Sustainable Development Goal 10: Reduced inequalities

Canadian ambition under reduced inequalities

Canada's ambition^{Footnote 2} for this goal is to reduce inequalities and ensure Canadians live free of discrimination. Income disparities between and among diverse groups of people, including Indigenous peoples and non-Indigenous Canadians, and men, women and gender diverse people, are expected to decrease over time. Fewer Canadians will be discriminated against or treated unfairly.

Measuring progress: the Canadian Indicator Framework

In collaboration with federal departments and agencies, Statistics Canada has developed the Canadian Indicator Framework (CIF) for the Sustainable Development Goals. The CIF includes 76 indicators specific to Canada, which measure progress using a set of nationally relevant, objective and comprehensive indicators. CIF indicators for SDG 10 are:

• Gini Coefficient
• proportion of the population self-reporting discrimination or unfair treatment
• median hourly wage ratio
• median household after-tax income

What we are doing to reduce inequalities in Canada

The federal government has strengthened implementation of Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus) to support the development of responsive and inclusive initiatives, including policies, programs, and other initiatives, that meet the needs of diverse groups of people. Canada has sustained its commitment to GBA Plus for close to 30 years, and over time the scale of its implementation has increased. Today, GBA Plus is a mandatory part of the Government of Canada's key decision-making processes. GBA Plus has also evolved to become increasingly intersectional reflecting the unique experiences of diverse people and the impact of a person's gender, race, class, sexual orientation, Indigenous identity, physical ability, etc. on the opportunities that are available to them. Social factors such as patriarchy, ableism, colonialism, homophobia, racism, etc. are also considered as part of the analytical process. GBA Plus provides Canada with a robust tool and implementation infrastructure to advance equality for diverse people by creating policies and services that respond to diverse needs and helping to deliver on commitments to Leave No One Behind.

Opportunity for All - Canada's First Poverty Reduction Strategy offers a bold vision for Canada as a world leader in the reduction of poverty. The primary legislated target of the Strategy is aligned with the SDGs, aiming to reduce poverty by 50% by 2030 compared to 2015 levels and based on Canada's Official Poverty Line. The Strategy seeks to reduce and remove systemic barriers, including for those communities that face unique barriers that can make them more vulnerable to poverty, such as:

• single parents (80% of whom are women)
• single people aged 45 to 64
• persons with disabilities
• recent immigrants
• Indigenous peoples
• individuals from Black or other racialized communities
• Individuals from the LGBTQ2+ community (in particular transgender individuals)

The Strategy brings together significant investments that the Government has made since 2015 to support the social and economic well-being of all Canadians. This includes, funding for key poverty reduction initiatives, such as the Canada Child Benefit, the increase to the Guaranteed Income Supplement top-up for single seniors, and the National Housing Strategy.

In addition, the Strategy established the independent National Advisory Council on Poverty to counsel the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development on poverty reduction and to publicly report on the progress of poverty reduction in Canada each year.

The first waves of applications are open for the Canadian Dental Care Plan which, when fully implemented, will help ease financial barriers to accessing oral health care for up to 9 million uninsured Canadians with an annual family income of less than $90,000. The Canada Dental Benefit will give eligible families up-front, direct payments of up to $650 a year per eligible child under 12 for 2 years (up to $1,300) to support the costs of dental care services.

The Government of Canada is working with provincial, territorial, and Indigenous partners to build a Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) system, so all families have access to high-quality, affordable, flexible and inclusive early learning and child care no matter where they live in Canada. This includes establishing the Early Learning and Child Care Infrastructure Fund to enable provinces and territories to make further investments in child care infrastructure that support greater inclusion in the Canada-wide ELCC system for underserved communities. Investing in ELCC will:

• provide jobs for child care workers, the majority of whom are women
• enable parents, particularly mothers, to reach their full economic potential
• improve graduation rates, which helps promote lifelong well-being, boost lifetime earnings, and increase social equity

The Social Development Partnerships Program (Children and Families) makes strategic grant- and contribution-based investments to support the creation of more responsive programs, services or tools to better serve the diverse needs of children and their families, particularly those living in disadvantaged circumstances.

The Government of Canada is modernizing its sex and gender information practices to improve how 2SLGBTQI+ communities access and experience federal programs and services. For example, Canadians can now choose a passport with a third gender marker, and the 2021 Census allowed people to self-identify their gender. It complements work underway across Canada on strengthening data and information disaggregation to take into consideration many factors, advancing the evidence base for robust GBA Plus to reduce deeply embedded systemic inequalities.

In 2022, the Government of Canada launched Canada's first 2SLGBTQI+ Federal Action Plan - Building our future with Pride, which is supported by an investment of up to $100M over 5 years through Budget 2022. The Action Plan aims at advancing rights and equality for Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and additional sexually and gender diverse (2SLGBTQI+) people in Canada. It will do so by prioritizing community action and by coordinating the Government's work to advance 2SLGBTQI+ issues across federal departments and agencies in a holistic, whole-of-government approach that recognizes the interconnectedness of the types of inequities facing communities.

Guided by this approach, the Action Plan focuses on the following priority areas over the next 5 years:

1. Prioritize and sustain 2SLGBTQI+ community action
2. Continue to advance and strengthen 2SLGBTQI+ rights at home and abroad
3. Support Indigenous 2SLGBTQI+ resilience and resurgence
4. Engage everyone in Canada in fostering a 2SLGBTQI+ inclusive future
5. Strengthen 2SLGBTQI+ data and evidence-based policy making
6. Embed 2SLGBTQI+ issues in the work of the Government of Canada

The Action Plan was developed based on the experiences, evidence, and voices of 2SLGBTQI+ communities and stakeholders, obtained through an extensive engagement process completed between fall 2020 and summer 2021 (input from 25,636 survey respondents, 102 written submissions, and over 100 participants across 7 round-table discussions). It is an evergreen document that builds on progress the Government of Canada has already made and will continue to guide the Government of Canada's work into the future.

Building a Foundation for Change: Canada's Anti-Racism Strategy 2019-2022 sought to increase equity of access and participation among racialized communities, religious minorities, and Indigenous peoples in the areas of employment, justice, and social participation. Components included establishing the Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat and providing funding to community-based programs through the existing Community Support, Multiculturalism and Anti- Racism Initiatives Program, the Anti-Racism Action Program and a public education and awareness campaign. In addition, the Government of Canada is working on a new Anti-Racism Strategy that builds on the foundations set in 2019 to 2022, as well as an Action Plan on Combatting Hate. These initiatives build on the commitment to fight racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, and hate, and to promote the development of all people, including Indigenous persons, Black and racialized persons, and members of religious minorities.

The Racialized Newcomer Women Pilot Program helps racialized newcomer women find good, well-paying jobs that set them up for success in Canada by addressing the barriers they may face, such as:

• gender and race-based discrimination
• precarious or low-income employment
• lack of affordable childcare
• weak social supports

The Supporting Black Canadian Communities Initiative implements targeted measures that build capacity and foundational infrastructure within Black-led, Black-focused and Black-serving community organizations whose collective mission is to address the longstanding systemic social, economic, environmental, and cultural barriers faced by Black people in Canada. In addition, the Black-led Philanthropic Endowment fund will create long-term sustainable funding and self-sustaining resources for Black-led, Black-focused, and Black-serving organizations in Canada to fight against anti-Black racism and other inequities across the country.

Canada announced its full support of the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent in 2018. Several Government of Canada initiatives contribute to the goals of the Decade, including:

• enhancing local community support for Black youth
• improving research to support more culturally sensitive mental health programs in Black communities
• providing funding to celebrate, share knowledge and build capacity in Black communities in Canada
• Canada's Black Justice Strategy, which identifies concrete ways to address systemic discrimination and anti-Black racism in the justice system

The Enabling Accessibility Fund provides grants and contributions funding through periodic Calls for Proposals to support construction, renovation, or retrofit projects aimed at improving physical accessibility and safety for persons with disabilities in Canadian communities and workplaces. By funding accessibility projects, the program is able to:

• support accessible and inclusive communities and workplaces
• increase access for persons with disabilities to services, programs and employment opportunities
• increase opportunities for persons with disabilities to participate in and contribute to community life and the labour market

In addition, the Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities supports persons with disabilities in overcoming barriers to participation in the Canadian labour market, and supports employers to hire persons with disabilities.

Through the Social Development Partnership Program (Disability) and the Canada Book Fund, the Government of Canada is making investments to increase the sustainable production, distribution, and availability of Canadian-authored "born accessible" digital books (ebooks and audiobooks) to better serve persons with print disabilities. This will help persons with print disabilities access reading materials so that they can fully participate in society and the economy throughout their lives for education, professional and leisure purposes. The 5-year investment (2019 to 2020 to 2023 to 2024) made through the Canada Book Fund will allow the Canadian book industry to further integrate accessibility features into their digital titles.

In October 2022, Canada published the first-ever Disability Inclusion Action Plan, a blueprint for Government and persons with disabilities engaging on actions to transform the lives of persons with disabilities. Since the release it has:

• provided a comprehensive, whole of government approach to disability inclusion
• involved the disability community, persons with lived experience and disability stakeholders implementation
• established the Canada Disability Benefit through the Canada Disability Benefit Act receiving Royal Assent in June 2023
• increased funding for the production and availability of alternate format reading materials through a new Equitable Access to Reading Program
• launched the Disability Inclusion Business Council to champion and advance accessibility and inclusion in the workplace
• improved access to the labour market for persons with disabilities by applying a disability lens across labour market programming including the Skills Link program, Youth Employment and Skills Strategy, and the Indigenous Skills and Employment Training Program

Canada's Youth Policy allows the perspectives of young people to better guide Government priorities and actions. This is done, for example, through the Prime Minister's Youth Council, a group of young Canadians who provide non-partisan advice to the Prime Minister and the Government of Canada on issues of importance to them and to all Canadians, including the reduction of inequalities. The Policy also commits to the publication of a State of Youth Report every 4 years which seeks to create greater awareness on the status of youth in Canada and highlight their priorities and the challenges they face. The first Report was released in August 2021.

The Youth Employment and Skills Strategy helps young people (aged 15 to 30), particularly those facing barriers to employment, gain the skills, work experience, and abilities they need to make a successful transition into the labour market.

The Indigenous Screen Office Program provides funding for the development and production of Indigenous audiovisual projects and to support sector development activities. The program is delivered by an Indigenous-led organization. It increases the authentic representation of Indigenous peoples and advances Indigenous narrative sovereignty within the audiovisual sector.

The Indigenous Growth Fund, partially funded through the Social Innovation and Social Finance Strategy, provides capital to Aboriginal Financial Institutions and ultimately Indigenous businesses and entrepreneurs, contributing to the economic self-determination of Indigenous peoples.

The Indigenous Skills and Employment Training (ISET) Program funds a network of over 115 Indigenous service delivery organizations to provide Indigenous people with training and supports to improve their skills and meet their long-term career goals. Complimentary to ISET, the Skills and Partnership Fund supports partnerships between Indigenous organizations and industry employers to provide skills training for Indigenous people linked to economic opportunities at the local, regional and national level.

The New Horizons for Seniors Program provides funding to support initiatives that are led or inspired by seniors to make a difference in the lives of others and their communities. The program reaches vulnerable and diverse Canadian seniors such as women, 2SLGBTQI+, socially isolated, Indigenous, newcomers and refugees.

The Social Innovation and Social Finance Strategy supports social purpose organizations (charities, non-profits, social enterprises, co-operatives, businesses with a social mission) working to address complex socio-economic challenges Canadians are facing, while contributing to building a sustainable and inclusive economy. Designed through a lens of social equity and inclusion to break down barriers to accessing capital, the Strategy provides these organizations, particularly those led by and serving equity deserving groups, with the tools and resources they need to scale and enhance their social and/or environmental impacts.

Each year, the Government of Canada provides over $700 million for individuals and employers to obtain skills training and employment supports through bilateral Workforce Development Agreements with provinces and territories. Over 300,000 training and employment supports are provided to individuals and employers a year. The agreements include specific funding targeted for persons with disabilities and are used to support members of under-represented groups.

The Skills for Success program helps Canadians improve their foundational and transferable skills through training and assessments. The program supports the reduction of inequalities based on factors such as age, sex, disability, race or ethnicity by focusing support on underrepresented populations, such as newcomers and racialized Canadians, persons with disabilities and Indigenous peoples. The program helps address inequalities these groups face in entering and succeeding in education, training, and the labour market.

The Government of Canada, through the Sport Support Program is investing in the following initiatives that aim to reduce inequalities:

• the Innovation Initiative, which provides funding to eligible organizations to test innovative approaches to encourage equity-deserving groups to participate and remain in sport
• the Sport for Social Development in Indigenous Communities supports the use of sport for the purpose of achieving targeted social outcomes in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's Calls to Action, in other words, improved health, education, and employability and the reduction of at-risk behaviour
• the Community Sport for All Initiative supports organizations to deliver organized sport projects for equity-deserving groups, in particular, Black, Indigenous, 2SLGBTQI+, and newcomers to Canada. The objectives are to:
  • increase sport participation and retention
  • remove barriers to participation in sport programming
  • help make organized sport safe and accessible to all

The Government of Canada is removing barriers in its built environment to enable persons with disabilities to gain barrier-free access in its buildings. A benchmarking exercise was conducted in 2019 to identify accessibility gaps in government-owned buildings, which has informed the development of the Accessibility Action Plan, scheduled to be completed in 2024. To date, 22 high-impact, low-cost accessibility improvements have already been developed and implemented as part of the Lean Forward initiative to increase accessibility options in buildings.

The Government of Canada is also fostering diversity, inclusion and accessibility in the public service, including by:

• responding to the Call to Action on Anti-Racism, Equity and Inclusion in the Public Service
• supporting career advancement, training, sponsorship and educational opportunities for public servants in employment equity seeking groups
• implementing Many Voices One Mind: a Pathway to Reconciliation, a whole-of‑-government strategy for reducing and removing barriers to public service employment encountered by Indigenous ‑people
• continuing to implement the Accessibility Strategy for the Public Service of Canada

What Canada is doing to help reduce inequalities abroad

Canada actively promotes 2SLGBTQI+ rights around the world, and collaborates closely with civil society organizations in Canada and abroad to advance 2SLGBTQI+ rights. As a former co-chair, and along with members of the Equal Rights Coalition, Canada continues to play an active role. In line with the Feminist International Assistance Policy, Canada has continued to implement the LGBTQ2 International Assistance Program, which represents a commitment of $30 million in dedicated programming over 5 years (2020 to 2025) and $10 million per year thereafter, aiming to advance human rights and improve socio-economic outcomes for 2SLGBTQI+ people in developing countries.

In June 2020, Canada became a champion for the Global Compact for Migration. As part of this work, Canada Co-Chairs the Global Forum on Migration and Development's Working Group on Public Narratives on Migration. Through this working group, Canada is helping to lead the development of a new global campaign, It Takes a Community, that showcases the positive impact migration can have at the community level. Canada has also actively promoted the importance of gender-responsive and inclusive migration management to ensure no one is left behind in the implementation of the Global Compact for Migration.

For July 2021 to July 2022, Canada is chairing the Comprehensive Regional Protection and Solutions Framework Support Platform to support responsibility-sharing on forced displacement in Central America and Mexico. Canada's theme is the Protection and Empowerment of Women and Girls on the Move, which draws attention to the international protection and education needs of refugee women and girls, as well as the need to protect the human rights of displaced women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ individuals in vulnerable in situations.

Canada's international assistance is also committed to addressing the root causes of irregular migration and forced displacement in Central America: including lack of economic opportunities, inequality and the exacerbating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic; insecurity and violence, including sexual and gender-based violence; climate change; governance, corruption and impunity issues; systemic gender and ethnic inequality; and women's rights, including sexual and reproductive health and rights.

With a commitment of $10 million over 4 years, Canada is working with the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations Refugee Agency to assist women and girls affected by irregular migration and forced displacement in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.

Canada ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2010 and acceded to its Optional Protocol in 2018. The CRPD is an international human rights treaty aimed at protecting the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities without discrimination and on an equal basis with others. Canada is also a member of the Global Action on Disability Network, which seeks to enhance the inclusion of persons with disabilities in international development and humanitarian action. In 2022, Canada began a term as co-chair of the Network's Gender Equality Working Group to ensure the meaningful inclusion of the rights of women and girls with disabilities.

At the Global Disability Summit, Canada updated its commitments on disability inclusion to ensure that persons with disabilities can contribute to and benefit from Canada's international assistance efforts. Building on commitments made at the first Summit in 2018, Canada committed to advancing programming and advocacy by: supporting local disability rights organizations and organizations of persons with disabilities in developing countries, advancing disability inclusion in the paid and unpaid care agenda and with the multilateral development banks, improving disability-inclusive data collection and disaggregation, and formalizing disability inclusion training for Global Affairs Canada staff.

Canada continues to work to strengthen the rights of Indigenous Peoples globally through development programming and bilateral and multilateral advocacy, and announced its unqualified endorsement of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2016. Since then, Canada has taken steps to support the Declaration as an important part of the framework for advancing reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples in Canada. In June 2021, Canada enacted legislation to guide the federal implementation of the Declaration in consultation with Indigenous Peoples. As a representative for North America and Western Europe in the UNESCO-led Global Task Force governing the International Decade for Indigenous Languages 2022 to 2032, Canada is committed to working jointly with First Nations, Inuit and Métis to implement the Decade in a meaningful way and to support international efforts to revitalize, maintain and strengthen Indigenous languages.

Through the Promoting and Protecting Democracy Fund and the Inclusion, Diversity and Human Rights Fund, Canada's Office for Human Rights, Freedoms and Inclusion provides rapid and targeted financial support to Canadian and international civil society organizations, as well as multilateral institutions, working in emerging and fragile democracies around the world to promote inclusion, respect for diversity, support freedom of religion or belief, and protect human rights, including human rights defenders and at-risk-actors.

Through the Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat, Canada will be working with regional partnership to create a North American Partnership for Racial Equity and Inclusion, committed to by government heads at the North American Leaders Summit 2021.

Since March 2022, Canada committed to supporting those affected by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine through the introduction of immigration measures allowing them to stay, work, and study in Canada. About 200,000 individuals have found a temporary safe haven in Canada while the war in Ukraine continues.

In response to the crisis in Afghanistan, Canada has met its commitment to welcome at least 40,000 vulnerable people from Afghanistan before the end of 2023. This includes those who closely assisted Canada and their families, as well as priority populations, such as women, LGBTQI+ people and members of religious and ethnic minorities.

To discourage unsafe and irregular migration, Canada announced on March 24, 2023, that it will welcome 15,000 people from the Western hemisphere over the course of the year.

Canada's also supports refugee resettlement in many ways, including:

• the Government-Assisted Refugees (GAR) program, provides permanent resident solutions to refugees most in need of resettlement through the. This work is complemented by the resettlement of refugees through the Private Sponsorship of Refugees program, whereby refugees are selected and resettled to Canada by private sponsors
• the expansion of the global human rights defenders stream , doubles the number of resettlement spaces from 250 to 500 for human rights defenders and their family members
• the Rainbow Refugee Assistance Partnership supports LGBTQI+ refugees, by working closely with Rainbow Refuge. This partnership assists Canadians in privately sponsoring LGBTQI+ refugees fleeing violence and persecution.
• Canada's partnership with non-profit organization Rainbow Railroad further protects LGBTQI+ refugees and welcome them to Canada. Through this partnership, Rainbow Railroad works to identify LGBTQI+ people and their families who are fleeing violence and persecution and refer them to the Government of Canada for resettlement under the Government-Assisted Refugees Program

Related links

• Canada's 2023 Voluntary National Review - A Continued Journey for Implementing the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals
• Statistics Canada's Global Indicator Framework for the Sustainable Development Goals Data Hub: Goal 10
• Statistics Canada's Canadian Indicator Framework for the Sustainable Development Goals Data Hub: Goal 10