Evaluation of Canada’s Action Plan Against Racism

CAPAR evaluation — Management response

Key Finding Response Action Accountability Implementation Date
I. Program Relevance

There is a need for initiatives to combat racism and discrimination in Canada, given the country’s increasingly diverse society and the existence of racism. Canada has a long history of promoting human rights, equality, and multiculturalism, and the GoC supports various federal and international commitments to combat racism and discrimination.

CIC agrees with this finding.

Issues related to discrimination and understanding in Canada have evolved. With ever increasing diversity (particularly religious diversity), the GoC’s response to combat racism/discrimination should be adapted in order to face new challenges occurring in Canada.

Approaches developed at CIC to addressing racism and discrimination now focus on commonalities rather than differences.

The Multiculturalism Program is undertaking a review of the approach to addressing racism and discrimination in order to better support to GoC’s priority of building an integrated, socially cohesive society. This process will include advice to the Minister and a range of policy options. Decisions on the specific policy approach will be made in Q4 2010-11.

Citizenship and Multiculturalism Branch (CMB)

Q4 2010-11

II. Program Implementation

The CAPAR design was not aligned with its original intent. More specifically, what was intended to be a GoC-wide initiative to combat racism ultimately was designed to coordinate performance measurement among the funded initiatives.

Recommendation: For future horizontal initiatives, CIC should ensure that the design of the initiative supports: the intended rationale for horizontal management; the desired level of collaboration with partners; and the expected outcomes of the initiative. In particular, the rationale and scope of collaboration need to be clearly established before developing the design.

Although CAPAR was cast as a five year action plan, funding for the current set of initiatives is ongoing. It should be noted that each of the CAPAR initiatives has its own terms and conditions.

It should also be noted in response to this recommendation that improvements to the design of the horizontal initiative will need to take into account changes that have taken place since the launch of the CAPAR initiatives. Two of the funded initiatives were gradually subsumed under existing programming. This includes CIC’s Welcoming Communities Initiative (WCI), which has been integrated into the streamlined settlement approach. Similarly, the Department of Justice’s (DoJ’s) ongoing Grants and Contributions funding for CAPAR is now delivered under a larger umbrella program called the “Justice Partnership Innovation Program”. In addition, of the nine new CAPAR initiatives, four were never launched or were discontinued for various reasons. As of October 2010, funded CAPAR initiatives are taking place in only three departments.

The Multiculturalism Program is undertaking a review of the approach to addressing racism and discrimination in order to better support to GoC’s priority of building an integrated, socially cohesive society. This process will include advice to the Minister and a range of policy options. The results of this process will have implications for the future design of the horizontal initiative. Decisions on the specific policy approach will be made in Q4 2010-11.

Given the lack of materiality of CAPAR-related funding (currently less than $10M per year across CIC, HRSDC and DOJ), CMB is not recommending a horizontal approach to renewed programming but rather focussing on strengthening CIC programming in this area.

CMB will continue horizontal information sharing on racism and discrimination related issues.

Citizenship and Multiculturalism Branch (CMB)

Q4 2010-11

There was little cohesion between the funded initiatives.

Recommendation: For future horizontal initiatives, CIC should ensure that there is a sufficient level of cohesion among the included activities and partners, particularly with respect to their ability to work towards common objectives and to develop meaningful collaborative relationships. This cohesion can facilitate the development of common performance measures as well as reporting on the achievement of common outcomes for the initiative.

Initially (in 2005), the Action Plan included the funded and non-funded initiatives, and aimed to demonstrate an overall coordinated approach to GoC’s efforts in combating racism and discrimination.

In fact, Canada’s Action Plan Against Racism on six key priority areas:

  • Assist victims and groups vulnerable to racism and related forms of discrimination
  • Develop forward-looking approaches to promote diversity and combat racism
  • Strengthen the role of civil society
  • Strengthen regional and international cooperation
    Educate children and youth on diversity and anti-racism
  • Counter hate and bias

The newly funded initiatives in 2005 had their own objectives within their respective priority area. While these initiatives fit within the six priority areas, there was no definition of common outcomes for the funded programs.

The Multiculturalism Program is undertaking a review of the approach to addressing racism and discrimination in order to better support the GoC‘s commitments to building an integrated, socially cohesive society. This process will include advice to the Minister and a range of policy options. Decisions on the specific policy approach will be made in Q4 2010-11.

Given the lack of materiality of CAPAR-related funding (currently less than $10M per year across CIC, HRSDC and DOJ), CMB is not recommending a horizontal approach to renewed programming but rather focussing on strengthening CIC programming in this area.

CMB will continue horizontal information sharing on racism and discrimination related issues.

Citizenship and Multiculturalism Branch (CMB)

Q4 2010-11

The governance structure put in place for CAPAR was limited in its effectiveness.

Recommendation: For future horizontal initiatives, CIC should ensure that an appropriate governance structure, with the necessary level of senior management involvement, is in place.

CIC agrees with this finding.

The Multiculturalism Program is undertaking a review of the approach to addressing racism and discrimination in order to better support the GoC‘s commitments to building an integrated, socially cohesive society. This process will include advice to the Minister and a range of policy options. Decisions on the specific policy approach will be made in Q4 2010-11.

Given the lack of materiality of CAPAR-related funding (currently less than $10M per year across CIC, HRSD and DOJ), CMB is not recommending a horizontal approach to renewed programming but rather focussing on strengthening CIC programming in this area.

CMB will continue horizontal information sharing on racism and discrimination related issues.

Citizenship and Multiculturalism Branch (CMB)

Q4 2010-11

III. Results

Funded initiatives undertook a wide range of activities in support of CAPAR outcomes. Some information from the program evaluations of the funded initiatives demonstrated the achievement of immediate outcomes. However, the nature and scope of CAPAR made it difficult to assess its overall impact. Delays in the implementation of certain initiatives and the cancellation of others appear to have limited the degree of CAPAR’s success.

Agreed.

The measurement/evaluation of social outcomes continues to be a challenge.

Some CAPAR initiatives have demonstrated a high degree of success. The recent evaluation of the Hate-Motivated Crime Data Collection Strategy has clearly shown that the initiative is a success. The evaluators have stated that the Data Collection Strategy demonstrates a high degree of relevance both in the context of aligning with federal priorities and in light of Canada’s international commitments to collect hate crime data.

As recognized in this evaluation finding, some of the CAPAR initiatives have been rolled out only recently (e.g. Hate-Motivated Crime Data Collection Strategy; Racism Free Workplace Strategy) and more time is required to gather more robust data as well as establish baselines and indicators to more accurately measure their intermediate outcomes.

No action required.

We are considering, however, based upon initial results of the Hate-Motivated Data Collection Strategy, a modest increase to support increased training to allow for the expansion to more police forces, as well as improving awareness of this work.

   
The horizontal approach added limited value to either the funded or non-funded initiatives, which was primarily a result of its design. Agreed.

The Multiculturalism Program is undertaking a review of the approach to addressing racism and discrimination in order to better support the GoC‘s commitments to building an integrated, socially cohesive society. This process will include advice to the Minister and a range of policy options. Decisions on the specific policy approach will be made in Q4 2010-11.

Given the lack of materiality of CAPAR-related funding (currently less than $10M per year across CIC, HRSDC and DOJ), CMB is not recommending a horizontal approach to renewed programming but rather focussing on strengthening CIC programming in this area.

CMB will continue horizontal information sharing on racism and discrimination related issues.

Citizenship and Multiculturalism Branch (CMB)

Q4 2010-11

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