Question Period Note: NEW HORIZONS FOR SENIORS PROGRAM

How does the New Horizons for Seniors Program (NHSP) community-based stream support Canadian seniors and their communities? Evidence of the need to combat social isolation has never been stronger. Studies have shown the health risks from social isolation are comparable to smoking daily, excessive drinking and obesity. The National Institute on Ageing (NIA) declared social isolation and loneliness among older Canadians an epidemic in 2023. An NIA survey conducted in 2025 showed that 43% of Canadians aged 50+ are at risk of social isolation.

Founded in 2016, the NIA is an organization based at Toronto Metropolitan University that focuses on issues related to aging.

Since 2004, the New Horizons for Seniors Program (NHSP) has funded over 45,000 local community-based projects and broader-reaching pan-Canadian projects in hundreds of communities across Canada, with the Government’s total investment now surpassing $1 billion in funding.

This year, the Government is investing over $54 million for more than 2,600 community-based projects that support seniors in more than 400 communities across Canada.

More than 900,000 seniors participate in NHSP community-based projects each year with 91 percent of projects reporting making a difference in seniors lives through a reduction in social isolation.

The Government of Canada is committed to addressing the social isolation of Canadian seniors.

Evidence of the need to combat social isolation has never been stronger. Studies have shown that the health risks from social isolation are comparable to smoking daily, excessive alcohol consumption, and obesity.

The New Horizons for Seniors Program community-based stream invests in local projects led by and for seniors – making a meaningful impact by helping to improve seniors’ quality of life.

This year, more than 2,600 projects that support seniors in over 400 communities across Canada received over $54 million in investment.

The New Horizons for Seniors Program is a Grants and Contributions program created in 2004 to help ensure that seniors can benefit from, and contribute to, the quality of life in their communities through the following program objectives:

promote volunteerism among seniors and other generations;

engage seniors in the community through mentoring of others;

expand awareness of elder abuse, including financial abuse;

support social participation and inclusion of seniors; and

provide capital assistance for new and existing community projects and/or programs for seniors.

The program funds both community-based and Pan-Canadian projects with an annual budget of $70 million:

The community-based stream’s annual budget is $50.04 million;

The Pan-Canadian stream’s annual budget is $13.1 million; and

The administration of the program is $6.86 million.

Community-Based projects:

Projects are led or inspired by seniors and address one or more of the five program objectives.

Program Terms and Conditions allow maximum funding per community-based project of $100K over two years. However, funding is typically allocated through an annual Call for Proposals. In the 2025–26 Call for Proposals, organizations were eligible to receive up to $25,000 in grant funding for projects of up to 52 weeks. The 2026-27 Call for Proposals will be launched later this spring, along with changes to the program which include raising the maximum funding amount to $50,000 per project.

To ensure that the distribution of funded projects reflects the distribution of seniors across Canada, spending is allocated across provinces and territories using a simple formula: a base amount of $325K per jurisdiction is applied and the rest of the funding is allocated based on the proportion of population of Canadian seniors living in each jurisdiction.

Recommendations on funding are based on provincial/territorial funding allocations (according to senior populations), project merit and national priorities.

The 2025-2026 Call for Proposals was open from August 6, 2025, to September 17, 2025. It resulted in 6,396 applications representing more than $142.15M in total funding requested. A total of 2,618 community-based projects were ultimately funded, for a total investment of over $54M.

The 2026-27 Call for Proposals will be launched later this spring, along with changes to the program which include raising the maximum funding amount to $50,000 per project.

Pan-Canadian Projects:

This stream funds multi-year projects that use collaborative and innovative approaches to build community capacity and increase seniors’ social inclusion. The last funding process (2018) supported 22 projects that served over 200,000 seniors (and counting) with 83 percent (so far) of projects reporting having increased seniors’ social inclusion.

The most recent NHSP Call for Concepts for Pan-Canadian projects ran from October 4, 2023, to November 15, 2023, and is providing up to $61.9 million over 5 years for 19 projects. The funding call focused on projects that would measurably increase social inclusion among vulnerable seniors in a targeted geographic area.

“The New Horizons for Seniors Program helps fund projects that keep seniors involved in their communities and create more opportunities for participation and inclusion. The projects announced today will help seniors stay active and connected in every part of the country.”

• The Honourable Stephanie McLean, Secretary of State (Seniors)