Annex 4: 
Statement on Gender, Diversity, and Inclusion

Since 2015, the federal government has progressively enhanced its commitment to gender equality and diversity, anchoring them as a key pillar in decision-making processes, and government programs and services. Through the use of Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus), the government can assess how diverse factors like gender, race, and age affect people's experiences with programs, policies and services. This approach has led to better-targeted initiatives, and a better understanding of how the government's policy and program choices can make our economy and country more inclusive, productive, and prosperous.

A landmark example of this significant progress is our establishment of a national, affordable Early Learning and Child Care system. The lack of access to child care disproportionately impacts women and low-income families. As of April 1, 2024, eight provinces and territories have reduced regulated child care fees to an average of $10-a-day or less, and all other provinces have reduced fees by 50 per cent. These investments have increased access to high-quality, inclusive, and affordable child care services, and brought more women, especially those with young children, into the workforce. This program is good feminist policy, and good economic policy. The expansion of $10-a-day child care is expected to significantly contribute to Canada's economic capacity, generating higher GDP in the years to come. Additionally, our $10-per-day child care program has already begun to reduce child care costs, improving household financial stability.

By addressing key barriers, Canada's economic plan aims to ensure that all Canadians, particularly those who are most vulnerable, benefit from our country's success. And the Canadian economy has demonstrated remarkable resilience. Inflation has been within the Bank of Canada's control range for all of 2024, and interest rates are declining. Real wages are going up and so is job creation. However, due to the higher cost of living, particularly the high cost of housing, we know that Canadians aren't feeling that in their household budgets yet. Canadians—including women, seniors, persons with disabilities, 2SLGBTQI+people, Indigenous people, Black and racialized people—face these challenges in unique ways. The 2024 Fall Economic Statement makes investments to reduce everyday costs, improve wages and furthers the government's work to secure prosperity and a good quality of life for all Canadians.

Reducing Everyday Costs

Making life cost less starts with fairer, everyday prices. This includes the costs of necessities, like food, housing, medication, and bank fees. The government is taking action to make life cost less and put more money in your pocket. As an example, diabetes medication including insulin can cost up to $1,700 per year, and prescription contraception can cost up to $300 per year. These expenses can make it hard to get ahead for millions of Canadians. So, we created a National Pharmacare Plan, which will make life-saving medication free for 3.7 million Canadians who are living with diabetes and make contraception free for 9 million women. We are rolling out the Canadian Dental Care Plan which has already helped over 1 million Canadians receive dental care, while saving them $730 on average this year.

The government also put in place a National School Food Program that is providing school children with meals that will give them a good start in life and reduce grocery bills for parents. The Program will provide meals for up to 400,000 more students each year and save a participating family with two children as much as $800 per year in grocery costs on average. Some families are also saving up to $14,300 per year, per child with $10-a-day Early Learning and Child Care.

The government continues to build on these measures to make life more affordable. As detailed in Chapter 1, the government is offering A Tax Break for All Canadians by removing the GST/HST on essentially all food, on kids' clothing and shoes, and many other products. The measure provides relief to different types of households spending on a range of goods over the relief period and will help all Canadians start the new year with more money in their pockets. The relief on certain products will help reduce the burden of necessary expenses (e.g., car seats and diapers) and provide support, including for lower-income Canadians with tighter budgets.

We are also Implementing Consumer-Driven Banking, which will help Canadians, including lower-income Canadians, access financial services. Safe and secure financial services, like innovative new apps, will help Canadians make more informed financial decisions, and better manage their finances. The government is also announcing Better Low-Cost and No-Cost Bank Accounts featuring more online banking features and increased free monthly debit transactions. These modernized accounts maintain the existing fees of $4 per month for accounts available to all Canadians and expand eligibility for the $0 per month account to more groups, including permanent residents, refugees, and temporary residents, during their first year in Canada. In addition, banks that have signed on to the modernized agreements will need to extend $0 eligibility to at least one of the following: Indigenous people, people eligible for the Disability Tax Credit certificate, or social assistance recipients. By enhancing banking options—without extra fees—Canadians will be able to put more of their hard-earned money towards other priorities. Lower-income Canadians will also be supported to improve their financial well-being by Lowering the Non-Sufficient Fund Fees charged by banks. Together, these actions will especially benefit lower-income Canadians who spend a larger amount of their income on necessities by helping them avoid spending money on unfair and unnecessary fees.

The government is also Cracking Down on Predatory Lending by prohibiting the sale of insurance on payday loans, adding a minimum term to payday loans of 42 days, and requiring that repayment of these loans be done in installments. This will help vulnerable Canadians, as payday loans are disproportionately taken up by people who experience financial insecurity. According to a 2022 survey on high-cost loan borrowers during the pandemic, around 26 per cent of respondents stated that their annual individual income was less than $15,000, 42 per cent of the respondents reported their income between $15,001 to $25,000, and 24 per cent of respondents indicated their income range was between $25,001 to $40,000. The reliance on predatory lending during the pandemic is concerning as lower-income Canadians faced disproportionately higher costs. These products are often aggressively marketed, costly, and provide little benefit to consumers, and the government is ensuring such debt traps don't become routine again.

In this Fall Economic Statement, the government is also Exempting the Canada Disability Benefit from Tax to ensure it does not reduce other federal benefits for persons with disabilities. This will particularly benefit lower-income Canadians with disabilities. For example, 58 per cent of individuals whose benefits will be preserved will have a net income of $30,000 or less.

Recognizing the urgency of improving housing affordability, the government is helping younger Canadians with Canada's Housing Plan—a bold strategy to build more homes and keep them affordable. For example, the Affordable Housing Fund and the Apartment Construction Loan Program are benefiting low- and middle-income Canadians, as well as younger Canadians, by incentivizing builders to create more affordable and rental housing. Since these groups are also more likely to be renters, the government is championing initiatives such as Lower Energy Bills for Renters and Homeowners through grants and zero-interest loans to help Canadians manage costs associated with having a safe place to call home.

Building on these actions, the 2024 Fall Economic Statement includes measures designed to accelerate the creation of more rental housing, and the maintenance of existing affordable housing. By extending the Federal Community Housing Initiative, the government is ensuring Canadians who rely on the affordable rents that this program supports can continue to do so for years to come. By carving out funding for women's shelters through the Rapid Housing Stream of the Affordable Housing Fund, we are creating more homes for women and their children fleeing violence.

Investing to Raise Wages

Building a prosperous economy today and in the future requires businesses and governments to invest in productivity and innovation, particularly in emerging and clean technologies. Higher productivity increases wages for existing jobs and creates new well-paid jobs, which ultimately leads to higher living standards.

The federal government is making investments in Canada's AI sector. While our AI sector is ranked first globally for year-over-year growth for women in AI in 2023, there is also recognition that AI can potentially create new disparities and could increase existing inequalities. The federal government is addressing these risks by Strengthening Canada's AI Advantage and ensuring a Safe and Responsible Use of AI to establish a safe development and more equitable implementation of the technology.

Building on these investments, the 2024 Fall Economic Statement includes measuresto help further diversify and strengthen the Canadian economy in a way which is inclusive and protective of the environment. As an example, and as detailed in Chapter 2, the government is Restricting Non-Compete Agreements Between Employers and Their Employees. By reducing barriers to labour mobility, this measure will foster a more dynamic, competitive, and productive economy, where workers can harness their full potential. This will help increase wages of workers across age groups, educational background, and skill levels.

With the same objective, the government has also developed a suite of major economic investment tax credits, covered in Chapter 2. These investment tax credits will encourage investments towards a low-carbon economy, which would benefit all Canadians, in particular younger generations and vulnerable populations. These populations, including women, Indigenous people, and people in rural and coastal communities, are disproportionately impacted by climate change. Under the Clean Electricity Investment Tax Credit, Canadians will benefit from more affordable electricity, which will help reduce household energy bills. Low-income Canadians will experience a disproportionate, indirect benefit, as they usually spend a greater proportion of their income on utilities.

The 2024 Fall Economic Statement also includes measures that help stimulate regional development and employment, including support for transportation. As announced in Chapter 2, the federal government is Keeping Northern Manitoba Connected by Rail by investing in the Hudson Bay Railway, which plays a critical role in the remote and Indigenous communities it serves. As the cost to move goods by air is significantly higher than by rail in the region, the support to maintain the Hudson Bay Railway will provide residents, particularly low- and middle-income earners, continued access to essential goods and services at a lower cost.

The government is also working to Eradicate Forced Labour from Canadian Supply Chains. According to the International Labour Organization, 27.6 million people around the world were subject to forced labour in 2021, an increase of 3 million from 2016. An estimated 55 per cent of these victims are located in Asia and the Pacific. Women and children are especially vulnerable, with over 15 million working under threat or coercion. These people predominantly come from low-income and low-education backgrounds, and do not have the resources or support systems to escape their situation. With these measures, Canada will be stepping up its fight against these harms.

Safety, Security, and Fair Governance

The federal government is acting to ensure the safety of all Canadians, particularly the most vulnerable Canadians. The government is strengthening women's reproductive freedom by improving access to contraceptives under the new National Pharmacare Plan. Additionally, the government is investing to Safeguard Access to Abortion and Other Sexual and Reproductive Health Care Services, particularly for underserved populations. These actions benefit women and girls, particularly those in vulnerable situations.

Expanding on these initiatives, the 2024 Fall Economic Statement is providing ongoing funding to Protect Women's Reproductive Health. Specifically, by improving access to sexual and reproductive health care for women and girls. This is particularly true for underserved groups, including Indigenous and racialized people, people living in poverty, or in rural and remote areas, young people, persons with disabilities, and trans and non-binary people. New investments in the Women's Program will help women and girls to live safe, healthy and prosperous lives in Canada. This funding will build capacity at national women's organizations and support projects that advance progress on ending gender-based violence and address systemic barriers to women's equality in Canadian society.

In 2014, the United Nations General Assembly declared January 2015 to December 2024 as the International Decade for People of African Descent to recognize that people of African descent represent a distinct group whose human rights must be promoted and protected. This year, the Prime Minister announced an extension of the Government of Canada's efforts under the Decade, including working with community groups to advance positive change, until 2028. The Government of Canada is committed to improving economic and social outcomes in Black communities and supporting capacity-building of Black-led and Black-serving non-profit organizations and businesses. As detailed in Chapter 3, the government is addressing the effects of prejudice, discrimination, and hatred in the criminal justice system faced by Black Canadians. To further support these efforts and begin fulfilling the recommendations made by experts and leaders from Black communities in the external Steering Group's report, A Roadmap for Transformative Change, the government intends to establish the Black Justice Strategy. Due to systemic racism, Black Canadians are overrepresented by wide margins in criminal courts and correctional facilities, as victims of hate crimes, childhood abuse, and homicide, and in the self-reporting of discrimination by police. They also face disproportionate sentencing outcomes. This is why we are taking action to address the presence of racism in the entire justice system. From targeted investments in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's Anti-Racism Unit to rehabilitation programs, this Strategy will ensure that everyone, including Black Canadians, has access to equitable treatment before and under the law.

This Fall Economic Statement also includes renewed funding for the Black Entrepreneurship Program which will empower Black entrepreneurs and address systemic barriers they face that have limited their access to the capital needed to grow their businesses. We are also ensuring that young people get ahead by helping Black youth overcome employment barriers through further investments in the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy Program. To further support black communities in Canada, the government is investing in Black Community Organizations to bolster their foundational capacity. The work that Black-led organizations do in advancing policies and programming for Black Canadians contributes greatly to the promotion of inclusiveness and the recognition of inequalities and helps to better address them. This will benefit those working to support these organizations as well as the Black communities that they serve.

Up to now, the government has implemented a series of initiatives to keep our communities safe. This includes strengthening law enforcement by providing them with necessary resources to maintain public safety and supporting community-based crime prevention programs, combatting gender-based violence, as well as investments in cybersecurity to protect Canadians from growing digital threats. Building on this, Chapter 3 also focuses on a series of measures the government is taking to ensure Canadians feel safe in their communities.

The government is committed to Securing Our Borders and combatting criminal networks that seek to move illicit goods, drugs and people across our shared border with the United States.

Through the Assault-Style Firearms Compensation Program, the government is Taking More Assault Weapons Off Our Streets. This will reduce firearms-related violent crimes, benefiting groups disproportionately impacted by such crimes. In 2022, women accounted for 89 per cent of victims of intimate partner violence involving firearms. The program will also improve safety for the groups most impacted by firearms-related homicides, such as racialized communities and Indigenous people. Nearly half of firearms-related homicide victims in 2022 were racialized Canadians, and Indigenous people represented 17 per cent—both significantly higher than their proportion of the Canadian population, of 27 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively.

The 2024 Fall Economic Statement is also acting to further Crack Down On Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing. Women, young people, Indigenous people, racialized people, seniors, and newcomers are disproportionately victimized by economically motivated crimes, such as fraud and theft. By bringing forward more robust anti-money laundering measures, we are seeking to prevent financial crimes and protect Canadians.