentation Fund also updated its website and the Programming Component general application form to include questions relating to inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility for its applicants.

In addition to increased funding for Indigenous and other equity-deserving organizations phased in progressively over three years, from 2022–23 to 2024–25, the Canada Arts Training Fund developed three different sets of application forms and guidelines to reflect the diverse not-for-profit arts organizations, including not-for-profit organizations that respond to the needs of Indigenous and other equity-deserving communities.

The Creative Export Canada Program focused on projects that implemented gender or diversity considerations in staffing, leadership, and decision-making roles. The program prioritized applications that demonstrated respect for gender and diversity, with enhanced recognition for those having established human resources policies like gender parity or inclusionary policies for 2SLGBTQI+, Indigenous, Black, and racialized people.

The two key creative industry trade missions delivered under the auspices of the Creative Export Strategy to Australia and New Zealand and to Japan considered inclusivity, diversity, equity, and accessibility in the selection of mission delegates. Both missions included the participation of delegates who identified as being an Indigenous person and/or from an equity-deserving community.

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

In 2023–24, initiatives related to core responsibility 1 helped advance Decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), Industry, innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9), Sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11), Peace, justice and strong institutions (SDG 16) and Partnerships for the goals (SDG 17):

• The Canada Arts Training Fund contributes to the development of Canadian creators and future cultural leaders of the Canadian arts sector by supporting the training of artists with high potential through organizations that offer training of the highest calibre (SDG 8).
• Audiovisual production contributed $14.05 billion to Canada’s gross domestic product in 2022–23 and generated almost 240,000 jobs. ^{Footnote 14} The Canada Media Fund contributed to the vitality of the Canadian audiovisual sector by investing in the Canadian audiovisual and interactive digital media industries, triggering $1.7 billion in industry activity (SDG 8).
• On April 27, 2023, the Online Streaming Act received Royal Assent. This new law will help ensure Canadian stories and music are widely available on streaming platforms and will reinvest in future generations of artists and creators in Canada (SDG 8).
• Throughout 2023–2024, Canadian Heritage supported the international business development efforts of Canadian cultural companies and organizations to help them maximize their export potential through the Creative Export Strategy. This included leading two in-person trade missions: one Canadian Heritage-led mission to Australia and New Zealand and one creative industries delegation, as part of Global Affairs Canada’s Team Canada Trade Mission to Japan. Through these trade missions, the Creative Export Strategy supported business programming, such as business-to-business meetings with international buyers, market briefings, networking opportunities, and pitch sessions. In addition, Canadian Heritage supported enhanced business programming for Canadian companies and organizations on the margins of 17 key international trade or cultural events. These business programming activities helped Canadian companies and organizations to build business partnerships and secure or work towards securing business deals. The Creative Export Strategy also supported 21 export-ready projects and 80 export development projects through the Creative Export Canada program (SDG 8).
• On June 22, 2023, Bill C-18, the Online News Act received Royal Assent. The Act ensures fair revenue sharing between digital platforms and that news outlets create greater fairness and sustainability in the news industry, including the sustainability of independent local news businesses (SDG 9).
• The Canada Cultural Spaces Fund supported the construction and renovation of arts and heritage facilities, including creative hubs, the acquisition of specialized equipment and the development of feasibility studies for the construction or renovation of additional arts and heritage facilities (SDG 11).
• The Digital Citizen Contribution Program funded projects to strengthen citizens’ critical thinking and resilience towards online disinformation, as well as research projects which aim to better understand disinformation and other online harms and their impacts in a Canadian context (SDG 16).
• through the TV5 program The Department promotes the discovery and distribution of Canadian programming in French at home and abroad. The program contributes to the development and revitalization of the diversity of cultural domains within the global Francophonie. This commitment to multiple international players is reflected in TV5’s core values and TV5MONDE’s new strategic plan (SDG 17).

Program inventory

Core responsibility 1: Creativity, arts and culture is supported by the following programs:

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

Additional information related to the program inventory for Creativity, arts and culture is available on the Results page on GC Infobase.

Core responsibility 2: Heritage and celebration

In this section

• Description
• Progress on results
• Details on results
• Key risks
• Resources required to achieve results
• Related government priorities
• Program inventory

Description

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

Progress on results

This section presents details on how the Department performed to achieve results and meet targets for Heritage and celebration. Details are presented by departmental result.

Targets and results for Heritage and celebration

Tables 7-10 provide a summary of the target and actual results for each indicator associated with the results under Heritage and celebration.^{Footnote 1}

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

Details on results

The following section describes the results for Heritage and celebration in 2023–24 compared with the planned results set out in Canadian Heritage’s Departmental Plan for the year.

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

Many activities under this departmental result focused on reconciliation, through Indigenous-led initiatives and engagement of Indigenous organizations. For instance, in June 2023, the Survivor-led Steering Committee announced that the Residential Schools National Monument will be installed on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. The Steering Committee worked with the Algonquin Anishinabe Nation to select the Monument site, which is on traditional unceded Algonquin territory.

Canadian Heritage had received ongoing funding in 2021 for initiatives to commemorate the history and legacy of Residential Schools, including activities related to the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. This funding also included a commitment to engage with Survivors and Indigenous Peoples to inform its funding approach for commemorative activities and events.

Consequently, in 2023–24, the Celebration and Commemoration Program, collaborating with nine Indigenous organizations, concluded an engagement process with Survivors, their families and community members to learn how best to create awareness and commemorate the history and legacy of Residential Schools. The program has tasked an Indigenous organization with analyzing the information from the engagement sessions and writing a final report, anticipated in late 2024.

Meanwhile, the Indigenous Reflection moment on Canada Day in 2023, produced in collaboration with Indigenous groups, opened the Daytime Ceremony on stage at LeBreton Flats Park in Ottawa. The entire moment was broadcast on CBC and Radio-Canada news platforms. The messages delivered during this moment were shared nationally and are a testament to the collaborative planning between the Department and Indigenous groups.

In 2023–24, Canadian Heritage was also faced with delivering other unplanned events of national significance. On May 6, 2023, Canadians celebrated the Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III and Her Majesty The Queen Consort, the first coronation of a Canadian Head of State and Monarch in seven decades. To highlight this historic event, the Government of Canada held a celebration in honour of His Majesty King Charles III’s Coronation in Ottawa. Looking to the future and inspired by values shared by Canada and His Majesty, such as the protection of the environment, the importance of service to others, and highlighting the diversity of our country, the ceremony brought together artists and speakers whose different experiences reflect this vision.

The Government of Canada held a state funeral for the Honourable Ed Broadbent, who passed away on January 11, 2024. The live broadcast ceremony was held on January 28, 2024, in Ottawa. Invitees to the ceremony included government representatives including the Prime Minister, dignitaries, members of the public as well as former colleagues, close friends and family members of Mr. Broadbent. Canadians were also invited to share their messages of sympathy by signing an online book of condolences.

The Government of Canada also held a state funeral for the Right Honourable Brian Mulroney, who passed away on February 29, 2024. Dignitaries, including the Governor General of Canada and the Prime Minister of Canada, as well as members of the public paid their respects to the Mulroney family during a lying-in-state at the Sir John A. Macdonald Building, in Ottawa, on March 19 and 20, 2024. Dignitaries, family guests and members of the public also paid their respects to the Mulroney family during a lying-in-repose at Saint Patrick’s Basilica, in Montréal, on March 21 and 22, 2024. Broadcast on several Canadian television networks and on Canadian Heritage’s social media channels, the funeral ceremony was held on March 23, 2024, at the Notre-Dame Basilica of Montréal, in Montréal. The ceremony was preceded by a funeral cortege, including a Royal Canadian Mounted Police mounted escort and pallbearers, a Canadian Armed Forces escort and guard of honour, and the Royal Canadian Air Force Band. These events gave Canadians an opportunity to honour the Right Honourable Brian Mulroney’s contributions to public life and offer their condolences. Canadians were also invited to share their messages of sympathy by signing an online book of condolences.

Furthermore, Canadian Heritage is responsible for managing Canada’s participation in the Games of La Francophonie, which are the only major games to feature both sporting and cultural competitions. The Department sent a team of nearly 50 young artists and athletes to the most recent Games, held in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the summer of 2023. Team Canada took part in five cultural competitions and two sporting events, winning a total of 13 medals (4 gold, 6 silver and 3 bronze). The Games provided participating athletes and artists an opportunity to perform on the international stage, and to promote the diversity of Canadian culture abroad.

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

The Building Communities through Arts and Heritage program offered opportunities for people in Canada to participate in local arts and heritage events by providing funding to 902 projects, which included 855 local festivals, and 47 community anniversary and commemorative capital projects.

• The Montcalm Heritage Festival in Manitoba reported the participation of 214 artists, artisans and heritage performers, 182 volunteers and 3,000 attendees.
• The Yuquot Centennial in Gold River, British Columbia reported the participation of 30 local artists and heritage performers and 312 attendees.
• A centennial commemorative capital project in Montréal, Quebec, included the restoration of “Bâtiment 7,” one of the earliest Grand Trunk Railway of Canada storehouse sites, providing the community with new space for collaborative arts workshops and activities.

The Building Communities through Arts and Heritage program took steps to continue advancing reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, including by engaging in outreach and offering support to projects seeking to commemorate treaty anniversaries under the Community Anniversaries component.

The public is provided with access to cultural heritage.

In 2023–24, the Department advanced the renewal of the Canadian Museum Policy by completing extensive consultations with Canadians, Indigenous partners, and heritage stakeholders. A What We Heard report on these consultations was published in January 2024 on the museum policy consultation webpage. The input provided will inform an updated Museum Policy and its future impact on how we protect our heritage and how Canadians will be able to access it.

In addition, the Department supports cultural heritage through the Young Canada Works-Heritage program, to create and prepare the next generation of heritage workers through summer or short-term employment and paid internships. In 2023–24, Young Canada Works-Heritage funded 1,869 youth participants to be placed in summer or short-term employment and internship opportunities in the heritage, arts, and cultural sectors.

Meanwhile, the Canada Travelling Exhibitions Indemnifications Program provides Canadian institutions with a competitive advantage when competing for the loan of prestigious international exhibitions through the reduction of insurance costs. In 2023–24, a total of 306,218 visitors attended indemnified exhibitions, more than double the number of the previous year.

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

In 2023–24, the Museums Assistance Program provided funding to 283 heritage organizations to support the development of professional skills, practices and knowledge relating to key museum functions, to increase understanding and awareness of Indigenous cultural heritage in Canada, and to reach new audiences.

The Museums Assistance Program’s Digital Access to Heritage component provided funding to heritage organizations for 123 projects in 2023–24. The majority of these projects (110 projects or 89%) supported organizations to digitize their artefacts and collections and develop digital content to provide the public with enhanced access to cultural heritage online or in person. Through other projects, heritage organizations had opportunities to build their capacity in these areas. Digitization ensures that heritage objects and collections are preserved for current and future generations.

As part of the Canadian Conservation Institute and Canadian Heritage Information Network’s 2021–26 strategic plan, in 2023–24, three internal working groups were established on reconciliation with Indigenous communities, sustainable development, and inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility (IDEA). These working groups identified improvements to the specialized services offered by the Canadian Conservation Institute and the Canadian Heritage Information Network to the heritage community.

Also, the Canadian Conservation Institute and the Canadian Heritage Information Network conducted 10 research projects pertaining to modern materials, including an exploratory study examining modern materials used in contemporary books to better understand the behaviours of these materials over time, and a research project examining cleaning modern materials present in sneaker soles. These projects have enabled the Canadian Conservation Institute and the Canadian Heritage Information Network to develop knowledge and expertise in conservation and preservation of modern materials, which will allow them to expand their service offering to the Canadian heritage community which is increasingly concerned about modern materials.

Other initiatives contributing to Heritage and celebration

The Canada History Fund supported the Canadian Studies Program at Glendon College, York University, to create and promote a video and podcast series along with complementary learning materials for an audience of 7,500 Canadian history teachers, teacher candidates, and other Canadian history educators, to address inclusion and diversity in Canadian history. The project provided opportunities for primary and secondary school students to learn about Canada’s past while addressing the traditional and often exclusionary narrative of Canadian history. York University created 25 long-form video and podcast episodes about Canadian history and 15 bilingual reaction videos to facilitate greater access to the content in French and English. Examples include “Apprendre à lire, écrire et compter au Québec en 1900 : des leçons racistes et sexistes” and “Shingwauk School Reunions: Centring both truth and community when teaching about residential schools.” The series supports the sharing of best teaching practices and the work of a diverse community of history educators. Partnerships were created with many book editors, publishers, and institutions to share new Canadian history work. Examples include a pre-launch video about the book Unsettling the Great White North: Black Canadian History, the graphic history collection This Place: 150 Years Retold, as well as discussions with these curators and archivists at Buxton National Historic Site & Museum, the Canadian Museum of History, Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre, and the Transgender Archives at the University of Victoria. The created Source/Story website received visits from 4,077 users. Altogether, the videos received more than 20,500 views. The collection of videos will continue to support teaching a more diverse and inclusive history of Canada for many years to come.

In 2023-24, Canadian Heritage provided $25 million to the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver to help the organization modernize and expand its capacity through a new facility. This investment aligns with the Department’s objectives to enhance understanding and knowledge of Canada, including its history, heritage and cultural diversity and provide regular opportunities to Canadians to engage in their communities through local arts and heritage activities.

Key risks

There have been marked price increases in the hospitality sector including for accommodation, travel, venue sites, security and artists’ salaries. This situation, combined with tightening budgets, has had a significant impact on activities delivered by the Department and programming for many of the events offered in 2023–24, which had to be reduced.

To ensure that events in the National Capital Region such as Canada Day and Winterlude remain high-profile and continue to attract Canadians, the Department had to make difficult choices and prioritize some of the main programming elements to the expense of others. For instance, the number of stand-alone locations outside of main event sites was reduced and some activities did not take place this year such as the projection show on Parliament Hill during Winter Lights Across Canada. Canadian Heritage also made significant efforts to reduce expenses where possible and to increase the number of partnerships with other federal and non-governmental organizations to share costs and enhance programming.

While no such need was expressed by recipients, the Building Communities through Arts and Heritage program was prepared to offer temporary flexibilities to recipients impacted by public health restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. That said, the program did offer flexibility to recipients in the Northwest Territories and British Columbia who were affected by forest fires.

Resources required to achieve results

Table 11: Snapshot of resources required for Heritage and celebration

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

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

Related government priorities

Gender-based analysis plus

In 2023–24, several programs under core responsibility 2 sought to provide greater access for equity-deserving groups to celebrations and commemorations of national significance, local festivals, and heritage events in Canada. For example:

To ensure greater accessibility to diverse peoples and communities in Canada, the Celebration and Commemoration Program largely distributes small grants to community organizations for activities and events that are free, open to the public, and include measures, such as broadcast initiatives, to increase participation for those living in remote areas. Examples of funded activities and events include the National Indigenous Peoples Day, Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day, Canadian Multiculturalism Day, Canada Day, and National Acadian Day.

National events such as Canada Day and Winterlude, state events, as well as commemoration and interpretation activities funded or delivered by the Department highlight anniversaries of national significance and ensure participants have opportunities to learn and appreciate Canada’s linguistic, cultural and regional diversity.

The Building Communities through Arts and Heritage program provided funding to 85 Indigenous cultural celebrations and commemorations, and 35 2SLGBTQI+ festivals for a combined funding amount of $3.7 million. With these investments, the Program continued its efforts to fund diverse local organizations and foster inclusivity.

The Heritage component of Young Canada Works has increased its demographic targets for program participation for Indigenous youth (7%), ethnocultural/racialized youth (15%), young people with disabilities (8%) and official language minority community member youth (6%). Furthermore, the program added new targets for rural and remote youth (10%) and for young women (65%). As well, the program has prioritized projects from Indigenous employers, projects aimed at Indigenous participants, projects focused on Indigenous cultural heritage; and projects aimed at participants facing barriers to employment and equity-deserving participants.

The Museums Assistance Program has supported the preservation, presentation, and management of Indigenous cultural heritage in Canada and the promotion of public awareness and understanding of the diverse Indigenous cultures. For example, recipients reported having preserved, managed, and/or digitized 14,487 Indigenous cultural objects.

The Canada History Fund can support projects pertaining to the history of traditionally underrepresented communities such as official language minority communities and of Indigenous peoples, as well as the learning needs of young people in Canada. In 2023–24, the program contributed to supporting Indigenous, Black, and other racialized communities, as well as 2SLGBTQI+ people through projects presenting histories highlighting contributions of these communities.

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

In 2023–24, initiatives related to core responsibility 2 helped advance Decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), Reduced inequalities (SDG 10) and Sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12):

• Young Canada Works-Heritage funded 1,869 youth participants to be placed in summer or short-term employment and internship opportunities in the heritage, arts, and cultural sectors. Youths hired in these positions allow institutions to carry out important projects in a variety of functions, such as collections management and visitor experience. (SDG 8).
• The Canadian Conservation Institute and the Canadian Heritage Information Network’s internal working group on Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) examined ways to advance inclusiveness and to reduce inequalities in the delivery of their services. As part of these efforts, the working group developed work objectives and recommended training for employees on IDEA concepts, designed and delivered a series of three IDEA engagement sessions for all employees, and developed tools to help employees and managers navigate IDEA in their day-to-day work (SDG 10).
• Meanwhile, the Canadian Conservation Institute and the Canadian Heritage Information Network’s internal working group on reconciliation undertook a detailed and critical review of projects that involved Indigenous communities, institutions, or belongings. The review, which sought to identify work being conducted by both organizations that connect to Indigenous communities, laid the groundwork for consideration of possible changes to policy and practical operating procedures to build relationships with Indigenous communities and advance reconciliation (SDG 10).
• The Canadian Conservation Institute and the Canadian Heritage Information Network’s internal working group on sustainable development has developed an action plan to inform actions on sustainable development. This plan contains four different areas of work: quick actionable items to establish sustainable consumption; engagement activities with employees around sustainable development; the development of an internal sustainable development policy that will focus on sustainable consumption and production practices, energy use, and waste management; and a needs analysis of sustainable development in the heritage sector in Canada (SDG 12).

Program inventory

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

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

Additional information related to the program inventory for Heritage and celebration is available on the Results page on GC Infobase.

Core responsibility 3: Sport

In this section

• Description
• Progress on Results
• Details on results
• Key risks
• Resources required to achieve results
• Related government priorities
• Program inventory

Description

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

Progress on results

This section presents details on how the Department performed to achieve results and meet targets for Sport. Details are presented by departmental result.

Targets and results for Sport

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

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

Details on results

The following section describes the results for Sport in 2023–24 compared with the planned results set out in Canadian Heritage’s Departmental Plan for the year.

Canadian athletes succeed at the highest levels of competition.

In 2023–24 the Athletes Assistance Program provided $29,819,172 in living and training allowance, including supplementary support, to 1,845 athletes. Tuition funding, or in some cases deferred tuition, was provided to 644 eligible athletes for a total of $1,921,840 to help them obtain post-secondary level education. This financial assistance alleviates some of the financial burden associated with training and competing, and in the case of the tuition funding, helps the transition from athletic to post-athletic careers.

Sport Canada and other Canadian sport system stakeholders continued their work to advance the Canadian High Performance Sport Strategy and implement its subsequent Action Plan to help produce improved and sustainable performances at Olympic and Paralympic Games, other major multi-sport games, and at senior world championships. The focus of the strategy and action plan continues to be the support of Daily Training Environments providing athletes, coaches, technical leaders and sport science, sport medicine and innovation practitioners timely access to appropriate high performance training facilities. This organized and streamlined approach is delivered through the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Sport Institute Network, which is comprised of seven training centres, located strategically across the country, and designed to deliver consistent services to Canadian high-performance athletes. In 2023–24, Sport Canada invested $13.1 million in the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Sport Institute Network, to work in collaboration with the National Sport Organizations, to support Daily Training Environments with a focus on training and competition environments to help Canadian high-performance athletes qualify and prepare for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

During 2023–24, in preparation to host the FIFA Men’s World Cup 2026, Canadian Heritage coordinated the federal government’s activities in the following:

• A national governance structure for Canadian parties involved in the event’s planning and preparation, including municipal and provincial governments (i.e., the municipal governments of Toronto and Vancouver as well as the provincial governments of Ontario, and British Columbia). This work involved facilitating the development and advancement of a National Hosting Concept, aligning common interests and priorities across parties, and supporting multiple committees and working groups at the executive and operational levels.
• Provision of essential services within federal jurisdiction across approximately 20 federal organizations, and supporting the mandate to support the successful, safe and secure delivery of the event in Canada. These services include national safety and security, border integrity, public health, and immigration.
• Exploration of opportunities across the federal government to leverage the event domestically and internationally, with the objective to maximize Canada’s investment in the event and realize benefits for sport, communities, and Canadians.

Sport Canada also provided support to provincial and territorial governments, specific municipalities and the Canada Games Council, namely the Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games and the Prince Edward Island 2023 Canada Winter Games host societies in their final reporting obligations and dissolutions; the St. John’s 2025 Canada Summer Games Host Society in the planning and development to host; the Québec 2027 Canada Winter Games Host Society in its incorporation and application for funding in 2024–25; and the Canada Games Council in the fulfillment of its mandate from federal, provincial and territorial governments, and with project support as the oversight of the Canada Games.

Additionally, as part of its ongoing support to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action 88, Canadian Heritage provided $900,000 in funding to the North American Indigenous Games organization to promote and encourage the health and well-being of Indigenous youth through sport. These Games took place from July 15 to 23, 2023 and brought together several Indigenous Nations to celebrate, share, and reconnect through sport and culture in Kjipuktuk (Halifax), Dartmouth, and Millbrook in Nova Scotia.

The Department also provided $800,000 to the 13 provinces and territories through the federal/provincial-territorial bilateral agreements to increase culturally relevant sport programming for Indigenous children and youth at the community level.

Canadian children and youth are enrolled in a sport activity.

To increase culturally relevant sport programming for Indigenous children and youth and strengthen Indigenous leadership capacity of the provincial and territorial Aboriginal Sport Bodies, Sport Canada provided an additional $1.2 million to the 13 provinces and territories through federal, provincial and territorial bilateral agreements in 2023–24.

An additional $5.3 million was also made available through Stream One of the Sport for Social Development in Indigenous Communities Program to the Aboriginal Sport Circle and the 13 provincial and territorial Aboriginal Sport Bodies for the delivery of community-based projects and to increase organizational capacity to develop and support project delivery.

The Gender Equity and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion component approved over $14 million in program funding over two years with $7 million in 2023–24. These funds support approximately 200 initiatives and 71 organizations to advance efforts to create a more equitable and welcoming Canadian sport system.

Additionally, in 2023–24, Sport Canada allocated $1.5 million to advance research projects focused on equity-deserving people in sport. These projects include a partnership with Statistics Canada to deliver a sport module on a large-scale social survey exploring racial equity and experiences of racism in Canadian sport, and a collaboration with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to advance sex and gender-based research.

Regarding the Innovation Initiative, several pilot projects previously funded by Sport Canada were expanded and improved sport participation for Canadians. For example, the 2020–21 Female Indigenous Youth Ice Hockey Leadership Program project, which had 188 unique participants during the pilot phase, evolved into a regular hockey program in Nova Scotia and continues to attract upwards of 200 Indigenous girls annually. The pilot project was cited as the catalyst for an increase in registration of Indigenous girls in the neighbouring mainstream hockey association and for a major ice rink infrastructure renewal initiative in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

Consequently, Sport Canada continues to share the learnings from previous pilot projects with community, provincial and National Sport Organizations through social media and at national symposia such as the 2024 Sport for Life Summit.

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 continued to collaborate with provincial and territorial governments, as well as other key sport stakeholders, to ensure emerging trends and issues in the Canadian Sport system are considered in the renewed policy and that the policy reflects the interests of all Canadians.

The Government of Canada is committed to promoting sport environments free from all forms of maltreatment, including harassment, abuse, and discrimination. In 2023–24, Sport Canada provided $4.8 million in funding to the Abuse-Free Sport Program, which includes the services of the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner, as Canada’s independent safe sport mechanism. The Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner receives and manages complaints pertaining to violations of the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport and initiates scoping for Sport Environment Assessments. In 2023–24, the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner received 299 complaints and the Abuse-Free Sport Helpline received 530 inquiries. Activity reports are available online.

To receive federal funding through Sport Canada, sport organizations must be Abuse-Free Sport Program signatories. As of March 31, 2024, 100% of funded National Sport Organizations, national multisport services organizations, and the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Sport Institute Network were signatories. These organizations must provide training opportunities to identified participants that are compliant to the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport. In addition to administering the compliance mechanism, the Abuse-Free Sport Program offers education, prevention tools and resources, including mental health and legal aid referrals.

In its effort to strengthen accountability to combat abuse, harassment, and maltreatment in federally funded sport organizations, Sport Canada completed its work on a risk-based Compliance and Accountability Concept of Operations. Enhanced monitoring was implemented to ensure that these organizations meet critical benchmarks on governance and safety in sport. The Compliance and Accountability Concept of Operations is being integrated in a new Sport Canada funding model with an intent to have a continuous, proactive and systematic approach to managing risk from a departmental perspective.

Federally funded recipients have been required, since March 31, 2021, to have a policy on concussions that covers the areas of awareness, prevention, detection, surveillance, and management. In addition, each organization must have a specific return-to-sport protocol compliant with the latest Canadian Guideline on Concussion in Sport. To help keep advancing work to prevent concussions and brain injuries, Sport Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada continue to play a shared role in multi-sectoral and federal, provincial and territorial discussions on the topic.

The Government of Canada continues to stand firmly behind efforts to ensure fairness and integrity in all levels of sport. As part of this commitment, Sport Canada has continued to fund the operations of the Canadian Anti-Doping Program, which fulfills Canadian obligations for the World Anti-Doping Code and the UNESCO Anti-Doping Convention.

In 2023–24, the Community Sport for All Initiative provided $16,771,960 to 39 National Sport Organizations in support of increased participation of youth and underrepresented groups, specifically Indigenous, Black, racialized, 2SLGBTQI+, low-income, persons with a disability, and newcomers. One such project included supporting Wheelchair Basketball Canada in developing instructional and awareness tools and sport programming, for implementation through the organization’s Active Development for an Aligned Pathway strategy to invest in provincial and grassroots programming removing barriers to participation and supporting growth.

In 2023–24, under Stream Two of the Sport for Social Development in Indigenous Communities, $3.6 million was made available to Indigenous governments, communities, and other not-for-profit Indigenous organizations, as well as non-Indigenous delivery organizations in an authentic partnership with an Indigenous organization or community.^{Footnote 33} 253 applications were received, and 54 recipients were recommended for funding.

Another $2.5 million was made available through Stream Three of the Sport for Social Development in Indigenous Communities to these same organizations and communities for projects serving Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ peoples. 145 applications were received, and 37 projects were recommended for funding.

Stream Three also made $1.25 million available to the provincial and territorial Aboriginal Sport Bodies so that they might continue and commence sport programming for Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ peoples in their jurisdictions. 10 provincial and territorial Aboriginal Sport Bodies received this funding.

In the broader context to improve the sport system to ensure that all athletes and sport participants have a safe and positive experience in sport, in December 2023 the Minister of Sport and Physical Activity announced the creation of the Future of Sport in Canada Commission. In 2023-24, the Department finalized its design to ensuring the independence and impartiality of the Commission.

Furthermore, in December 2023, the Minister of Sport and Physical Activity also announced that she would chair the Athlete Advisory Committee and directly engage with members. With the announcement of the committee being elevated to the ministerial level, the call for at-large applications was reopened in January 2024 for high performance athletes at the national senior team level. Senior national athletes from across Canada applied through this process. The Ministerial Athlete Advisory Committee is an important initiative that will ensure that athletes’ perspectives and advice inform Sport Canada’s activities.

Key risks

There was a risk that some federally funded organizations may be slow to transition to the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner’s services as some organizations already had established relationships with another independent third party. To mitigate this risk, Sport Canada followed up and received regular updates from the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre on the signatory status of these funded organizations to monitor the situation. Additionally, starting on July 1, 2023, Sport Canada made their funding to these organizations conditional on them being Abuse-Free Sport Program signatories. As of March 31, 2024, 100% of funded National Sport Organizations, national multisport services organizations and the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Sport Institute Network were Abuse-Free Sport Program signatories.

Sport Canada recently completed a national public opinion research project led by a research firm and Indigenous researchers to review all streams of the Sport for Social Development in Indigenous Communities program. The program review engaged and consulted with Indigenous stakeholders, including Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ representative organizations, on how to improve the design and delivery of the three Sport for Social Development in Indigenous Communities funding streams, to ensure the program serves their self-identified social development outcomes and goals.

The exercise took more time than anticipated and therefore there was a risk that funding for 2023-24 would lapse if the program was postponed until the review and redesign was complete. Sport Canada mitigated the risk of a postponed launch of the redesigned Sport for Social Development in Indigenous Communities program by launching a one-year intake using the previous program design and delivery model as it was still a model that had been successful to date. This ensured that funding was made available to communities and organizations rather than lapsing the funding completely while the redesign took place.

Once the review and redesign consultation were complete, the recommendations from the final report were implemented into the Sport for Social Development in Indigenous Communities program design and delivery for the 2024–26 intake.

Resources required to achieve results

Table 15: Snapshot of resources required for Sport

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

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

Related government priorities

Gender-based analysis plus

In 2023–24, several programs under core responsibility 3 sought to improve representation of equity-deserving groups in sport programming, through various components of the Sport Support Program. For example:

The Sport Support Program’s Gender Equity and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion component approved $14 million in program funding over two years to support approximately 200 initiatives and 71 organizations to advance efforts to create a more equitable and welcoming Canadian sport system. This newly launched program component aimed at supporting projects to increase sport participation for equity-deserving people, specifically women and girls, Indigenous people, people living with disabilities, Black, racialized and religious minority communities, 2SLGBTQI+ and newcomers to Canada. In particular, the new component was designed to address barriers to sport participation that women and girls face, while considering other factors such as indigeneity, race, culture, religion, ability, gender and sexuality, and language spoken and understood. Examples of projects and initiatives include work to support sport policy and governance activities at the national level, to create opportunities for equity-deserving people to participate in sport programming, to promote leadership and coaching development, to promote better communication and representation and to improve data collection and monitoring efforts.

Under the Community Sport for All Initiative, $16.8 million was provided to 39 National Sport Organizations in support of increased participation of youth and underrepresented groups, specifically Black, Indigenous, racialized, 2SLGBTQI+, low-income, persons with a disability, and newcomers.

Under the Sport for Social Development in Indigenous Communities component, $3.6 million was made available to Indigenous governments, communities, and other not-for-profit Indigenous organizations, as well as non-Indigenous delivery organizations in an authentic partnership with an Indigenous organization or community. As well, $2.5 million was made available to these same organizations and communities for projects serving Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ peoples, and $1.25 million was made available to the provincial and territorial Aboriginal Sport Bodies so that they might continue and commence sport programming for Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ peoples in their jurisdictions.

In terms of addressing abuse in the sport system, Sport Canada provided $4.8 million in funding to the Abuse-Free Sport Program, which includes the services of the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner, as Canada’s independent safe sport mechanism. The program also offers education, prevention tools and resources, including mental health and legal aid referrals.

In addition to the ongoing funding of $2 million annually announced through Budget 2018, Budget 2022 announced an ongoing investment of $1.8 million annually to continue supporting activities such as the expansion of Special Olympics National Games, to support Special Olympics chapters’ capacity, the enhancement of the national technology system and to foster engaged participation in Special Olympics in underserved communities.

More specifically, in 2023-24, Special Olympics Canada supported Special Olympics’ Chapter’s photoshoot sessions to develop a more diverse photo library; developed a pilot program for the Greater Montréal area with a focus on reaching a broader diverse community; ensured that athletes and coaches’ selection for all national outreach, marketing and public relations represent diverse and underserved communities; created a document in collaboration with translators and equity, diversity and inclusion consultants called “Valoriser tous les genres en français” to engage participation by francophone athletes and volunteers in Special Olympics programs.

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

In 2023–24, initiatives related to core responsibility 3, such as the Athlete Assistance Program, Community Sport for All Initiative and the Sport for Social Development in Indigenous Communities, helped advance Good health and well-being (SDG 3), Quality education (SDG 4) Gender Equality (SDG 5), and Reduced inequalities (SDG 10):

• Sport Canada supported organized sport at the community level through a Community Sport for All Initiative funded through the Sport Support Program. The Community Sport for All Initiative aimed to remove barriers and increase participation for equity-deserving communities (particularly Black, Indigenous, racialized, 2SLGBTQI+, low-income, persons with a disability and newcomers to Canada) through a Budget 2021 allocation over two years. The second year of the Initiative was launched on July 19, 2023, with an intake date of August 4, 2023, with 39 National Sport Organizations approved in November 2023 to receive funding for a total amount of $16.8 million approved (SDG 3 and SDG 10).
• The Athlete Assistance Program provided 371 currently carded athletes with $1,063,855 in tuition payments as well as 273 formerly carded athletes with $858,160 in deferred tuition payments (SDG 4).
• Sport Canada launched a call for applications under the Sport Support Program’s Gender Equity and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion component that attracted more than 300 initiatives aimed at increasing sport participation for equity-deserving people, specifically women and girls, Indigenous people, people living with disabilities, Black, racialized and religious minority communities, 2SLGBTQI+ and newcomers to Canada. Of those applications, the Gender Equity and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion component approved $14 million in program funding over two years to support approximately 200 initiatives and 71 organizations (SDG 5 and SDG 10).

Program inventory

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

• Sport Development and High Performance

Additional information related to the program inventory for Sport is available on the Results page on GC Infobase.

Core responsibility 4: Diversity and inclusion

In this section

• Description
• Progress on results
• Details on results
• Key risks
• Resources required to achieve results
• Related government priorities
• Program inventory

Description

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

Progress on results

This section presents details on how the Department performed to achieve results and meet targets for Diversity and inclusion. Details are presented by departmental result.

Targets and results for Diversity and inclusion

Tables 16-20 provide a summary of the target and actual results for each indicator associated with the results under Diversity and inclusion.^{Footnote 1}

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

Details on results

The following section describes the results for Diversity and inclusion in 2023–24 compared with the planned results set out in Canadian Heritage’s Departmental Plan for the year.

Canadians value diversity

Budget 2022 provided $85 million over four years, starting in 2022–23, to support the Government of Canada’s work to launch the new Anti-Racism Strategy and a national action plan on combatting hate. Of this $85 million, approximately $70 million was allocated over three fiscal years (2023–2026) in grants and contributions. Also, Budget 2023 provided an additional $25.4 million over five years, starting in 2023–24, and $0.6 million ongoing to continue to support Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy and fight all forms of hate, including but not limited to anti-Indigenous racism, anti-Black racism, anti-Asian racism, antisemitism and Islamophobia. The new Strategy builds on the foundation set with the first Strategy in 2019–2022 by covering over 70 federal initiatives and driving a more comprehensive approach to eliminating systemic racism and discrimination in Canada.

The Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Program continued to support department-wide efforts to improve oversight and accountability of grants and contributions programs. Measures have been implemented to ensure that organizations and individuals that espouse racist, antisemitic, Islamophobic or other forms of hateful content are not eligible to receive government funding under Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy. For example, all applicants must sign an attestation committing them to not undermine Building a Foundation for Change: Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy 2019–2022, the values underlying the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Canadian Human Rights Act, and applicants are informed of the expectations associated with the funding and of the consequences of non-compliance.

While the Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat was transferred from Canadian Heritage to Employment and Social Development Canada in 2023, the Department continues to deliver targeted community-based projects through the Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Program, providing funding under the Community Support, Multiculturalism, and Anti-Racism Initiatives Program and the Anti-Racism Action Program.

The Department continued to deliver commemorative and historic events such as Black History Month and Asian Heritage Month. For instance, an in-person reception welcomed over 700 community participants to celebrate the Black History Month event with the theme Black Excellence: A Heritage to Celebrate; a Future to Build. This theme was selected to celebrate the rich past and present contributions and accomplishments of Black people in Canada, while aspiring to embrace new opportunities for the future.

Meanwhile, the Grouped Evaluation of the Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Program and Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy 2019–2022 was completed, and its respective recommendations are being implemented through an action plan. Lessons learned from the evaluation will inform the design and implementation of Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy and Canada’s Anti-Hate Action Plan.

Support for the Special Envoy and the Special Representative

Canadian Heritage actively supported the Office of the Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism. The Special Envoy’s mandate includes strengthening collaborations with partners to promote Holocaust education, remembrance, and research in Canada and worldwide. To this end, the Special Envoy’s focus since 2023 has been on the socialization of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism in the Canadian context.

The Special Envoy attended and contributed to numerous commitments in Canada and abroad to advance Canadian interests and values, including human rights, democracy and inclusion, and to address antisemitism. The Special Envoy was active on media and social media platforms, attracting a large following domestically and abroad, to share information with the public, issue public statements on behalf of Canada, publish opinion pieces, launch a community newsletter, and contribute to the Canadian and global discourse on combatting modern antisemitism in all forms.

At a time of unprecedented antisemitism and Jew-hatred in Canada, the Special Envoy’s Office engaged with law enforcement and anti hate-crime units to address the need for antisemitism training and antisemitic hate-crime data collection, as well as to contribute to holding safe space for community liaison between law enforcement and Canadian Jewish communities. To better face and fight antisemitism, the Special Envoy’s Office worked with a wide range of stakeholders on the need for disaggregate data collection and reporting. To this end, the Special Envoy engaged with Statistics Canada for the Canadian Census to re-include the Jewish ethno-cultural subgroup, and engaged with the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and other institutions of the federal government to include measures of self-identification and reporting of Jewish identity, and to address discrimination and bias in hiring, promotion, and employment practices.

Canadian Heritage has also been supporting the office of the Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia. The Special Representative’s role is to provide expert guidance and advice to the Government of Canada in support of measures that impact Muslims in Canada; to raise public awareness on Islamophobia by addressing systemic issues, reframing narratives and combatting stereotypes; and to engage with a wide range of stakeholders (including government partners, Muslim communities, civil society and academia). As part of her mandate, the Special Representative advises the federal government on supporting three key outcomes: to ensure that Canadian Muslims live with dignity and enjoy their full Charter rights, free from discrimination; to tackle hate both online and offline; and to eliminate anti-Muslim bias and discrimination within Canada’s public service.

The Special Representative provided policy advice to public officials and participated in numerous community engagements across the country. She also conducted media interviews, wrote opinion pieces, met with communities across the country, launched a website to share information with Canadians, issued public statements, published an inaugural newsletter, and issued the Office’s first Annual Report.

The Special Representative launched the Canada and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe  guide on Anti-Muslim Hate Crimes in Canada, developed a digital toolbox to highlight the contributions of Muslim women during Islamic History Month and to spotlight community-informed solutions to counter hate and empower vulnerable communities, attended commemorative events for Muslim victims of hate, and participated in events and conferences addressing anti-Muslim bias, discrimination, and hate. The Special Representative delivered training to public servants in collaboration with the Canada School of Public Service, began the groundwork for delivering training to national security agencies, and engaged with the Privy Council Office and the President of the Treasury Board to address challenges faced by Muslim public servants. The Special Representative also established ongoing engagement with law enforcement agencies and the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police to discuss hate crimes and upholding civil liberties.

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

Distinctions-based funding models

In 2023–24, the Department worked with Indigenous partners to launch new funding models that increase Indigenous autonomy and control over funding decisions based on their priorities; introduce long-term funding agreements which support multi-year strategies and move away from annual proposal-based funding; transition from a one-size-fits-all approach to an approach that is tailored to distinct needs of the First Nation, Inuit and Métis Nation; and better respond to the distinct needs of First Nations, Inuit and the Métis in implementing their language revitalization strategies and priorities.

Under the new First Nations Funding Model, new multi-year funding of up to five years was introduced in 2023–24, as well as a new ongoing funding stream. The Indigenous Languages Component is managed by three First Nations Regionally Designated Organizations (in British Columbia, Ontario and Nova Scotia) and the First Nations Funding Model calls for an expansion of this approach for other regions. In 2023–24, the Department engaged and advanced planning with First Nations to support the launch of a new fourth First Nations Regionally Designated Organization within the Quebec Region.

During the same period, for the Inuit funding model, Canadian Heritage signed four separate agreements for each of the four Inuit land-claim organizations (Inuit regions), so that funding may be provided to implement multi-year language strategies in each of the four Inuit regions (five years). The Department will no longer establish an Inuit Review Committee as redistribution of funds will be administered by Inuit regions.

Similarly, for the Métis funding model, the four Governing Members and the Manitoba Métis Federation started implementing their own language strategies, following a five-year funding agreement with Canadian Heritage, which consequently no longer requires the existing Métis Review Committee.

Supporting the Indigenous Languages Act

In 2023–24, the Program spent approximately $217 million to support Indigenous Peoples in their efforts to reclaim, revitalize, maintain and strengthen their Indigenous languages.

Under the Indigenous Languages Act, sections 8 and 9 agreements support partnerships, leverage economies of scale by facilitating the establishment of networks and resource-sharing, accelerate addressing critical gaps and test innovations. In 2023–24, Canadian Heritage provided $35.4 million to support thirteen such agreements.

For example, the Department provided support for an agreement with the National Association of Friendship Centres in which they assess the needs of Indigenous urban populations. This includes identifying existing urban Indigenous language programs and initiatives; completing a literature review on Indigenous languages and urban spaces; conducting analyses as well as case studies on promising practices; and developing pilot projects in 30 Friendship Centers and Provincial or Territorial Associations across Canada. The project will also see the organization of a national gathering on Indigenous languages with experts and community authorities in the hopes of sharing knowledge.

Access to federal services in Indigenous languages

Since 2022, Canadian Heritage has co-led an Assistant Deputy Minister Steering Committee to advance access to federal services, which includes 17 departments and agencies. In 2023, Canadian Heritage continued to work with Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated to advance access to federal services in Indigenous languages. This work included the completion of an inventory and analysis of services provided by key federal departments in Inuktitut in Nunavut. Deeper dives were undertaken with four departments with more advanced service delivery to better understand their service practices. The Department also worked with five federal departments and agencies to identify seven potential pilot projects that would improve accessibility of services, translation capacity and efficiency and the recruitment and retention of personnel in order to help inform the future co-development of regulations with Inuit partners.

Groundwork to move forward

Meanwhile, in March 2024, Canada’s National Action Plan for the International Decade of Indigenous Languages, which was developed with the help of First Nations, Inuit and Métis partners, was approved by the Minister of Canadian Heritage.

In 2023–24, the Department fully implemented the recommendations stemming from the Evaluation of the Aboriginal Peoples’ Program 2014-15 to 2018–19. In addition to the implementation of new distinctions-based funding models for Indigenous languages, Canadian Heritage introduced a number of changes since 2019 to the Indigenous Languages Component of the Indigenous Languages and Cultures Program. Building on changes implemented in recent years and reported on previous departmental results reports, the program introduced flexible contribution agreements in 2023–24. These agreements allow funding recipients to retain unexpended funds at the end of each fiscal year to implement eligible activities in subsequent fiscal years until the end of their agreement. Furthermore, a new option was introduced in 2023-24, allowing the establishment of five-year funding agreements between the Department and Indigenous recipients.

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

In 2023–24, the Exchanges Canada and the Youth Take Charge programs continued to provide opportunities for youth to learn about and understand Canada’s society, diversity, history and institutions through active engagement in projects aiming to increase youth attachment to Canada. For instance, the Exchanges Canada program supported “Gathering Our Voices,” a forum organized by the British Columbia Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres. Held in Vancouver, it brought together around 950 Indigenous youth from across Canada to the traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. The event, themed “Back in Action: Building Capacity and Empowering Indigenous Youth,” aimed to foster a positive sense of identity and empowerment among Indigenous youth. Activities such as workshops, plenary sessions, talent showcases, and cultural events helped youth engage with their heritage and build linkages with peers from various regions. Participants reported increased understanding of Indigenous cultures and strengthened ties with others.

Similarly, the Youth Take Charge Program supported “Commit to discovering Canada,” managed by Place aux compétences. This project engaged nearly 2,000 school-aged Francophone youth from official language minority communities in New Brunswick. Youth designed and implemented their own initiatives, aimed at educating their peers and community members about Canada from an official language minority communities’ perspective. These activities allowed participants to explore their cultural identity and develop a stronger attachment to their community and country.

Work continued in 2023–24 to ensure the relevance and appeal of the Exchanges Canada and Youth Take Charge programs. Efforts centred around research and data analysis, and included a Gender-based Analysis plus report, as well as a series of engagement sessions with federal stakeholders, youth-serving organizations and youth in Canada. The projects’ support by both programs also demonstrated the effectiveness of culturally relevant and innovative approaches in modernizing youth engagement programs. Key lessons include the importance of tailoring programs to diverse cultural and social contexts, integrating creative methodologies, and empowering youth to take active roles in shaping their engagement experiences.

Youth Secretariat

The Youth Secretariat played a crucial role in advancing Canada’s Youth Policy by creating meaningful opportunities for youth engagement and providing accessible support mechanisms. In 2023–24, the Secretariat held quarterly interdepartmental meetings with senior executives across various government departments involved in youth-related initiatives. These meetings provided opportunities for collaboration to advance the priorities of Canada’s Youth Policy, including the six key areas highlighted in the first State of Youth Report: Health and Wellness, Skills and Learning, Employment, Environment and Climate Action, Gender Equality, and Truth and Reconciliation. By promoting consultation and the incorporation of youth perspectives into decision-making processes, these meetings enhanced interdepartmental coordination and responsiveness to youth needs.

In 2023–24, the Youth Secretariat organized five virtual meetings and an in-person meeting of the Prime Minister’s Youth Council in August 2023 with the Prime Minister, several ministers and senior officials in other government departments and agencies. In these meetings, members of the sixth cohort of the Prime Minister’s Youth Council offered non-partisan feedback, youth perspectives and advice on crucial national issues such as poverty reduction, Budget 2024, reconciliation, sustainable development goals, environment, and immigration.

In recruiting the seventh cohort of the Prime Minister’s Youth Council in 2023–24, the Youth Secretariat ensured representation that celebrates the intersectionality of the identities of youth in Canada with a focus on removing barriers for targeted populations. The recruitment approach yielded more than twice as many applications submitted than for the sixth cohort.

Additionally, the Youth Secretariat facilitated a community of practice for youth council coordinators across different government departments. This initiative provided a platform for coordinators to share best practices, collaborate on youth engagement strategies, and address common challenges. It also promoted a consistent approach to youth participation in government processes, promoting effective representation and consideration of youth voices in policy development. The Youth Secretariat also provided support to other government departments and agencies through various means, including presentations, active participation in relevant meetings, and the provision of youth engagement tools. By equipping departments with the resources and knowledge needed to engage youth effectively, the Youth Secretariat contributed to a more cohesive and youth-centred approach across the Government. These efforts reflect a commitment to building upon the foundational principles of Canada’s Youth Policy, reinforcing youth engagement, and aligning government actions with the priorities identified by youth themselves. Through these initiatives, the Youth Secretariat has ensured that the implementation of Canada’s Youth Policy is dynamic, inclusive, and responsive to the evolving needs and expectations of young people in Canada.

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.

Canadian Heritage carried out all requirements in delivering additional funding to the Court Challenges Program, in line with the Budget 2023 announcement to double the funding for the Court Challenges Program over the next five years.

Throughout 2023–24, the University of Ottawa continued to deliver on the administration of the Court Challenges Program funding to recipients. The University is operating with sound discretion to respect solicitor-client privilege and has met all reporting requirements to demonstrate sound results. The final report for 2023–24 will be available in November 2024.

The University of Ottawa and the Department of Canadian Heritage have maintained a solid relationship to manage the Expert Panel member terms, ensuring that all vacancies are filled in timely manner with members that represent the diversity of the cultural fabric of Canada. This included members who are representative of official language minority communities, diverse ethnic backgrounds, Indigenous heritage, and 2SLBGTQI+ groups.

Review of the current contribution agreement, ending on March 31, 2025, is being carried out with a view to future improvements, especially around themes of transparency and reporting requirements. To date, all expectations have been met by the University of Ottawa to demonstrate sound financial stewardship and administration of the program.

Canadians value human rights.

In 2023–24, a promotional campaign to mark the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was launched. Initiatives included a video from the Minister of Canadian Heritage and the publication of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in six Indigenous languages. The distribution of paper copies of the Charter and the Canadian Bill of Rights had been suspended from December 2022 to December 2023.

The Department advanced efforts to coordinate the reporting process for Canada’s implementation of its international human rights obligations and preparation of responses to questions from the United Nations, addressing an important backlog caused by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Federal information-sharing on implementation of Canada’s obligations was increased through the Federal Human Rights Implementation Framework, including its forum for directors general from across the Government (DGRights Forum).

Canada’s fourth Universal Periodic Review before the United Nations Human Rights Council was successfully completed and included the submission of a national report providing information on efforts to improve the protection of human rights in Canada and an accompanying annex of views from Indigenous organizations, civil society and human rights commissions (Augst 2023); the coordination of an in-person appearance by a federal and provincial delegation before the Canadian Human Rights Commission, led by the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada (November 2023); and the submission of a formal response to the United Nations in March 2024 on the 332 recommendations received, which was informed by the views of partners and stakeholders through a series of engagement sessions.

The most recent federal, provincial and territorial Forum of Ministers on Human Rights took place in June 2023 in Nova Scotia. Federal, provincial and territorial ministers responsible for human rights exchanged on their key priorities, identified areas for potential collaboration, and discussed implementation of Canada’s international human rights obligations, including reviews before international human rights bodies such as Canada’s fourth Universal Periodic Review.

Other initiatives that contribute to Diversity and Inclusion

Canada History Fund and Exchanges Canada Program

The Canada History Fund, supported by the Exchanges Canada Program partnered with Indigenous Youth Roots (formerly Canadian Roots Exchange) in 2022–23.^{Footnote 45} This initiative empowered 25 Black, Afro-Indigenous, and Indigenous youth curriculum developers to create educational materials on cross-cultural solidarity. Through workshops and events, these youth facilitators engaged 841 participants and shared resources within their networks, inspiring similar initiatives in value-adjacent organizations. Despite the challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the initiative demonstrated robust community engagement and achieved significant outreach. While specific target thresholds were not fully met due to external factors, proactive measures ensured continuous program support and impactful youth-focused outcomes. Aligned with the Minister’s mandate commitments and departmental priorities, this initiative strengthened cultural understanding and inclusivity among youth in Canada. Post-project assessment findings highlighted the effectiveness of hands-on youth engagement in promoting intercultural dialogue and community cohesion. To enhance future outcomes, the Department will explore strategic program modifications to ensure continued program relevance and resilience.

Canadian Heritage plays a significant role in contributing to reconciliation by promoting and supporting initiatives that recognize and respect Indigenous cultures, histories, and contributions. The Department acknowledges the importance of building trust with Indigenous communities and the broader public, and thereby actively promotes social progress by advancing Indigenous initiatives. In 2023, the Department began external engagement with Indigenous organizations for the development of the Department’s Reconciliation Action Plan in order to ensure that Indigenous needs and perspectives are reflected in the Action Plan. In 2023 Canadian Heritage also made important progress in implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (UNDA) by creating the UNDA Secretariat to coordinate the implementation of the Department’s action plan measures. The Department has continued to deliver on its commitments to the Federal Pathway to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People by coordinating departmental responses and reporting and ensuring that the Calls for Justice (PDF format) and Calls for Miskotahâ (PDF format) are addressed and considered within Departmental policy and programming. Canadian Heritage is committed to advancing reconciliation by ensuring it remains a key priority as part of its governance, and ensuring it is reflected in the delivery of its programs, services, and initiatives.

Key risks

The greater attention and growing complexity of racism and hate continued to pose a risk to the Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Program’s ability to respond to diverse and emerging needs. To mitigate this risk, the Program continued to strengthen research and evidence to build understanding of disparities and challenges faced by diverse communities, allowing for better evidence-based decision-making.

Racism and hate can be compounded in varying degrees by intersecting social identity factors and by increasing the complexity of effectively addressing different communities’ issues. To mitigate this risk, the design and implementation of Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy and Canada’s Anti-Hate Action Plan was informed by extensive consultations over the past few years. The Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Program will continue to consult with communities, and with federal institutions, to ensure a cohesive whole-of-government approach. Furthermore, the Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Program used a community-centred and distinctions-based approach for Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy and Canada’s Anti-Hate Action Plan. The Annual Report on the Operation of the Canadian Multiculturalism Act will continue to build on a distinction-based approach for Indigenous peoples to survey federal institutions.

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

In 2023–24, the Indigenous Languages Program made important improvements to provide more control and flexibility for Indigenous governments, communities, and organizations in their efforts to reclaim, revitalize, maintain and strengthen their languages.

The implementation of the Indigenous Languages Act through the Indigenous Languages and Cultures Program included new distinction-based funding models which aim to increase self-determination, and to provide long-term, sustainable and predictable funding. There was a risk that the implementation of the new funding models would require more time to implement for some Indigenous communities and organizations based on their specific needs, state of readiness and funding availability.

Before implementing the approach, the Department engaged with current recipients to highlight the new approach and seek their views. In addition, as the Department began implementing these models, engagement took place with Indigenous partners in the transition towards these new funding approaches. This engagement took place with the Assembly of First Nations, the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and the four Inuit land claims organizations, the Métis National Council and its governing members and the Manitoba Métis Federation. Furthermore, the Department also engaged and worked closely with the First Nations Review Committee and First Nations regionally designated organizations in the implementation of the new approach to support the effective delivery of the program to First Nations communities and organizations. In 2023–24, Inuit and Métis organizations began dispensing funds to support Inuit and Métis communities to revitalize languages.

Due to budget constraints, there was a risk that the Youth Secretariat would find greater challenges to deliver effectively on its commitments, such as supporting the Prime Minister’s Youth Council and providing policy and research support. To mitigate the risk, the Youth Secretariat implemented strategic measures to enhance efficiency and adaptability. This included a thorough reorganization of advisory activities and support functions for the Prime Minister’s Youth Council, and a reduction in policy-related functions. The Secretariat also prioritized disseminating youth-focused tools to federal partners, empowering them to independently engage with youth initiatives. These proactive steps were aimed at optimizing resource allocation and operational effectiveness amidst evolving priorities. By streamlining operations and empowering partners, the Youth Secretariat sought to maintain responsiveness and agility in adjusting to refined priority initiatives.

Resources required to achieve results

Table 21: Snapshot of resources required for Diversity and inclusion

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

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

Related government priorities

Gender-based analysis plus

In 2023–24, several programs under core responsibility 4, by virtue of their mandate, sought to undertake initiatives to advance inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility. For example:

The Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Program has continued to provide funding under the Community Support, Multiculturalism, and Anti-Racism Initiatives Program and the Anti-Racism Action Program, providing $38.5 million in funding to equity-deserving communities. The Community Support, Multiculturalism, and Anti-Racism Initiatives Program continued focusing its activities on supporting communities in confronting racism and discrimination, promoting intercultural and interfaith understanding, and fostering equitable opportunities to participate fully in Canadian society. The Anti-Racism Action Program has continued to address barriers to employment, justice, and social participation among Indigenous peoples, as well as racialized communities, and religious minorities, among others.

Funding for Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy renewed for 2024–2028 was approved in September 2023 and builds on the foundation set with the first Strategy in 2019–2022 to provide a community-driven framework offering a more effective approach to eliminating systemic racism and discrimination in Canada. It will continue to support community projects that ensure that Indigenous peoples, Black, racialized, and religious minority communities, including Asian, Jewish, and Muslim communities in Canada have access to resources that support their full participation in the Canadian economy, while also raising awareness of issues related to racial and religious discrimination in Canada.

More precisely, existing research projects by Statistics Canada and Justice Canada aim to provide a better understanding of racism and discrimination that Indigenous peoples, as well as racialized and religious minority communities face. This included a portrait series on racialized groups by Statistics Canada to make these communities better understood by policy makers and other stakeholders. As well, it included the Canadian Legal Problems Survey by Justice Canada to identify the kind of serious legal problems people face, how they attempted to resolve them including outside of formal systems such as courts, and how these experiences have impacted their lives. The data is being disaggregated to highlight experiences of different population groups in different provinces.

The Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Program implemented measures to ensure that organizations and individuals that espouse racist, antisemitic, Islamophobic or other forms of hateful content are not eligible to receive government funding under Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy. The Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Branch has continued to deliver the commemorative and historic events of Black History Month and Asian Heritage Month.

The activities of the Human Rights Program are directed at all people living in Canada, and efforts are made to raise awareness and understanding of human rights by the public. By providing funding for test cases available to all people living in Canada, the Court Challenges Program undertakes efforts to increase access to the Canadian justice system and contributes to the promotion of gender equality, diversity and inclusion. Administered independently by the University of Ottawa, the Court Challenges Program reported that, in 2023–24, 71 of 144 requests have been funded, providing all people in Canada with the opportunity to bring forward test cases of national importance before the courts. The funding decisions are made by two independent Expert Panels, one for official language rights and one for human rights. Twenty-two cases were funded by the Official Language Rights Expert Panel and forty-nine cases by the Human Rights Expert Panel, totalling $4.2 million in funding.

With a view to continue promoting the diversity of Indigenous languages, the Indigenous Languages Program expanded its reach in various regions and provinces across Canada by signing six new agreements under Sections 8 and 9 of the Indigenous Languages Act with the Blackfoot Confederacy in Alberta, the First Nations Confederacy of Cultural Education Centres, the Mi’kmaw Kina’matnewey in Nova Scotia, the Regional Committee on First Nations Languages and the Productions Innu Assi in Québec, and the Saskatchewan Indigenous Cultural Centre in Saskatchewan. These agreements support cooperative partnerships (e.g., across regions or federal/provincial/territorial programs), support economies of scale, address critical gaps that enable Indigenous communities to implement their Indigenous language plans and strategies or test innovations in Indigenous languages revitalization work. The program has also been working with Indigenous partners on the collection of disaggregated data through new reporting mechanisms to support analysis of gender-based impacts of the program and inform program improvements.

The Exchanges Canada and Youth Take Charge programs have continued to assess funding applications against several GBA Plus criteria, such as the geographic reach, diversity, and number of youth involved in proposed projects. Altogether, youth-serving organizations funded by the programs delivered projects on a geographic and demographic scope and scale reflective of the overall population of youth in Canada, which helped support gender and demographic diversity in programming.

 Moreover, the Youth Secretariat updated its Prime Minister’s Youth Council recruitment approach to better foster a diversity of candidates by removing barriers to application. In 2023–24, the Youth Secretariat continued to focus on developing approaches to reach youth facing barriers to opportunity, including youth not in education, employment or training, and youth from equity-deserving communities. The Youth Secretariat applies a youth lens to all documents, analyses and policy initiatives that are submitted for review by other government departments to ensure that age and youth considerations are incorporated. The Youth Impact Analysis Tool (part of the Gender-based Analysis plus tool kit), developed by the Youth Secretariat is made available to all government departments for their use in developing policies and programs.

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

In 2023–24, initiatives related to core responsibility 4 helped advance Quality education (SDG 4), Reduced inequalities (SDG 10), Peace, justice and strong institutions (SDG 16) and the promise to Leave no one behind:

• Canadian Heritage implemented new distinction-based Indigenous languages funding models for First Nations, Inuit and Métis. These funding models move away from departmental-led annual proposal-based funding. Instead, they promote increased Indigenous autonomy and control over funding decisions, enable long-term and sustainable funding agreements that support multi-year strategies and provide greater responsiveness to the distinct language priorities of First Nations, Inuit and Métis (SDG 4).
• The Youth Secretariat continued to support the Department’s collaboration on internal culture change to advance reconciliation and strategies to increase recruitment by ensuring a diverse workforce which includes Indigenous peoples. During this period, 17% of the Secretariat’s workforce were Indigenous peoples (SDG 10).
• Through Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy, Canada invested $70 million in community organizations through the Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Program and increased support to data and evidence initiatives by Statistics Canada and Justice Canada (Leave No One Behind and SDG 10).
• Canadian Heritage advanced access to federal services files by working with other federal departments to identify seven potential pilot projects that would improve accessibility of services, translation capacity and efficiency and/or the recruitment and retention of personnel (Leave No One Behind and SDG 10).
• The Court Challenges Program continued to contribute to reducing inequalities by providing 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. The Program also provides a recourse for all people in Canada to clarify their rights, which contributes to strengthening Canadian institutions. In 2023–24, the program received 144 applications for funding, including 50 related to Official Languages and 94 with respect Human Rights, which maintains intake levels from the previous year. The program supported Official language rights and human rights through funding to 71 of these cases. Of the 71 cases, 22 have challenged Official Language Rights, and 49 have challenged Human Rights (SDG 10 and SDG 16).

Program inventory

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

• Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism
• Human Rights
• Indigenous Languages and Cultures (now called Indigenous Languages)
• Youth Engagement

Additional information related to the program inventory for Diversity and inclusion is available on the Results page on GC Infobase.

Core responsibility 5: Official languages

In this section

• Description
• Progress on results
• Details on results
• Key risks
• Resources required to achieve results
• Related government priorities
• Program inventory

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.

Progress on results

This section presents details on how the Department performed to achieve results and meet targets for Official languages. Details are presented by departmental result.

Targets and results for Official languages

Tables 22-23 provide a summary of the target and actual results for each indicator associated with the results under Diversity and inclusion.^{Footnote 1}

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

Details on results

The following section describes the results for Official languages in 2023–24 compared with the planned results set out in Canadian Heritage’s Departmental Plan for the year.

Canadians recognize and support Canada’s official languages.

After obtaining Royal Assent for An Act for the Substantive Equality of Canada’s Official Languages, on June 20, 2023, the Department continued its regulatory work throughout 2023–24 while taking into consideration the unique reality of French in Canada, including in Quebec. This includes the development of regulations for the Use of French in Federally Regulated Private Businesses Act and the new power of the Commissioner of Official Languages to issue administrative monetary penalties under the Official Languages Act.

Following the 2022 Cross-Canada Official Languages Consultations, the Government of Canada unveiled its new Action Plan for Official Languages 2023–2028: Protection–Promotion–Collaboration in April 2023. This major horizontal initiative, coordinated by Canadian Heritage and implemented in partnership with 20 partner institutions, features 33 new or enhanced initiatives ($1.4 billion over 5 years), in addition to 48 ongoing initiatives ($2.7 billion over 5 years), for a total of 81 measures ($4.1 billion) in support of official languages for the 2023–28 period.

The first year of implementation saw the rollout of 29 of the 33 new or enhanced initiatives in the Action Plan (approximately $200 million or 14% of the total new funding). All 48 of the ongoing initiatives were rolled out in full in 2023–24. In total, the federal Action Plan partner institutions expected to disburse roughly $745 million in 2023–24.

Through intergovernmental agreements, the Department supported the provision of provincial and territorial programs and activities that target learning at all levels of education in the minority official language. In addition, by way of contributions to non-profit organizations in the non-governmental sector, this component also helped enhance the vitality of the post-secondary sector, including through concerted action by education actors and institutions, student recruitment, the production and dissemination of knowledge, and innovative tools and methods for supporting minority-language education.

In 2023–24, Canadian Heritage supported the construction, renovation and development of educational and community spaces serving official language minority communities. The Department contributed a total of $66,508,820 to 19 new infrastructure projects led by provincial or territorial governments. For example, the Department approved a $3.4 million project for a daycare, a multi-purpose room and a gymnasium in a new K-12 school in the community of Pemberton, British Columbia.

Meanwhile, the Community Spaces Fund contributed a total of $18,581,524 in 2023–24 to 53 new infrastructure projects of organizations serving official language minority communities. Such projects included purchasing sound, lighting and audiovisual equipment to bolster the technical capacity and enhance the service offering of the Centre des arts et de la culture de Dieppe in New Brunswick ($198,360), and supporting the construction of modern, green infrastructure for Mouvement d’implication francophone d’Orléans that meets the needs of the community and complies with the latest standards ($10,000,000).

As for Quebec’s English-speaking community, the project to renovate and modernize Montréal’s Centaur Theatre (2022–2024) includes a complete renovation of the Theatre’s spaces. Founded in 1966, Centaur Theatre’s mandate is to produce and present plays for Montréal’s English-speaking community.

In funding the “Regeneration: Creating art from upcycled materials” project, the Community Cultural Action Fund gave the English-speaking community of New Carlisle (Gaspésie) the opportunity to take part in a cultural exploration exercise. Through this project, participants developed pride in their unique heritage and a greater sense of belonging to the linguistic community.

These investments enabled the English- and French-speaking official language minority communities to engage their populations and community organizations, thereby providing increased educational opportunities, as well as cultural and leisure activities. In addition, the funding of community institutions and services enabled individuals to participate in the economic and social development of Canada in 2023-24, and to establish ties with the majority and an ongoing dialogue between the two linguistic groups.

In preparing to negotiate the 2024–2028 Protocol for Agreements for Minority-Language Education and Second-Language Instruction, Canadian Heritage conducted an analysis of the potential negative impacts on official language minority communities, to meet the new obligation to undertake such analyses in Part VII of the modernized Official Languages Act (paragraph 41(7)(b)). The Department held a meeting with representatives of the provincial and territorial governments, and dialogue sessions with key education stakeholders in Francophone minority communities and French second-language programs. These discussions with partners and stakeholders about their priorities and challenges gave the Department information to prepare for the negotiation of the 2023–24 provisional arrangements and of the 2024–2028 Protocol. These negotiations are ongoing.

At the same time, in 2023–24, Canadian Heritage signed provisional arrangements with each province and territory to support their efforts to provide quality minority-language education in keeping with their obligations under section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. These bilateral agreements also included the new investments announced in Budget 2023 to support post-secondary education in the minority language. The 13 agreements, one with each of the provinces and territories, had a total value of $332,789,823.

Canadian Heritage also contributed $3.7 million to support six new complementary multi-year projects led by provincial and territorial governments to address the emerging needs of school boards in terms of minority-language education and second-language learning at the elementary and secondary levels. An amount of $2,005,000 was provided to the Government of Nova Scotia for a pedagogical innovation project led by the Conseil scolaire acadien provincial that will improve the quality of instruction in the province’s French-language schools, foster academic success and student well-being, and create a culture of innovation among staff.

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

The implementation of the recommendations from the evaluation of interdepartmental coordination in relation to Section 42 of the Official Languages Act was completed in March 2024.

With the adoption of the modernized Official Languages Act, Canadian Heritage’s responsibilities regarding the coordination of section 41 were transferred to the Treasury Board Secretariat. In 2023–24, the Department worked closely with the Treasury Board Secretariat to support it in these new functions. The Department ensured best practices and knowledge transfer, allowing the Treasury Board Secretariat to pursue efforts aimed at strengthening the application of the official languages lens in the development of policies and programs within the federal system.

Following this transfer of responsibilities, Canadian Heritage’s Interdepartmental Coordination Network is no longer active. Consequently, the Department established the Regional Official Languages Network, to support the Department’s official languages efforts in this new context. This new network aims to promote the exchange of information, serve as a discussion forum, ensure strategic monitoring and strengthen engagement with official language minority communities.

Meanwhile, as the Champion of the official languages community, Canadian Heritage’s Deputy Minister raised awareness among deputy heads about the need to promote Official Languages Day and implement the modernized Official Languages Act. She consulted the Committee of Assistant Deputy Ministers on Official Languages and the Official Languages Champions to report on official languages as part of the dialogue on values and ethics in the public service launched by the Clerk of the Privy Council.

In 2023–24, Canadian Heritage held several events and meetings that helped strengthen collaboration and cooperation between official language minority communities and federal institutions, including the following:

• Representatives of official language minority communities attended a senior management talk on the modernized Official Languages Act.
• Canadian Heritage collaborated with the Dialogue Foundation in connection with the International Day of La Francophonie, on March 20, 2024.
• The Steering Committee — Federal Horizontal Initiatives met with the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada.

On several occasions, Canadian Heritage and the Treasury Board Secretariat presented the modernized Official Languages Act, including the new obligations of positive measures under Part VII, to federal institutions and community groups, as well as to the Committee of Assistant Deputy Ministers on Official Languages as well as to the official languages community of practice. Canadian Heritage also provided an information session on the modernized Act open to all departmental employees.

Furthermore, the Department continued to promote its tools, which were updated in 2022 to reflect the Federal Court of Appeal’s decision in the case between Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique and Canada. In a follow-up to a recommendation in the 2021–22 report from the Commissioner of Official Languages, the Commissioner highlighted the work done with various institutions to increase understanding of the ruling. He also recognized the efforts made to equip employees to meet their obligations under Part VII.

Key risks

The trend of declining French in Canada may make it more difficult for the Department to achieve its goals of fostering the vitality of official language minority communities and promoting linguistic duality. To reverse this trend, the Department introduced measures and initiatives through its Action Plan for Official Languages 2023–2028. These measures and initiatives included leveraging Francophone immigration, creating a Francophone immigration corridor to encourage the settlement of foreign-born francophone teachers in Canada, recruiting and retaining francophone teachers, and establishing a minority-language educational continuum that includes people at all ages, from early childhood to post-secondary education and beyond.

Budget 2023 allocated $679.2 million over 5 years to intergovernmental cooperation on education and services in the official languages, mostly in support of French. Continuing the work to implement the modernization of the federal language regime in 2023–24, efforts will have positive repercussions for Francophones and Francophiles across the country, who will benefit from new rights to work and to obtain services in French, better access to services in their language, more learning opportunities, and increased community vitality.

The modernized Official Languages Act also strengthens the Government of Canada’s obligations to protect the French language and support the education continuum in official language minority communities.

Additionally, the Department worked to identify other measures that could reverse this trend, including attracting and retaining francophone teachers and establishing a full-fledged continuum in minority-language education, from early childhood to post-secondary and throughout life, through the development of the new Action Plan for Official Languages (2023–2028).

In March 2023, Canadian Heritage completed the implementation of Action Plan for Official Languages 2018–2023, rolling out a number of innovative projects and initiatives. This included providing funding to the Réseau des cégeps et collèges de la francophonie du Canada for two projects to bridge gaps in the delivery of post-secondary education programs in underserved provinces and territories.

The Department also unveiled the new Action Plan for Official Languages 2023–2028 following extensive cross-Canada consultations. Budget 2023 announced over $4.1 billion in support of community development, official languages learning, language rights advocacy, employment assistance and the creation of a Centre for Strengthening Part VII of the Official Languages Act.

A competent workforce is essential so that the provincial and territorial governments can continue to provide quality French-language education in French as a second language programs, including French immersion, as well as in French-language schools. There is a risk that labour shortages will continue to affect the recruitment and retention of French-language teachers across the country.

To mitigate this risk, Canadian Heritage will continue to fund several projects to counter the shortage of French-language teachers across the country. In 2023-24, nearly $5.9 million was allocated among 20 projects as part of the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy in Minority French-Language Schools and in French Immersion and French Second-Language Programs. For example, the Department supported the Centre franco-ontarien de ressources pédagogiques, which, in 2023–24, carried out a project to establish an integration structure for training and supporting 12 French-language school boards in Ontario in welcoming, supporting and retaining teachers from abroad, in order to combat the shortage of teachers in Ontario. The Department will also continue to work with the provinces and territories to find solutions to alleviate problems caused by the labour shortage.

It bears mentioning that the measures being put in place to counter the decline of French in Canada are complementary to the support being provided to Quebec’s English-speaking communities, which have needs specific to their own situation. For this reason, Canadian Heritage will continue to assist Quebec’s English-speaking communities by supporting community-vitality, education and infrastructure projects.

Resources required to achieve results

Table 24: Snapshot of resources required for Official languages

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

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

Related government priorities

Gender-based analysis plus

In 2023–24, the Department has continued to deepen and refine its knowledge and understanding of the intersections between official languages and other social variables.

Based on a generic GBA Plus analysis, highlighting the different issues and challenges faced by English and French linguistic minorities across the country, the Department conducted further analyses. These considered various factors, including gender, age group, education level, income level, unemployment rate, and language transmission. These analyses enable an increased consideration of program and policy impacts for different population groups.

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

In 2023–24, the initiatives linked to Core Responsibility 5 (Official Languages) played a key role in Quality Education (SDG 4) and Reduced Inequalities (SDG 10) across Canada. In particular:

• A pan-territorial governance entity in the North was created to establish joint mechanisms for the delivery of post-secondary education programs and services in the minority language. The project, which was proposed by the Association franco-yukonnaise, the Association francophone du Nunavut and Collège Nordique francophone in the Northwest Territories, seeks to eliminate disparities in education, ensure equitable access to quality education, and promote lifelong learning opportunities. (SDG 4)
• The Department supported a feasibility study by the Fédération des francophones de Terre-Neuve et du Labrador on the development of a model for a university centre in Newfoundland and Labrador for Francophone communities and Francophile learners. In the medium and long term, this project, ending September 2024, will lay the foundations for infrastructure supporting the development of linguistic and academic skills in French while incorporating cultural activities, align the efforts of organizations working to maintain and enhance the vitality of Francophone communities, develop French-language skills and expand the Francophone space (SDG 4).
• The Réseau pour le développement de l’alphabétisme et des compétences Canada commenced a project to develop a national competency framework that will provide relevant, high-quality training to employees and volunteers working in over 300 community organizations in Francophone minority communities (SDG 4), thereby reducing inequalities in access to employment and supporting their social and economic integration (SDG 10).
• Canadian Heritage signed bilateral agreements with each of the provinces and territories where French is the minority language, in order to support the expansion of service offerings in that language in areas such as culture, health, justice, employment and immigration. Budget 2023 provided an additional $10.4 million per year to enhance the agreements with the provinces on minority-language services. In the territories, the Department covers all expenses related to the provision of services in the minority language (SDG 4 and SDG 10).
• Canadian Heritage also concluded or amended 13 bilateral education agreements with all the provincial and territorial governments supporting minority-language education and second-official-language instruction. Under the agreements, $332.8 million in support for official languages instruction was disbursed to provincial and territorial governments during the period, including $41,191,499 in project funding for the post-secondary sector. These agreements also included the additional funds in support of French second-language instruction provided by Budget 2021 while the 2024–2028 agreements are being negotiated (SDG 4 and SDG 10).
• The 2023 symposium on teacher recruitment and retention for minority French-language schools, and French immersion and French second-language programs, entitled Attirer–former–soutenir–collaborer, was held virtually on June 14 and 15, 2023 and identified 18 avenues for concerted action to remedy issues affecting teacher recruitment and retention, avenues including support for promotion and attraction campaigns targeted to teachers and students aspiring to become teachers (SDG 4 and SDG 10).
• Under the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy in French Immersion and French Second-Language Programs sub-component of the Enhancement of Official Languages Program and the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy in Minority French-Language Schools sub-component of the Development of Official Language Communities Program, 20 projects were approved, for a total of nearly $5.9 million in 2023–24 (SDG 4 and SDG 10).
• A consultation meeting was held to discuss the implementation of the 32 recommendations made in the final report of the États généraux sur le postsecondaire en contexte minoritaire francophone [national dialogue on post-secondary education in the Francophone minority context] of the Association des collèges et universités de la francophonie canadienne (2022). Through its initiatives in the Action Plan for Official Languages and its programs in support of post-secondary education and scientific knowledge in French, Canadian Heritage is involved in implementing 20 of the recommendations. (SDG 4 and SDG 10).
• In introducing strengthened obligations, new rights and new approaches, the modernization of the federal language regime aims to foster substantive equality between English and French in Canada, better promote English and French, and better support the vitality of official language minority communities. As part of this effort, for Official Languages Day, Canadian Heritage organized a series of workshops, and the Deputy Minister delivered the opening remarks at the virtual event, which was open to the public. At the Best Practices Forum on Official Languages, the Clerk of the Privy Council made a promotional video on the importance of official languages and encouraged federal employees to participate in the activities organized as part of the Forum (SDG 10).
• A people-centred approach to the development of the Action Plan for Official Languages 2023–2028 that included the following objectives: substantive equality between the two official languages in Canada, sustainable development of official language minority communities, increased access to education in both official languages across Canada at all levels, and greater equity between genders, whose experiences within community organizations differ (SDG 10).

Program inventory

Core responsibility 5: Official languages is supported by the following program:

• Official languages

Additional information related to the program inventory for Official languages is available on the Results page on GC Infobase.

Internal services

In this section

• Description
• Progress on results
• Resources required to achieve results
• Contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses

Description

Internal services are the services that are provided within a department so that it can meet its corporate obligations and deliver its programs. There are 10 categories of internal services:

• management and oversight services
• communications services
• legal services
• human resources management services
• financial management services
• information management services
• information technology services
• real property management services
• materiel management services
• acquisition management services

Progress on results

Management and oversight services

Canadian Heritage Data Strategy

The Department began updating its Data Strategy to align it with the 2023–2026 Data Strategy for the Federal Public Service. Consultations were undertaken in the fall and winter 2023 with various departmental governance bodies, which informed its development.

Governance, data disaggregation, ethics and literacy have been identified as key focus areas of the revised Data Strategy, which includes several “Calls to Action.” The Strategy is underpinned by principles of inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility, which necessitate that an intersectional approach be used to better support communities served. Canadian Heritage shared new data literacy tools and training opportunities for public servants through department-wide communications, including training related to the Scientific Integrity Policy, through a range of internal channels including its Research Network and the intranet.

Medium-term policy

In 2023–24, Canadian Heritage re-engaged its departmental policy community on medium-term policy work, to inform ongoing policy development and strengthen horizontal collaboration. A “relationships-first” approach focused on bringing the community together for policy events and learning opportunities, building towards a dedicated space for thought leadership and consideration of various thematic areas in 2024–25.

IDEA Office

In October 2023, Canadian Heritage launched a new Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA) Office, which facilitated the development of the Department’s first Culture Statement in consultation with Employment Equity and Diversity Networks and Committees, and employees at all levels of the Department. The IDEA Office also continues to drive implementation of the Canadian Heritage Accessibility Plan 2023-2025, including the publishing of its first annual Progress and Feedback Report in December 2023.

The IDEA Office continued to lead efforts in support of inclusion initiatives such as the Calls to Action on Anti-Racism, Equity and Inclusion in the Federal Public Service, Nothing without Us: An Accessibility Strategy for the Public Service of Canada, Changing Systems, Transforming Lives: Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy, Many Voices One Mind: A Pathway to Reconciliation, and the open letter to Deputy Ministers to take action to support transgender, non-binary and gender-diverse colleagues in the federal public service. In the spirit of Nothing without Us, the IDEA Office engaged persons with disabilities and other equity deserving communities to strengthen awareness of the systemic barriers that these communities routinely face.

The IDEA Office continued to foster an understanding of accessibility issues and why this matters, given that people with disabilities face the highest rates of harassment and discrimination in the federal public service, heightened knowledge and skills related to accessibility issues among employees, addressed concerns raised through internal and external feedback mechanisms, and produced an annual accessibility progress report on Canadian Heritage’s 131 commitments towards a greater sense of belonging and inclusion for persons with disabilities and all public servants facing barriers. Recognizing that persons with disabilities often have multiple intersecting identities, the impacts of compounding barriers were also considered.

The IDEA Office contributed directly and indirectly to the UN 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 10 and Leave No One Behind) through Canadian Heritage’s Accessibility Plan 2023–2025. The Plan upholds sustainable development goals and the principle of Nothing without Us – co-development and accountability to persons with disabilities on policies, programs and services that affect them so that we may learn from their lived experience. Most importantly, the Plan promotes an important paradigm shift – from the inability of people to engage with their environment, to the need for environments to be inclusive of all abilities.

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Review

In 2023–24, programs that had participated in the departmental Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Review began implementing key changes. Some programs put in place or worked towards their own plans and working groups to support implementation. Some important corporate recommendations from the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Review have also been implemented at the departmental level, including:

• led by Human Resources and Workplace Management Branch in collaboration with the Corporate Security and the IDEA Office, the establishment of common Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility-related Performance Management Agreement objectives for all executives;
• an enhancement of the Office of the Ombuds, Well-being and Ethics to enable a greater response to issues related to harassment and discrimination; and
• a new department-wide Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility Community of Practice.

In addition, Canadian Heritage’s Innovation Lab launched the Innovation and Impact Program in August 2023 but due to unforeseen circumstances, the Program did not run as planned. Instead, the Lab supported teams in carrying out their self-directed equity, diversity, and inclusion reviews between June 2023 and March 2024.

Gender-based Analysis Plus Responsibility Centre

In 2023–24, the Department’s GBA Plus Responsibility Centre continued to undertake efforts to strengthen the rigour and intersectionality of GBA Plus, with a view to ensuring that GBA Plus is meaningfully integrated into policy and program development, implementation, and outcomes measurement as well as Cabinet processes.

Human resources management services

Hybrid work model

In 2023–24, Canadian Heritage continued with the implementation of the hybrid work model by continuing workspace depersonalization, which was accelerated due to relocating employees related to the Les Terrasses de la Chaudière Envelope Replacement Project, from spring to winter 2024.

The temporary move provided an opportunity for the Department to plan the layout of certain spaces according to the Government of Canada’s vision of the modern workplace and its related principles (flexible, healthy, digital and collaborative). Aspects related to accessibility and inclusiveness were addressed in the design of the new workspace. In this regard, the Department created a central repository of accommodation needs related to the work environment.

To further optimize the hybrid work model, the Department continued to adjust and update its departmental policies and practices to adapt to evolving needs. Updates and reminders about the new model were disseminated to employees through the Department’s intranet site. Frequent tips and tricks were also shared to employees to help them adapt to this new work environment. During the year, the Department also explored ways to improve the hybrid experience of employees through different initiatives such as piloting new workstation booking system and office neighbourhood seating.

Conversations at the senior management level were held on progress and concrete actions taken in achieving the minimum two-day requirement as per the Treasury Board Secretariat’s Direction on prescribed presence in the workplace.

Serving the workforce

The Human Resources and Workplace Management Branch created a monthly blog, providing employees with insightful articles, practical tips, and expert advice on managing workplace challenges and enhancing well-being. Topics range from stress management to professional development.

To promote peer support and continuous learning, peer-to-peer coaching circles were introduced to enable employees to connect, share experiences, and develop new skills in a supportive environment, enhancing confidence and peer connections.

Recognizing the importance of mental health, interactive sessions on topics such as anxiety and languishing were developed. These sessions provided practical strategies for managing mental health and reducing stress, contributing to overall well-being.

Diversifying the workforce

In 2023–24, equity goals were included in all executive performance agreements in relation to recruitment, retention and promotion for staffing and onboarding decisions; supporting second official language training, given that language barriers can be obstacles to career progression; and mentoring and sponsoring initiatives to prepare equity deserving employees for leadership roles.

Canadian Heritage also demonstrated its commitment towards supporting the Government in hiring 5,000 people with disabilities by 2025 by launching a recruitment campaign specifically targeted for persons with disabilities, with an explicit target of recruiting 61 persons with disabilities within this timeframe. The Department achieved 50% of the target established for the hiring of new public servants with disabilities.

Meanwhile, the Employment Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and Action Plan 2021–2024 concluded in March 2024. To date, 60% of the measures identified in the action plan have been implemented or are integrated into the day-to-day management of programs and initiatives.

In 2023–24, Canadian Heritage exceeded workforce availability for most designated groups, except for people with disabilities. Representation targets based on Canadian representation are in place for Indigenous employees and Black employees. The representation target for racialized employees were increased by 25% to close the expected gap between the current 2016 Census data and the expected 2021 Census data. In addition to maintaining a high level of representation of women, Canadian Heritage has succeeded in increasing the population of the various designated groups by more than 40% since 2021.

Regarding Canadian Heritage’s Accessibility Plan 2023–2025 and the measures put in place to improve recruitment, retention and promotion of people with disabilities, focused efforts have resulted in an increase in the representation of people with disabilities, from 7.4% to 8.7%. This is less than 1% from reaching the target rate of availability in the workforce of the active population.

Financial management services

Canadian Heritage strengthened its financial management approach and practices, integrating enterprise risk management and optimizing governance into its processes in order to ensure sound public funds management and to maximize the achievement of intended results. The Department also developed its plans to achieve spending reductions as part of the Government’s efforts to refocus its spending towards highest priorities as announced in Budget 2023.

During the year, Canadian Heritage ensured that financial accountability measures were reinforced with strong internal controls, enhanced monitoring, and modernized processes when it comes to financial, procurement as well as grants and contributions management. Activities in 2023–24 included the launch of digital tools available to managers to assist with their financial and procurement responsibilities, the completion of efficiency reviews on grants and contributions functions, and the advancement of the Department’s Program Integrity Risk Management Framework for grants and contributions. Additionally, Canadian Heritage worked on aligning services with governmental priorities, such as in rendering procurement forms and client-facing grants and contributions documents accessible, and advanced a module for collecting Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility data from applicants.

Information management services and information technology services

In support of a quality data ecosystem, the Department is leveraging modern visualization and analytics software.

Canadian Heritage advanced its Accessible Information and Communications Technology Action Plan by providing direct support to departmental employees, ensuring employees have the training they need, and addressing broader information and communications technology accessibility challenges.

In 2023–24, the Chief Information Officer Branch continued to support secure and current collaboration tools for departmental employees. As part of Workplace Modernization, current Surface Hub microphones with new microphones and cameras with autofocus and zoom capabilities were upgraded.

In support of the effective management of information resources, the Chief Information Officer Branch increased awareness of information and records management practices as a result of information sessions, community of practice meetings and Information Management depersonalization. The Canadian Heritage Library closed in June 2023 to accommodate the shift in adopting digital information management services. The library decommissioning represented the disposal of 76,295 library items. Following the Library and Archives Canada procedure for surplus publications from Government of Canada institutions, the collection was disposed in an environmentally sound manner.

My PCH Online

The My PCH Online project was completed by the end of March 2023 and a transition to an operational model was successfully completed. The transition included the creation of the Client Experience Branch, which is responsible for establishing direction to implement a vision of delivering more services digitally, improving the client experience, and modernizing all aspects of grants and contributions programs.

In 2023–24, 17 existing program components were either continuous or relaunched and two new program components were added to the Canadian Heritage Funding Portal. This allowed the Department to receive approximately 40% of its applications through the portal. More than 85% of applicants to programs that were available through the portal chose to submit their applications digitally.

Work was undertaken to prepare a business case for the replacement of the legacy case management system. The Department also brought improvements to the Canadian Heritage Funding Portal architecture. Finally, a conceptual data model was created to allow harmonization of data across different grants and contributions programs.

Resources required to achieve results

Table 25: Resources required to achieve results for internal services this year

Table 25 provides a summary of the planned and actual spending and full-time equivalents (FTEs) required to achieve results.

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

Contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses

Government of Canada departments are to meet a target of awarding at least 5% of the total value of contracts to Indigenous businesses each year. This commitment is to be fully implemented by the end of 2024–25.

Canadian Heritage’s result for 2023–24

Table 26: Total value of contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses^{Table 26 note *}

As shown in Table 26, Canadian Heritage awarded 4.43% of the total value of all contracts to Indigenous businesses for the fiscal year.

During the 2023–24 fiscal year, Canadian Heritage sought to leverage the use of Public Services and Procurement Canada’s established procurement tools to increase the participation of Indigenous firms in contracting opportunities with the Department. When using procurement tools for goods and services where Indigenous suppliers’ capacity has been identified by Public Services and Procurement Canada (i.e., Indigenous Suppliers are pre-qualified as eligible suppliers for specified services), the Department ensured that Indigenous Suppliers were invited to participate in these contracting opportunities.

Some of the commodities where the Department issued multiple contracts to Indigenous firms include simultaneous interpretation, computer equipment and peripherals, translation services and office furniture.

Furthermore, Canadian Heritage attended a Reverse Trade Show hosted by Procurement Assistance Canada. The event brought small and medium-sized Indigenous firms together with participating federal organizations to discuss options for pursuing federal contracting opportunities with their respective organizations. Through outreach activities, the Department compiles a list of Indigenous firms who are seeking to provide goods or services to the Government of Canada, which can be easily drawn upon as requirements emerge.

Canadian Heritage has revised internal training documents to raise awareness and to promote the consideration of Indigenous service offerings with program clients and administrative staff responsible for processing contracting requests whose value is less than $10,000.00. The training highlights the Department’s contracting obligations under the Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Business, including the requirement to meet the 5% minimum target, how to identify Indigenous vendors in the financial system, and strategies on how to locate Indigenous firms providing the goods or services required in the Indigenous Business Directory.

In addition, Canadian Heritage has revised its Procurement Planning documentation used with internal clients when preparing procurement strategies. In order to establish Indigenous procurement strategies for upcoming requirements, the Department conducts commodity market research, to determine whether capacity exists, and an appropriate strategy is pursued based on the results of the research.

In its 2024–25 Departmental Plan, the Department forecasted that, by the end of 2023–24, it would award 6.5% of the total value of its contracts to Indigenous businesses. During 2023–24, Canadian Heritage faced contracting needs that exceeded its internal contracting capacity. Some procurement projects that were planned for delivery during the period were delayed, which impacted the Department’s Indigenous procurement ratio.

Spending and human resources

In this section

• Spending
• Funding
• Financial statement highlights
• Human resources

Spending

This section presents an overview of the Department’s actual and planned expenditures from 2021–22 to 2026–27.

Figure 1: Actual spending by core responsibility in 2023–24 - bar chart

Figure 1: Actual spending by core responsibility in 2023–24 - Text version

Core responsibility	2023–24 actual spending
Core Responsibility 1: Creativity, arts and culture	$680,764,756
Core Responsibility 2: Heritage and celebration	$170,609,666
Core Responsibility 3: Sport	$282,740,470
Core Responsibility 4: Diversity and inclusion	$308,781,339
Core Responsibility 5: Official languages	$605,631,238
Internal Services	$103,933,833

Analysis of actual spending by core responsibility

The spending in 2023–24 totals $2.1 billion across the five core responsibilities of Canadian Heritage and internal services, which is a decrease of $148 million compared to the previous year. This level of spending is more in line with pre-pandemic total spending as temporary funding received to recover from the pandemic came to an end in 2022–23. Nevertheless, during the year, the Department received additional investments of approximately $260 million, of which $91.7 million was announced in Budget 2023, partially compensating the sunsetting of COVID-19 relief funding. The Department received, among other amounts, funding for the Canada Media Fund to make funding more open to traditionally underrepresented voices and to increase French-language audiovisual content, funding for Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy 2023–28 to support the strategy and the work of the Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia, and lastly, funding to support Intergovernmental collaboration initiatives part of the Action Plan for Official Languages 2023–2028.

Budgetary performance summary

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

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

Analysis of the past three years of spending

Creativity, Arts and Culture: The total spending between 2021–22 and 2022–23 remained stable as the funding received was spread over the two fiscal years to help creativity, arts and cultural organizations face the challenges that arose during the pandemic. The decrease of close to $100 million in spending between 2022–23 and 2023–24 is explained by the sunsetting of multiple temporary fundings that ended in 2022–23, received to help restore immediate viability for organizations and Canadians working with pandemic-related financial needs and compensate for revenue losses due to public health restrictions and capacity limits. Funding also helped organizations and workers adapt to post-pandemic realities while supporting local festivals, community cultural events and outdoor theatre performances and ensuring events comply with local public health measures. Further explaining the decreased spending in 2023–24 is the Canada Performing Arts Worker Resilience Fund, a one-year funding received in 2022–23, to help retain specialized workers in the arts and cultural sector during a period of heightened precarity for the cultural workforce. The decrease in spending was partially offset after Budget 2022 announced additional funding to the existing Local Journalism initiative to provide local news stories from a diverse range of media sources, at a time where disinformation is prominent, and traditional media are faced with lower revenues and higher production costs. Moreover, Budget 2023 announced additional funding over two years, for the Canada Media Fund to make funding more open to traditionally underrepresented voices and French-language audiovisual content.

Heritage and Celebration: The increase of $50 million in spending between 2021–22 and 2022–23 is explained by temporary funding received through existing payment transfers programs to support heritage institutions, community cultural events, outdoor celebrations and commemorations which play a vital role in the Canadian cultural and social fabric, all while ensuring events comply with public health measures in addition to helping build strong communities including temporary funding of $13.6 million in 2022–23 to support the viability of Canadian Arts, Culture and Heritage organizations also contributed to the 2022–23 spending increase. This measure aimed to compensate those organizations for revenue losses due to public health restrictions and capacity limits, specifically, funding to help restore immediate viability for museums with pandemic-related financial needs. Moreover, the increase is explained by $21 million in spending for the commemorative initiatives organized to publicly honour Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s historic 70-year reign, her lifelong commitment to duty and service, and her special relationship with Canada. The decrease of $50 million in spending between 2022–23 and 2023–24 is explained by the sunsetting of the above-mentioned temporary funding ending in 2022–23.

Sport: The increase of $50.7 million in spending between 2021–22 and 2022–23 is explained by delays encountered in 2021–22 resulting from the cancellation or postponing of a significant number of events in a pandemic environment significantly reducing spending in that year. Also, the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the sports system and sports participation in general and specially for Indigenous communities being hit hard by the pandemic and, in many cases, not being able to fully realize their projects in 2021–22. The decrease in spending between 2022–23 and 2023–24 is explained by the sunsetting of temporary funding received to support sport organizations, among others, that were struggling with operational viability due to the pandemic as well as the reopening of major sports events, and the partial sunsetting of the two-year funding announced in Budget 2021 for the Indigenous Reconciliation and Strength for Indigenous women and girls through Sport for Social Development and community sport. The decrease is partially offset by new funding announced in Budget 2022 to support safe sport and enhance accountability in sport and to support building a diverse Canadian sport system by facilitating the participation of under-represented groups and encouraging the promotion of sport as a tool of individual and social development in Canada and, in cooperation with other countries, abroad.

Diversity and inclusion: The increase of $136.6 million in spending between 2021–22 and 2023–24 is mainly explained by a $134 million in funding increase, related to Budget 2019 and Budget 2021 announcements to support Indigenous communities in their efforts to reclaim, revitalize, maintain, and strengthen Indigenous languages and to support Indigenous organizations in their ongoing engagement on the implementation of the Indigenous Languages Act. The increase in spending is also attributed to the 2020 Fall Economic Statement, which announced an expansion of Canadian Heritage’s Community Support, Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Initiatives Program and its Anti-Racism Action Program by $50 million over two years to deliver on the Government’s anti-racism objectives. Budget 2022 and Budget 2023 announced additional funding for Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy 2023–28 and to support the work of the Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia.

Official languages: The increase of $134.0 million in spending between 2021–22 and 2022–23 is explained by a three-year investment announced in Budget 2021, to support second-language learning, high-quality postsecondary minority-language education and the construction, renovation and expansion of educational and community spaces that serve official language minority communities and by reprofiles of unspent 2021–22 funds caused by restrictions implemented to contain COVID-19 which resulted in schools, post-secondary institutions, cultural establishment and gathering locations to be closed intermittently. The decrease of $20.0 million in spending between 2022–23 and 2023–24 is explained by the end of the four-year funding announced in Budget 2019 for Enhancing support for minority languages education in Canada and the decrease in funding for Promoting our Official Languages in Budget 2021. The decrease is partially offset by the new five-year funding announced in Budget 2023 for Intergovernmental collaboration on Official languages and for the Action Plan for Official Languages 2023–2028: Protection—Promotion—Collaboration.

Internal services: The spending in internal services since 2021–22 has remained stable.

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

Table 28: Planned three-year spending on core responsibilities and internal services (dollars)

Table 28 presents how much money Canadian Heritage plans to spend over the next three years to carry out its core responsibilities and for internal services.

Analysis of the next three years of spending

The 2024–25 planned spending compared to the 2023–24 actual spending indicates an overall decrease of $302 million for the Department, mainly due to the sunsetting of various funding initiatives as well as government spending reductions, also impacting the 2025–26 and 2026–27 planned spending. The following is further details on planned spending by core responsibility:

Creativity, Arts and Culture: The decrease of $143 million in 2024–25 planned spending compared to 2023–24 actual spending is explained by the sunsetting of multiple temporary funding and a return to pre-COVID-19 departmental program activity levels. The decrease is further explained by reductions starting in 2024–25 announced in Budget 2023 to refocus government spending, including travel and professional services. The decrease in planned spending continues for the following years.

Heritage and Celebration: The decrease of $50 million in 2024–25 planned spending compared to 2023–24 actual spending is explained by the sunset of the one-year funding for the redevelopment and modernization of the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver and by the end of the three-year funding announced in Budget 2021 for Canadian Heritage’s Museums Assistance Program to support the digitization of information and collections by non-national museums and heritage institutions and funding for the RCMP Heritage Centre. Further explaining the decrease in planned spending is the reduction of funding for Supporting performing arts festivals, cultural events, arts and heritage institutions, celebrations, and commemorations that make communities stronger.

Sport: The decrease of $33.6 million in 2024–25 planned spending compared to 2023–24 actual spending is explained by funding from Budget 2019 that came to an end for Ensuring a safe and Healthy Sport system and by the sunset of the temporary funding announced in Budget 2021 for the Indigenous Reconciliation and Strength for Indigenous women and girls through Sport for Social Development and community sport. Future years’ planned spending further decreases due to the end of funding for a Diverse Canadian Sport System and due to reductions announced in Budget 2023 to refocus government spending.

Diversity and inclusion: The $100 million decrease in 2024–25 planned spending compared to 2023–24 actual spending is explained by the reduction of the funding announced in Budget 2021, to support Indigenous communities in their efforts to reclaim, revitalize, maintain, and strengthen Indigenous languages and to support Indigenous organizations in their ongoing engagement on the implementation of the Indigenous Languages Act. The decrease is also explained by reductions announced in Budget 2023 to refocus government spending. Planned spending further decreases in 2026–27 due to the sunset of the three-year funding of $85 million for Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy 2023–28 announced in Budget 2022.

Official languages: The increase of $30.1 million in 2024–25 planned spending compared to 2023–24 actual spending is explained by the growth of the yearly funding announced in Budget 2023 for Intergovernmental collaboration on Official languages and for the Action Plan for Official Languages 2023–2028: Protection—Promotion—Collaboration. Planned spending stabilizes for future years.

The reduction in planned spending will be alleviated by new funding announced in Budget 2024. As such, Canadian Heritage will receive a total of $723.4 million over five years from Budget 2024 for initiatives related to supporting festivals, live events and performing arts; building museums and cultural centres; promoting access to books, news and journalism; supporting Indigenous languages and cultures; countering hate; supporting official languages; supporting sport; and building diverse and safe communities. This funding has not yet been accessed by the Department and as such is not represented in the above table. It will be reflected in future main or supplementary estimates.

Internal Services: Starting in 2024–25 and future years, a downward slope in planned spending is foreseen due to the ceasing of the temporary aforementioned funding initiatives and due to reductions announced in Budget 2023 to refocus government spending.

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

Funding

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

Figure 2: Approved funding (statutory and voted) over a six-year period

Figure 2: Approved funding (statutory and voted) over a six-year period - Text version

Fiscal year	2021–22	2022–23	2023–24	2024–25	2025–26	2026–27
Statutory	$29,521,002	$32,301,554	$34,222,768	$30,910,671	$30,481,541	$28,736,777
Voted	$1,977,013,177	$2,268,253,483	$2,118,238,534	$1,862,357,369	$1,733,706,584	$1,635,841,890
Total	$2,006,534,179	$2,300,555,037	$2,152,461,302	$1,893,268,040	$1,764,188,125	$1,664,578,667

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

The 2021–22 to 2022–23 increase is explained by multiple temporary funding initiatives that were introduced to recover and face pandemic challenges.

Overall, the downward slope starts in 2023–24 and continues for 2024–25 planned spending and the following years due to the sunsetting of the temporary funding initiatives, a return to pre-COVID-19 departmental program activity levels, and the effects of the Refocusing Government Spending exercise, announced in Budget 2023. The Department will implement measures to realize savings of $14.3 million in 2024–25, $25.2 million in 2025–26 and $39.7 million in 2026–27 and thereafter.

Over the six-year period covered in this report, the statutory funding remains stable at a proportion of less than 2% of the voted funding for each fiscal exercise. The statutory items are mainly constituted by contributions to employee benefit plans.

For further information on Canadian Heritage’s departmental voted and statutory expenditures, consult the Public Accounts of Canada.

Financial statement highlights

Canadian Heritage’s complete financial statements (unaudited) for the year ended March 31, 2024, are available online.

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.

Overall, the level of spending is more in line with pre-pandemic total spending as temporary funding received to recover from the pandemic came to end in 2022–23.

Table 29: Condensed Statement of Operations (unaudited) for the year ended March 31, 2024 (thousands of dollars)

Table 29 summarizes the expenses and revenues for 2023–24 which net to the cost of operations before government funding and transfers.

The 2023–24 planned results information is provided in Canadian Heritage’s Future-Oriented Statement of Operations and Notes 2023–24.

The Department’s actual cost of operations in 2023–24 is aligned with planned results, with a minimal variance of $2.2 million (0.1%).

Table 30: Condensed Statement of Operations (unaudited) for the year ended March 31, 2024 (thousands of dollars)

Table 30 summarizes actual expenses and revenues which net to the cost of operations before government funding and transfers.

The 2023–24 planned results information is provided in Canadian Heritage’s Future-Oriented Statement of Operations and Notes 2023–24.

The Department’s actual cost of operations decreased from the previous year’s total by $159.2 million (7%). This level of spending is more in line with pre-pandemic total spending as temporary grant and contribution funding received to help recover from the pandemic came to an end in 2022–23.

Table 31: Condensed Statement of Financial Position (unaudited or audited) as of March 31, 2024 (thousands of dollars)

Table 31 provides a brief snapshot of the Department’s liabilities (what it owes) and assets (what the Department owns), which helps to indicate its ability to carry out programs and services.

The departmental net financial position was $0.2 million in 2023–24, an increase of $5.0 million above the previous year’s net financial position of ($4.8) million. This increase is largely explained by the larger decrease in departmental net debt.

Total net liabilities were $751.8 million at the end of 2023–24, a decrease of $52.1 million (7%) above the previous year’s total liabilities of $803.9 million. The decrease is mainly explained by fewer 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 those contribution agreements were related to Federal/Provincial and Territorial agreements in the Official Languages program.

Total net financial assets were $743.4 million at the end of 2023–24, a decrease of $46.8 million (6%) above the previous year’s total net financial assets of $790.3 million. The increase is largely related to the one in liabilities. It is explained by the amount, “Due from the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF)” which represents the amount of cash that the Department is entitled to draw from the CRF without further appropriations, to discharge its liabilities.

Human resources

This section presents an overview of the Department’s actual and planned human resources from 2021–22 to 2026–27.

Table 32: Actual human resources for core responsibilities and internal services

Table 32 shows a summary of human resources, in full-time equivalents (FTEs), for Canadian Heritage’s core responsibilities and for its internal services for the previous three fiscal years.

Analysis of human resources over the last three years

The increase in full-time equivalents from 2021–22 to 2022–23 is in line with the multiple temporary funding received by the Department to promote the recovery from the pandemic for heritage, arts, and sports sectors that contribute profoundly to the cultural, civic, and economic life of Canada. Though the COVID-19 funding was received for both fiscal years, the human resources actions required to enlist temporary help takes time, hence the peak in human resources in 2022–23. The number of full-time equivalents is the start of a gradual decrease in 2023–24 as temporary funding comes to an end.

Table 33: Human resources planning summary for core responsibilities and internal services

Table 33 shows information on human resources, in full-time equivalents (FTEs), for each of Canadian Heritage’s core responsibilities and for its internal services planned for the next three years. Human resources for the current fiscal year are forecasted based on year to date.

Analysis of human resources for the next three years

Overall, the departmental full-time equivalents trend is in line with the fluctuations seen in its planned funding levels which foresee a steady decline from 2023–24 and on, as a result of temporary initiatives coming to an end and the refocus of government spending.

Corporate information

Departmental profile

Appropriate ministers:

• The Honourable Pascale St-Onge, P.C., M.P.
  Minister of Canadian Heritage
• The Honourable Carla Qualtrough, P.C., M.P.
  Minister of Sport and Physical Activity
• The Honourable Kamal Khera, P.C., M.P.
  Minister of Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities
• The Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, P.C., M.P.
  Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence
• The Honourable Marci Ien, P.C., M.P.
  Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth
• The Honourable Arif Virani, P.C., M.P.
  Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Institutional head:

Isabelle Mondou

Ministerial portfolio:

Department of Canadian Heritage

Enabling instrument:

Department of Canadian Heritage Act

Year of incorporation / commencement:

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

Departmental contact information

Mailing address:

Canadian Heritage
15 Eddy Street
Gatineau QC  J8X 4B3 Canada

Telephone:

1-866-811-0055 Call toll-free from all regions, Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (Local time)

TTY:

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

Email:

info@pch.gc.ca

Website:

https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage.html

Supplementary information tables

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

• Details on transfer payment programs
• Gender-based analysis plus
• Response to Parliamentary Committees and external audits

Information on Canadian Heritage’s progress towards the United Nations 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals can be found within Canadian Heritage’s Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy reports.

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

Definitions

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 consists of the department’s core responsibilities, departmental results and departmental result indicators.

Departmental Results Report (rapport sur les résultats ministériels)

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

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

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

full-time equivalent (équivalent temps plein)

A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person-year charge against a departmental budget. For a particular position, the full-time equivalent figure is a 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 tool used to assess support the development of responsive and inclusive how different groups of women, men and gender-diverse people experience policies, programs and policies, programs, and other initiatives. GBA Plus is a process for understanding who is impacted by the issue or opportunity being addressed by the initiative; identifying how the initiative could be tailored to meet diverse needs of the people most impacted; and anticipating and mitigating any barriers to accessing or benefiting from the initiative. GBA Plus is an intersectional analysis that goes beyond biological (sex) and socio-cultural (gender) differences to consider other factors, such as age, disability, education, ethnicity, economic status, geography (including rurality), language, race, religion, and sexual orientation.

government-wide priorities (priorités pangouvernementales)

For the purpose of the 2023–24 Departmental Results Report, government-wide priorities are the high-level themes outlining the government’s agenda in the November 23, 2021, Speech from the Throne: building a healthier today and tomorrow; growing a more resilient economy; bolder climate action; fight harder for safer communities; standing up for diversity and inclusion; moving faster on the path to reconciliation; and fighting for a secure, just and equitable world.

horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)

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

Indigenous business (entreprise autochtone)

As defined on the Indigenous Services Canada website in accordance with the Government of Canada’s commitment that a mandatory minimum target of 5% of the total value of contracts is awarded to Indigenous businesses annually.

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

performance indicator (indicateur de rendement)

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

plan (plan)

The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how a department intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally, a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead to the expected result.

planned spending (dépenses prévues)

For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, planned spending refers to those amounts presented in the Main Estimates.

A department is expected to be aware of the authorities that it has sought and received. The determination of planned spending is a departmental responsibility, and departments must be able to defend the expenditure and accrual numbers presented in their Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports.

program (programme)

Individual or groups of services, activities or combinations thereof that are managed together within a department and that focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.

program inventory (répertoire des programmes)

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

result (résultat)

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

statutory expenditures (dépenses législatives)

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

target (cible)

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

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

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

voted expenditures (dépenses votées)

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

This publication is available upon request in alternative formats.

©His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of the Department of Canadian Heritage, 2024
Catalogue number: CH1-38E-PDF
ISSN: 2560-8819