Question Period Note: NEW HORIZONS FOR SENIORS PROGRAM

How does the New Horizons for Seniors Program community-based stream support Canadian communities?

• The New Horizons for Seniors Program supports the Government of Canada’s overarching goals to enhance the quality of life and promote the full participation of individuals, including seniors, in all aspects of Canadian life.

• For instance, the Program provides seniors the opportunity to benefit from, and contribute to, the quality of life in their communities through promoting volunteerism as well as provide capital assistance for community projects and/or programs for seniors.

• In our last funding call, held in fall 2021, we received over 4,200 applications and were able to fund over 3,000 projects.

• In order to help meet the demand for funding, Budget 2022 announced $20 million over two years, beginning in 2022-23, for an expanded New Horizons for Seniors Program to support more projects that improve the quality of life for seniors and help them continue to fully participate in their communities.

• These projects will not only improve the well-being of seniors, they will also help communities to benefit from the increased participation and contribution of seniors to community life.

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’s two funding streams are:
1. Community-based; and
2. Pan-Canadian.
• Budget 2022 announced $20 million over two years, beginning in 2022-23, for an expanded New Horizons for Seniors Program to support more projects that improve the quality of life for seniors and help them continue to fully participate in their communities.

• The current annual budget is $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.

• During the pandemic, the Department provided both community-based and pan-Canadian funded organizations with flexibilities to adapt their current project activities to support seniors impacted by COVID-19. Examples of project changes include organizations adapting in-person programming to virtual programs, delivering groceries and other necessities and making phone calls to isolated seniors.
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 a maximum funding per community-based project of $100K over two years. However, funding is typically allocated through an annual Call for Proposals, which funds grants of up to $25K over one year.

• 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.

• The assessment and processing of NHSP applications does not differ between those submitted in English and French. The same process is used to issue funding agreements across Canada. Recommendations on funding are based on provincial/territorial funding allocations (according to senior populations), project merit and national priorities.

• The New Horizons for Seniors Program continues to be an oversubscribed program.

• The 2021 Call for Proposals was open from November 23 to December 22, 2021. A total of 4,285 community-based applications representing more than $93 million were received. A total of 3,003 community-based projects were funded for an investment of $61.23M.
• All successful organizations had agreements in place within three months, by March 31, 2022, following the close of the CFP.

• Breakdown of funded projects by Provinces and Territories for the 2021 CFP:
Province/Territory CFP 2021
Number of Projects - English Number of Projects - French Total of Number of Projects Funding Agreement - English Funding Agreement - French Total of Funding Agreement
Newfoundland and Labrador 69 1 70 $1,306,167 $25,000 $1,331,167
Prince Edward Island 28 1 29 $559,689 $20,650 $580,339
Nova Scotia 96 6 102 $1,965,022 $119,813 $2,084,835
New Brunswick 63 22 85 $1,208,025 $522,486 $1,730,511
Quebec 95 678 773 $1,736,090 $12,915,607 $14,651,697
Ontario 1,020 16 1,036 $21,554,923 $386,788 $21,941,711
Manitoba 117 0 117 $2,224,974 $0 $2,224,974
Saskatchewan 92 3 95 $1,891,742 $63,525 $1,955,267
Alberta 241 13 254 $4,943,990 $283,238 $5,227,228
British Columbia 389 9 398 $8,221,866 $214,738 $8,436,604
Yukon 12 1 13 $284,781 $25,000 $309,781
Northwest Territories 21 1 22 $515,982 $25,000 $540,982
Nunavut 9 0 9 $214,060 $0 $214,060
Total 2, 252 751 3 003 $46,627,311 $14,601,845 $61,229,156

 
• The following table provides the allocations for the 2021 CFP.

Province/Territory Senior Population (% of Canada’s senior population) Funding allocation ($325K plus proportion of seniors
Newfoundland and Labrador 1.7% $1,298,926
Prince Edward Island 0.5% $590,682
Nova Scotia 3.0% $2,087,821
New Brunswick 2.5% $1,753,584
Quebec 24.8% $14,673,286
Ontario 37.7% $21,965,440
Manitoba 3.4% $2,239,636
Saskatchewan 2.9% $1,967,684
Alberta 9.2% $5,228,147
British Columbia 14.1% $8,469,089
Yukon 0.1% $367,952
Northwest Territories 0.1% $358,360
Nunavut 0.0% $339,394
Total 100.0% $61,340,000

Pan-Canadian Projects:
• The last funding call in this stream was a Call for Concepts held in 2018-2019. These Collective Impact projects were funded for up to five years (starting in 2019-20) with an average value of $2.6M. Over 200 concepts for projects to increase the social inclusion of seniors were received and 22 Collective Impact plans were funded.

"Every year, the New Horizons for Seniors Program makes a meaningful difference in the lives of seniors across Canada. I am thrilled that we are funding thousands of projects across the country focused on improving the quality of life of seniors. These projects will help seniors fight social isolation, combat seniors fraud, and will support healthy aging in an inclusive and accessible environment. By supporting these community-based projects we are taking action to ensure that seniors are empowered and have a strong presence in their communities."
– Minister of Seniors, Kamal Khera

"Seniors are the backbone of our communities and we have to make sure that they have the means to fully and actively participate in our communities. Thousands of projects across the country are going to help seniors to stay active and to be socially connected through the New Horizons for Seniors Program. Our government will continue to be there for seniors from coast to coast to coast and to ensure that they have the supports they deserve."
– Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Seniors, Darren Fisher

"The World Health Organization describes ageism as how we think, feel and act towards others or oneself based on age. Ageism toward oneself results from internalizing societal ageism. The Centre on Aging is pleased to be able to work with community organizations with our new funding to develop programming to reduce internalized ageism in older people and to allow them to maximize their full potential and to improve their lives."
– Director, Centre on Aging, Michelle M. Porter