Question Period Note: BLACK CANADIAN COMMUNITIES

Budget 2023 provided $25 million, in 2024-2025, to Employment and Social Development Canada for the Supporting Black Canadian Communities Initiative

• The Government of Canada’s investments in Black communities is an essential element of building an inclusive and resilient country that leaves no one behind.

• Through the Supporting Black Canadian Communities Initiative, the Government of Canada is taking meaningful steps to address the significant and unique challenges Black communities face in Canada.

• This is why the Government has provided an additional $25 million to continue SBCCI’s work of empowering Black-led and Black-serving community organizations, initiatives, and community spaces, in the work they do to promote inclusiveness.

In recognition of the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent, Budget 2019 provided $25 million over five years to create the Supporting Black Canadian Communities Initiative (SBCCI) to celebrate, share knowledge and invest in vibrant Black communities in Canada.

Budget 2021 announced $100 million in 2021-22 for the SBCCI, to address systemic inequities and support capacity building. Budget 2021 also provided Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) with $200 million in 2021-22 to create a new Black-led Philanthropic Endowment Fund.

Budget 2022 announced $50 million over two years, starting in 2022-23, for SBCCI to continue empowering Black-led and Black-serving community organizations and to promote inclusiveness. Budget 2022 also provided direction to the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development to explore further options to continue supporting capacity building within Black-led and Black-serving community organizations in the long term.

Most recently, Budget 2023 provided $25 million, in 2024-25, to ESDC for SBCCI, to continue empowering Black-led and Black-serving community organizations and the work they do to promote inclusiveness.

To strengthen foundational infrastructure in Black communities, ESDC works in collaboration with National Funders: Groupe 3737 (Montreal), Tropicana Community Services (Toronto), Black Business Initiative (Halifax) and Africa Centre (Edmonton) to ensure that federal investments respond to the local needs of Black communities in Canada.

The National Funders Network provides funding to support capacity building to help Black-led organizations diversify income sources and financing; enhance operational management effectiveness and efficiency and strengthen capacity for governance for Black-led organizations. To date, the National Funders Network has awarded over $67 million in grants to 1300 projects.

In addition, ESDC has funded, more than 1,300 projects with a total investment of more than $82 million in capital project assistance to purchase equipment and, retrofit and renovate spaces so Black-serving grassroots organizations are better equipped to fulfil their mission.

SBCCI also supports emerging priorities and important legacy initiatives that address specific needs in Black Communities. One such initiative is the former Nova Scotia Home for Coloured Children, for which $2.2 million in funding was provided to renovate and transform this major historical site into an accessible community hub for the African-Nova Scotian community. The site reopened on October 23, 2022, as the Kinney Place, an incubator for Black business and an intergenerational hub for the community.

Additionally, SBCCI is providing $2.1 million to Centre culturel afro-canadien de Montréal(CCAM) to fund the renovation and expansion of an inclusive cultural centre in Montreal focused on the preservation and promotion of Black communities’ cultural heritage in Quebec.

Black Communities have voiced the need to have their voices represented and integrated into government policy decisions. In response, ESDC launched the SBCCI External Reference Group (ERG) in November 2022. The ERG will provide advice to the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development and ESDC on the implementation of the SBCCI by:

• Providing advice on promoting Black community organizations’ inclusion and removing barriers to the full participation of Black Canadians in all aspects of Canada’s economic and social life
• Providing advice on current and new issues affecting Black Canadians and their communities
• Supporting the Government of Canada’s efforts to advance the commitments related to the UNDPAD
• Sharing knowledge and expertise on anti-Black racism issues in Canada

Additionally, $7.2 million over four years is earmarked to establish a national institute for people of African descent. The mandate of this institute is to inform and influence policy and program development at all orders of government, from a Black-centric perspective.

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