Backgrounder: Moving forward together  – Canada's 2030 Agenda National Strategy

From: Employment and Social Development Canada

Backgrounder

Moving Forward Together – Canada’s 2030 Agenda National Strategy

The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda) and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a shared responsibility that requires a whole‑of‑society approach. Meaningful multi‑stakeholder partnerships are fundamental to achieving the SDGs. Moving Forward Together – Canada’s 2030 Agenda National Strategy aims to create and foster an enabling environment for ongoing participation, dialogue, and whole-of-society collaboration to help advance progress.

To create this environment, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), together with other government departments, is leveraging new and existing opportunities to engage with all levels of government, Indigenous organizations, civil society, academia, and the private sector to develop mechanisms for ongoing collaboration on five core elements:

  • Enhancing leadership, governance and policy coherence
  • Raising awareness, engagement and communications
  • Ensuring accountability, transparency and reporting
  • Advancing reconciliation with Indigenous people
  • Investing in the SDGs


The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

The 2030 Agenda is a 15-year global framework that was adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015. At its heart are the 17 SDGs that encompass the social, economic, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. The 2030 Agenda envisions a secure world, free of poverty and hunger, with full and productive employment, access to quality education and universal health coverage, the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, and an end to environmental degradation.

The 2030 Agenda is a universal call to action for people, planet, prosperity, peace, and partnership. It integrates the social, economic, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development, as well as peace, governance and justice issues.

Canada and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

The Government of Canada supports the common vision and ambition of the 2030 Agenda, and is committed to working with its domestic and international partners to build a more peaceful, inclusive and prosperous world that leaves no one behind.

Many of Canada’s domestic and international priorities, policies and programming support progress on the SDGs: reducing poverty, building sustainable economic growth, reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, advancing gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, and taking action on climate change, clean energy, and protecting ocean ecosystems.

In Budget 2018, the Government of Canada committed new funding over 13 years:

  • $49.4 million to establish a Sustainable Development Goals Unit (SDG Unit) within ESDC and fund monitoring and reporting by Statistics Canada to effectively measure progress
  • $59.8 million ($4.6 million annually) for an Sustainable Development Goals Funding Program (SDG Funding Program) to support the government’s commitment to deliver on a whole-of-society approach to the implementation of the SDGs in Canada.


In July 2018, the Government of Canada presented its first Voluntary National Review report at the United Nations High-level Political Forum (HLPF) in New York, highlighting how Canada is taking stock of its progress and charting a path forward.

In June 2019, the Government of Canada released Towards Canada’s 2030 Agenda National Strategy, the result of nationwide in-person and online consultations. This document was a first step toward establishing the structures, processes and activities that need to be in place to move the 2030 Agenda forward in a coordinated, transparent and accountable manner.

Towards Canada’s 2030 Agenda National Strategy also established the foundations for the Canadian Indicator Framework (CIF) to accurately report on progress on the SDGs in a Canadian context. This Framework is intended to complement the Global Indicator Framework (GIF), used to track and report progress internationally.

The Sustainable Development Goals Funding Program (SDG Funding Program)

The SDG Funding Program is a grants and contributions program that seeks to increase public awareness of the SDGs, support new partnerships to advance action, and identify and implement innovative initiatives to drive progress on the SDGs. Through the Program, the Government is supporting the work of stakeholders, including not-for-profit organizations, provinces and territories, municipalities, academia, the private sector, Indigenous peoples, women, youth and vulnerable populations.

To date, the SDG Funding Program is supporting 88 organizations, for a total of approximately $17 million.

The SDG Funding Program also provided funding to three National Indigenous Organizations to support engagement on the 2030 Agenda. The Program committed a total of $2.7 million to the Assembly of First Nations, Métis National Council, and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami over a 3-year period (2020-2023).

Recipients of the 2020-2021 SDG Funding Program include:

2020-21 SDG Funding Program Grant Recipients

  1. Institute for Research and Development on Inclusion and Society (IRIS)
  2. Canada Without Poverty
  3. Equitas - International Centre for Human Rights Education
  4. John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights (JHC)
  5. Action Committee on Access to Justice in Civil and Family Matters
  6. The Apathy is Boring Project
  7. Governors of Saint-Francis Xavier University
  8. Sir Sandford Fleming College Applied Arts and Technology
  9. Kids Code Jeunesse
  10. Volunteer Canada
  11. Climatable Association
  12. Future Earth
  13. Conseil de la coopération de l'Ontario
  14. Atlantic Council for International Cooperation
  15. Vancouver Island University
  16. Youth Climate Lab
  17. Université du Québec en Outaouais
  18. Shorefast
  19. University of Winnipeg
  20. Impak Finance Inc
  21. K'ahsho Got'ine Self-Government Negotiations


2020-21 SDG Funding Program Contribution Recipients

  1. Tamarack Institute for Community Engagement (TICE}
  2. Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation in Ontario
  3. 10 Carden Shared Space
  4. Université Laval
  5. Food Secure Canada
  6. Engage Nova Scotia
  7. Ulnooweg Development Group Inc.
  8. Concordia University
  9. Family Service Toronto
  10. Mothers Matter Center
  11. Canadian Centre on Disability Studies Incorporated

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