Questions and Answers for Mala Khanna

Q&As on CMAC Contract

Q1. Has CMAC ever received funding before from Canadian Heritage?

No, this project is the first time that CMAC received funding from Canadian Heritage.

Q2. What was CMAC to use the funding for?

The Community Media Advocacy Centre’s (CMAC) project, "Building an Anti-Racism Strategy for Canadian Broadcasting: Conversation & Convergence" was to run from September 1, 2021, to March 31, 2023. The agreement was for $133,822.

The goal was to address employment-related barriers facing racialized communities, Indigenous peoples and religious minorities in Canadian broadcasting and media.

Q3. What had been done so far in their project?

CMAC started the implementation of its project plan and held three of the six planned engagement sessions.

The three engagement sessions held were in Halifax, Montreal, and Vancouver. The others were not held: they were planned for September (Calgary and Ottawa) and October (Winnipeg).

Q4. What are the programs for anti-racism and multiculturalism?

There are two programs:

• Through the Community Support, Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Initiatives over the past four years (since 2018-19) nearly $56.5M has been invested in 1,352 projects, events and other activities.
• The Anti-Racism Action Program was launched in 2019 and has funded 174 projects for a total investment of $35 million.

Q&A on Awareness of the tweets/blogs

Q5. The issue was flagged through social media, why was it not seen and actioned?

The Department uses social media for environmental monitoring relating to policies, programs, services and initiatives and share information about programs and initiatives.

Canadian Heritage social media accounts are tagged approximately 10,000 times a month, and due to that volume, comprehensive and regular monitoring presents a significant challenge.

We are reviewing our procedures to reduce the chances of this happening in the future.

Q6. When were you aware of the tweets/blog posts?

The Department was made aware of the issue on July 26 and received one of the offensive tweets on August 2.

The first media call was received on August 15 (related to funding that CMAC received from the Canada Radio-television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)).

Q7. What had been done to improve social media monitoring?

PCH currently manages and monitors 26 social media accounts on five different platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube) for a total of more than 500,000 followers combined.

Canadian Heritage social media accounts are tagged approximately 10,000 times each month, therefore, due to volume, this feature is not benefiting from comprehensive and regular monitoring. Each situation is evaluated based on context.

As stated in our social media terms of references, we monitor comments and participate in discussions when appropriate and we follow the Privacy Act to ensure the work we do is in line with the protection of personal information.

We’ve added resources to the monitoring team and are currently reviewing our procedures, tools to extract automatically mentions to ensure that his type of situation dans not happen in the future.

For feedback, comments and questions, people are invited to send emails and contact us by phone using the information listed on the PCH website.

Q&A on Actions taken

Q8. What actions did you take when you became aware?

The Department gathered more information, reviewed the contractual obligations and sought legal advice. Subsequently, the Notice of Default was sent to the organization on August 19 and the contract was suspended. On September 23, the contract was rescinded and terminated.

On November 25th, a letter was sent to CMAC Counsel requesting repayment of $122,661. In December 2022, recovery actions were taken.

The program was paused while we reviewed it.

We have made changes to the program, provided training to the program advisors and applied new assessment criteria to all active contribution agreements and any new applications.

In the longer term, the Department is reviewing how departmental processes, controls, roles and responsibilities and governance could be adapted to reflect the evolving risk and integrity environment.

Q9. What has been done about the situation?

The contract with CMAC has been terminated and we are seeking repayment of all funds.

We have implemented a number of measures to strengthen the programs that fall under Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy (the Community Support, Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Initiatives and the Anti-Racism Action Programs) to ensure that organizations and individuals that espouse racists, antisemitic and / or other forms of hateful content will not be eligible to received funding.

The Department has made changes the application guidelines, the declaration and attestation section of the application form and the contribution agreement template designed to strengthen and clarify responsibilities and expectations for applicants and recipients under the programs. These changes were posted to our website and online application portal on December 14.

New training has been provided to all program advisors on the importance of each step in the evaluation process, as well as on the new advanced assessment / re-assessment criteria for applicants and recipients that include parameters on in-depth environmental scans (October 14, and 17).

Training sessions were held with all program advisors on anti-racism and antisemitism in Canada, including on the IHRA definition, hosted by UNESCO (October 21 and 27).

We have completed a review of the active contribution agreements (approximately 350) and the applications received since August (approximately 170) under the Community Support, Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Initiatives (CSMARI) and the Anti-Racism Action Programs (ARAP), to ensure that there is no public information of concern that would undermine Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy, the values underlying the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Canadian Human Rights Act.

Funding to active projects under these programs, which was temporarily suspended while the review was underway, is resuming for the activities and projects that comply with the requirements.

Q10. What have you found as a result of the review of active projects?

We have applied new assessment criteria and process to review the public environment related to active recipients and new applicants. As a result of the review, we are looking further into a small number of files to assure the Minister that there are no areas of concern.

Q11. What will happen if you find an individual or organization espouses racist, antisemitic, and other forms of hateful content?

Organizations or individuals that are found to have espoused racist, antisemitic, and other forms of hateful content, have always been ineligible to receive funding through the programs that support Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy. We have clarified this expectation and the consequences for any contraventions, as well as changed the language to provide the Minister with the flexibility to act quickly.

For example, any applicant will now be required to sign an attestation committing to adhere to the goals which underpin Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy, the values underlying the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Canadian Human Rights Act.

Applicants and recipients will be informed of the expectations for them to receive any funding; and should they receive funding, the consequences of non-compliance.

The organization’s funding could be suspended, and it will be asked to provide detailed information and actions on how it intends to remedy this situation. If the organization has still not complied with the Department’s request, the Department could withdraw and terminate funding to the organization’s project and seek repayment of all monies paid.

Q12. Is PCH vetting organizations and individuals that already received government funding?

Yes. We developed new criteria and process to review the active projects under the two programs. Current recipients with active projects have been notified of the current review, the Department’s expectations and the impact on their funding agreement.

Q13. What training are you putting in place to make sure that program advisors are able to assess the applications properly?

New training has been implemented for all program advisors on the importance of each step in the evaluation process, as well as on the pilot for the new assessment criteria and process for applicants and recipients that include parameters on in-depth environmental scans.

In addition, new training sessions were held to raise awareness and understanding on anti-racism and antisemitism in Canada and around the world as well as on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism has been provided to program advisors.

This training has been developed in partnership with UNESCO, the Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism, among others.

Q14. Could you tell us which official proactively asked CMAC to apply to the Program?

On January 13, 2020, through an open call for proposals, the Community Media Advocacy Centre (CMAC) submitted a funding application to the Anti-Racism Action Program (ARAP) for the project “Building an Anti-Racism Strategy for Canadian Broadcasting: Conversation & Convergence.

It was one of 1100 applications received through this call for proposals, but based on funding available, was not part of the 85 projects recommended and approved for funding.

The 2020 Federal Fall Economic Statement announced an additional $20M for ARAP to be allocated in 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 and considering the very short time, 187 unsuccessful applications were identified for reconsideration for a second round of assessment.

Organizations were then contacted throughout the months of March and April 2021 to verify if their projects were still feasible. CMAC’s ARAP application was one of the 187 applications selected for reconsideration. A Program Advisor with the Multiculturalism Program contacted Gretchen King of CMAC in early March, 2021 to relay this information, and as part of that process CMAC was given the opportunity to adjust activities and budget to take into account the passage of time from the original application.

Q15. Why was this organization asked to run a program?

CMAC was never approached to either apply for ARAP or to specifically run a program. Their application was assessed based on how strongly it was deemed to meet the objectives of the Anti-Racism Action Program, which are to address barriers to employment, justice and social participation among Indigenous Peoples, racialized communities and religious minorities.

Related expertise as well as letters of support are both taken into consideration when assessing applications. In the case of this application, based on the information that was provided, both were deemed acceptable.

Q16. At the time CMAC was approached, had anyone in the Department looked at their twitter profile or were aware of their views?

CMAC was never approached to apply for ARAP funding, only to confirm that their application was still feasible to be reassessed when the program received additional funds. At no point was anyone in the Department involved with the assessment or recommendation of this application aware of Mr. Marouf’s views. If these had been known, the project would not have been recommended.

Q17. What have you done to eliminate discrimination based on language?

We have changed the language in our program documents to specify that projects would be stopped or declared ineligible in case of discrimination based on language.

Training that has been provided to all program advisors has included examples of discrimination based on language.

Q18. How much has the Government asked CMAC to pay back?

The department is seeking repayment of $122,661 paid to Community Media Advocacy Centre (CMAC) for the project (out of $133,822).

Q19. Is the Government going to sue CMAC for the funds?

We are taking action to recover the funds, including working with the Canada Revenue Agency. All options will be explored in consultation with our legal services.

Q&A on Process

Q20. Will the new processes apply to all of Canadian Heritage’s programs?

Our immediate priority is to apply these changes to the Community Support, Multiculturalism, and Anti-Racism Initiatives (CSMARI) and the Anti-Racism Action (ARAP) Programs under the responsibility of Minister Hussen.

We have also engaged a former public servant with significant experience to review how departmental processes, controls, roles and responsibilities and governance could be adapted to reflect the evolving risk and integrity environment.

Q21. The suspension of funds for ongoing projects has significantly impacted several organizations and their ongoing projects. When will funding resume for active CSMARI and ARAP projects under Departmental review?

We understand that these measures have had an impact on recipients under the program.

We took the time to review the program and put in place measures to strengthen it. We are committed to ensuring that funds will flow to active recipients as quickly as possible.

Q22. What is the attestation and will the current recipients need to sign one?

Current funding recipients will receive a letter which will advise the organization that it is expected to take any and all reasonable measures to ensure that it adheres to the goals that underpin the Government of Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy and the values of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Canadian Human Rights Act.

All new funding recipients will need to sign a new attestation committing to this as well.

Q23. How many files that were in the approval process have been put on hold?

There are approximately 170 applications for funding in various stages of assessment and approvals. Now that the new measures are in place, funding decisions on those applications are being made.

Q24. What review is being done with contribution agreements already in place?

There are approximately 350 contribution agreements in place for the Community Support, Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Initiatives (CSMARI) and Anti-Racism Action (ARAP) Program files have been reviewed.

Q25. How do you assess risk?

We use a standardized tool (Project Risk Assessment and Management tool (PRAM))

The PRAM aims to have a standard approach to assessing and mitigating risk across all programs.

During the program’s assessment of the application, this secondary, more in-depth risk assessment is completed for any funding over $5,000.

Program staff must answer a series of questions taking into consideration, for example:

• The stability of the sector, the public profile of the program, or any known legal risk;
• The applicant’s track record with PCH and/or experience undertaking similar activities, their governance, management capacity and their financial health, including any outstanding repayments; if new to PCH, additional consultations or research may be required;
• Unique characteristics related to funding request that may bring it to the attention of the media, other stakeholders or interest groups;
• The complexity of the activities, the magnitude of the budget and the applicant’s ability to deliver the scope of activities, including delivering on time.

Answers to questions help with the assignment of a low, moderate or high risk score for each factor. While each question is important to assessing the risks, some are deemed to have a higher impact on the delivery of the project/programming activities and as such are assigned different weights to inform the risk algorithm.

Once risks levels are calculated, mitigation measures must be selected for any moderate or high risks and included in the program’s recommendation. Examples include:

• Consult with other funders or stakeholders.
• Use a Contribution Agreement (CA) instead of a Grant.
• Reimburse expenditures instead of providing advance payments.
• Conduct site visits.
• Request a contingency plan, in case of likelihood of delays.
• Request a more detailed activity plan or budget by activity.

Q26. How does approval delegation function for the programs for anti-racism and multiculturalism?

As the approach to delegation is based on risk (in 2015 over 90% of applicants were repeat clients to the Department and 95% of those files were low risk), it varies from program to program and from Minister to Minister.

For the Anti-Racism and Multiculturalism programs, the Minister approves all G&C’s files.

Q27. Was the existing vetting process followed for CMAC?

The Department administers 1.7 billion in grants and contributions every year. This means that thousands of grants and contributions are negotiated with individuals and organizations. The Department has established vetting procedures and the procedures in this case were followed.

The project was assessed which included an assessment of the public profile of the organization, the organization’s track record, the external environment, the financials. In this case, there was a search done of the organization and there were no flags and so no further assessment of the individuals in the organization was undertaken. If the individual’s views had been discovered, the project would not have been funded. This is why we are looking to strengthen our vetting process.

Q28. What social media searches are included in these searches?

An internet search is done as part of the assessment of the external environment. This includes social media searches.

Q29. What was the process for approvals for the Anti-Racism Action Program (ARAP)?

The recommendation for approval is completed, recommended by the program manager and/or director, and sent to the Department’s Centre of Excellence for quality review. The file is then forwarded to the Minister for review and approval.

Q&A on News Release

Q30. Why was a news release issued by the organization with a quote by the Minister?

Promotion of government funded projects is part of the program mandate and provides visibility and greater participation rates. Funding recipients are responsible for the creation and distribution of communications products associated with their projects.

Public acknowledgement of Government of Canada financial assistance is a condition of funding.

The Department regularly receives requests for ministerial quotes in partner news releases.

In this case, CMAC contacted the Department in March requesting a quote. The Department followed its regular procedures, and a quote was provided. CMAC issued their news release on April 14th.

Q31. What is the normal process for a partner news release? Was it followed? Who approved it?

When a funding recipient wishes to include a ministerial quote in its news release, it provides the Canadian Heritage program officer with a draft copy of its news release. The Department reviews the draft and ensures that the text submitted respects the details of the contribution agreement.

The Minister’s office then confirms its willingness to offer a quote which is provided to the organization by the Department. These steps were taken following the request from CMAC for a ministerial quote.

Q32. Are you vetting names that are part of the news release?

The vetting process of organizations takes place during the evaluation of applications for Canadian Heritage funding.

Once a project has been approved, organizations are expected to respect the terms and condition of the contribution agreement and uphold values and behaviors that are in line with the objective of the projects.

Q33. Are there any rules or guidelines that dictates which spokesperson from the organization will be on the news release?

Funding recipients determine who from their organization will have a quote in the news release.

Organizations and their spokespersons are expected to the respect the terms and condition of the contribution agreement and uphold values and behaviors that are in line with the objective of the projects.