Question Period Note: Funding programs available for anti-racism and multiculturalism

• Canada’s first Anti-Racism Strategy, Building a Foundation for Change: Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy 2019-2022, had a total investment close to $100 million. The Strategy serves all Canadians by countering racism and discrimination in its various forms, with a strong focus on community-based projects.

• Budget 2022 $85 million over four years, starting in 2022-23, to support Canada’s new Anti-Racism Strategy and develop Canada’s Action Plan on Combatting Hate. This funding includes $70 million in Grants and Contributions to the Community Support, Multiculturalism, and Anti-Racism Initiatives Program and the Anti-Racism Action Program, to support community projects that ensure that Black, Indigenous, racialized and religious minority communities have access to resources that support their full participation in the Canadian economy, while also raising awareness of issues related to racism and hate in Canada.

• The Department of Canadian Heritage provides funding for anti-racism initiatives with the objectives to:
o support communities in confronting racism and discrimination, promoting intercultural and interfaith understanding and fostering equitable opportunities to participate fully in Canadian society
o promote and engage in discussions on multiculturalism, diversity, racism and religious discrimination at the domestic and international levels; and
o strengthen research and evidence to build understanding of the disparities and challenges faced by racialized and religious minority communities, and Indigenous Peoples.

• The Community Support, Multiculturalism, and Anti-racism Initiatives Program (CSMARI) has three funding components: Events, Projects and Community Capacity Building.

• The Anti-Racism Action Program (ARAP) supports projects addressing systemic barriers to employment, justice and social participation among Indigenous Peoples, racialized communities, and religious minorities, or addressing online hate and promoting digital literacy.

• Between 2019-2020 and 2022-2023, through ARAP and CSMARI, we have supported:
o 1227 CSMARI events for a total investment of over $27.8 million to support community-based events and activities;
o 450 CSMARI initiatives for a total investment of over $40 million to support community-based initiatives; and
o 172 ARAP projects for a total investment of $34.6 million to address systemic racism and/or online hate.

• The Department has implemented a number of measures to strengthen the programs that fall under Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy (the Community Support, Multiculturalism, and Anti-Racism Initiatives Program and the Anti-Racism Action Program) to ensure that organizations and individuals that espouse racist, antisemitic and / or other forms of hateful content will not be eligible to receive funding.
• Funding of close to $70 million over 3 years for the Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Branch’s grants and contributions programming will support community actions with focused direction towards Indigenous, Black, racialized, and religious minority communities.
• To create a more cohesive and efficient grants and contribution program, the terms and conditions related to the Community Support, Multiculturalism, and Anti-Racism Initiatives Program (CSMARI) and Anti-Racism Action Program (ARAP) components were merged into a single set of terms and conditions under the Multiculturalism and Anti-racism (MAR) Program.
• In addition, the objectives of the Program were strengthened as follows:
o advance anti-racism; foster ethno-cultural diversity and inclusion; promote intercultural and interfaith understanding;
o provide equitable opportunities for equity-deserving populations and community organizations to participate fully in all aspects of Canadian society;
o promote dialogue on multiculturalism, anti-racism, racial equity, diversity and inclusion to advance institutional and systemic change so that Canada becomes a more inclusive society, free from racism and hate-motivated actions; and
o fund research and evidence projects to build understanding of the disparities and challenges faced by equity-deserving populations.

• Funding under the Program will be provided under the following three funding streams: Events, Projects, and Organizational Capacity Building.

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