Cheatsheet: 23 important and under-the-radar highlights from Budget 2023

By the Future of Good team

Budget 2023 had a massive hole where many non-profit and charity leaders expected to see renewed funding, a home in government, or robust support for the populations they serve. But this year’s federal fiscal plan wasn’t all bad news for the social impact world. 

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s 2023 budget is, by all accounts, spare and restrained, taking into account a combination of inflationary pressures and the looming threat of a global recession. That said, it did allocate billions of dollars in important funding for causes and communities the social impact sector cares about: everything from Indigenous healthcare to a new Canada Water Agency.

The Future of Good editorial team combed through hundreds of pages of the budget, and its associated financial tables, to pull out both topline and smaller, but potentially catalytic numbers the social impact world should care about: 

$14 million for community cultural projects

This $7 million-a-year package for the Building Communities Through Arts and Heritage program will support three grant programs from the Department of Canadian Heritage. It is unclear whether the grant allowances will be updated. Currently up to $200,000 is available for local festivals, including for celebrating 2SLGBTQ+ and Indigenous communities. There are also grants worth up to $200,00 for festivals commemorating historical anniversaries and  up to $500,000 for capital infrastructure projects.

$36 million for sexual and reproductive health

As legislators roll back reproductive rights in the U.S., the Liberals are funneling $36 million from Health Canada to the Sexual and Reproductive Health Fund. This initiative was first announced as $45 million over three years in the 2021-2022 budget to support health access and educate the public about health. Last year, it received minor top ups to better serve 2SLGBTQ+ communities and other marginalized groups. However, community advocates say funds are being released too slowly.

$10 million for the Local Food Infrastructure Fund for the North

This fund for developing local food networks in Northern communities was first announced five years ago, but Budget 2023 doesn’t offer any new money. The $10 million announced in this budget was already announced last year as part of a two-year top-up to the fund’s $60 million pool. However, the fund is scheduled to end in 2024 and the budget did not include any details of a possible extension.

$43.5 million for asylum seekers’ legal aid

Amid criticism over the government’s renegotiated asylum agreement with the U.S. to crack down on irregular land border crossings, the budget is earmarking $43.5 million to support legal aid for asylum seekers. The same amount was set aside last year. Unique to this budget is an additional $10 million over five years to various departments so they can begin using biometric identification to process citizen applications, something permanent residency applications already use.

$30 million for Indigenous land governance

The budget includes a number of items designed to include Indigenous communities in governing land and land-based projects as a way of advancing economic reconciliation⁠—i.e., access to jobs, wealth, and investment opportunities. This includes a $30 million package over five years for the Reserve Land and Environment Management Program, run by Indigenous Services Canada, which funds land management training and gradually hands over some active land management to First Nations. A further $35.3 million over three years will create a registry of lands managed by First Nations.

First proposed in last year’s budget, the National Benefits-Sharing Framework from Natural Resources Canada to engage more directly with Indigenous communities will be receiving $8.7 million this year. An additional $19.4 million over four years will supplement a similar plan for Northern communities, the Northern Participant Funding Program from Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada.

$158 million for a new suicide prevention hotline 

Announced by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) in August 2022, and slated to launch in November 2023, 988 is a new number that Canadians can call or text to access immediate suicide prevention and mental health crisis support. Budget 2023 has proposed $158.4 million to the Public Health Agency of Canada to implement the service over the next three years, with more long-term funding plans to be reviewed in 2025-2026. This is a huge leap from Budget 2022, where suicide prevention was not mentioned at all, and would take some pressure off non-profit distress centres and mental health charities, by meeting the growing demand for mental health services.

$505 million for better health care data 

Historically, Canada has not held a national database of patients’ health care information, making it challenging to share patient data between different health care providers. In Budget 2023, the federal government has proposed $505 million over five years to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, Canada Health Infoway and “other federal data partners” – it is unclear who these will be – to improve the quality of health care data. These organizations will work with provinces and territories to improve health data indicators and digital health tools, and build “an interoperability roadmap” to enable better information sharing between health care providers. 

$20 million to set up a framework for Employee Ownership Trusts

Budget 2022 promised to introduce a framework for employee ownership trusts (EOT), where a trust holds shares of a corporation for the benefit of its employees. Instead of requiring employees to pay directly to acquire shares in a company (and therefore buy it), the EOT would be used to buy the business. Budget 2023 promises to rework Canadian tax law to establish EOTs with $20 million over five years starting in 2024. Proponents of EOTs say they offer an attractive way for owners to sell to their employees and grow the movement, similar to already existing laws in the U.K. and the U.S. 

An extra $625 million into Labour Market Transfer Agreements 

Every year, the federal government gives about $3 billion to Canada’s provinces and territories to help them fund skills training, on-site work experience, career counselling, and job search experience for roughly a million Canadians. In Budget 2023, Ottawa promised another $625 million extra “to ensure Canadians continue to have access to the support they need to get their next job.” While unemployment is currently close to record lows, the possibility of an economic recession in the coming year isn’t off the table. Plus, workers who are typically underrepresented in the paid workforce — disabled people, Indigenous people, and workers between the ages of 15 and 24 — benefit most from the Agreements. 

$147 million to support seasonal workers on EI for longer

For many workers involved in agriculture, hunting and trapping, and tourism, EI acts as a financial bridge between work seasons. Back in 2018, the federal government gave seasonal workers across parts of the Maritimes, Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, and the Yukon an additional five weeks on EI, to a maximum of 45 weeks a year, but this rule expires in October. Budget 2023 will extend this support until October 2024. This change could be especially welcome for Indigenous workers employed in traditional harvesting industries within these areas, as well as farm workers in smaller agricultural operations. However, Budget 2023 doesn’t establish any permanent changes — seasonal workers will be in the same boat in 2024 if the government doesn’t come up with a longer-term solution. 

$76 million to advance Indigenous governance and self-determination

Budget 2023 has earmarked $76.3 million for Indigenous Services Canada to “support the administrative capacity of First Nations governments and tribal councils” – however, the Budget doesn’t provide any more detail as to what sorts of capacity-building support this funding will prioritize. The statement is vague, but a step up from Budget 2022, which had little in the way of help for First Nations self-governance through administrative capacity-building. 

$15 million to raise awareness of flood risk

In 2022, climate change – and its impact on the Canadian economy – drove a lot of budgetary decisions, including the development of the country’s first National Adaptation Strategy, and $5.4 million to “enhance federal coordination of emergency responses,” which was earmarked both for climate-related and other emergencies. Budget 2023 has proposed to develop an online portal to increase awareness of flood risks among the Canadian population, through $15.3 million over three years to Public Safety Canada. This portal will allow Canadians to determine their own risk of exposure to flooding – which could even have knock-on implications for the housing market. For organizations working to increase community preparedness to disasters, this information could help them better plan and allocate resources. 

Committing to another round of the Smart Cities Challenge 

Launched in 2017, the Smart Cities Challenge allows local municipalities, regional governments and Indigenous communities to win a pot of money to apply to challenges in their specific communities – they submit a proposal for what they would do with the funding, and what the proposed impact would be on their communities. The idea is to build solutions to “improve the lives of residents through innovation, data and connected technology”. The four winning city governments in 2019 took home $75 million in funding between them, using digital tools and technologies to tackle energy poverty, circular food systems, suicide prevention, and urban mobility. Although a specific amount has not been announced, Budget 2023 has committed to launching a new round of the Smart Cities Challenge, to encourage cities and regions to build solutions for climate resiliency. 

$124 million to modernize access to Old Age Security 

As of July 2022, the federal government increased Old Age Security (OAS) benefits for seniors aged 75 and up by 10 per cent, “providing more than $800 in additional support to full pensioners,” per year, per person. The OAS program is the largest federal program, according to the 2023 Budget, and supports more than seven million seniors – but the IT system that administers these benefits needs updating. In Budget 2023, the federal government has proposed $123.9 million, to be spread out over seven years, for Employment and Social Development Canada to complete an IT modernization program for Old Age Security benefits. For organizations working directly with older adults, this is vital information, as it could affect the way that older adults are able to access their benefits digitally. 

$49.5 million for a new action plan to combat hate

To better address the security needs of communities who face hate, the federal government will launch its first ever “Action Plan to Combat Hate” in 2023, with hopes of providing safety for communities that are targets of violence. With that comes a $49.5 million budget which will be distributed over five years to Public Safety Canada to broaden the Communities At Risk: Security Infrastructure Program. The program aims to fund security and infrastructure for places of worship, community centres, and educational institutions that are targeted with hate. The new budget item will distribute $5 million for the 2023-2024 fiscal year, and distribute $11 million each year after until 2027-2028. The new plan was informed by a nation-wide consultation the Liberal government launched last March. 

$359.2 million over five years to combat the opioid crisis

The opioid crisis has devastated communities across the country. From January to September last year, about 20 people died per day as a result of opioid toxicity. To help combat the crisis, Budget 2023 promised a total of $359.2 million over five years, starting in 2023-24. This includes $144 million for Health Canada’s Substance Use and Addictions Program — a fund launched in 2021 that supports other levels of government and non-profits to offer community-based supports, including safer supply programs and supervised consumption sites. It also includes $4.6 million for Public Safety Canada to develop an overdose monitoring app for paramedics and other first responders. 

An additional $4 billion for the Urban, Rural and Northern Indigenous Housing Strategy

Affordable housing is an issue across the country, but it’s one that hits Indigenous people particularly hard. In 2021, Indigenous people were nearly twice as likely as non-Indigenous people to live in crowded housing and almost three times more likely to live in a home in need of major repairs, according to Statistics Canada. To help, the government has proposed an additional $4 billion, beginning in 2024 and spanning over seven years, to implement the Urban, Rural and North Indigenous Housing Strategy. The strategy was first announced in Budget 2022. Over the past year, the government has been consulting with Indigenous partners on its development through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

An additional $826 million for Indigenous Health Priorities

The government promised two new investments to improve the health of Indigenous communities. The first is a five-year, $810.6 million investment through the Non Insured Health Benefits Program to help Indigenous people access mental health, dental, and vision care, medical transportation, and other care not covered by private insurance or government programs. The second is a three-year, $16.2 million investment aimed at reducing rates of tuberculosis in Inuit communities. (The rate of tuberculosis across the 53 communities that comprise Inuit Nunangat — or “the place where Inuit live” — is 300 times higher than in the Canadian-born, non-Indigenous population, according to federal data.)

Additional funds for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls 

Each year, Indigenous women and girls represent between one fifth and one quarter of all female homicides — a rate 4.5 to 7 times higher than non-Indigenous women and girls, according to Department of Justice data. The federal budget promises to speed up the pace of implementing its existing strategy focused on this issue, through a series of investments that support Indigenous communities and families grappling with this violence. Among other investments, it offers $95.8 million over five years to help Indigenous families access information about their missing and murdered loved ones. It also promises $20 million over four years to fund Indigenous-led projects to promote safer communities through the Pathways to Safe Indigenous Communities Initiative.

$25 million to the Support Black Canadian Communities Initiative

In 2019 the federal government created this initiative to build infrastructure for Black community organizations across Canada in recognition of the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent, At the time, the federal government proposed $25 million over five years to Employment and Social Development Canada. This year, the federal government says they will allocate $25 million for 2024-2025 to continue serving Black-led and Black-serving community initiatives. While the proposed budget for the Support Black Canadian Communities Initiative is higher than what it was in 2019, it is significantly lower in comparison to 2021’s budget, where the federal government proposed $100 million in 2021-2022 to support the same initiative. This year’s budget is similar to what was proposed in 2022, which was $25 million for 2022-2023 and 2023-2024. 

$160 million to advance gender equity

Earlier this year, organizations like the Women’s Legal Action and Education Fund (LEAF), The Canadian Women’s Foundation and the Canadian Council of Muslim Women took part in a national campaign telling the federal government to reinvest in gender equity, saying that previous funds from the government were set to expire for over 250 organizations in April 2023. In this year’s budget, the federal government announced $160 million to fund the Women’s Program, which provides funds to organizations that serve women. The $160 million will be distributed over three years, with $7 million being allocated for 2023-2024, and $76 million being allocated for both 2024-2025 and 2025-2026. Organizations like LEAF itself and the Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity celebrate this funding, but they also say that Budget 2023 should make specific commitments that support the 2SLGBTQI+ community, especially during a spike in anti-2SLGBTQI+ hate and violence.

$1.5 million to create a new Anti-Racism Equity and Inclusion Secretariat 

This two-year funding would create a new Anti-Racism Equity and Inclusion Secretariat, with the funding being split evenly between 2023-2024 and 2024-2025. Initially proposed in Canada’s 2019-2022 Anti-Racism Strategy, the role aims to ensure anti-racism, equity and inclusion within federal government policies, was initially proposed in Canada’s. The proposed role will also be responsible for working with non-government organizations, Indigenous communities and provinces and territories to address and resolve other areas that need action. 

$32 million for inclusion of Canadians with disabilities

In September 2020, the federal government announced the Canada Disability Benefit , with Budget 2021 allocating $11.9 million to design the benefit over a span of three years. However, due to the federal election in 2021, designing the benefit was postponed until June 2022, which the House of Commons unanimously passed this February. The legislation for the benefit promises tax-free monthly payments (as of now the exact amount is undetermined) to low-income Canadians with disabilities who are under the age of 65. Disability rights groups like Disability Without Poverty want to amend the bill to better financially support people. Budget 2023 proposes $21.5 million for 2023-2024 to Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) to carry out the launch of the new benefit. The government also proposes allocating $10 million over two years as of this year to ESDC to fund disability organizations in Canada, which follows the Disability Inclusion Action Plan that was launched in October 2022. 

The reporters who worked on this story are Future of Good editorial fellows. Editorial fellowships are funded by partner organizations, but produce independent journalism.

Brennan Doherty’s fellowship is funded by the Canadian Tire Jumpstart Foundation. Gabe Oatley’s fellowship is funded by Community Foundations of Canada and United Way Centraide Canada. Ramona Leitao’s fellowship is funded by the WES Mariam Assefa Fund. Sharlene Gandhi’s fellowship is funded by Mastercard Changeworks. Tahmeed Shafiq’s fellowship is funded by Cooperators.

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