Information Webinars -June 17, 2024, and July 19, 2024

Changing Systems, Transforming Lives: Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy 2024-2028

Objectives

This information webinar aims to provide an overview of:

• the new Anti-Racism Strategy, including the new Multiculturalism and Anti- Racism Program (MARP); and
• the Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat (ARSEC)

… to answer selected questions from participants.

PART 1: Changing Systems, Transforming Lives: Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy 2024-2028

Mandate and Commitment

In 2021, the Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion was mandated by the Prime Minister to “work across government and in close collaboration with communities to renew Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy” and “continue to strengthen and support the important work of the Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat to ensure a whole-of-government approach in addressing systemic racism, including through increased resources.”

Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy 2024-2028:

• is supported by a $110.4 million investment through the 2022 and 2023 federal budgets;
• builds on lessons learned and accomplishments from Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy for 2019-2022;
• aims to drive results in areas such as employment, health, economic empowerment and public safety;
• will deliver concrete and measurable outcomes that reduce racial disparities and uphold the dignity of individuals who have experienced racism; and
• reflects the Government’s ongoing commitment to promoting inclusivity by embracing and celebrating diversity.

What Informed the Strategy

Shaping Canada’s new Anti-Racism Strategy involved the Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat leading engagement and commemoration activities, including:

• 15 town halls
• 2 national summits on antisemitism and Islamophobia
• 1 national youth forum on anti-Black racism
• 21 roundtables
• Over 500 recommendations and 23,000 responses to an online questionnaire on combatting racism were received.

The new Anti-Racism Strategy is also based on third-party evaluation of Canada’s 2019-2022 Strategy, which identified the need for:

• Stronger Federal Coordination;
• Enhanced federal efforts on Islamophobia, antisemitism, and anti-Black racism;
• More focus on the history of Indigenous Peoples and specific racialized communities and their experiences;
• Specific action on hate and disinformation;
• Financial supports through grants and contributions programs.

Source: Grouped Evaluation of the Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Program and Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy, 2017-18 to 2021-22

At a Glance: Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy 2024-2028

Vision

• An inclusive, equitable society free of racism where everyone can fully and meaningfully participate in and thrive in all economic, cultural, social, and political spheres.
• For the Federal Government to work more effectively with diverse communities, including Indigenous partners, to eliminate systemic racism and improve the quality of life of populations facing racism and discrimination in Canada.

Priorities

• Promoting economic, social and cultural empowerment;
• Advancing racial equity in immigration, health, and housing systems;
• Driving justice, law enforcement, intelligence, and public safety systems reform; and
• Using international engagement to inform advancement on racial equity and inclusion at home.

The Strategy covers 70 federal initiatives, involving more than 20 departments and agencies:

• Community Investments for Transformative Change (Canadian Heritage [PCH]);
• Anti-Racism Framework for the federal public service (Employment and Social Development Canada [ESDC]);
• Anti-Racism and Anti-Hate Results Framework (PCH);
• Exploring anti-racism legislation (PCH); and
• Strengthened Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat (ESDC).

Taking a Distinction-Based and Targeted Approach Against Multiple Forms of Racism…

Anti-Indigenous Racism

• A specifically tailored approach to address anti- Indigenous racism, grounded in the history of colonialism, displacement, genocide, language loss, and Residential schools.

Anti-Black Racism

• Particular attention to dismantling and addressing racism embedded in systems and policies that harm Black people

Racialized & Religious Minority Communities

• Address the ways in which systemic racism also affects the lives of countless members of Asian, Latin American, Arab, Jewish, Muslim, Palestinian, Sikh, Hindu, and other racialized and religious minority communities.

PART 2: The Renewed Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Program (MARP)

Overview of the MARP

• MARP is the Canadian Heritage-led grants and contribution program under Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy.
• 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 consolidated into a single set of terms and conditions under the MARP.

MARP’s objectives are:

• Advancing anti-racism;
• Fostering ethnocultural diversity and inclusion;
• Promoting intercultural and interfaith understanding;
• Providing equitable opportunities;
• Promoting dialogue on multiculturalism and anti-racism; and
• Supporting research on disparities and challenges.

MARP’s Three Funding Components

Through the Events component, MARP supports community-based initiatives promoting:

• Intercultural or interfaith understanding through dialogue on multiculturalism, diversity, racism, and religious discrimination; and
• Communities’ history and culture, including heritage months recognized by Parliament.

Priorities include:

• Initiatives that are led by or serving the communities of focus in Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy (Indigenous Peoples, Black and racialized communities, and religious minorities);
• Initiatives that reach into rural and remote locations across Canada;
• United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent;
• Combatting anti-Asian racism; and
• Building community resilience.

Funding applications under the Events component are accepted on a continuous basis.

Example: The Mosaiq Multicultural Festival in the Atlantic region serves as a vibrant gathering that unites individuals of all ages and diverse backgrounds.

Through the Organizational Capacity Building component, MARP supports initiatives that:

• Build and strengthen internal capacity of organizations to advance anti-racism;
• Contribute to the recipient’s ability to promote intercultural and interfaith understanding; and
• Provide equitable opportunities, promote dialogue on multiculturalism and anti- racism, and build understanding of disparities.

The Organizational Capacity Building component call for proposals took place between December 11, 2023, and February 22, 2024. The program is currently in the process of reviewing all submitted projects.

The Projects component is currently undergoing a redesign.

• The next call for proposals for the Projects component is scheduled for Fall 2024.
• Initiatives such as Winnipeg’s Anti-Racism in Sport Campaign offer concrete tools and strategies for effectively combating racism.

Additional Information on MARP

Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Program webpage

Email:

financementpmlcr-fundingmarp@pch.gc.ca

PART 3: The Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat (ARSEC)

Work of ARSEC

The Mandate

The Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat (ARSEC) supports federal departments and agencies address the impact of systemic racism on Indigenous Peoples, Black communities, racialized communities, and religious minorities. To do so, it:

• Engages with diverse communities to better understand their needs and the impacts of federal policies; and
• Coordinates and leads whole-of-government work to design and deliver policies that tackle systemic racism across a variety of areas.

To fulfill this leadership role, ARSEC helps federal organizations understand the impact of federal measures on populations facing racism and develop new initiatives to redress racial inequities, through its Integrated Anti-Racism Results Delivery Framework.

The Community to Government Policy Recommendation Pipeline

As part of this policy function, ARSEC supports the federal government by engaging with non-government organizations, businesses, labour organizations, provinces, and territories, as well as international organizations and other countries to ensure a sound understanding of views, needs, trends, and perspectives outside of the federal government. This engagement serves as a mechanism to work collaboratively on driving meaningful change in the lives of those most affected by different forms of racism and hate within Canada and internationally.

Anti-Racism Framework Suite of Tools

The Anti-Racism Framework is being envisioned as a series of analytical applied tools and a wraparound institutional approach for the federal public service, which offers:

• A basis for planning and institutional design;
• A process for implementation, monitoring and evaluation that eliminates systemic barriers, decolonizing systems, and generating positive societal outcomes.

The Framework is to be set-up so that anti-racist principles and practices regularly, consistently, and meaningfully shape the machinery of government and the development and review of all programs, policies, services, and laws.

With the understanding that systemic racism was woven into the institutional and legal fabric of colonial and the early confederation Canada for generations, the Framework presents a foundation for naming the change that must occur and providing people with the building blocks to facilitate this change.

The tool is part of a wraparound approach that would be undertaken that includes assistive curricula, training, and job aides, as well as supports from departmental resources people skilled in anti-racist practice.

International Engagement Areas

International Initiatives to Advance Racial Equity at Home:

The Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat has been at the forefront of federal efforts to establish international arrangements and agreements with like-minded allies on racial equity and inclusion.

North American Partnership on Equity and Racial Justice (Signed 2023)

ARSEC leveraged its international networks to work with Global Affairs Canada, as well as Mexican and US authorities, to facilitate the agreement among Prime Minister Trudeau and Presidents Biden Lopez Obrador (Mexico) to announce the creation of a North American Partnership on Racial Equity and Inclusion. ARSEC then headed the negotiations with the US and Mexico that led to Foreign Ministers Joly and Ebrand (Mexico) and US Secretary of State Blinken signing the Declaration on the Partnership, in Mexico City, on the margins of the North American Leaders’ Summit in January 2023.

Canada-Mexico Action Plan

Facilitated the insertion of an anti-racism pillar in the Canada-Mexico Action Plan signed by PM Trudeau and Mexico’s President Lopez- Obrador.

Canada-Brazil Partnership on Racial Equity and Inclusion:

ARSEC worked with Global Affairs Canada to unlock a commitment from the Brazilian government to announce the Partnership. It has since consulted Black stakeholders from across Canada on the content of the Partnership and will be working with Brazilian authorities to finalize the terms of the Partnership.