In February MCC responded to the Government of Canada’s call for pre-budget submissions. This is a chance for Canadian individuals and organizations to give input and recommendations for how they want to see Canada’s budget allocated. This is our submission.
- Recommendation 1: That the Government of Canada commit to additional funding in Official Development Assistance (ODA) to double ODA over the next five years. This includes the creation of an action plan to reach the 0.7% of GNI global benchmark. Within that funding, Canada should focus on localization and decolonization of international assistance with a clear commitment to grassroots peacebuilding.
- Recommendation 2: That the Government of Canada review its contributions to addressing global insecurity and conflict. We encourage Canada to increase investments in grassroots peacebuilding, address the root causes of conflict, and work for long-term peace. This increase can be funded through a reduction in military spending. We encourage the Canadian government to review and stop all arms sales that are impediments to peace and security.
- Recommendation 3: That the Government of Canada commit 50% of international climate financing for adaptation, with a focus on expanding initiatives like Partnering for Climate, that work with civil society to program locally-led projects focusing on communities that are experiencing severe impacts of climate change.
- Recommendation 4: That the Government of Canada invest in Sponsorship Agreement Holder (SAH) capacity infrastructure. This includes funding to enable the sector’s review and implementation of important capacity structures and support for the implementation of monitoring and evaluation practices at both the individual SAH level and nationally, including the modernization of application processing and communications platforms.
- Recommendation 5: That the Government of Canada fund the development of an annual marketing strategy for the Blended Visa Office Referred (BVOR) Program that supports program delivery partners’ ability to effectively recruit and retain sponsors at the national and local level.
- Recommendation 6: That the Government of Canada set aside dedicated funding to address recidivism and implement the Federal Framework to Reduce Recidivism. This includes dedicated funding in the amount of $1.5 million per year to fund Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA) Canada to support reduced sexual recidivism and increased public safety across Canada.
- Recommendation 7: That the Government of Canada provides the necessary resources and funding for the implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action #25-42.
- Recommendation 8: That the Government of Canada refocus the National Housing Strategy to prioritize building non-market housing and create a federal housing fund for Indigenous and non-market housing providers to acquire existing buildings to convert to non-market housing. This includes supporting the Homelessness Prevention and Housing Benefit (HPHB) to augment the Canada Housing Benefit (CHB) to slow the wave of new homelessness and accelerate reductions in people experiencing chronic homelessness.
- Recommendation 9: That the Government of Canada renews funding for Canada’s Homelessness Strategy beyond the 2025-26 fiscal year.
- Recommendation 10: That the Government of Canada fully funds programs and legislation that support the closing of drinking water and wastewater service gaps between First Nations and non-First Nations communities and provide adequate and sustainable funding for water services on First Nation lands.
- Recommendation 11: That the Government of Canada fully fund the implementation of recommendation C.17 (a) of the Report from the Mass Casualty Commission.
Rationale:
Mennonite Central Committee Canada (MCC) was formed over 100 years ago in response to the crisis of famine and forced displacement in southern Russia (present-day Ukraine) in 1920, in the aftermath of the First World War. For a century, we have responded to the needs of the most vulnerable in Canada and around the world. Currently, we work through local community partners and faith-based groups in over 45 countries, including Canada, based on a belief in peacebuilding, human dignity, and right relationships between all peoples.
In a time of deepening humanitarian disasters and the increasing challenges of climate change, we encourage the Canadian government to support the needs of vulnerable people everywhere, especially when it comes to displaced peoples and people living in areas of conflict. We also encourage continued support for the most vulnerable here in Canada through funding dedicated to newcomer integration, restorative justice and community-based supports.
Recommendation One:
That Government of Canada commit to additional funding in Official Development Assistance (ODA) to double ODA over the next five years. This includes the creation of an action plan to reach the 0.7% of GNI global benchmark. Within that funding, Canada should focus on localization and decolonization of international assistance with a clear commitment to grassroots peacebuilding.
Recommendation Two:
That Government of Canada review its contribution to addressing insecurity and conflict globally through increasing funding for development assistance and local peacebuilding initiatives to address root causes of conflict and work for long-term peace.
We encourage a careful review of current and prospective foreign military missions and financial commitments associated with military spending. Funding currently invested in defence could be better used to address immediate global recovery needs through humanitarian support, alongside addressing root causes of conflict. MCC has seen that addressing complex and protracted conflicts requires coordinated and locally led efforts, including humanitarian and development responses, as well as peacebuilding.
We urge the Canadian government to play a leading role in advocating for and funding the use of nonviolent tools, such as diplomacy, disarmament, conflict resolution, international courts and support for grassroots peacebuilding and nonviolent resistance in responding to all conflicts globally. We encourage the Canadian government to review and stop all arms sales that are impediments to peace and security.
Recommendation Three:
We are grateful for Canada’s continued support for addressing climate change impacts on the most vulnerable. We commend Canada for the contribution of $5.3 billion starting in 2021 over 5 years, for Canada’s plans to increase emission reductions, and the increased focus on climate adaptation, bringing it up to 40% of the total contributions. While we greatly appreciate the increase in funding toward climate adaptation, we urge the Canadian government to meet its Paris Agreement commitments and increase funding of adaptation efforts to 50%.
Many families and communities around the world are severely impacted by climate change today, experiencing lower harvests, loss of livestock, stress on water resources, reduced income, food insecurity, and an increased need to migrate to find employment or flee natural disasters. These changes affect everyone, but especially the most vulnerable, including women and girls.
In addition to stronger support for adaptation efforts, we also urge the government to develop or expand initiatives like Partnering for Climate, that work with civil society to program locally-led projects focusing on communities that are experiencing severe impacts of climate change.
Recommendation Four:
The Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program (PSRP) is a significant contributor to Canada’s overall refugee commitments, comprising 36% of the total Refugee & Protected Persons target for 2023 (compared to 31% of the commitment being fulfilled by Government Assisted Refugees). Much of this work takes place via Sponsorship Agreement Holders (SAHs), like MCC, who are risk-managed and trusted partners of Government of Canada in humanitarian responses and refugee resettlement. For the long-term health and sustainability of this program, the Government of Canada must invest in SAH Capacity infrastructure. This includes funding to enable the sector’s review and implementation of important capacity structures (building on and implementing learning from the $1.7 million IRCC invested in 9 projects from FY2021-2023) and support for the implementation of monitoring and evaluation practices at both the individual SAH level and nationally.
During this time of unprecedented global displacement and a historically high backlog of refugee applicants in processing, funding must be invested to modernize application processing and communications platforms between IRCC and sponsors to streamline case processing and strengthen the user experience.
Recommendation Five:
That Government of Canada fund the development of an annual marketing strategy for the Blended Visa Office Referred (BVOR) program.
The BVOR program, while a model for the world, is struggling to meet its landing targets at home. The program requires intentional and strategic sponsor recruitment for landing targets to be met. Through IRCC, the government can fund the development of an annual marketing strategy that supports program delivery partners’ ability to effectively recruit and retain sponsors at the national and local level.
Recommendation Six:
That Budget 2024 set aside dedicated funding to address recidivism and implement the Federal Framework to Reduce Recidivism. This includes dedicated funding in the amount of $1.5 million per year to fund Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA) Canada to support reduced sexual recidivism and increased public safety across Canada.
By providing new resources, re-allocating existing resources, and leveraging existing resource opportunities, well-established and evidence-based community-based programs and services will be better positioned to continue enhancing long-term public safety in more cost-effective ways than traditional criminal justice responses.
The approach to effectively reduce recidivism must be integrated across governments and departments, be rehabilitative, not punitive, and provide environments and opportunities that are evidence-based, trauma-informed, therapeutic, person-centred and strengths-based. Community-based alternatives have existed since Confederation and have proven evidence of success. These include community service orders, diversion, reconciliation circles, attendance centres, encounter programs, and s. 84 placements in Indigenous communities. These measures can also be more effective at reducing recidivism than traditional control measures such as Parole, Probation and Prohibition orders.
Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA) Canada is the national organization that represents the work of CoSA across Canada. CoSA is a community-based response to men and women who have committed one or more sexual offences and are being released into the community without adequate support to assist them in reintegration. CoSA is guided by the primary aim of no more victims and works towards creating safer communities. Funding for CoSA is an investment in evidence-based policy with research consistently demonstrating that CoSA is successful at reducing recidivism. Existing research (J.A. Chouinard and C. Riddick, 2015) demonstrates that sexual re-offending rates for men who participate in CoSA are 92.8% lower than for men who do not participate in CoSA.
Recommendation Seven:
Budget 2024 provides the necessary resources and funding for the implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action #25-42.
Further investment is needed for the Government of Canada to meet its obligations to implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action #25-42, i.e., reduce the over-representation and incarceration of Indigenous peoples, respect Indigenous protocols, increase the provision and accessibility of community-based supports and services for Indigenous peoples, and address the underlying causes of harm and historic trauma.
As a part of their response to these Calls to Action, we recommend that the Government of Canada increase its investment in Indigenous-led and culturally relevant correctional programming. This includes providing sustainable core funding to organizations providing these services. Current funding levels are insufficient, and many programs are currently understaffed.
Addressing these realities and investing in people through community-based supports in the short-term, is one step towards the long-term fulfilment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action #25-42.
Recommendation Eight:
Despite the many initiatives that have been undertaken through the National Housing Strategy to date, housing affordability and homelessness remain critical issues in communities across the country.
At MCC, we see the impact of these crises across all our programs in Canada. These activities include supporting people who have experienced homelessness as they transition to housing, helping people who come to Canada as refugees find housing and resettle, working with people coming out of prison to find housing and live safely in community, and creating relations of friendship and solidarity with Indigenous communities who also face severe housing need.
The Office of the Federal Housing Advocate reports “that we are missing 4.4 million homes that are affordable to people in housing need” and has called for the National Housing Strategy to prioritize non-market housing. The Federal Housing Advocate has also called for the creation of a fund to allow non-market and Indigenous housing providers to acquire existing building to operate as non-market housing.
MCC echoes the recommendations of the Federal Housing Advocate for the National Housing Strategy to prioritize building non-market housing and for the creation of a federal housing fund for Indigenous and non-market housing providers to acquire existing buildings to convert to non-market housing. MCC also reiterates our support for the creation of a new federally-funded benefit – the Homelessness Prevention and Housing Benefit (HPHB) – to augment the Canada Housing Benefit (CHB). This benefit is designed to slow the wave of new homelessness and accelerate reductions in people experiencing chronic homelessness.
Recommendation Nine:
That Budget 2024 include renewed funding for Canada’s Homelessness Strategy beyond the 2025-26 fiscal year.
MCC is very concerned to know that funding for Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy is scheduled to drop significantly after fiscal year 2025-26. It is critical that Budget 2024 include renewed funding for Canada’s Homelessness Strategy beyond the 2025-26 fiscal year.
Recommendation 10:
That Budget 2024 fully fund programs and legislation that supports the closing of drinking water and wastewater service gaps between First Nations and non-First Nations communities and provide adequate and sustainable funding for water services on First Nation lands.
This recommendation is made to support the mandate of the Minister for Indigenous Services to, “eliminate all remaining long-term drinking water advisories on reserve and make sure that long-term investments and resources are in place to prevent future ones” and to “ensure sustainable access to clean water in First Nations communities.”
As recently as 2021, the Parliamentary Budget Officer identified an average annual gap of $138 Million in the funding of operations and maintenance of water and wastewater infrastructure. This funding gap needs to be addressed to ensure access to safe and clean drinking water.
This recommendation is also being made in support of the call from MCC’s Indigenous partners who continue to identify clean and safe drinking water as a priority, and who are already working towards this goal.
Recommendation 11:
That the Government of Canada fully fund the implementation of recommendation C.17 (a) of the Report from the Mass Casualty Commission.
Recommendation C.17 (a) states that,
The federal government should:
renew and extend bystander intervention awareness and education campaigns and support their implementation in a wide range of settings, including in education, in workplaces, and in the provision of public services; and develop and implement a longitudinal evaluation of these campaigns.
Bystander intervention is a promising approach to preventing harm and improving community safety. It benefits significantly from its ability to create environments that reduce the risk of harm before it happens. The government of Canada has an important opportunity to contribute to the base of evidence regarding bystander training by undertaking a longitudinal evaluation of the various bystander awareness trainings being undertaken by groups across Canada.
There are additional benefits to working alongside community-based organizations, like MCC, that are already engaged in bystander training. It allows for an investment by the Government of Canada to make an immediate impact by growing existing programs. Additionally, community-based organizations are more likely to be familiar with the cultural and social factors in their communities that can create barriers to bystander intervention.