Madam Speaker, I just cannot thank my hon. colleague and friend from Fredericton enough for her speech and her advocacy on this very important topic. I admire her willingness to come out here and always confront difficult topics of conversation.
I share her satisfaction with the fact that we are the first government that has a Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth, that does the hard work and commits to the hard work. The Anti-Racism Secretariat is a good start.
However, from the start, our government has acknowledged that millions of Canadians continue to face systemic racism in different facets of our society. I acknowledge that it is not a universally held conviction yet in the House or in this country. That is an important thing to focus on also, whether it is going to the store or the bank, applying for a job, or even taking public transit, racialized Canadians have told us in unequivocal terms that racial discrimination is unfortunately still a daily reality here in Canada.
This is particularly true for Black Canadians who face the scourge of systemic racism against Black people. The data we have paints a bleak picture of the impact of racism across the country. For example, we know that the unemployment rate is disproportionately high among Black Canadians, compared to their non-racialized counterparts. However, recent studies from Statistics Canada show that Black Canadians aged 25 to 54 are more likely to have a university degree than non-racialized Canadians.
Rather than sitting idly by, our government has taken concrete actions to address systemic anti-Black racism. In 2018, we officially recognized the International Decade for People of African Descent, which serves to guide the international community in the advancement of human rights and freedoms of Black communities by focusing on recognition, justice and development.
This was then followed by a $44-million investment to advance the objectives of the decade through supporting projects that empower Black youth, address mental health in Black communities and drive capacity building for Black-led organizations.
As the parliamentary secretary on this file, I get to make some of those calls to these organizations to thank them for their good work and congratulate them on the funding. I cannot tell members how grateful we are, as a government and as a nation, for their extraordinary efforts.
We have invested millions of dollars to launch Canada's anti-racism strategy, which advances the federal leadership's fight against systemic racism by supporting communities and focusing on awareness and changing attitudes.
Since then, we have worked closely with the Federation of African Canadian Economics, an entrepreneurship program run by Black people, to launch the Black entrepreneurship loan fund, a public-private investment worth $291.3 million. This fund will provide financing of up to $4 million to help Black business owners and entrepreneurs develop their businesses and achieve success now and in the future.
Lastly, because our government recognizes the need to remove barriers to achieving a diverse and inclusive workplace, including addressing anti-Black racism, we are investing $12 million to support the centre on diversity and inclusion in the public service, lodged directly in the—