Whenever a federal budget is tabled in the House of Commons, there are always programs or initiatives that don’t get any airtime on the nightly news. 

A long-awaited national childcare program, renewed support programs for struggling small businesses, and investments in green economic development ate up most of the commentary on the April 19 federal budget. But planned investments in disaggregated data for racialized communities, changes to the asset disbursement quota, and a recovery fund for Canada’s arts and sports sectors — and much more — never made the front page. 

After the tumult of Monday’s coverage died down, Future of Good’s editorial team pored through the federal budget’s 739 pages for juicy details that Canada’s social impact sector should know about, but may have missed. Here are 20 below the radar points that are essential for the social impact world to understand: 

Starting a disaggregated data collection plan by Statistics Canada

The numbers: $172 million over five years.

The details: The federal budget will fund a Disaggregated Data Action Plan that breaks down statistics on Canada’s population into more detailed sub-categories, such as race, gender, or ethnic group. Improving data collection on diverse communities within Canada is expected to help researchers identify (and address) systemic inequities across the country. 

The reasons: “At present, Canada lacks the detailed statistical data that governments, public institutions, academics, and advocates need in order to take fully informed policy actions and effectively address racial and social inequities.” 

Support for Indigenous-led data strategies

The numbers: $81.5 million over three years

The details: On top of continuing work on a First Nations Data Governance Strategy, Ottaw plans to invest $8 million into helping Inuit and Metis communities develop their own capacity to collect and analyze data.  

The reasons: “Access to reliable and culturally relevant data on Indigenous peoples is critical to building a complete portrait of Indigenous lived experiences, unmasking inequalities, and ensuring delivery of effective policies and programs.”

A major federal green bond

The numbers: A $5 billion issuance target.

The details: Canada will be issuing a federal green bond to help investors finance the country’s efforts to fight climate change. Eligible projects could include anything from green infrastructure initiatives to natural conservation. And it won’t be the only one. “This will be the first of many green bond issuances,” the federal budget promises. (Export Development Canada, a Crown corporation, already has them up and running). 

The reasons: “Capital is increasingly in search of green projects that support innovative businesses and good jobs. This is a rapidly growing new market and the presence of [very dependable] borrowers will help create a more mature market for investors who are looking for a green portfolio, but also need to manage their investment risk.”

New Canadian social bond

The numbers: Unclear so far. 

The details: Ottawa is open to launching a social bond program, but the details are pretty scant at this point. More details will likely be available when the federal government begins its Debt Management Strategy consultations in late 2021. 

The reasons: “Social bonds are an opportunity to connect socially conscious investors with Government of Canada bonds that support social objectives such as reducing homelessness and improving access to high-quality early learning and child care.”

Reforming the philanthropic disbursement quota 

The numbers: A $1 billion gap between the investment assets of foundations and their disbursements to charities.

The details: Within the next few months, Ottawa wants to launch a consultation process with charities across Canada to talk about potentially increasing the disbursement quota (currently set at 3.5 percent of a foundation’s assets) for grantmakers. Exactly how high the government wants to set the quota isn’t clear from the budget documents. 

The reasons: “…growth in the investment assets of foundations has increased significantly in recent years. In 2019, charitable foundations held over $85 billion in long-term investments. But grant-making and other charitable activities have not kept pace.”

Increasing federal procurement from marginalized businesses

The numbers: $87.4 million over five years. 

The details: Public Services and Procurement Canada, the department responsible for federal procurement, will launch a program focused on buying goods and services from Black-owned businesses and work towards a goal of awarding 5 percent of federal contracts to businesses managed by Indigenous peoples. This money will also integrate accessibility considerations into federal procurement processes, “ensuring goods and services are accessible by design.” 

The reasons: “Since the Government of Canada is one of the largest public buyers of goods and services in the country, procurement policy is a fundamental lever to achieve social and economic objectives. Purchasing domestically sourced or manufactured goods helps to strengthen our supply chains and secure domestic supply of goods.”

Consultations on employee ownership trusts in Canada

The numbers: Unclear so far. 

The details: Ottawa’s ideas on encouraging employee ownership trusts are in the nascent stages, but the federal budget does want to speak with stakeholders about the issues facing prospective employee ownership trusts in Canada, as well as the potential benefits of this model. 

The reasons: “Employee ownership trusts encourage employee ownership of a business, and facilitate the transition of privately owned businesses to employees. Both the United States and the United Kingdom support and encourage employee ownership though these types of arrangements.”

A new National Institute for Women’s Health Research

The numbers: $20 million over five years.

The details: This new institute run out of the the Canadian Institutes of Health Research will look into under-researched areas of women’s health such as ovarian cancer, menopause, and sexual and reproductive health, through an intersectional lens. According to the budget documents, it’ll tackle persistent research gaps “for all women, including for racialized women, Black and Indigenous women, women with disabilities, and members of LGBTQ2 communities.” 

The reasons: “Sex- and gender-related disparities continue to persist in Canada’s health system. Women are more likely to die of preventable illnesses and bear a higher burden of chronic illnesses.”

Creating a national autism strategy

The numbers: $15.4 million over two years. 

The details: This investment is for the Public Health Agency of Canada to start drafting a national autism strategy alongside partners, although the budget documents don’t offer any additional details. What is clear is that this strategy would be aimed at autistic Canadians as well as as caregivers. 

The reasons: “Children and adults with autism spectrum disorder, as well as their families, encounter significant economic and social challenges throughout their lives. Many also confront disparities when it comes to diagnoses and treatments.”

Mental health interventions for COVID-19-affected populations

The numbers: $100 million over three years + $50 million over two years.

The details: Ottawa is earmarking $150 million over the next three years for mental health initiatives and programming aimed at Canadian populations who are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. These include healthcare workers, youth, and racialized Canadians. $50 million is specifically for PTSD programming related to COVID-19. 

The reasons: “Young people have seen the greatest decline in good mental health compared to pre-pandemic levels. Seven in ten health care workers reported worsening mental health during the pandemic. Sixty-four per cent of Indigenous people said their mental health had worsened.”

Expanding local clean energy projects in Indigenous communities

The numbers: $36 million over three years.

The details: Through the Strategic Partnerships Initiative, a program focused on economic opportunities for Indigenous communities, the federal government wants to build capacity for local, economically sustainable, clean energy projects. 

The reasons: “Many communities in the North rely on diesel or other emissions intensive sources of energy, which not only contribute to climate change but also pollute the air.”

Creating thousands of job placements for vulnerable youth

The numbers: $109.3 million by 2023. 

The details: This funding will go towards the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy, an initiative to help Canada’s young workers secure jobs and upgrade their skills. According to the budget, 2023’s investment will support 7,000 more job placements for youth and better assist “vulnerable youth facing multiple barriers to employment.” 

The reasons: “Young Canadians have seen more job losses due to COVID-19 than any other age demographic. This not only deprives them of income that could be used to pay for schooling, build their savings, or cover basic living expenses, but can also lead to long-term consequences by disrupting important experiences in the crucial early years of their working lives.”

A recovery fund for Canada’s arts, sports, and culture sectors

The numbers: $300 million over two years.

The details: Starting this year, Ottawa will begin establishing a recovery fund focused on helping Canada’s heritage, arts, culture, and sports sectors rebound from the pandemic. 

The reasons: “Across Canada, the organizations that host artistic, heritage, and sport events and exhibits have been among the hardest hit during the pandemic, and many Canadian artists and cultural workers have struggled to find work.”

Recapitalization of FinDev Canada

The numbers: $300 million recapitalization over three years starting no later than 2024. 

The details: Using earnings from Export Development Canada, the 2021 federal budget proposes using $300 million to recapitalize FinDev and help it build a $1.4 billion portfolio. FinDev then offers debt and equity to firms in the Global South to help them grow sustainability. 

The reasons: “Private sector finance is critical to helping developing countries reduce poverty, economically empower women, and mitigate and adapt to climate change.”

Implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

The numbers: $31.5 million over two years.

The details: Alongside Indigenous partners, Ottawa hopes to develop an action plan to implement UNDRIP in Canada. “This process will support Indigenous self-determination and enhance nation-to-nation, Inuit-Crown and government-to-government relationships,” the budget documents say. 

The reasons: “The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is the most comprehensive international instrument on the rights of Indigenous peoples. It provides guidance on co-operative relationships with Indigenous peoples based on the principles of equality, partnership, good faith and mutual respect for the survival, dignity and well-being of Indigenous peoples.”

A new National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence:

The numbers: $601.3 million over five years. 

The details: While Ottawa launched a $200-million gender-based violence strategy in 2017, the new budget will allocate over three times that to a new National Action Plan. It’ll include $200 million over two years for organizations focused on ending gender-based violence, another $105 million over five years for initiatives that specifically engage men and boys, and $14 million to set up a dedicated secretariat to coordinate the National Action Plan itself. 

The reasons: “Every 2.5 days a woman or girl is killed in Canada. In the last year alone there were over 160 women violently killed. Sexual assault is a gendered crime that is far more likely to target women, especially young women.”

Addressing systemic racism in the RCMP

The numbers: $75 million over five years. 

The details: The federal government will use this money to reform recruiting and training throughout the RCMP, collect and analyze race-based data, and better evaluate the impact of policing activities “on certain communities”. These investments will also be used to improve the RCMP’s engagement with racialized communities. 

The reasons: “All people in Canada should be treated fairly by our public safety agencies. Yet, systemic racism exists in Canada and racialized communities and Indigenous peoples continue to be overrepresented in the justice system and far too many Canadians do not have confidence that public safety agencies are there to protect them.”

Flexible repayment conditions for Social Finance Fund loans 

The numbers: Unclear. 

The details: The budget revealed that the Social Finance Fund’s loans will be conditionally repayable, meaning that organizations that receive one and don’t perform as well as expected will not be on the hook to the same degree as those that do hit their targets. 

The reasons: Social Development Minister Ahmed Hussen said in a post-budget briefing for the social finance sector Tuesday that this could attract more private sector investment, since the government shoulders more of the risk. It also helps smaller charities and non-profits that are less inclined to take on loans.  

Starting the Age Well at Home initiative

The numbers: $90 million over three years. 

The details: Age Well at Home will help community-based organizations ensure poor or vulnerable seniors can live in their own homes. This money will help those organizations match seniors with volunteers to help with preparing food, maintaining dwellings, daily errands, yard work, or transportation, on top of supporting other regional and national projects focused on “aging in place.” 

The reasons: “After a lifetime of hard work, seniors want to live healthy, safe, and independent lives. Seniors want to stay at home, in the communities that support them, for as long as possible. But that can become difficult as they age. This leads to many vulnerable seniors transitioning to supportive care before they would otherwise need to if they were better supported at home.”

Laying the groundwork for a new disability benefit

The numbers: $11.9 million over three years.

The details: Employment and Social Development Canada will use this money to fund consultations into how to reform Canada’s eligibility process for federal disability programs and ensure they reach as many people as possible. The results of this work would help design a new disability benefit. 

The reasons: “The pandemic has exposed many of the long-standing challenges persons with disabilities face, including an increased risk of poverty. The Government of Canada has a number of programs and services in place that provide support to Canadians with disabilities but these are often complex and can be difficult to navigate for users.”

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