Will the non-profit sector get a home in the federal government in 2021? Senator Ratna Omidvar weighs in.
Why It Matters
To get back on its feet through and after the pandemic, and support Canadaโs recovery agenda, sector advocates like Senator Ratna Omidvar say the non-profit and charitable sector needs a much closer relationship with the federal government. Could the new Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry make it happen?
Itโs no secret that many in Canadaโs non-profit and charitable sector feel left behind by the federal governmentโs pandemic response โ from rules that make emergency funds inaccessible to some organizations to others who say thereโs just flat-out not enough of it in the first place. And the struggles the sector has faced have been jarring: layoffs and closures have been widespread.ย
Things might have gone differently, says Senator Ratna Omidvar, if the federal government had heeded recommendation 14 in a 2019 report from the Special Senate Committee on the Charitable Sector, of which Sen. Omidvar is the deputy chair: โThat the Government of Canada, through the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, create a secretariat on the charitable and non-profit sector.โ
Meanwhile, a cabinet shuffle early last week saw Minister of Innovation, Scie
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