Question Period Note: NEW HORIZONS FOR SENIORS PROGRAM

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

• The Government of Canada is committed to enhancing the inclusion of seniors in all aspects of Canadian life.

• The New Horizons for Seniors Program supports local projects led by and for seniors – making a difference in communities and helping to improve seniors’ quality of life.

• Over $71 million was spent last year for over 3,400 of these projects across Canada. The 2024 Call for Proposals closed on September 12th.

• 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.

• From 2015-2016 to 2023-2024, over $559M in funding has been given to organizations across Canada through the community-based and Pan-Canadian streams of the New Horizons for Seniors Program.

• The table below shows the breakdown of the total annual approved funding amount under the Program. For Pan-Canadian multi-year collective impact projects, the associated data is presented in the year in which the funding agreements were established:

Fiscal Year

2015-2016
Number of Funded Projects: 1,849
Amount of Approved Funding: $38.86 million

2016-2017 *includes Pan-Canadian multi-year projects
Number of Funded Projects: 1,873
Amount of Approved Funding: $56.84 million

2017-2018
Number of Funded Projects: 1,884
Amount of Approved Funding: $34.9 million

2018-2019
Number of Funded Projects: 2,005
Amount of Approved Funding: $36.48 million

2019-2020*includes Pan-Canadian multi-year projects
Number of Funded Projects: 2,852
Amount of Approved Funding: $119.37 million

2020-2021
Number of Funded Projects: 4,264
Amount of Approved Funding: $79.89 million

2021-2022
Number of Funded Projects: 3,000
Amount of Approved Funding: $61.2 million

2022-2023
Number of Funded Projects: 3,068
Amount of Approved Funding: $60.98 million

2023-24
Number of Funded Projects: 3,450
Amount of Approved Funding: $71.25 million

Total
Number of Funded Projects: 24, 245
Amount of Approved Funding: $ 559.77 million

• Over $122M of funding during this same period was for organizations in Quebec.

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, 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.

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

• The 2023-24 Call for Proposals resulted in 5,948 applications representing more than $130M in total funding requested. A total of 3,451 community-based projects were ultimately funded, for a total investment of $71.23M.

• The 2024-2025 Call for Proposals was open from August 1, 2024, to September 12, 2024.
Pan-Canadian Projects:
• The Pan-Canadian stream funds multi-year projects that use collaborative and innovative approaches to build community capacity and increase seniors’ social inclusion.

• The most recent Call for Concepts for the Pan-Canadian stream of the New Horizons for Seniors Program was held from October 4 to November 15, 2023, with the theme of increasing the social inclusion of vulnerable populations of seniors.

• More than 500 applications were received under this Call for Concepts. In August 2024, 20 organizations were notified that they had been selected to develop a full proposal as part of the second step of the Call for Concepts. Projects are anticipated to start by December 2024.

“Every year, the New Horizons for Seniors Program funds thousands of projects that enrich the lives of Canadian seniors, fight loneliness and build community. I encourage all eligible organizations to apply to this year’s call for proposals.”
- Steven MacKinnon, Minister of Labour and Seniors