Chemicals Management Plan Engagement and Outreach Contribution Program: Public participation stream

Call for proposals (CFP) launch date: January 20, 2025

The Chemicals Management Plan Engagement and Outreach Contribution Program (the Contribution Program) provides time-limited contribution funding to support enhanced public participation in the Chemicals Management Plan (CMP). The CMP brings together a number of federal programs under a single strategy in order to understand and reduce the risks posed by chemicals.

Public participation supports all CMP activities (for example, risk assessment, risk management, research, monitoring and surveillance, policy development). The knowledge and perspectives of the public, including those disproportionately impacted by the harmful effects of chemical exposures, is provided through the participation of various stakeholders and partners in the CMP, including civil society organizations (CSOs).

On this page

• Funding objective
• Funding priority
• Priority populations
• Funding amount and duration
• Who can apply
• Eligible activities
• How to apply
• Deadline

Funding objective

The Public Participation funding stream of the Contribution Program has the objective of supporting the capacity of people in Canada, with a focus on CSOs and disproportionately impacted populations, to engage in the CMP in order to inform program decisions and activities.

Funding priority

This CFP is informed by recent amendments to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA), Canada's primary legislation on human health and pollution, which also underpins the CMP. CEPA now includes provisions designed to better protect populations disproportionately impacted by toxic substances. For the first time in federal law, it recognizes that every individual in Canada has the right to a healthy environment, as provided under CEPA.

To facilitate public participation in developing broad CMP priorities, the Government is required to establish a new plan for prioritizing the ongoing assessment of chemicals. This Plan of Priorities outlines initiatives that support chemical risk assessment and management, including the consideration of populations who may be disproportionately impacted by exposures or be more susceptible to health effects of chemicals. The Plan of Priorities also includes a List of Substances Prioritized for Assessment. The Contribution Program aligns with this new direction by supporting opportunities for the engagement of populations who may be disproportionately impacted by harmful chemicals.

This CFP funding priority aims to promote more meaningful engagement with disproportionately impacted populations by building their capacity and knowledge as well as that of the organizations they work with, regarding chemicals, their health, and the CMP. The goal is to enable these populations to participate in federal chemicals management and to influence program decisions and activities.

Priority populations

This CFP welcomes proposals that focus on the following priority populations for which their life stages make them more susceptible to the impacts of chemicals:

• Infants and children (0 to 14 years old)
• Youth (15 to 29 years old)
• Pregnant people

Within these populations, we acknowledge that there exist certain subpopulations for which there is a potential for greater exposure to harmful chemicals. We encourage the submission of proposals that include a focus on these subpopulations, including voices from marginalized and underrepresented groups such as racialized communities and those with diverse cultural and ethnic identities, including newcomers, in addition to those affected by socio-economic status, health vulnerabilities, and living near pollution sources.

Funding amount and duration

The Contribution Program is looking to fund 1 project of up to $100K for up to 10 months in length. The project must be completed no later than March 31, 2026.

Who can apply

• Not-for-profit organizations, including voluntary organizations, educational institutions, and community organizations
• Regional, municipal governments and agencies, including health authorities

Eligible activities

The following types of activities are eligible for funding:

• Developing or disseminating resources and strategies to build capacity and knowledge for participation in activities and initiatives that inform program decisions and activities. This could involve, for example, amplifying existing work, developing plain language resources and knowledge translation tools about CMP substances being assessed and how to engage in decision-making processes, or identifying approaches for how new or expanded CMP activities could address the priorities of the populations identified in this CFP.
• Using the new Plan of Priorities or the List of Substances Prioritized for Assessment, conducting analysis to identify the key substances or areas of potential impact for the priority populations (that is, those identified in your proposal).
• Leading engagement activities (for example, educational workshops, presentations, roundtables, symposiums, lived experience panels) to share information, gather input, and encourage meaningful participation. This could include, for example, providing spaces for priority populations to voice their perspectives, priorities, and concerns about chemicals and health, as well as facilitating discussions on barriers to participation and opportunities for innovation in engagement models.
• Providing financial resources to hire technical/scientific expertise and to foster the capacity of individuals with lived/living experience to participate in activities and initiatives that inform program decisions and activities.
• Reporting on findings, opportunities, and future activities to advance the consideration of disproportionately impacted populations in the CMP so their concerns and perspectives could be incorporated into future policies and decisions.

Additional consideration may be given to projects that propose pilot initiatives to test innovative processes or models for enhancing meaningful engagement. They could be entirely new or they could build on/amplify existing work.

How to apply

Please email cmp-participation-pgpc@hc-sc.gc.ca to receive a copy of the applicant guide and application form.

Deadline

This call for proposals will close on February 17, 2025.