Question Period Note: Community Sport for All Initiative

The Community Sport for All Initiative was launched on February 1, 2022, to help community organizations kick-start local organized sports with a focus on equity-deserving groups. 

The Community Sport for All Initiative seeks to reduce barriers to participation in sports for equity-deserving groups, in particular, Black, Indigenous, racialized, 2SLGBTQI+, low income, persons with disabilities, and newcomers. 

In 2022-23, over
$36.5 million was provided for sport activities at the community level. 

For the 2023-24 fiscal year, 39 National Sport Organizations received funding totalling
$16.7 million to increase participation in sport across the country.

Budget 2024 announced an additional $15 million over two years starting in 2024-25 to continue supporting community sport programming and reducing barriers to sport participation.

In Budget 2021, the Government of Canada announced $80 million over two years to support organized sport and to help communities recover from the impacts of COVID-19 and kick-start local organized sports that are accessible to all. The Community Sport for All Initiative seeks to remove barriers to participation in sports for equity-deserving groups in order to increase participation and retention in sport. 

In 2022-23, the Community Sport for All Initiative funding was directed at the national level organizations, or other organizations with the scope and capacity to implement projects in multiple jurisdictions, to administer and disburse project funding to community organizations, which in turn deliver quality sport programming to Canadians, including the identified equity-deserving groups. 

The program was launched on February 1, 2022, and has provided over $33 million to 19 national-level organizations, which in turn was disbursed to community level organizations.

Additionally, over $3.5 million was allocated to 5 national-level organizations to deliver sport at the community-level, without third party delivery.

Since the first year of the program was launched in 2022-23 instead of 2021-22, a request was made to reprofile $40 million to 2023-24. The reprofile request was approved, but for $20 million.

The second year of the Community Sport for All Initiative was launched on July 19, 2023, with an intake date of August 4, 2023.

Thirty-nine National Sport Organizations were approved in November 2023 to receive funding for the total amount of $16.7 million. The Community Sport for All Initiative is delivered through the Sport Support Program and funding through this component is community project-based and the projects are guided by the following principles: affordable, result-oriented, focused on organized sport, green, accessible, and available.

In Budget 2024, the Government of Canada announced an additional $15 million over two years starting in 2024-25 to support the community sport programming and reduce barriers to sport participation.

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