Ottawa faces calls to extend funding for Black entrepreneurship programs in fall economic statement

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Black-led business and community organizations are calling on the federal government to renew funding for entrepreneur support programs that are set to expire in the spring, stressing the need to invest in the racialized group’s contributions to the Canadian economy.

After Canada’s 2018 endorsement of the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent and the nation-wide demonstrations borne from George Floyd’s killing in 2020, Ottawa introduced multiple multi-million-dollar programs to support Black businesses, including the Black Entrepreneurship Program, the Support Black Canadian Communities Initiative and the Black-Led Philanthropic Endowment Fund.

But funding is set to run out for the BEP and the SBCCI on March 31, 2025. And while the endowment fund’s $200-million budget is set to run for 10 years, the contract with the government can be cancelled at any time.

Such supports help address the systemic barriers faced by Black entrepreneurs in accessing credit, in part because they are less likely to own a home – which banks will ask for as collateral – and more likely to have immigrated to Canada and not have a long credit history, according to Statistics Canada studies.

Groups that the government selected to run these programs are now asking for the funding to be made permanent in the fall economic statement that will be tabled later this year.

“The government of Canada has to recognize that they have committed to a community and its growth, and this has been a community that’s been underserved, undervalued, underrepresented,” said Tiffany Callender, chief executive officer of the Federation of African Canadian Economics, in an interview.

FACE administers the Black Entrepreneurship Loan Fund, which is part of the BEP and got off to a rocky start in 2022. It has since disbursed more than $40-million in loans to hundreds of entrepreneurs, and led to the creation of similar programs at many of the major banks.

FACE is calling for $100-million in annual funding for the BEP, which also includes ecosystem funding for groups that support Black entrepreneurs. It is also advocating for $50-million yearly for SBCCI, which was launched in 2019 to build capacity in grassroots Black-serving organizations across the country, and was given $175-million over five years.

The SBCCI’s funding was originally set to run out this past March, but the 2023 budget gave it one additional year of funding at $25-million with no clear guidance on what happens after that.

The Foundation for Black Communities, the group that runs the Black-led Philanthropic Endowment Fund, is also looking for more certainty about its future. Liban Abokor, the chair of the foundation’s board, said the unsettling reality for groups like them is that government priorities can change rapidly, such that vulnerable communities feel unsupported.

“When government moves its focus from one area to another, there has to be a safety net for Black communities so that we can continue to invest in ourselves,” he said in an interview.

The office of Small Business Minister Rechie Valdez said it was committed to supporting Black entrepreneurs, but did not specifically comment on the future of these programs.

Spokesperson Callie Franson said in an e-mail that Ms. Valdez has met with many entrepreneurs funded through the programs and “has heard firsthand about the positive impacts of the BEP and how the BEP ecosystem funding has enabled Black entrepreneurs and business owners to start-up and scale-up their businesses.”

Ms. Callender said the positive response of Black entrepreneurs to these programs reflect a desire for a narrative that recognizes their contributions.

“We are change makers. We are part of the fabric of this Canadian experience. That’s how we see ourselves,” she said. “We don’t see ourselves as people who are pandering for support.”

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