Human Resources Committee on Oct. 5th, 2022

[The Chair (Mr. Robert Morrissey (Egmont, Lib.)), Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

I will call meeting number 36 of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities to order. Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format, pursuant to the House order of June 23, 2022.

To ensure an orderly meeting, I would like to make a few comments for the benefit of the witnesses and members.

Before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name. For those participating virtually, please use the “raise hand” function. Before speaking, click on your mike to activate the microphone. For those in the room, the microphone will be activated in the room.

You may speak in the official language of your choice. For those of you participating virtually and in the room, if you detect a loss of interpretation services, please get my attention. The meeting will be suspended until the issue is resolved. I'd like to also remind members participating that no screenshots are allowed of committee proceedings. Should any technical challenges arise, again, advise me and we will suspend to correct them.

Currently, the committee is studying the supporting Black Canadian communities initiative, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the committee on Thursday, February 3, 2022.

I would like to welcome our witnesses to begin our discussion, but before I do that, I want to acknowledge that we have two substituting members from the official opposition. Welcome to the committee. I believe those are the only changes.

At this time, I would like to introduce Karen Hall, associate assistant deputy minister, income security and social development branch; Katie Alexander, director general, program operations branch; and Sandra Charles, director, supporting Black Canadian communities initiative.

I didn't get this correction. Is one statement being made or are all three making statements?

[Karen Hall, Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Income Security and Social Development Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development]

It's just one statement, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you.

Before we begin, I want to acknowledge that the regular clerk of the committee is not with us. We have a substituting clerk, and I'd ask her to introduce herself to the committee.

[The Clerk of the Committee, Ms. Dancella Boyi]

Good afternoon, everyone.

My name is Dancella Boyi and I'm subbing in for Danielle. Thank you for having me.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Ms. Hall, you may begin.

[Karen Hall]

Thank you very much for the invitation to be here today. It's lovely to be here in person with you.

As the chair noted, my name is Karen Hall. I'm the associate assistant deputy minister of the income security and social development branch at Employment and Social Development Canada. I'm joined by Katie Alexander, who's a director general in the program operations branch, and Sandra Charles, who's the director for the supporting Black Canadian communities initiative.

I would like to start by providing you with some context and an overview of the supporting Black Canadian communities initiative.

Anti-Black racism impacts the lives of millions of Black people in Canada every day. It creates significant inequities and barriers that prevent the full inclusion of Black communities in all areas of life.

We also know that the COVID-19 pandemic has had disproportionate impacts on Black communities, heightening existing inequities faced by these communities.

Despite this, Canada's Black population is among the fastest growing and continues to make significant contributions to Canadian society, with the potential for an even greater impact in the future.

In response, and as part of Canada's recognition of the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent, in budget 2019, the government provided $25 million over five years to establish the supporting Black Canadian communities initiative. In budget 2021, an additional $100 million was provided for the SBCCI to address systemic inequalities and support capacity building. Finally, budget 2022 provided an additional $50 million over two years for the continued empowerment of Black-led and Black-serving community organizations and their work in promoting inclusiveness. In that budget, the government also stated its intention to explore further options to continue supporting capacity building within Black-led and Black-serving community organizations in the long term.

The SBCCI is key in meeting Canada's commitments to the UN International Decade for People of African Descent. The SBCCI's implementation is informed and led by the voices of Canada's Black communities, aligning to the principle of “by us, for us”. This principle was emphasized at the National Black Canadians Summit in Halifax this past July, which I was very pleased to attend.

The SBCCI operates under three pillars. The first pillar, capacity building, strengthens foundational infrastructure and sustainability for more evidence-based decision-making, and fosters more enduring supports within communities. The second pillar, systems change, supports projects and initiatives that address the systemic barriers and inequities faced by Black Canadians. The third pillar, emerging priorities, is to address emerging gaps in priorities, as identified by Black community stakeholders and other community of practice networks.

I'll speak about these in turn, Mr. Chair, but I'm not sure how I'm doing for time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

You have two and a half minutes.

[Karen Hall]

Thank you.

On the first pillar, capacity building, the SBCCI works with communities to support a sustainable ecosystem of Black-led and Black-serving organizations.

As you heard on Monday, to ensure that community voices are centred, funding is provided to high-capacity Black-led organizations that act as national funders, and in turn provide funding for capacity building to smaller Black-led community-based organizations.

The four national funders, as you heard, are Tropicana Community Services in Toronto, the Black Business Initiative in Halifax, Groupe 3737 in Montreal and the Africa Centre in Edmonton. To date, the national funders have together awarded over $25.7 million to more than 705 Black-led and Black-serving grassroots organizations across Canada, helping to build community-based capacity.

The SBCCI has also invested directly in more than 1,370 projects under the capital assistance stream of the initiative, which is administered by ESDC. A total of almost $82 million was invested to help organizations more effectively deliver programs and services to the communities they serve.

Turning to the second pillar, systems change, there are a couple of elements designed to support the projects and initiatives that address systemic barriers. One of those is the external reference group, which is a commitment the government made and is in train. There is also the national institute for people of African descent, for which a call for proposals was launched. Again, a selection process is under way and in train.

Under emerging priorities, there are a range of initiatives that have taken place, including with regard to one place that I was able to visit this summer, just outside Halifax. It's the former Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children, which has been returned to the community. The project has funded significant renovations to turn that space into a community hub for the Black community in Nova Scotia.

To wrap up, the last thing I'll note is a complementary initiative, which I think you heard a little about earlier this week as well. That is the Black-led philanthropic endowment fund. This sits alongside the supporting Black Canadian communities initiative and is designed to build capacity and put funding in the hands of Black-led and Black-serving organizations in the future.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm happy to take questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Ms. Hall.

I will now open the floor to questions, and I would ask questioners to identify who they are directing their question to, even if it's to everybody.

We'll begin with Mr. Dalton for six minutes.

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

Thank you for sharing that information, Ms. Hall.

I'm wondering about measuring the effectiveness of the supporting Black Canadian communities initiative. Can you tell us how you do that?

[Karen Hall]

Absolutely. As part of the initiative, as with any program, the results framework is a key portion of the program and the measurement of the results. There is a set of outcomes that we're seeking short term, medium term and long term.

I'm going to turn to Sandra to give us a high-level overview of what those indicators are.

[Sandra Charles, Director, Supporting Black Canadian Communities Initiative, Department of Employment and Social Development]

As Karen mentioned, one of the tools we use to measure effectiveness is, indeed, the performance results framework. For example, what we're seeking to achieve through the SBCCI is really the social inclusion of Black communities, and in particular the most vulnerable. In order to measure that, we have identified immediate and intermediate outcomes along the theory of change, making sure that we are achieving the result we are seeking, which will help us identify the efficiency of our initiative.

We have also used our engagement with the community. As you heard from other witnesses this week, we are working very closely with the community. We have an opportunity to hear from them. I was personally able to attend the congress of Groupe 3737 and was able to interact and hear from the community.

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

I am hearing that you are meeting the objectives. Is the program meeting all the objectives that you've laid out?

Ms. Hall, I'll let you direct how you want the questions to be answered.

[Karen Hall]

Thank you.

I'll turn to Sandra for that one.

[Sandra Charles]

I wouldn't say it's meeting all objectives, but it's definitely on track. SBCCI has been in operation for three years, so we're currently collecting results and learning more, so yes, we are on track to meeting our objective, but certainly there is still work to do.

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

Could you maybe share what the administrative costs are of the program? Obviously less administration and getting more into the field is really important, so can you maybe talk about that?

[Karen Hall]

I'll turn to Katie for that in just a moment.

I would underline the unique or more innovative model that we're using for this program, which I think you heard a bit about earlier in the week. We're using the intermediary model. A portion of the program is delivered by ESDC through our program operations branch. That's the capital assistance project, with the 1,370 grants that were issued. We're also using the intermediary model in order to have decision-making on the grants for the community-based capacity stream situated in communities and with the voices of the Black community. Together, those two models provide an effective blend of the standard model and the approaches taken through the more innovative approach.

Katie, is there anything you'd like to add?

[Katie Alexander, Director General, Program Operations Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development]

Yes, I'd be happy to.

I'll maybe just touch on administrative costs. The way we set up our grants and contributions agreement is that up to approximately 15% is allowed for the organization's administration of the funds that have been afforded to them. That would cover things like the cost of staffing for their organization to administer the Gs and Cs and the funding they've been provided so they can work with community members to do the outreach necessary to invest the funds they've been given. It's typically up to 15%.

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

How long does it take for organizations, once they've been approved, to get the funding? What is the time frame?

[Karen Hall]

To clarify, do you mean from the time of application or from the time of decision?

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

I mean the whole process from the time of applying or from the cut-off time and then for the approval. How does that work?

[Karen Hall]

I'll turn to Katie for that again because we have two different approaches. Maybe we'll speak to both, if that's okay.

[Katie Alexander]

In the department, typically we call it an open call for proposal process. It's when we post a notification of a call for proposals on our website.

It takes approximately six to eight months for a project to be signed and realized in the community. That's in large part to provide applicants with enough time to prepare themselves to apply for the process, as well as for the department to take the necessary time to review the applications and do the necessary assessment to then make recommendations.

Once a recommendation is made, we work with the successful recipient to finalize the terms of the agreement before we can flow the funds to them.

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

You mentioned that 705 grants had been approved, if I'm correct. What is the average amount given for a grant? What is the range?

[Karen Hall]

I can tell you that the average is $36,000.

For the range, I may have to turn to Sandra to see if she has that at her fingertips. If not, we'd be happy to come back to the committee with that in writing.