Global Affairs Canada’s 2023-24 Departmental Results Report

On this page:

• From the Ministers
• Results – what we achieved
  • Core responsibility 1: International Advocacy and Diplomacy
  • Core responsibility 2: Trade and Investment
  • Core responsibility 3: Development, Peace and Security Programming
  • Core responsibility 4: Help for Canadians Abroad
  • Core responsibility 5: Support for Canada's Presence Abroad
  • Internal services
• Spending and human resources
  • Spending
  • Funding
  • Financial statement highlights
  • Human resources
• Corporate information
• Supplementary information tables
• Federal tax expenditures
• Definitions

From the Ministers

The 2023 to 2024 fiscal year was marked by increasing global instability. Against the background of conflict, a worldwide refugee crisis, economic insecurity, the effects of climate change, and challenges to the rules-based international order from authoritarian and anti-democratic regimes and forces, Global Affairs Canada (GAC) worked to promote Canada’s interests abroad.

We adopted a measured, flexible and principled approach in response to the challenges posed by a highly complex international landscape. In addition to working with traditional allies, Canada embraced pragmatic diplomacy to facilitate practical engagement with states and organizations that do not share Canada’s values or perspectives.

We continued to help defend Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s war of aggression. To demonstrate its unwavering support for Ukraine, Canada signed a long-term security cooperation agreement with Ukraine. Canada is also working closely with Ukraine and partner states to address the unlawful deportation and forced transfer of Ukrainian children by Russia by co-chairing the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children.

GAC worked with regional and other partners to advance peace, democracy, inclusive governance and human rights across the Middle East and North Africa, including in the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.

In response to the crisis of insecurity and gang violence in Haiti, Canada imposed sanctions on members of Haiti’s elite and gang members that were encouraging violence. We also worked with international partners to strengthen Haiti’s national police to combat violence and restore stability and security.

In the past year, GAC led Canada’s efforts to foster an open, inclusive rules-based global trading system. GAC led Canada’s free trade negotiations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Indonesia, and reached a foreign investment promotion and protection arrangement with Taiwan. We also took concrete steps to implement Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy with the appointment of Canada’s first special envoy for the Indo-Pacific and first Indo-Pacific trade representative.

As Chair of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership (CPTPP) in 2024, Canada worked with other CPTPP members to finalize the terms to United Kingdom’s accession to the agreement.

We also worked with partners in a variety of forums to promote diverse and inclusive trade, and in February 2024 we released a Joint Declaration on Inclusive and Sustainable Trade with our partners in the Inclusive Trade Action Group.

In September 2024, Canada and Ukraine signed the modernized Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement. The agreement demonstrates Canada’s enduring commitment to the bilateral commercial relationship and support for Ukraine’s broader international trade interests.

In 2023-24, the Department’s Trade Commissioner Service supported over 11,000 Canadian exporters, facilitated more than 1,200 new export deals worth $5.57 billion, and backed around 50 initiatives for underrepresented and diverse entrepreneurs. The Department also negotiated new science, technology, and innovation agreements with Singapore and Taiwan, and led strategic research and innovation discussions with France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

The department led three Team Canada Trade Missions to Japan, Malaysia, and Vietnam in the Indo-Pacific region. These well-attended events opened doors to new markets and opportunities for 295 participating Canadian entrepreneurs and organizations.

Despite a global decline in investment flows, Canada remains an attractive foreign investment destination. In 2023-24, GAC worked with Invest in Canada and other levels of government to increase foreign direct investment into Canada by 13% to $68 billion.

Canada remained a leader in efforts to advance gender equality, the empowerment of women and the protection of the sexual and reproductive rights of women and girls as the foundation of sustainable development and global prosperity. We supported nutrition interventions for women and children in over 60 countries, as well as provided technical expertise to governments and regional organizations, such as the African Union, to reduce malnutrition rates.

Canada provided vital support to alleviate the suffering of an estimated 150 million crisis-affected people worldwide through contributions to UN agencies and other international partners. We also provided funding to experienced and trusted international and local civil society organizations to deliver humanitarian supplies and services to more than 1.2 million Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

At the UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai, Canada led the way by being one of the first contributors to a new fund that will provide resources to vulnerable countries and communities to respond to the worst impacts of climate change. We helped counteract the growing impact of climate change on the global food crisis through sustainable pathways to climate resilient agriculture.

In October 2023, Canada opened the doors of the NATO Climate Change and Security Centre of Excellence, based in Montréal, Quebec, which provides a unique platform for sharing knowledge and developing responses to climate change.

In March 2024, Canada further strengthened its international commitment in the protection of the environment and in fighting the negative effects of climate change by becoming a signing member of the Agreement Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, one of the most significant international environmental treaties of the past decade.

We continued to provide critical support for Canadians living or travelling abroad, delivering 240,000 consular services to Canadians requiring urgent consular assistance. GAC also played a leading role in managing assisted departure operations during international crises. We enhanced support for Canadians arrested or detained abroad through the Consular Advocacy Initiative Fund. Canada appointed a senior official for hostage affairs to support victims, survivors and their families.

GAC also played its part in the Refocusing Government Spending initiative announced in Budget 2023. The department successfully achieved its expected reduction. We made a decision to ensure future financial sustainability, reflected in GAC’s 2024 to 2025 departmental plan.

As we look back on the accomplishments of the past year, we have worked to position ourselves for the future. In the 2023 to 2024 fiscal year, the department began an organizational transformation initiative, which will make sure it is prepared to serve Canadians and to respond to all manner of challenges, well into the future.

The Honourable Mélanie Joly
Minister of Foreign Affairs

The Honourable Mary Ng
Minister of Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development

The Honourable Ahmed Hussen
Minister of International Development

Results – what we achieved

Core responsibilities and internal services

• Core responsibility 1: International Advocacy and Diplomacy
• Core responsibility 2: Trade and Investment
• Core responsibility 3: Development, Peace and Security Programming
• Core responsibility 4: Help for Canadians Abroad
• Core responsibility 5: Support for Canada's Presence Abroad
• Internal services

Core responsibility 1: International Advocacy and Diplomacy

In this section

• Description
• Progress on results
• Resources required to achieve results
• Program inventory

Description

Global Affairs Canada promotes Canada’s interests and values through policy development, diplomacy, advocacy, and effective engagement.

Progress on results

This section presents details on how the department performed to achieve results and meet targets for International Advocacy and Diplomacy. Details are presented by departmental result.

Table 1: Targets and results for International Advocacy and Diplomacy

Table 1 provides a summary of the target and actual results for each indicator associated with the results under International Advocacy and Diplomacy.

Result: Canada builds and maintains constructive relationships that advance Canada's interests.

Result: Canada's leadership on global issues contributes to a just and inclusive world.

Result: Canada helps build strong international institutions and respect for international law.

Result: Canada’s global influence is expanded and strengthened.

Additional information on the detailed results and performance information for Global Affairs Canada’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Details on results

The following section describes the results for International Advocacy and Diplomacy in 2023–24 compared with the planned results set out in Global Affairs Canada’s departmental plan for the year.

Canada builds and maintains constructive relationships that advance Canada's interests

The increasingly unstable international landscape required a measured response in 2023-24. Global Affairs Canada (GAC) continued to work with states, multilateral organizations, external stakeholders and across government to help advance key diplomatic, economic, security and development priorities to improve prosperity and security for Canadians. Practical engagement with countries that have different values or perspectives, also known as pragmatic diplomacy, allowed GAC to better respond to the rapidly evolving global environment.

Relations were strengthened between Canada and its closest ally, the United States, and with G7 and Five Eyes partners (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States) across a range of initiatives. As well, in the Indo-Pacific, Canada took concrete steps in the rollout of its Indo-Pacific Strategy, including by appointing its first Special Envoy for the Indo-Pacific and first Indo-Pacific Trade Representative to support policy coordination and coherence across Canada’s activities in the region. Canada also conducted important outreach with Caribbean partners, hosting a summit of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders and meeting jointly with foreign ministers from the region.

Pragmatic diplomacy was key to building widespread support with other states for action on key issues such as the advancing Declaration Against Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State Relations, leading the group of victim states (Canada, Sweden, Ukraine and the United Kingdom) in pursuing accountability from Iran regarding the downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752, and launching the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children, a joint initiative by Ukraine and Canada to coordinate efforts to address Russia’s forced transfer of Ukrainian children. The latter initiative constituted but one aspect of the department’s outreach on Ukraine, which also included working with G7 partners on options to pursue accountability for Russia’s aggression.

Canada’s work with international partners also focused on advancing effective responses to international crises. This included months of coordination with civil society organizations, international partners and the UN to support a Haitian-led resolution to its internal crisis and provide support for the deployment of a multilateral mission to aid the efforts of the Haitian National Police. It also included multiple rounds of intense diplomatic engagement with Israel, Palestine, Egypt, the United States and others to help Canadians affected by the crisis, to advance humanitarian efforts and seek ways to resolve the conflict.

The department also managed some challenging developments in our bilateral relations in 2023-24. Canada’s relations with China were governed by pragmatism as Canada continued the approach outlined in its Indo-Pacific Strategy, openly challenging China when it engaged in coercive behaviour and taking concrete actions in response to concerns regarding foreign inference. This included supporting the establishment of a Foreign Influence Transparency Registry, a new Policy on Sensitive Technology Research and Affiliations of Concern (STRAC) and collaborating with partners through multilateral forums, such as the G7, WTO, and OECD to address economic security concerns. Canada also constructively engaged with China to advance shared bilateral and global interests, including through engagement by Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs with China’s Foreign Minister.

With India, in September 2023, the Prime Minister of Canada announced that Canadian security agencies were actively pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between Government of India agents and the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil. India’s response included illegally revoking the diplomatic immunities of 42 Canadian officials. Despite this reduced diplomatic presence, Canada continued to deliver services for Canadians and kept critical diplomatic communication channels with India open. Canadian diplomacy helped advance Canadian foreign policy interests while law enforcement pursued legal accountability. More positively, Canada appointed a new ambassador to Saudi Arabia and held discussions at multiple levels on shared challenges, following years of difficult relations.

Multilateral engagement remained critical to ensuring that countries work together to solve the world’s biggest challenges and to foment and protect democratic values, such as transparency, accountability and the rule of law, in international relations. GAC worked in partnership with other government departments to leverage Canadian engagement with multilateral institutions on priorities such as international peace and security, sustainable economic growth, and inclusive trade and investment diversification. For example, Canada continued its leadership of the Ottawa Group on World Trade Organization (WTO) reform throughout the year and worked in G20, International Monetary Fund, and other forums to advance reform of international financial institutions to facilitate the mobilization of additional funding for developing countries. This led to Canada supporting the decision to recapitalize IDB Invest, the Inter-American Development Bank Group institution working with the private sector with important potential to leverage private capital mobilization.

North America

Canada continued to build relationships with its U.S. partners, advocating for Canadian interests and advancing mutual security and prosperity. Canada’s Prime Minister, cabinet ministers, parliamentary secretaries and senior officials carried out more than 400 high-level engagements with U.S. officials, in support of key Canadian stakeholder interests including trade, energy and border issues. In 2023-24, Canada and the United States continued to advance whole-of-government efforts to strengthen the bilateral relationship through a suite of Leader-level commitments, including commitments to achieve a green economy through the Energy Transformation Task Force and to strengthen North American critical minerals and semiconductor supply chains.

In 2023-24, Canada and the United States collaborated through numerous multilateral organizations to address global challenges, maintain a rules-based international order and advocate for the modernization of multilateral institutions. For example, the two countries worked closely on security operations, including in Ukraine and in support of advancing Haitian-led solutions to the security and humanitarian crisis in Haiti. The promotion of political dialogue in Haiti resulted in the signing, in March 2024, of an inclusive agreement between key stakeholders on a new governance structure to restore security and the rule of law and pave the way for free and fair elections.

Canada and the United States also collaborated on the implementation of initiatives related to Canada’s $38.6 billion commitment to modernize Canadian NORAD capabilities, including through increased burden sharing for continental security and establishing new internal services capacity. In addition, cooperation was deepened on the F-35 fighter jet initiative and related infrastructure; cybersecurity to improve the resiliency and protection of critical infrastructure; and reducing violent extremism, child sex exploitation, cross-border smuggling and firearms violence on both sides of the border.

With Mexico, Canada strengthened its collaboration to advance feminist foreign policies in regional and multilateral forums, with both countries signing the Political Declaration on Feminist Approaches to Foreign Policy on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September 2023 in New York. North American relations with both the United States and Mexico were reinforced in 2023-24 through the implementation of the North American Leaders’ Summit (NALS) Action Plan, including by working to establish the Trilateral Fentanyl Committee and to restructure the North American Preparedness for Animal and Human Pandemics Initiative.

Arctic

In 2023-24, GAC continued to implement the international chapter of the Arctic and Northern Policy Framework, focusing on more clearly defining Canada’s Arctic boundaries; supporting a safe, secure and well-defended Arctic and North; and broadening Canada’s international engagement. GAC supported the UN process to review continental shelf submissions and led the development of the Canadian policy in response to the Arctic Ocean continental shelf delineations of the United States, the Russian Federation and Denmark (Greenland).

GAC also launched a process to develop an Arctic Foreign Policy that recalibrates Canada’s foreign policy approach to the Arctic in response to recent geopolitical developments and adds new guidelines and tools to the policy. The department engaged territorial and provincial governments and Indigenous peoples in this process through the Arctic Cooperation Advisory Committee meeting in Whitehorse in February 2024. Also in February, Canada hosted the second Canada-U.S. Arctic Dialogue in Ottawa, further strengthening bilateral relations and jointly agreeing to advance work on common priority areas in the Arctic.

Europe

In 2023-24, Canada reaffirmed its shared values and reinforced economic ties with several European allies and engaged on geo-strategic issues, particularly on Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, as well as the conflict in the Middle East and tensions in the Indo-Pacific. For example, Canada hosted visits by the President of Portugal in September 2023 and the Prime Minister of Greece in March 2024, to discuss topics such as trade and investment, climate action, the war in Ukraine, and security and defence cooperation. At the November 2023 Canada-European Union Summit in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, leaders affirmed their strategic partnership and declared their commitment to address contemporary global challenges including economic uncertainty, climate change, biodiversity loss, digital transformation, natural disasters and regional instabilities. Ukraine remained at the heart of bilateral visits and multilateral discussions, such as the NATO Foreign Ministers meeting where Canada continued to support assistance to Ukraine.

GAC regularly engaged in bilateral and multilateral meetings with the Nordic foreign ministers on the margins of key global forums, including hosting the second Canada-Iceland Bilateral Dialogue in January 2024. These engagements served to directly advance Canada’s priorities with a strategic region of northern Europe in the areas of economic, energy and trans-Atlantic security; the Arctic; and climate change and the green transition. Further, these engagements advanced Canada’s priorities in trade and investment, especially in support of resilience and the security of supply chains for critical minerals and other raw materials.

In late 2023, Canada took the chair of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Forum for Security Co-operation (FSC) for the first time in 17 years. The FSC has 57 participating states and is the OSCE’s politico-military decision-making body. Canada, as chair, raised several issues of importance including mine action; women, peace and security; and mental health in war, while ensuring to keep Russia accountable for its war of aggression against Ukraine.

Asia

GAC continued to implement Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy which focuses on promoting peace, resilience and security; expanding trade, investment and supply chain resilience; building a sustainable and green future; and being an active partner in the Indo-Pacific region. For instance, Canada took advantage of the opportunities presented by Japan’s G7 Presidency in 2023 to reaffirm Canada and Japan’s strategic partnership and further explore avenues of collaboration with Japan in 6 areas of cooperation, including on peace and security issues.

In 2023-24, Canada and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) became strategic partners, while Canada continued its active participation in the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), including co-chairing the ARF Intersessional Meeting on Disaster Relief with China and Laos in May 2023 and co-hosting the ARF Workshop on Health Security and Pandemic Preparedness in Ottawa in June 2023. In addition, Canada co-chaired the 5th ARF Workshop on “Implementing the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and other Instruments to Address Emerging Maritime Issues,” alongside Australia, the European Union, New Zealand and Vietnam in November 2023. Constructive relationships with Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) members and the APEC Business Advisory Council were strengthened to advance dialogue on environmental sustainability, food security, digitalization, respect for the rules-based international order, and inclusive trade and economies.

Canada and the Republic of Korea advanced the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership launched in 2022, including through a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on cooperation in critical mineral supply chains, the clean energy transition and energy security; bilateral ministerial meetings on foreign, trade and economic policy and development cooperation; and a new MOU concerning Youth Mobility. In addition, the Canada-Korea High-Level Economic Security Dialogue was launched in May 2023, further fostering collaboration on shared economic security priorities.

In July 2023, Canada and Sri Lanka concluded bilateral consultations on peace, reconciliation and accountability; international assistance; and trade and investment. In addition, the relationship between Canada and Bangladesh was renewed, including through the conclusion of bilateral consultations with a particular focus on trade and investment ― the first consultations between the two countries in 6 years. In the context of Afghanistan, Canada worked closely with key partners to advance Canadian interests and advocated to remove the restrictions on human rights imposed by the Taliban, including on women’s and girls’ rights to education, freedom of movement and access to employment. Canada also worked with Pakistan to advance its Afghan refugee resettlement efforts.

Middle East and North Africa

Canada continued to employ foreign policy tools to advance peace, democracy, inclusive governance, human rights, sustainable development and cooperative bilateral relationships in the Middle East and North Africa. GAC maintained its engagement with bilateral partners in the region on pivotal issues such as the Israel-Hamas conflict, humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza, human rights, and commercial relations.

Canada actively participated in the 78th session of the UNGA Third Committee (UNGA3C) in the fall of 2023, leading a resolution on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, which was adopted with a total of 50 co-sponsors. The resolution recognizes the deteriorating situation for women and girls, ethnic and religious minorities and human rights defenders among others and calls on the Government of Iran to uphold its human rights obligations.

Sub-Saharan Africa

In 2023-24, GAC conducted extensive consultations with a broad range of stakeholders in Canada, Africa and around the world to advance a framework that identifies partnerships for mutual benefit with African countries and institutions. Canada also undertook efforts to address key peace and security issues, such as responding to the conflict in Sudan by engaging with partners in the region and globally, as well as mobilizing significant international assistance. To help counter insecurity in the Sahel, Canada continued its high-level engagement in this region both through the Coalition for the Sahel and the Alliance Sahel.

Canada also supported democracy in Africa through the deployment of observers for presidential elections in Sierra Leone, Senegal and the Democratic Republic of Congo and for local elections in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Mozambique. Further, Canada demonstrated its commitment to advancing human rights in the region, continuing its advocacy to uphold the rights of 2SLGBTQI+ communities and address instances of increased criminalization and discrimination, including in Uganda.

The long-standing relationship with the African Union (AU) was strengthened by establishing a dedicated mission to the AU in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which forged new and unprecedented ties between Canada and the continent. In May 2023, the Minister of Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development led the first Canada-AU Commission Trade Policy Dialogue in Ottawa and both parties committed to holding a Development Policy Dialogue in the future.

Latin America and the Caribbean

Canada worked with its partners to improve the lives of those living in Latin America and the Caribbean. For instance, in 2023-24 GAC worked to strengthen Haiti’s security and justice sectors and supported the International Security Assistance Coordination Group, bringing together more than 30 countries and international organizations working with Canada to strengthen the Haitian National Police’s capacity to combat violence. Canada played a leadership role in bringing international attention and commitment to advancing Haitian-led and owned solutions to restore security and stability to the region and to return Haiti to constitutional order. Efforts were made to maintain international momentum through international and regional engagement, including through convening several high-level meetings at the leader and ministerial levels. In collaboration with partners, GAC worked on the development of response measures and, in 2023-24, used the Special Economic Measures Act to impose sanctions against 9 members of the Haitian elite and gang leaders fomenting violence and instability in Haiti.

Canada also helped keep the political and human rights crisis in Nicaragua on the hemispheric and global agenda by working on statements and resolutions at the United Nations and the Organization of American States (OAS), in cooperation with international allies. In February 2024, Canada imposed sanctions against 4 public officials in Guatemala for their engagement in activities that directly or indirectly promoted corruption, committing gross human rights violations with impunity, and their ongoing efforts to undermine the democratically elected government. In addition, Canada intervened in multilateral forums, notably the UN Human Rights Council, in an effort to help peacefully restore democracy and respect for human rights in Venezuela, including supporting the activities of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela and the mandate of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Venezuela.

Canada's leadership on global issues contributes to a just and inclusive world

Canada remained a champion for democratic values and human rights, advocating for inclusive and accountable governance, peaceful pluralism and respect for diversity in the context of rising global authoritarianism. Canada continued to coordinate the G7 Rapid Response Mechanism to identify and respond to diverse and evolving threats to worldwide democracies, ensuring that countering foreign interference remained at the top of the G7 agenda. As well, through Canada’s presidency of the Community of Democracies and as chair of the Community of Democracies Working Group on Enabling and Protecting Civil Society, Canada helped strengthen the resilience of democracies to support democratic institutions, civil society, women’s political participation and countering disinformation.

In December 2023, Canada participated in the United Nations Human Rights 75 Initiative to reinvigorate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on its 75th anniversary. There were more than 286 pledges made to the “Pledging Tree” by 150 Member States, CSOs, businesses and UN entities on a wide range of human rights issues. The Minister of Foreign Affairs made a video contribution that outlined Canada’s 4 pledges, which are to: provide $4 million in funding to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) by 2027; advance the rights of 2SLGBTQI+ persons through a 2SLGBTQI+ Action Plan; implement the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; and create a barrier-free Canada by 2040 through the implementation of a Disability Inclusion Action Plan.

Support for the protection of the rights of journalists and 2SLGBTQI+ communities continued through efforts to advance media freedom and protect the safety of journalists, as well as the active promotion of 2SLGBTQI+ rights in Africa, Central and South America, the Middle East, Europe and Russia. The rights of 2SLGBTQI+ communities were also advocated for in multilateral forums, including the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), UNGA and UN Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW), as well as at meetings of the OSCE and the OAS. Further, Canada remained an active member of the Equal Rights Coalition, the UN LGBTI Core Group, the OAS LGBTI Core Group, the Global Equity Fund and the Group of Friends in support of the UN Independent Expert on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Canada built on its leadership role in the digital inclusion space to advocate for rights-based approaches to international digital governance and governance of emerging technology. For example, Canada helped advance human rights via respecting global governance of artificial intelligence, including through successfully completing negotiations at the Council of Europe of a first treaty on artificial intelligence, human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

Canada continued to take a leadership role in the context of the United Nations’ effort to lead the governance of digital technology, including through the UN Global Digital Compact. Canada appointed its first-ever Senior Official for Cyber, Digital and Emerging Technology to reinforce its approaches and capacities to support integrated whole-of-government policies related to cyber, digital, and emerging and critical technologies. Moreover, GAC continued to work with allied and like-minded countries to coordinate efforts to deter and counter cyber threats, including through support provided to 82 states to refine their understanding of how international law applies in cyberspace.

In 2023-24, the promotion and protection of freedom of religion or belief as a basic human right was an important component of advocacy efforts. In November 2023, 12 national and joint statements were delivered to address human rights challenges occurring around the world, including statements on the Palestinian humanitarian crisis freedom of religion or belief, and the countries of Ukraine, Sudan and Myanmar among others. Also in November, Canada’s Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism participated at the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Plenary meeting in Zagreb, Croatia.

The department continued its critical work on Indigenous issues, which aligns domestic and international goals. In partnership with the Department of Justice and in consultation and cooperation with First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities, GAC contributed to the development of the June 2023 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act Action Plan 2023 - 2028. This action plan includes a measure which seeks to enhance the participation of Indigenous peoples in decision-making on international matters that affect their rights and to advance Canada’s contribution to the UN system and other intergovernmental organizations in their implementation of Article 41 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Canada helps build strong international institutions and respect for international law

Canada maintained its efforts to reinforce international institutions and respect for international law in order to strengthen the rules-based international system; promote democracy and human rights; and advance international peace and security. This included work within the OAS to help advance a democratic agenda in the Americas, for example, via aiding in the delivery of credible, free and fair elections in Latin America and the Caribbean by helping to improve the performance of electoral management bodies in effectively administering electoral processes.

Canada also continued to use international law mechanisms and institutions to hold alleged violators responsible for breaches of international law. These activities included actively pursuing cases against Iran for the downing of flight PS752 in January 2020; continuing to pursue a dispute against Syria, in collaboration with the Netherlands, for Syria’s violations of the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; supporting the use of existing accountability mechanisms, including the International Criminal Court, to pursue accountability for the conflict in Ukraine; and actively participating in discussions, particularly with the G7 and Ukraine, regarding new mechanisms to hold Russia responsible for its violations.

Engagement on the use of sanctions as a foreign policy tool to strengthen the international rules-based system continued with like-minded governments, including the G7 and Five Eyes partners. Canada imposed 13 rounds of sanctions pursuant to the Special Economic Measures Act in response to human rights violations and grave breaches of international peace and security in Belarus, Guatemala, Iran and Myanmar, and in relation to the Hamas terrorist attacks on October 7, 2023. Sanctions were also imposed on individual entities in Russia, Belarus, Moldova and temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine under the Special Economic Measures Act with respect to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This includes government officials, oligarchs and financial elites, their family members and associates, and entities in the energy, defence and financial sectors that engaged in the circumvention of sanctions.

In 2023-24, GAC provided legal and policy advice, including to other Canadian government departments, to support progress on a wide variety of international legal issues, including human rights, international humanitarian law, international trade, economic coercion, environmental law, and cybersecurity and cybercrime. This work involved Canada’s membership with the International Atrocity Prevention Working Group which reinforced respect for and observance of international humanitarian law, human rights law and the law of armed conflict. With respect to humanitarian law, strong advocacy continued for upholding and advancing the UN Protection of Civilians mandate and respect for humanitarian principles. This included a contribution of over $90 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross to support its protection, assistance and international humanitarian law compliance activities to address acute humanitarian needs.

Canada supported the universalization and implementation of conventional non-proliferation, arms control and disarmament regimes, such as the Arms Trade Treaty, the Convention on Cluster Munitions and the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention. Advocacy and outreach activities funded by GAC’s Weapons Threat Reduction Program contributed to Nigeria ratifying and South Sudan acceding to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in 2023, bringing the total number of States Parties to 112. Canada also promoted the peaceful use of outer space, including by supporting the renewal of the UN Open-ended working group on reducing space threats through norms, rules and principles of responsible behaviour.

In 2023-24, Canada continued its efforts to strengthen non-proliferation and disarmament regimes associated with weapons of mass destruction, including actively engaging in several cross-regional initiatives that have substantially contributed to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Review Process. Canada also continued its support for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons’ important work on accountability for the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Finally, Canada played a leadership role in the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, leading efforts to improve international cooperation in biological sciences. This included sustained support for INTERPOL’s “BioTracker,” a global data repository launched in January 2024 for law enforcement, which represents a major contribution to the global fight against biological terrorism through its early warning component and data visualization interface.

Canada also engaged in a number of multilateral processes aimed at reforming and strengthening dispute settlement systems. These processes included efforts at the WTO where Canada plays a lead role through the Ottawa group; at the OECD; and at the UN Commission on International Trade Law, where Canada has been elected to chair important reform discussions.

Canada’s global influence is expanded and strengthened

Canada continued to be a trusted partner and convenor on the international stage with numerous initiatives highlighting Canada’s commitment to forging a better world and expanding Canada’s global influence. For example, the Prime Minister of Canada co-chaired (with the Prime Minister of Barbados) the UN Secretary-General’s SDG Advocates group, with Canada offering insight regarding the advancement of the SDGs in various forums. Canada also leveraged its influence in the G7 and G20 to advance Canadian national interests and shape the global agenda on issues such as strengthening international trade; advancing global health, including sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR); reinforcing the rules-based international order; addressing climate change; and promoting human rights and humanitarian responses where needed.

During the UNGA High-Level Week in September 2023, Canada’s Minister of International Development participated in an annual Ministerial Meeting of least developed countries (LDCs), reaffirming Canada’s commitment to countries in special situations and to the new Doha Programme of Action for LDCs. In October 2023, Canada virtually hosted the fourth annual Development Policy Dialogue with the European Union, contributing to advancing mutual priorities including support for Ukraine, food security, financing for development, infrastructure investment, global health and engagement with the Global South. At the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, Canada led the way in supporting vulnerable countries affected by climate change, committing support to help developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse affects of climate change in responding to loss and damage.

In March 2024, Canada further strengthened its international commitment in the protection of the environment and in fighting the negative effects of climate change by becoming a signing member of the Agreement Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, one of the most significant international environmental treaties of the past decade.

With the proliferation of international crises around the world, Canada continued its leadership on critical humanitarian issues in close cooperation with Canadian, local and international humanitarian partners and donors. For example, Canada worked through the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Donor Support Group, and its Canada-OCHA high-level bilateral Strategic Dialogue to help strengthen the Humanitarian Programme Cycle and reinforce the data-driven and needs-based approach to humanitarian response planning. Further, Canada chaired the UN World Food Programme’s (WFP) Governance Review Steering Committee and provided financial support to the governance review in order to enhance the efficiency, effectiveness and accountability of the WFP Board. Canada ranked as the 13th largest humanitarian donor in 2023, demonstrating its commitment to effective and coordinated humanitarian response.

In December 2023, Canada made 40 pledges at the Global Refugee Forum, a multilateral forum that meets every 4 years to enhance the implementation of the Global Compact on Refugees. These pledges reaffirmed Canada’s continued support for comprehensive refugee responses across the humanitarian-development nexus, notably in refugee education; Canadian leadership and innovation in third country solutions; and supporting meaningful refugee participation.

Throughout the fiscal year, Canada contributed to multilateral discussions on strengthening global health security and global governance on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. This included negotiations through the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Intergovernmental Negotiating Body on a new Pandemic Agreement and the Working Group on Amendments to the International Health Regulations (2005). In 2023-24, Canada, alongside Ghana and Amref Health Africa, co-chaired the Lusaka Agenda Working Group, which led efforts to strengthen alignment across the global health financing ecosystem, in particular among global health initiatives, such as the Global Fund, Gavi, and the Global Financing Facility. Both government and civil society voices were important drivers behind this process.

At the July 2023 Women Deliver Conference in Kigali, Rwanda, Canada’s Minister of International Development and Minister of Women, Gender Equality and Youth demonstrated unique, important and timely leadership for advancing and protecting gender equality and sexual and reproductive health and rights, on the global stage. The Ministers reiterated Canada’s continued support for advancing gender equality, women’s empowerment and the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls with government, multilateral, civil society and youth representatives at the conference. Canada remained committed to working with partners and allies to counter pushback against gender equality and SRHR, to preserve gains, and to further progress, including to end child and early forced marriage.

Key risks

In 2023-24, GAC maintained implementation of its Enterprise Risk Management Strategy, ensuring the identification, management, and monitoring of the key strategic risks for the department. You can find the description of risks that apply to all Core Responsibilities as well as the risk management strategies in the Key risks in 2023-24 section of this report.

Resources required to achieve results

Table 2: Snapshot of resources required for International Advocacy and Diplomacy

Table 2 provides a summary of the planned and actual spending and full-time equivalents required to achieve results.

Complete financial and human resources information for Global Affairs Canada’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals

In 2023-24, Global Affairs Canada was steadfastly committed to sustainable development and the advancement of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (the 2030 Agenda) and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as highlighted in GAC’s 2023-24 Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy (DSDS) Progress Report. More information on GAC’s contributions to Canada’s Federal Implementation Plan on the 2030 Agenda and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy can be found in our 2023-2027 Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy. For additional information on GAC’s contributions to the 2030 Agenda and all 17 SDGs, please consult GAC’s Report to Parliament on the Government of Canada’s International Assistance 2023-2024; Canada’s 2023 Voluntary National Review; and Taking Action Together: Canada’s 2024 Annual Report on the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Program inventory

International Advocacy and Diplomacy is supported by the following programs:

• International Policy Coordination
• Multilateral Policy
• International Law
• The Office of Protocol
• Europe, Arctic, Middle East and Maghreb Policy and Diplomacy
• Americas Policy and Diplomacy
• Asia Pacific Policy and Diplomacy
• Sub-Saharan Africa Policy & Diplomacy
• Geographic Coordination and Mission Support
• International Assistance Policy
• International Security Policy and Diplomacy

Additional information related to the program inventory for International Advocacy and Diplomacy is available on the Results page on GC InfoBase.

Core responsibility 2: Trade and Investment

In this section

• Description
• Progress on results
• Resources required to achieve results
• Program inventory

Description

Global Affairs Canada supports increased and more diverse trade and investment to raise the standard of living for all Canadians and to enable Canadian businesses to grow internationally and to create economic opportunities.

Progress on results

This section presents details on how the department performed to achieve results and meet targets for Trade and Investment. Details are presented by departmental result.

Table 3: Targets and results for Trade and Investment

Table 3 provides a summary of the target and actual results for each indicator associated with the results under Trade and Investment.

Result: Canada helps to build and safeguard an open and inclusive rules-based global trading system.

Result: Canadian exporters and innovators are successful in their international business development efforts.

Result: Foreign direct investment is facilitated, expanded or retained.

Additional information on the detailed results and performance information for Global Affairs Canada’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Details on results

The following section describes the results for Trade and Investment in 2023–24 compared with the planned results set out in Global Affairs Canada’s departmental plan for the year.

Canada helps to build and safeguard an open and inclusive rules-based global trading system

In 2023-24, the global trading system remained under pressure due to a variety of factors including supply chain issues and geopolitical tensions. In this complex environment, GAC continued its efforts to safeguard the rules-based global trading system; expand trade, investment and supply chain resilience; and provide global market access and opportunities for Canadian innovation, products and services. GAC engaged with other government departments and agencies, provinces and territories, and bilateral and multilateral partners such as at the WTO, G7, G20, APEC, OECD, the World Economic Forum and the World Intellectual Property Organization, to combat protectionism, unfair trade practices and economic coercion around the world and to strengthen and secure critical supply chains disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.

Canada actively advanced effort to strengthen the multilateral trading system, including during the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC13) in February 2024, in Abu Dhabi. Canada worked with likeminded partners to avoid backtracking on rules and achieved several outcomes, including an agreement to renew the Work Programme and the Moratorium on Customs Duties; the accession of Comoros and Timor-Leste to the WTO membership; and new measures to ease the path to graduation from the category of LDCs. Canada also effectively engaged in negotiations towards establishing a global rules-based framework for digital trade in the WTO’s Joint Statement Initiative on Electronic Commerce. Canada continued to demonstrate leadership and advocate for WTO reform in the context of a changing global trade landscape, including by facilitating Ottawa Group discussions at all levels.

In North America, Canada continued its deep engagement with the United States and Mexico on trade policy issues, advancing Canadian interests and engaging in positive dialogue to support collaboration on global trade challenges. In 2023-24, GAC led work to continue the effective implementation of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), strengthening the foundation for integrated service sectors, supply networks and manufacturing platforms in North America; contributing to stability and predictability for businesses and investors, such as those led by groups that have been unrepresented in trade; and establishing institutional mechanisms to safeguard and advance Canada’s interests.

GAC continued to press the United States for meaningful engagement towards a negotiated resolution to the softwood lumber dispute and advanced its ambitious litigation strategy in response to the unfair duties imposed by the United States in various fora including under NAFTA Chapter 19, CUSMA Chapter 10, the United States Court of International Trade, and the WTO. Additionally, Canada successfully defended against attempts to use the dispute settlement mechanism to amend agreed upon market access commitments and to undermine Canada’s system of supply management, participating in two separate dispute settlement Panel processes regarding its administration of its dairy tariff rate quotas under CUSMA and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

Beyond North America, GAC supported efforts to expand existing and develop new trade relations and investments. In 2023-24, Canada and Taiwan completed negotiations on a foreign investment promotion and protection arrangement (FIPA), which came into effect in December 2023. Economic ties with Taiwan were further strengthened through hosting the annual Canada-Taiwan economic consultation and endorsing a collaborative framework on supply chains resilience; important wins for Canadians given Taiwan’s strengths in advancing manufacturing and its many supply chain complementarities with a number of Canadian sectors.

In September 2023 in Ottawa, the Prime Minister of Canada and the President of Ukraine signed the final modernized Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA), demonstrating Canada’s commitment to the bilateral commercial relationship and support for Ukraine’s broader international trade interests, as well as providing a regulatory framework to support Canadian firms’ engagement in Ukraine’s long-term economic reconstruction. Bill C-57, An Act to Implement the 2023 Agreement between Canada and Ukraine, received Royal Assent on March 19, 2024 and the modernized comprehensive CUFTA entered into force on July 1, 2024. In line with Canada’s foreign and defense policies, GAC also continued to expedite processes for export and brokering permits to support Ukraine’s self-defense.

At the Canada-CARICOM Leaders’ Summit in October 2023, the Prime Minister of Canada announced the expansion of the Commonwealth Caribbean Countries Tariff program to include textiles and apparel, and the temporary foreign worker program to include agriculture and fish processing. In May 2023, GAC hosted the inaugural Canada-African Union Commission Trade Policy Dialogue, where a cooperation framework was signed to increase trade policy cooperation on mutual priorities for Africa and Canada, with the objective to support inclusive economic growth and reinforce the global open rules-based international trade and investment system. New FIPA negotiations were launched with Zambia and Tanzania.

In June 2023, Canada, along with Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States and Japan, released the Joint Declaration Against Trade-related Economic Coercion and Non-Market Policies and Practices, reaffirming the commitment to enhance international cooperation to effectively address policies and practices that threaten the rules-based trading system and harm relations between countries. Through the Inclusive Trade Action Group, Canada, alongside Australia, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico and New Zealand, released the Joint Declaration on Inclusive and Sustainable Trade in February 2024, emphasizing the role that micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) ― including MSMEs that are led and owned by women, persons with disabilities or other marginalized groups ― have in job creation, innovation, economic growth and entrepreneurship.

As part of the Indigenous Peoples Economic and Trade Cooperation Arrangement (IPETCA) 4 partner economies (Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Taiwan) and Indigenous representatives from each economy held the inaugural IPETCA Partnership Council meeting in San Francisco in November 2023. GAC’s mission network undertook promotion and advocacy of the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) across European Union member states to increase opportunities for Canadian businesses and address market access barriers.

In 2023-24, Canada expanded its bilateral air transport agreements (ATAs) to increase the number of weekly passenger-combination flights with Ethiopia, Jordan, Panama and the United Arab Emirates. The ATA with Türkiye was also expanded, allowing for more weekly cargo flights, and a new ATA was concluded with Uzbekistan, establishing overflight and emergency landing rights between both countries. Canada and Türkiye re-established mutual confidence and cooperation on export permits to ensure consistency with end-use assurances, resulting in an export controls policy update that allows increased access for Canadian defense and aerospace companies to a critical defense supply chain market.

Canada also engaged with numerous strategic partners, including China, India, Bangladesh, Mongolia, Australia, Vietnam, Taiwan and Hong Kong, to promote and safeguard Canadian interests in the Indo-Pacific region. This included hosting the Australia-Canada Economic Leadership Forum in July 2023, convening the Canada-China Economic Partnership Working Group in March 2024 and funding a women-only entrepreneur mission led by the Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada that visited the Republic of Korea and Thailand. In addition, Canada took a leadership role as 2024 Chair of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), advancing a CPTPP General Review to ensure the agreement meets 21st century challenges, that it is effectively utilized, and that everyone in the region can access the benefits of trade. Together with other CPTPP Parties, Canada signed the United Kingdom’s accession to the agreement in July 2023. Canada engaged in bilateral and regional free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations with ASEAN, India, Indonesia and the United Kingdom on a bilateral FTA and CPTPP accession.

The department continued to implement appropriate, effective and transparent trade controls for non-strategic imports and exports, facilitating trade and ensuring equitable access by Canadian importers and exporters to opportunities negotiated under Canada’s various international trade agreements. With respect to military, dual-use and strategic items, Canada’s rigorous export controls system, in line with the Arms Trade Treaty, continued to incorporate gender-based analysis plus (GBA Plus), preventing export permits when there is a substantial risk that exported items could facilitate gender-based violence or violence against women and children, among other criteria. With the increase in the use of autonomous sanctions, GAC worked to ensure that Canadian stakeholders were aware of the sanctions and understood their obligation to comply.

GAC maintained a robust and agile export controls framework while ensuring the delivery of services to Canadian companies. In 2023-24, 284,734 permit applications and certificates related to trade controls were processed, of which approximately 99% were within service standards, exceeding the target of 90%. In collaboration with likeminded countries, Canada developed a coordinated and temporary approach to maintain effective strategic export controls despite a challenging dynamic in multilateral export controls regimes, on account of Russia’s obstructionism. In response to the evolving military technology landscape, GAC tightened its regulations on the export of items related to long-range unmanned aerial vehicles and rocket systems.

Canadian exporters and innovators are successful in their international business development efforts

The department continued to position Canada as an innovative, responsible and competitive partner by providing support to Canadian exporters. In 2023-24, the Trade Commissioner Service (TCS) ― both in Canada and in over 155 locations around the world ― delivered over 57,000 services to almost 11,000 Canadian clients, of which 86% were small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The services these companies received included assessments of their market potential in specific countries, connections to qualified contacts and buyers, assistance in preparing to go international and general problem solving. Working directly with these clients, the TCS facilitated over 1,200 new business deals for Canadian exporters, with a reported value of $5.7 billion.

Many TCS programs and service offerings contributed to this success. For example, CanExport supported SMEs, innovators and national industry associations in their efforts to seize new opportunities on a global scale, including in the dynamic and fast-growing Indo-Pacific region. CanExport approved funding for over 1,700 Canadian SMEs wishing to expand their business into 111 new foreign markets, of which 17 were in the Indo-Pacific region. CanExport Innovation supported 75 Canadian innovators to pursue international research and development partnerships for the purpose of co-developing, validating or adapting a technology. CanExport Associations supported 54 national industry associations and business organizations undertaking marketing and export promotion activities in 43 foreign markets. In addition, CanExport promoted the importance of protecting Canadian intellectual property abroad, approving funding for over 400 SMEs for intellectual property components in their international business initiatives.

In 2023-24, the TCS engaged in negotiations on new science, technology and innovation instructions with Singapore and Taiwan that will enable CIIP support for Canadian SMEs in these priority economies (a key objective of the Indo-Pacific Strategy) in sectors such as artificial intelligence and semiconductors. The TCS also led strategic research and innovation discussions with France, Germany and the Republic of Korea; renewed the science, technology and innovation (STI) Memorandum of Understanding with the United Kingdom; signed a new Memorandum of Understanding with the Netherlands; signed a new Memorandum of Cooperation with Japan on industrial science and technology; and advanced negotiations with the United States on a bilateral STI agreement. Importantly, the TCS helped protect Canada’s research ecosystem against threats from foreign state actors through the new policy on Sensitive Technology Research and Affiliations of Concern (STRAC), announced in January 2024.

In 2023-24, the TCS’s strengthened STI linkages with priority foreign partners generated 184 international partnerships worth an estimated $667 million, enabling Canadian researchers and businesses to make new discoveries in priority sectors for Canada’s economy and commercialize them in global markets. Included in these partnerships are 22 venture capital transactions injecting $48 million into Canada’s high tech start up ecosystem.

Through the Canadian Technology Accelerators (CTA) program, the TCS supported 167 companies in the life sciences, clean tech and digital industries through 30 intensive programs in 12 international technology hubs, resulting in 260 new Canadian jobs created, over $103 million in new capital raised and 100 new partnerships forged. A 2023 GAC study by the Office of the Chief Economist, using advanced econometric methods, showed that firms participating in the CTA program saw 27% greater revenues one year after completing the program compared with similar firms that did not participate.

Through the Canadian International Innovation Program (CIIP), the TCS implemented nine Partnership Development Activities that enabled 78 Canadian SMEs to meet with over 250 potential foreign industrial partners, and funded 19 Canadian companies for their participation in commercialization-oriented co-innovation projects.

The TCS continued to offer tools and guidance to support Canadian companies active abroad in adopting world-leading responsible business practices through Canada’s Responsible Business Conduct Strategy. For example, through the dedicated Responsible Business Fund, 26 Canadian missions abroad carried out 33 initiatives that contributed to increasing the uptake of responsible and sustainable practices and partnerships. The TCS also delivered virtual and in-person presentations on the benefits of Canada’s free trade agreements to more than 1,000 Canadian businesses and partners, including on the CPTPP, CETA and CUSMA agreements.

In 2023-24, the TCS supported the Minister of Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development to lead several trade missions, including a Canada Trade Mission to Chile and Team Canada Trade Missions to three markets in the Indo-Pacific region: Japan, Malaysia and Vietnam. These missions allowed over 490 business representatives from more than 320 organizations from across the country and a variety of priority sectors such as agriculture and agrifood, clean technology, clean energy, information and communications technologies and life sciences to advance tangible commercial opportunities in these markets. Over 1,500 business-to-business meetings were facilitated through these trade missions, generating tangible outcomes such as advanced negotiation or signature of non-disclosure agreements with foreign counterparts.

Throughout the year, the TCS promoted the inclusion and diversity of Canadian exporters in international trade and helped Canadian entrepreneurs from traditionally underrepresented groups, such as women; Indigenous, Black and other racialized entrepreneurs; members of the 2SLGBTQI+ community; and youth, grow their businesses through trade. For instance, the department supported and delivered more than 50 initiatives, including business delegations, export accelerators and events promoting the benefits of exporting, for entrepreneurs from underrepresented groups.

The TCS continued to implement the International Education Strategy 2019-2024, promoting Canadian education institutions using the EduCanada brand with marketing and advertising that led to 3.4 million visitors to the EduCanada website. The TCS delivered over 6,500 services to over 780 clients in the education sector, generating 337 economic outcomes with a disclosed value of $31.6 million in direct exports of education services and through partnership agreements. In addition, Canada saw a 9% increase in the number of applications for Study in Canada Scholarships. GAC also published a report on the state of the international education sector in Canada, highlighting its $30.9 billion contribution to Canada’s GDP in 2022 (1.2% of total).

Foreign direct investment is facilitated, expanded or retained

In 2023-24, Canada remained an attractive investment destination, being positioned second on Kearney’s 2024 Foreign Direct Investment Confidence Index. Canada also ranked as having the 6th largest inbound foreign direct investment (FDI) stock in 2023 according to data from UNCTAD. The TCS worked in partnership with Invest in Canada and in collaboration with all levels of government to coordinate FDI activity in support of Canada’s economic growth objectives.

Despite the annual decline of global FDI flows by 2% in 2023 (according to UNCTAD data), Canada’s inward FDI flows increased by 3.7% on an annual basis to reach $62 billion in 2023, and were above the 7-year pre-pandemic average. Many of these investments supported the diversification of Canada’s economy by advancing the growth of low-carbon industries and contributing to the achievement of Canada’s climate goals while at the same time supporting the restructuring of critical supply chains in areas important to Canada’s future prosperity.

Working on behalf of all Canadians, the TCS promoted investment opportunities across Canada and provided strategic funding and direction to its network of investment officers stationed abroad. For instance, the TCS organized 8 major signature events and 2 Investment and Innovation Roadshows (to Europe in spring 2023 and the Indo-Pacific in fall 2023), with the participation of 32 Canadian economic development agencies, which increased foreign investor knowledge, awareness and interest in investment opportunities in Canada. In addition, the TCS facilitated 142 site-selection visits to Canada by prospective foreign investors to pursue specific investment projects and provided referred of 530 qualified investment leads to municipal and provincial partners.

Canada continued to attract transformative investments and high-quality jobs in the electric vehicle (EV) battery ecosystem by leveraging its world-class natural resource base, talented workforce and appealing investment climate, as well as access to the United States and other FTA partner markets. Key investments facilitated by the TCS in 2023-24 include Northvolt AB ($7 billion, 3,000 jobs) and ECOPRO BM ($1.2 billion, 345 jobs). In partnership with other federal and regional government departments, the TCS continued to put Canada in a position to play a leading role in all segments of the EV supply chain, moving Canada toward a cleaner, more sustainable and resilient economy.

Key risks

In 2023-24, GAC maintained implementation of its Enterprise Risk Management Strategy, ensuring the identification, management, and monitoring of the key strategic risks for the department. You can find the description of risks that apply to all Core Responsibilities as well as the risk management strategies in the Key risks in 2023-24 section of this report.

Resources required to achieve results

Table 4: Snapshot of resources required for Trade and Investment

Table 4 provides a summary of the planned and actual spending and full-time equivalents required to achieve results.

Complete financial and human resources information for Global Affairs Canada’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals

In 2023-24, Global Affairs Canada was steadfastly committed to sustainable development and the advancement of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (the 2030 Agenda) and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as highlighted in GAC’s 2023-24 Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy (DSDS) Progress Report. More information on GAC’s contributions to Canada’s Federal Implementation Plan on the 2030 Agenda and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy can be found in our 2023-2027 Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy. For additional information on GAC’s contributions to the 2030 Agenda and all 17 SDGs, please consult GAC’s Report to Parliament on the Government of Canada’s International Assistance 2023-2024; Canada’s 2023 Voluntary National Review; and Taking Action Together: Canada’s 2024 Annual Report on the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Program inventory

Trade and Investment is supported by the following programs:

• Trade Policy, Agreements, Negotiations, and Disputes
• Trade Controls
• International Business Development
• International Innovation and Investment
• Europe, Arctic, Middle East and Maghreb Trade
• Americas Trade
• Asia Pacific Trade
• Sub-Saharan Africa Trade

Additional information related to the program inventory for Trade and Investment is available on the Results page on GC InfoBase.

Core responsibility 3: Development, Peace and Security Programming

In this section

• Description
• Progress on results
• Resources required to achieve results
• Program inventory

Description

Global Affairs Canada programming contributes to reducing poverty, increasing opportunity for people around the world, alleviating suffering in humanitarian crises, and fostering peace and security, and in so doing, advances the Sustainable Development Goals.

Progress on results

This section presents details on how the department performed to achieve results and meet targets for Development, Peace and Security Programming. Details are presented by departmental result.

Table 5: Targets and results for Development, Peace and Security Programming

Table 5 provides a summary of the target and actual results for each indicator associated with the results under Development, Peace and Security Programming.

Result: Improved physical, social and economic well-being for the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly for women and girls, in countries where Canada engages.

Result: Enhanced empowerment and rights for women and girls in countries where Canada engages.

Result: Reduced suffering and increased human dignity in communities experiencing humanitarian crises.

Result: Improved peace and security in countries and regions where Canada engages.

Result: Canada’s international assistance is made more effective by leveraging diverse partnerships, innovation, and experimentation.

Additional information on the detailed results and performance information for Global Affairs Canada’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Details on results

The following section describes the results for Development, Peace and Security Programming in 2023–24 compared with the planned results set out in Global Affairs Canada’s departmental plan for the year.

Improved physical, social and economic well-being for the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly for women and girls, in countries where Canada engages

GAC continued to support improvements in physical, social and economic well-being for the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women and girls, which was significantly impacted in 2023-24 by the lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing conflicts and crises, and rising inflation and food prices. GAC continued to advance well-being around the world through programming funded under Canada’s 10-Year Commitment to Global Health and Rights (2020-2030), including support to strengthen health systems and funding to improve global pandemic prevention, preparedness and response capacities. The department also leveraged networks and partners through the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations to accelerate the development of and equitable access to vaccines against epidemic and pandemic threats. In addition, Canada’s Global Initiative for Vaccine Equity (CanGIVE) supported key partners to integrate COVID-19 vaccination into routine services, increase vaccine manufacturing capacity in low- and middle-income countries and strengthen broader health systems in 12 countries.

Canada also actively engaged with partners like Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to ensure the most marginalized and vulnerable children received other life-saving vaccines following years of pandemic-related disruption. Canada supported the scale-up of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine program to protect millions of adolescent girls from cervical cancer and supported bringing the HPV vaccine to Bangladesh, Cambodia, Eswatini, Indonesia, Nigeria, Togo and Zambia. Canada also helped bring the first-ever malaria vaccine to 12 high-risk countries across Africa: a milestone for child survival. Through grant funding to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the WHO, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative reduced polio cases worldwide, delivering 985 million doses of polio vaccines and conducting approximately 120 immunization campaigns in 30 countries.

In collaboration with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the department continued to improve access to antiretroviral therapy, tuberculosis treatment and mosquito nets. The fund’s engagement in 2023-24 included an enhanced focus on strengthening and supporting health systems, including primary health care facilities, community health worker networks, laboratories, disease surveillance, supply chains, management information systems, health worker training and community systems for health.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Canada played a leading role in facilitating access to primary care for the most vulnerable populations in the city of Kinshasa, by supporting the construction and rehabilitation of a hospital and renovating a pavilion for mother and child services. In addition, 19 health centers were equipped to provide comprehensive sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services. In Afghanistan, Canada worked closely with likeminded countries to mitigate the harmful policies of the de facto Taliban authorities and ensure development assistance continued to reach Afghans in need. GAC helped 173 family health houses provide critical maternal, newborn and child health services, assisting approximately 8,000 live births, 10,000 pre-natal checkups and 450,000 people to access supplemental health services.

With GAC’s support to the Joint UNFPA-UNICEF Empowering Women and Girls to Realize their Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights project in South Africa, 181,430 young women and girls were able to access integrated adolescent and youth friendly services in health care facilities. The project fostered multi-sectoral collaboration across areas of health, social services, justice, police, and education and supported evidence-based decision-making to increase the availability of quality SRHR and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) services.

Canada has long been a global leader in supporting the nutrition of women, children and newborns, through the provision of micronutrient supplementation. In 2023-24, Canada utilized the Scaling Up Nutrition Lead Group forum to advocate for the reduction of nutritional inequities among women and girls and called for better integration of nutrition across areas such as education, economic development and climate change. As a key partner to Nutrition International, Canada supported nutrition interventions for women and children in over 60 countries, as well as provided technical expertise to governments and regional organizations, such as the AU, to reduce malnutrition rates.

The combined impact of the pandemic, international conflict and climate change led to a global education crisis that disproportionately affected the most vulnerable learners including girls, refugees, displaced children and youth, and people with disabilities. For example, in Somalia, Canada helped to improve learning outcomes for girls and young women, including those with disabilities in fragile and conflict situations. Through the Girls’ Education and Empowerment project, 5,239 vulnerable students in remedial learning classes saw an increase in their numeracy and literacy scores. Attendance records also improved significantly, with the absenteeism rate declining from 30% to 11% between February and August 2023, despite ongoing security and climate challenges.

Canada’s support to the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) continued to help lower-income countries build strong education systems and ensure that girls and boys have access to safe, quality and inclusive education. In 2023, GPE reached 120 million children, trained more than 481,000 teachers, built or renovated 6,700 classrooms, and distributed 48 million textbooks. In addition, Canada’s contributions to Education Cannot Wait (ECW) continued to support education for those hardest to reach, helping improve learning and wellbeing outcomes for 5.6 million children, 51% of which were girls and 80% of which were in situations of protracted crises.

In 2023-24, Canada co-led the Multistakeholder Pledge made at the 2023 Global Refugee Forum to demonstrate Canada’s continued commitment and ongoing investments to ensure the inclusion of all refugee children and youth in national education systems. Furthermore, in collaboration with Canadian partners Save the Children Canada, Right To Play, Plan International Canada, and the consortium of War Child Canada and Oxfam, the department helped strengthen the capacity of local, community-based organizations led by refugees, internally displaced people and women leaders to support gender-responsive education programming in Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, a regional project in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras supported young and adolescent girls who are out-of-school, at-risk of dropping-out or internally displaced to continue their learning uninterrupted by providing flexible, relevant formal and alternative learning opportunities. At the conclusion of this project (2019-2023), 183,165 vulnerable girls, boys, and adolescents were reached and provided with flexible learning opportunities.

GAC worked to uphold universal human rights, remove barriers to equality and improve socio-economic outcomes for 2SLGBTQI+ communities. Completed in 2023-24, the Strengthening an LGBTI-Inclusive Movement at the International Level project conducted advocacy campaigns to promote inclusive language in 5 UN resolutions and equipped 47 2SLGBTQI+ human rights defenders with enhanced capacity to promote the human rights of 2SLGBTQI+ persons in multilateral spaces. The department funded 2SLGBTQI+ focused projects in over 30 countries, with programming to improve access to health services, including SRHR, for LBTQI women in West Africa, strengthen service delivery capacity in Southeast Asia, increase emergency and legal support for 2SLGBTQI+ communities affected by criminalization, and enhance legal analysis and policy recommendations to promote the rights and inclusion of 2SLGBTQI+ identifying individuals.

Recognizing the interconnectivity between environmental degradation and gender inequality, Canada delivered its environment and climate change development assistance with a gender-responsive and human rights-based approach. In 2023-24, Canada’s advocacy efforts helped the fund mainstream gender considerations, recognize the higher vulnerability of women and girls to the impacts of climate change, and promote the engagement of women as decision makers in adaptation planning.

The department supported sustainable livelihoods and the empowerment of women by funding nature-based solutions for climate adaptation and biodiversity conservation across 25 Sub-Saharan African countries in 16 Partnering for Climate projects, the majority of which were launched in 2023-24. GAC also supported knowledge-sharing and capacity-building for Indigenous, Canadian and international organizations through the Nature-based Solutions and Biodiversity Community of Practice.

In 2023-24, GAC helped counteract the growing impact of climate change on the global food crisis through sustainable pathways to climate resilient agriculture, with a focus on women and youth. In Nigeria, Canadian funds advanced equitable economic growth in the agricultural sector through support to 3,499 women entrepreneurs for business development and environmentally sustainable agricultural production practices, which improved business performance of SMEs, strengthened resilience to climate impacts, and facilitated market linkages and access to finance. With food security and sustainable livelihoods being a growing concern in the Caribbean, GAC’s support to the World University Service of Canada provided training and technical assistance in climate-smart crop production, which resulted in participating women and youth farmers in Caribbean countries reporting an up-to 20% increase in income.

Enhanced empowerment and rights for women and girls in countries where Canada engages

GAC continued to play a leadership role in advancing the rights of women and girls and gender equality in the poorest and most fragile countries, helping to address the consequences and root causes associated with systemic gender inequality. In 2023-24, the departmental directed 99% (above the targeted 95%) of Canada’s bilateral international development assistance toward initiatives that focus on or include gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, and 15% targeted gender equality specifically.

GAC also supported the feminist funding ecosystem in developing countries by providing funding to local women’s rights organizations. In 2023-24, to actively mobilize financial and political support for women’s rights globally, Canada co-chaired, with Realizing Sexual and Reproductive Justice (RESURJ) and Women’s Fund Asia, the Steering Group of the Alliance for Feminist Movements, helping convene over 300 stakeholders from governments, philanthropies, women’s funds and feminist CSOs to identify best practices and mechanisms for impactful resourcing of feminist movements. Supported by Canada and other international donors, the Equality Fund provided grants to 126 women’s rights organizations across 100 countries in the Global South, and over 500 women’s rights organizations were indirectly supported through the grants channeled to feminist funds.

The department’s Women’s Voice and Leadership project supported 557 women’s rights organizations and lesbian, bisexual, trans, queer (LBTQI) organizations in more than 30 countries with flexible funding and support for capacity development. Amongst numerous achievements, GAC-funded projects amplified the influence of women’s rights organizations on Sri Lanka’s National Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Policy; supported crucial measures, such as free medical certificates, to protect woman and girl survivors of gender-based violence in Haiti; and established a positive masculinity program in Mali geared toward the prevention of and protection against gender-based violence. The department also supported the Legal Office for the Defense of Women’s Rights in a hearing before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for a case of discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation against an LBTQI+ activist in Peru. The case resulted in an historic win for the LBTQI+ community.

GAC continued to support the commitment it made in 2021 at the Generation Equality Forum to address unpaid and paid care work in low- and middle-income countries and support projects that increased women’s participation in employment, education and public life. Canada’s investment in the World Bank’s multi-donor Invest in Childcare initiative contributed to child care activities in over 28 countries, the majority of which were in Sub-Saharan Africa. This investment included 26 small catalytic grants that helped countries to advance their child care agendas and 5 larger grants implemented by national governments in Côte d’Ivoire, Moldova, Rwanda, Senegal and Somalia to support data and evidence gathering, knowledge exchange and analytical work on child care and capacity building.

The department continued to advance Canada’s leadership on efforts to address sexual and gender-based violence, including harmful practices such as female genital mutilation/cutting, and child early and forced marriages. For example, GAC’s support to the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme to Eliminate Female Genital Mutilation provided prevention and protection services on female genital mutilation/cutting to more than 900,000 girls and women, accompanied more than 50,000 religious and community/traditional leaders to publicly denounce female genital mutilation practices, and established community-level surveillance systems that protected and saved more than 162,000 girls aged 0 to 14 years from undergoing this harmful practice. GAC also supported Colombia’s efforts to prevent sexual and gender-based violence by educating Indigenous women and men on women’s human and sexual rights and by building gender-responsive protection pathways to address risks and occurrences of sexual and gender-based violence against Indigenous people.

In Ukraine, Canada upheld accountability for violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, particularly with regard to conflict-related sexual violence. For example, the Peace and Stabilization Operations Program supported the implementation of the Framework of Cooperation signed by the Government of Ukraine to enhance Ukrainian capacity to actively prevent and respond to conflict-related sexual violence. This support helped ensure alignment between Ukrainian national legal frameworks and international standards; establish reparation programs for victims; and improve police, prosecutors and judiciary capacity.

Reduced suffering and increased human dignity in communities experiencing humanitarian crises

The increase in humanitarian need in 2023-24 put significant strain on the humanitarian system, with over 360 million people in need of humanitarian assistance and 114 million people forcibly displaced due to protracted and violent conflict, the impacts of which were exacerbated by climate change. Canada continued to work through the humanitarian system to deliver timely, needs-based and gender-responsive humanitarian responses. GAC provided over $600 million in humanitarian assistance in 2023-24 to UN partners, Canadian and international NGOs, and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement to save lives, alleviate suffering and maintain the dignity of those most affected by conflict and natural disasters around the world.

In line with Grand Bargain commitments, approximately two-thirds of Canada's humanitarian assistance was multi-year, which allowed partners to pivot toward the greatest needs. For example, GAC provided over $170 million in humanitarian assistance to partners in Sudan and neighbouring countries, such as the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, and South Sudan, affected by the conflict. This largely flexible funding allowed partners to address new needs arising from the conflict through the provision of emergency food and nutrition assistance, health and medical services, shelter, protection (including prevention and response to SGBV), water, sanitation and hygiene.

Canada also responded to several sudden onset emergencies around the world in 2023-24. For example, GAC’s contribution to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, provided life-saving assistance to over 15,000 earthquake-affected people in Morocco, including emergency shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene services. GAC also continued to support Canadian humanitarian partners to respond to crises. For example, GAC’s support to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) helped address critical health needs of crisis-affected and vulnerable populations, reaching over 2.6 million beneficiaries. With Canada’s support, MSF conducted over 2.2 million primary health consultations and provided over 70,000 patients with life-saving SRH services across 8 countries.

In the context of worsening and wide-spread armed conflict, GAC provided support to at-risk and crisis-affected populations in Myanmar, including women, girls and ethnic minorities, who are facing egregious international human rights and humanitarian law violations. For example, through GAC’s Strengthening Civil Society in Myanmar project with Canadian partner Inter Pares, the department supported 75 clinics and 147 mobile health teams that served more than 548,000 people from ethnic minority communities, including the Rohingya, living in conflict-affected regions of Myanmar.

GAC continued to respond to growing emergency food and nutrition needs worldwide. In 2023-24, the department supported the UN WFP to reach an estimated 150 million people in 120 countries and territories with food, cash and commodity vouchers. The department also helped respond to the growing needs of civilians impacted by the conflict in Sudan. Through a joint project with the United Kingdom, Canada helped to support 134 health service delivery points across 13 states, which provided gender-based violence and sexual and reproductive health services, as well as mental health and psychosocial support services to 210,000 individuals.

Recognizing the critical role of local actors in humanitarian responses around the world, Canada remained supportive of advancing the localization agenda and continued to leverage the UN Country-Based Pooled Funds as a key tool for supporting local actors. In 2023, Canada was the 8th largest donor and helped to reach 34.5 million people in need.

Improved peace and security in countries and regions where Canada engages

Russia’s illegal and unjustifiable war against Ukraine remained an area of focus for GAC’s peace and stabilization efforts in 2023–24. In line with the 2023 Vilnius 2023 Joint Declaration of Support for Ukraine, GAC worked in close collaboration with Canada’s Department of National Defence to negotiate the Agreement on Security Cooperation between Ukraine and Canada, which was signed in February 2024 during the Prime Minister of Canada’s visit to Kyiv. Bilateral security arrangements with Ukraine, which all G7 Members and a number of NATO Allies and Partners have now established, are intended to reassure Ukraine of long-term military, economic and political security support, and signal as much to Russia. This 10-year agreement commits Canada to provide significant macroeconomic and military assistance to Ukraine.

At the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Canada was steadfast in efforts to address the nuclear safety and security threats emerging from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Canada co-led a first ever IAEA General Conference resolution on this issue in September 2023 and supported Ukraine’s successful candidacy for a seat on the IAEA Board of Governors for the 2023 to 2025 term. As well, Canada’s support was used by the IAEA to assess nuclear safety, security and safeguards at nuclear facilities in Ukraine, including the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, and to deliver required technical assistance and equipment.

In 2023-24, GAC supported global efforts to advance a peaceful, diplomatic resolution to North Korea’s illicit weapons programs, working with its partners and allies in the Pacific Security Maritime Exchange to counter evasion of UN Security Council (UNSC) sanctions imposed against North Korea. Using data generated by the Canadian Armed Forces deployed on Operation NEON, the department engaged likeminded partners, the UNSC and other stakeholders to share information on North Korea’s efforts to evade sanctions, complementing ongoing efforts to bolster the implementation of sanctions against North Korea.

Women play an essential role in supporting sustainable peace. In March 2024, Canada launched its third National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security (2023 to 2029). Developed with guidance from peacebuilders in Canada and around the world, the plan reflects Canada’s commitment to maintaining its role as a global leader in the Women, Peace and Security agenda, and involves 9 other federal partners. Canada’s Elsie Initiative continued to support research and programming to identify and address barriers faced by uniformed women when deploying to UN peacekeeping operations. For example, with GAC’s support, the Ghana Armed Forces developed a gender policy to help increase women’s meaningful participation in peace operations. In addition, in June 2023, Canada, Bangladesh and Uruguay co-hosted a preparatory conference on women in peace operations in Dhaka, Bangladesh, garnering global support for continued investment in the Women, Peace and Security agenda and for the UN Uniformed Gender Parity Strategy.

In 2023-24, GAC’s Counter-Terrorism Capacity Building Program (CTCBP) helped foreign states build the resources and expertise required to prevent and respond to terrorism and transnational crime. For example, the program supported the Government of Iraq in implementing its National Action Plan on Preventing Violent Extremism, working with government stakeholders and over 200 CSOs to reduce opportunities for Daesh to recruit Iraqis and resulting in increased community resilience against extremism. In Kenya and Somalia, the CTCBP helped equip border and immigration authorities to better manage cross-border threats and terrorist activity, including by deploying mentors to train 170 frontline officials on coordinated border management, countering contraband and counterfeit, trafficking in persons, and responses to violent extremism.

With Canada’s involvement via the CTCBP, INTERPOL delivered specialized operational training and equipment to law enforcement officers from across the Middle East and North Africa region, enhancing their capacity to investigate and respond to threats posed by terrorism and transnational crime. This support resulted in the seizure of over 3,000 kg of cocaine and the dismantling of criminal networks linked to the production of fraudulent travel documents and the trafficking of illicit firearms and luxury cars. GAC’s support to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime helped improve government services in Kenya, reducing recidivism and radicalization for youth offenders and children in conflict with the law, and successfully rehabilitating, deradicalizing and reintegrating 39 Kenyan youth ex-offenders, including 32 boys and 7 girls, back to the community.

GAC’s Weapons Threat Reduction Program continued to work to improve international capacity to prevent, detect and respond to the proliferation and use of weapons of mass destruction, small arms and light weapons, landmines and other indiscriminate weapons by non-state actors and states of proliferation concern. For example, using remote-controlled demining systems provided by the program, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service successfully cleared approximately 186 hectares of land and destroyed more than 620 landmines and other explosive objects. Work was also undertaken with the IAEA to improve the development of regulatory infrastructure on nuclear security and radiation safety in Latin American and Caribbean countries and train regulators on the secure use and storage of radioactive material. To counter the illicit trafficking of nuclear and other radioactive material, GAC helped strengthen nuclear security measures both within Ukraine and at its border with Belarus.

In 2023-24, the department’s Office of Human Rights Freedoms and Inclusion provided $21.4 in programming support to help address threats to democratic principles globally, including support for democracy in member states of La Francophonie. More specifically, Canada defended human rights and promoted inclusion through initiatives that: provided capacity building in investigative journalism for independent Russian journalists; supported resilience of francophone LGBTQI+ movements in North Africa, helped reduce gendered state and societal violence experienced by young people in Tunisia; and advanced empowerment and protection of child human rights defenders globally.

GAC also strengthened democratic institutions through initiatives like the ParlDeliver project, encouraging women’s political leadership, governance of digitalization and information integrity in Francophonie member states in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Maghreb, Latin America and the Caribbean. The department promoted free, fair and inclusive elections through support to more than 23 election observation missions and by helping to counter election-related foreign information, manipulation and interference in Moldova. GAC’s support to organizations in the Sahel region helped improve social cohesion among target populations by offering better access to verified and conflict-sensitive information and mitigating potential triggers of conflict caused by false and disruptive digital content.  

Canada’s international assistance is made more effective by leveraging diverse partnerships, innovation, and experimentation

In 2023-24, the department continued to champion new and innovative ways of working and collaborating with partners to identify and adopt concrete solutions that address problems more effectively and efficiently, and to address the unmet needs of people who are marginalized and made vulnerable, including women and girls. This included engaging with a wide variety of stakeholders to pool resources in support of development goals. For instance, Convergence Blended Finance Inc., which was created through GAC funding, mobilized $116 million in 2023-24 toward SDG financing, bringing the total financing since 2016 to $1.9 billion, with 92% raised from the private sector. In support of the innovation culture within the department, GAC continued to work through its Canadian Foreign Service Institute to deliver training on the integration of innovation in international assistance and supported other departmental knowledge and training products.

In 2023-24, as part of the Small and Medium Organization (SMO) Initiative, 36 SMOs received direct funding to implement development projects, with another 12 supported through the Fund for Innovation and Transformation (FIT). For example, in Ethiopia, a FIT project implemented by Canadian Physicians for Aid and Relief tested mobile ultrasound services in select health centres for pregnant women in remote areas. This innovation improved prenatal care access for 2,795 pregnant women, surpassing the initial goal by 23%, and reduced undetected pregnancy complications from 20% to 6%. Through Grand Challenges Canada (GCC), in 2023-24 Canada funded 83 innovations in 40 countries that address health and humanitarian challenges. GCC disseminated the lessons learned from this work and deepened its strategic partnerships to strengthen the innovation ecosystem in support of the sustainability and longer-term scaling of innovations.

Collaboration and transparency are critically important if the world is to tackle some of its greatest challenges. Following feedback from over 100 internal and external stakeholders, in March 2024, GAC shared its Public Engagement Results Framework with key partners with a view to enhancing the participation of Canadians, as global citizens, in international assistance.

Key risks

In 2023-24, GAC maintained implementation of its Enterprise Risk Management Strategy, ensuring the identification, management, and monitoring of the key strategic risks for the department. You can find the description of risks that apply to all Core Responsibilities as well as the risk management strategies in the Key risks in 2023-24 section of this report.

Resources required to achieve results

Table 6: Snapshot of resources required for Development, Peace and Security Programming

Table 6 provides a summary of the planned and actual spending and full-time equivalents required to achieve results.

Complete financial and human resources information for Global Affairs Canada’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals

In 2023-24, Global Affairs Canada was steadfastly committed to sustainable development and the advancement of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (the 2030 Agenda) and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as highlighted in GAC’s 2023-24 Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy (DSDS) Progress Report. More information on GAC’s contributions to Canada’s Federal Implementation Plan on the 2030 Agenda and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy can be found in our 2023-2027 Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy. For additional information on GAC’s contributions to the 2030 Agenda and all 17 SDGs, please consult GAC’s Report to Parliament on the Government of Canada’s International Assistance 2023-2024; Canada’s 2023 Voluntary National Review; and Taking Action Together: Canada’s 2024 Annual Report on the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Program inventory

Development, Peace and Security Programming is supported by the following programs:

• International Assistance Operations
• Office of Human Rights, Freedom and Inclusion Programming
• Humanitarian Assistance
• Partnerships and Development Innovation
• Multilateral International Assistance
• Peace and Stabilization Operations
• Anti-Crime and Counter-Terrorism Capacity Building
• Weapons Threat Reduction
• Canada Fund for Local Initiatives
• Europe, Arctic, Middle East and Maghreb International Assistance
• Americas International Assistance
• Asia Pacific International Assistance
• Sub-Saharan Africa International Assistance
• Grants and Contributions Policy and Operations

Additional information related to the program inventory for Development, Peace and Security Programming is available on the Results page on GC InfoBase.

Core responsibility 4: Help for Canadians Abroad

In this section

• Description
• Progress on results
• Resources required to achieve results
• Program inventory

Description

Global Affairs Canada provides timely and appropriate consular services for Canadians abroad, contributing to their safety and security.

Progress on results

This section presents details on how the department performed to achieve results and meet targets for Help for Canadians Abroad. Details are presented by departmental result.

Table 7: Targets and results for Help for Canadians Abroad

Table 7 provides a summary of the target and actual results for each indicator associated with the results under Help for Canadians Abroad.

Result: Canadians have timely access to information and services that keeps them safer abroad.

Result: Canadians abroad receive timely and appropriate government services.

Additional information on the detailed results and performance information for Global Affairs Canada’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Details on results

The following section describes the results for Help for Canadians Abroad in 2023–24 compared with the planned results set out in Global Affairs Canada’s departmental plan for the year.

Canadians have timely access to information and services that keep them safer abroad

The risks inherent to international travel were compounded by the rapidly evolving global context, with many Canadians living with or facing stressors that exacerbated their needs when seeking consular assistance. In 2023-24, GAC maintained and enhanced its consular services to Canadians through the information it provided to travellers, its outreach to promote awareness of those resources and services, and its investments to modernize and improve the efficiency of its service delivery. GAC also continued to leverage and strengthen its consular diplomacy networks, both in Canada and internationally, to ensure the safety and security of Canadians.

Whether Canadians are exploring vacation destinations or doing business globally, their awareness of world events and local contexts is important to having a safe and positive experience. GAC provided timely and essential information to Canadians on its travel website, travel.gc.ca, and related social media accounts, which helped Canadians make informed decisions about their travel abroad. GAC made more than 4,000 updates to the department’s destination-specific travel advice and advisories on travel.gc.ca, and added new content targeted to travellers who are dual citizens 2SLGBTQI+, Indigenous and women, along with specific resources on international adoption, health insurance and incidents of hostage taking and kidnappings.

In 2023-24, there were nearly 29 million visits to travel.gc.ca, including almost 15 million visits to destination-specific pages, which is higher traffic than experienced pre-pandemic. Canadians received real-time and potentially life-saving information and advice during several emergencies impacting Canadians abroad, including the conflict in Sudan, the coup d’état in Niger, earthquakes in Morocco, flooding in Libya, the crisis in Israel, West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the situation in Lebanon, and civil unrest in Haiti.

GAC worked with other federal departments and agencies, such as the Canada Border Services Agency; Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada; the Public Health Agency of Canada; and Transport Canada, to coordinate communications responses to consular emergencies. A common coordinated response amplified messages via social media and promoted participation in the Registration of Canadians Abroad service. GAC also implemented social media and advertising campaigns to provide information and messaging to raise awareness of travel advice and advisories, hurricane season, health and security, respect for local laws, medical tourism, fraud and scams, respectful tourism, illegal drugs and medication, pride season, Canadian “Snowbirds” and seasonal travel.

In 2023-24, the department supported campaigns to advocate for the safety of Canadians abroad among foreign governments and stakeholders. Through its Consular Advocacy Initiative Fund, GAC helped combat gender-based violence, assisted vulnerable clients, addressed issues related to children and families, promoted the fair treatment of individuals arrested and detained abroad and advocated strongly against the death penalty. The department also advanced Canada’s efforts to respond to cases of hostage-taking, by appointing a Senior Official for Hostage Affairs to support victims, survivors and their families, and facilitate engagement with international partners.

Advancing global cooperation against arbitrary detention for diplomatic leverage continued to be an important priority for the department via the Initiative Against Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State Relations. The global coalition against arbitrary arrest, detention and sentencing continued to grow with Barbados’ endorsement of the Canada-led Declaration Against Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State Relations, bringing the total endorsements to 75. Canada also co-hosted a high-level dialogue on the margins of UNGA in New York, with Costa Rica, Malawi and the United States. The dialogue received support from 20 foreign ministers and over 20,000 livestream views, reinforcing global solidarity behind the coalition and firmly anchoring the issue on the multilateral agenda. The Independent International Panel, consisting of 7 eminent jurists from around the world, was launched with support from GAC and will publish its final report in June 2025, to identify and address gaps in international legal frameworks.

Canadians abroad receive timely and appropriate government services

GAC continued to provide timely and appropriate consular services to Canadians through its network of more than 260 points of service. In 2023-24, the department delivered almost 240,000 passport and routine consular services and managed close to 6,900 cases concerning Canadians who required consular assistance (such as medical assistance and aid to victims of violent crime) while travelling or residing abroad, with over 96% of cases meeting the service standard for an initial response. The department also strengthened support and oversight of honorary consuls who deliver important services where Canada has limited presence. As a part of this effort, the department worked to ensure more inclusive representation by honorary consuls.

In 2023-24, GAC adopted new and emerging technologies, such as introducing a new crisis web form to streamline data collection when Canadian citizens request support during emergency situations, to modernize its services. The department also integrated automation into official document authentication and into its consular financial assistance systems, providing greater transparency in the process of recovering funds loaned to Canadians abroad who required assistance.

In collaboration with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, GAC provided timely and consistent access to passport and travel documents, issuing close to 188,500 passports and enabling Canadians to live, study or travel abroad. Following the launch of the new Client Feedback Survey in January 2024, 95% of Canadians expressed satisfaction with the passport services they received at Canadians missions abroad.

Through the Emergency Watch and Response Centre, GAC provided 24/7 monitoring of emergency and security events that impacted Canadians travelling abroad. The department worked tirelessly to provide emergency consular services to Canadians and played a leading role in Canada’s assisted departures operations of nearly 4,000 Canadian citizens, permanent residents and their immediate family members during international crises, such as those in the Middle East, Sudan and Haiti. In 2023-24, GAC continued to provide consular staff with focused information sessions, training on passport processing, support from a newly created wellness coordinator position, and training for new recruits on topics such as mental health and working with vulnerable clients.

In 2023-24, the department continued its active engagement with international partners, such as the Five Eyes, the European Union, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates, to exchange on modernization efforts, complex consular issues and explore opportunities to strengthen Canada’s response to consular crises. Global Affairs Canada worked with Australian officials, as part of the Canada-Australia Consular Services Sharing Agreement, to further strengthen coordination and operations where Canada does not have an office, and vice versa.

Key risks

In 2023-24, GAC maintained implementation of its Enterprise Risk Management Strategy, ensuring the identification, management, and monitoring of the key strategic risks for the department. You can find the description of risks that apply to all Core Responsibilities as well as the risk management strategies in the Key risks in 2023-24 section of this report.

Resources required to achieve results

Table 8: Snapshot of resources required for Help for Canadians Abroad

Table 8 provides a summary of the planned and actual spending and full-time equivalents required to achieve results.

Complete financial and human resources information for Global Affairs Canada’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals

In 2023-24, Global Affairs Canada was steadfastly committed to sustainable development and the advancement of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (the 2030 Agenda) and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as highlighted in GAC’s 2023-24 Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy (DSDS) Progress Report. More information on GAC’s contributions to Canada’s Federal Implementation Plan on the 2030 Agenda and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy can be found in our 2023-2027 Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy. For additional information on GAC’s contributions to the 2030 Agenda and all 17 SDGs, please consult GAC’s Report to Parliament on the Government of Canada’s International Assistance 2023-2024; Canada’s 2023 Voluntary National Review; and Taking Action Together: Canada’s 2024 Annual Report on the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Program inventory

Help for Canadians Abroad is supported by the following programs:

• Consular Assistance and Services for Canadians Abroad
• Emergency Preparedness and Response

Additional information related to the program inventory for Help for Canadians Abroad is available on the Results page on GC InfoBase.

Core responsibility 5: Support for Canada's Presence Abroad

In this section

• Description
• Progress on results
• Resources required to achieve results
• Program inventory

Description

Global Affairs Canada manages and delivers resources, infrastructure and services enabling Canada’s presence abroad, including at embassies, high commissions, and consulates.

Progress on results

This section presents details on how the department performed to achieve results and meet targets for Support for Canada's Presence Abroad. Details are presented by departmental result.

Table 9: Targets and results for Support for Canada's Presence Abroad

Table 9 provides a summary of the target and actual results for each indicator associated with the results under Support for Canada's Presence Abroad.

Result: Sound management and delivery of resources, infrastructure and services enables Canada’s presence abroad.

Result: Personnel are safe, missions are more secure and government and partner assets and information are protected.

Additional information on the detailed results and performance information for Global Affairs Canada’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Details on results

The following section describes the results for Support for Canada's Presence Abroad in 2023–24 compared with the planned results set out in Global Affairs Canada’s departmental plan for the year.

Sound management and delivery of resources, infrastructure and services enables Canada’s presence abroad

GAC continued to modernize its business processes and improve the management and delivery of common services and real property to boost the effectiveness of Canada’s missions and advance GAC’s departmental transformation initiative. In 2023-24, the department improved the cost efficiency and standardization of delivering common services, including by consolidating Common Service Delivery Points in Delhi and Manila into a unified and rebranded Indo-Pacific Common Service Delivery Point.

In line with GAC’s digital strategy, the department further streamlined program and mission service delivery with new digital workplace solutions. For example, a new case management system was deployed for the Trade Commissioner Service and an international scholarships platform was established for EduCanada. GAC also leveraged modern and emerging technologies surrounding artificial intelligence to increase efficiencies in the production of country briefs and media summaries.

In 2023-24, GAC improved the connectivity, resiliency and reliability of its digital tools by reinforcing its international network’s infrastructure. For instance, the department successfully implemented the Virtual Mission Model solution in 32 new sites, retired 27 legacy applications and modernized 7 applications to the cloud enterprise date centers as part of the Application Modernization Program. In addition, a new network operations team was established to administer previously unmanaged standalone networks and provide directed internet access to the department’s staff across its mission network. The introduction of this new team enhanced security, network reliability and overall efficiency of IT operations, as well as reduced service disruption and exposure to security risks.

In support of the long-term sustainability of Canada’s missions abroad, GAC advanced the Mission Portfolio Plans for 36 missions abroad, successfully implementing supply and demand informed decision-making and guiding investments toward the highest priorities, including asset stewardship and greening government operations. The department launched several portfolio-wide studies, including a biodiversity action plan that will detail how mission real property and operations can better support local biodiversity; an assessment for clean energy procurement; and an embodied carbon action plan that will explore how GAC calculates and reduces embodied carbon from structural materials.

The department also made progress in implementing its Sustainable Development Strategic Framework for Canada’s Missions Abroad, completing 4 risk assessments (Abuja, Amman, Mexico City and Washington) and 3 green building certifications (Amman, Prague and Riyadh) contributing to climate-resilient new construction and major retrofits, as well as low carbon operations. Further, GAC supported 18 energy, water and waste audits and retrofits at missions, led a plastic-free initiative to reduce single-use plastics at 3 missions, and implemented a pilot for green building certifications to optimize building infrastructure for health and wellness.

In support of the department’s transformation and strengthening the recruitment, retention and development of a diverse workforce with the skill sets required to meet global challenges, in 2023-24, GAC implemented its Management Consular Officer (MCO) Workforce Strategy. This included implementation of a peer-to-peer support program; targeted training in leadership, effective delegation and mental health; improving resiliency; and reducing workforce gaps across the MCO foreign service officer cadre.

The department continued to provide services at mission, including through the employment of locally engaged staff (LES), who make unique contributions to the achievement of the department’s mandate. In 2023-24, GAC made significant progress on the LES Benefits Modernization Initiative to promote a standardized and systemic approach to LES benefits design, delivery and governance, with the implementation of the African Regional Medical Plan for 20 nations across the continent. GAC also continued implementing its Anti-Racism Strategy in an effort to address systemic racism, discrimination and bias, as well as to promote a dynamic, healthy and productive workforce, with the publication of the department’s Accessibility Action Plan for 2023-25. GAC has provided organizational and individual learning opportunities through dialogue and the creation of safe spaces and brave spaces where executives, managers and employees across the GAC network, including LES at missions, can speak freely about their experiences.

Personnel are safe, missions are more secure and government and partner assets and information are protected

With the rapid evolution and sophistication of security threats, GAC continued to strengthen the safety and security of employees and departmental information and assets abroad by focusing on building a secure and resilient digital infrastructure; establishing an integrated department-wide information management and technology system; and improving connectivity at missions abroad.

In 2023-24, GAC invested in tools that enabled improved protection, detection and response to cyber security risks without compromising the flexibility of employees operating or travelling to high-risk missions. For instance, GAC implemented stringent security compliance mechanisms to ensure its global fleet of laptops and mobility devices have the latest security compliance patches before they can access corporate resources and deploying the Lookout smartphone security solution to all GAC smartphones. Following the cyber security incident in February 2024, which resulted in the shutdown of GAC’s Virtual Private Network infrastructure, the department strengthened its cybersecurity capabilities by implementing a more rigorous security protocol system across missions, enhancing incident management procedures and increasing security awareness and training for information technology professionals.

In line with its 10-year Duty of Care initiative, which aims to improve the infrastructure, readiness and information security at its missions abroad through additional security measures, GAC completed several security-driven real property projects at missions in 2023-24, such as security upgrades in Dakar, Islamabad, San Salvador, and Tegucigalpa. The department successfully delivered multiple armoured vehicles in high-conflict regions abroad, such as Ramallah, and completed technical inspections in Haiti, Pakistan and Türkiye. The department also delivered 6 driver training sessions to qualify more drivers abroad. In addition, GAC continued to modernize its approach to real property major project management, by obtaining new emergency contracting authorities, increasing its flexibility to respond to emergencies and international crises, and to deliver real property projects abroad.

In 2023-24, GAC completed 38 Vulnerability Assessment Visits and 44 Vulnerability Assessment Reports across its mission network, providing important security recommendations and risk mitigation measures to ensure personnel and mission assets are safe and secure. In addition, GAC completed enterprise closed-circuit television installations, designs and maintenance projects and installed new systems, such as the Personal Safety Radio Network, to improve communication between Canada-based staff at missions during emergencies.

The COVID-19 pandemic and multiple international conflicts heightened the awareness of health, safety and security for department employees, particularly with respect to mental health and wellbeing. In 2023-24, GAC initiated a review of the overseas health program to develop a model that supports GAC’s Duty of Care obligations and provides the necessary healthcare support required for employees and their families when posted abroad. The department also advanced the implementation of Bill C-65 to ensure workplaces are free from violence and harassment and that employees’ safety and security remains a top priority. In 2023-24, 55% of GAC employees had successfully completed departmental training on “Preventing Harassment and Violence in the Workplace.”

Key risks

In 2023-24, GAC maintained implementation of its Enterprise Risk Management Strategy, ensuring the identification, management, and monitoring of the key strategic risks for the department. You can find the description of risks that apply to all Core Responsibilities as well as the risk management strategies in the Key risks in 2023-24 section of this report.

Resources required to achieve results

Table 10: Snapshot of resources required for Support for Canada's Presence Abroad

Table 10 provides a summary of the planned and actual spending and full-time equivalents required to achieve results.

Complete financial and human resources information for Global Affairs Canada’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals

In 2023-24, Global Affairs Canada was steadfastly committed to sustainable development and the advancement of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (the 2030 Agenda) and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as highlighted in GAC’s 2023-24 Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy (DSDS) Progress Report. More information on GAC’s contributions to Canada’s Federal Implementation Plan on the 2030 Agenda and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy can be found in our 2023-2027 Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy. For additional information on GAC’s contributions to the 2030 Agenda and all 17 SDGs, please consult GAC’s Report to Parliament on the Government of Canada’s International Assistance 2023-2024; Canada’s 2023 Voluntary National Review; and Taking Action Together: Canada’s 2024 Annual Report on the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Program inventory

Canada's Presence Abroad is supported by the following programs:

• Platform Corporate Services
• Foreign Service Directives
• Client Relations and Mission Operations
• Locally Engaged Staff Services
• Real Property Planning and Stewardship
• Real Property Project Delivery, Professional and Technical Services
• Mission Readiness and Security
• Mission Network Information Management / Information Technology

Additional information related to the program inventory for Support for Canada's Presence Abroad is available on the Results page on GC InfoBase.

Internal services

In this section

• Description
• Progress on results
• Resources required to achieve results
• Contracts awarded to Indigenous business

Description

Internal services are the services that are provided within a department so that it can meet its corporate obligations and deliver its programs. There are 10 categories of internal services:

• management and oversight services
• communications services
• legal services
• human resources management services
• financial management services
• information management services
• information technology services
• real property management services
• material management services
• acquisition management services

Progress on results

This section presents details on how the department performed to achieve results and meet targets for internal services.

GAC continued its work in 2023-24 to transform the department to make it more effective and improve efficiencies. The department’s Transformation Implementation Plan, launched in September 2023, was key in this process and illustrates the department’s commitment to better deliver on its mandates of foreign affairs, trade international assistance, and consular support and to ensure GAC is well-equipped to meet the demands of a changing world. The implementation of this evergreen 3-year transformation plan follows the launch of a discussion paper in June 2023 entitled “Future of Diplomacy: Transforming Global Affairs Canada” to ensure that GAC is fit for purpose: that is, that it is strategic, influential, open, connected, agile, highly skilled and diverse. The plan focuses on 5 pillars of transformation: organizational culture, people, global presence, policy, and processes and tools.

A key component of the Transformation Implementation Plan was the development of a North Star statement, which aims to unite employees across a global agenda that spans diverse program lines, functions and contributions, and is an important step to transforming GAC into a people-centered, high-performing organization. The statement captures aspirations for a transformed organizational culture; the values, principles and behaviours for which employees will hold each other to account; and the renewed mission for the department.

In an effort to improve the mental health and well-being of employees, the department produced its first annual report in 2023-24 on addressing misconduct and wrongdoing, which is a part of ongoing efforts to cultivate a workplace culture that is healthy and respectful for all. Other human resources initiatives included the development of GAC’s first Accessibility Action Plan to remove and prevent barriers and make the organization more accessible for persons with disabilities. GAC also continued its work implementing and reporting on its Anti-Racism Strategy Action Plan, which complements the department’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion strategy to ensure the workplace is free of systemic racism and of discrimination against and harassment of marginalized and racialized groups. To further support fair human resources processes, a Talent Management Framework was developed, as well as tools to support managers and employees.

Demonstrating strong commitment to increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of how the department operates, a Red Tape Reduction exercise was undertaken in 2023-24 with more than 30 projects focused on improvements such as delegating approval authorities down across business lines, empowering missions and Heads of Missions to more easily manage budgets, streamlining processes for getting IM/IT tools for new and rotating staff, and improving the quality of briefings for clients while reducing the workload and burden on employees.

GAC also developed a draft plan for priority digital transformation investments, including for knowledge management and process improvement capabilities. Further, the department clarified key long-term digital capabilities needed for GAC transformation and streamlined processes across finance, HR and IT back-office operations with robotic process automation.

In recognition of the need to improve how the department engages with partners and manages international assistance, GAC continued to implement its Grants and Contributions Transformation Initiative, a component of the broader transformation agenda. In 2023-24, this included the development of a comprehensive partner assessment tool to transform due diligence with key Canadian partners. It also included the development of the Enterprise Management System Prototype for the system that will replace the legacy database for project data. This new system will improve the department’s capacity to make evidence-based investments and demonstrate the value of every dollar spent on international assistance to Canadians.

GAC remained committed to greening its operations both domestically and internationally and saw great progress in 2023-24. The department continued its work implementing the Sustainable Development Strategic Framework for Missions Abroad and continued to prioritize the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, as well as review and implement procurement practices to align with green objectives. GAC also continued to apply sustainable design standards to new construction and major renovation projects abroad by implementing green building certifications.

Domestically, the department established ecoGAC, a team dedicated to accelerating efforts to green GAC’s operations and build climate resilience to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at existing buildings and move toward net-zero carbon operations by 2050. As well, the department continues to advance the Greening Government Strategy, which was drafted to position the Government of Canada as a global leader in low-carbon, resilient and green government operations.

Resources required to achieve results

Table 11: Resources required to achieve results for internal services this year

Table 11 provides a summary of the planned and actual spending and full-time equivalents required to achieve results.

The complete financial and human resources information for the Global Affairs Canada’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Key risks in 2023-24

GAC has continued to implement its Enterprise Risk Management Strategy, which includes identification, management and monitoring of the top strategic risks for the department. Strategic risks are those that are cross-cutting to GAC’s mandate and that could jeopardize multiple objectives if they were to occur. They are presented in the biennial Enterprise Risk Profile.

Strategic risks are established for a 2-year period; for 2022-23 and 2023-24 they were related to (1) health, safety and well-being (workload and constant change); (2) health, safety and well-being (health coverage at mission); (3) cyber/digital security and resilience; (4) IT infrastructure; and (5) management and security of real property and assets.

In recent years, the international context has experienced an unprecedented array of shocks which set into motion cascading complications for GAC and its missions to address. Strategic risks are inherently complex and require a long-term, whole-of-department effort to mitigate. To aid in these efforts, the department has placed greater emphasis on monitoring the effectiveness and the impacts of mitigation measures to manage the top risks. Senior management committees discussed the status of these measures on a semi-annual basis.

Below is a summary of the top risks for 2023-24 and highlights of the department’s measures to mitigate the impact of the risks by either increasing the department’s resilience to the risks or by tackling factors which could exacerbate them.

Risk 1: Health, safety and well-being

The continuing challenges of the pandemic have been particularly strenuous for GAC’s international and domestic workforce, which has had to continuously adapt to changing conditions, shifting priorities and a general increase in workload.

This risk links to all core responsibilities.

Risk statement: “Pressure on the workforce to continuously adapt to change and increased workloads could impede the health, safety, well-being of employees, impact retention, particularly in the face of increased competition for talent, and limit the department’s ability to deliver on its mandate.”

Examples of response strategy employed:

• continued to sensitize management and employees on issues of mental health and well-being and encourage the need to prioritize deliverables and expectations accordingly
• continued the delivery of the multi-annual plan on pool staffing, which includes regular post-secondary recruitment, a robust intake of FS01 and 02 and evergreen staffing strategy on the basis of pools’ needs (including stream needs)
• continued to work with managers to deliver on the collective staffing plan and increase promotion of collective staffing versus unique processes to support recruitment needs, especially for groups in high demand
• managed pay action requests and the submission to the pay centre in a timely manner

Risk 2: Health, safety and well-being

GAC treats the health, safety and wellness of its staff, both at headquarters and abroad, as a top priority. For example, with the decision of Health Canada to cease overseas health services to GAC and other government departments during the pandemic, the need for adequate health care services and supplementary health and safety measures was flagged as a top risk.

This risk links to all core responsibilities.

Risk statement: “The need for adequate health care services and supplementary health and safety measures due to the pandemic may impact our ability to keep our staff at mission healthy and safe and meet our Duty of Care obligations.”

Examples of response strategy employed:

• established a way forward with Health Canada to ensure continuity of overseas health services
• review of GAC’s overseas health program to ensure it is meeting its Duty of Care obligations toward Canada-based staff (CBS) and dependents posted or travelling
• ensured CBS and dependents had access to medical evacuations
• implemented the multi-year Locally Engaged Staff Benefits Modernization initiative to move away from system inequities
• ensured that employees and dependents had access to Health Canada-approved vaccines

Risk 3: Cyber/digital security and resilience

Governments, companies, institutions and civil society around the world rely increasingly on technology to underpin their operations, coordinate their work across national boundaries and connect to the world. However, this reliance carries risks due to increasingly organized and constantly evolving cyberthreats, particularly in the context of remote work.

This risk links to all core responsibilities.

Risk statement: “Normalized and prolonged remote work arrangements and digital solutions increase cyber vulnerabilities and impact the GAC’s ability to respond.”

Examples of response strategy employed:

• GAC continued to work with interdepartmental partners that have a cybersecurity mandate to improve its understanding of evolving threats and vulnerabilities and to respond to them

• developed and updated exercise materials and tools that boost cybersecurity and staff awareness

• implemented new measures to monitor and detect attacks and vulnerabilities
• enhanced cloud security posture by implementing a variety of security related measures

Risk 4: IT infrastructure

This top risk stems from concern that GAC will not have the IT infrastructure necessary to support the functioning of the Government of Canada abroad or at headquarters. For example, with a hybrid working model going forward for some areas of GAC, challenges related to IT support for a hybrid workforce can have major effects on business. As well, network capacity in some missions is not sufficient to support the shift toward new digital capabilities.

This risk links to all core responsibilities.

Risk statement: “The department’s IT infrastructure may not be sufficient to support the effective functioning of the Government of Canada abroad or at HQ.”

Examples of response strategy employed:

• deployed modern cloud-enabled network solutions to as many missions as possible, including activities such as making full use of the Virtual Mission Model infrastructure beyond just MS Teams

• developed and implemented Secure Global Communication pilot, including activities such as the provision of mobile phones capable of secret-level texting, voice and video and interconnectivity with existing secure communications capabilities

Risk 5: Management and security of real property and assets

The department owns and manages real property assets in roughly 182 missions located in 112 countries, which involves complex challenges. There is a constant need to strengthen real property project management and oversight to ensure timely and effective service delivery, as well as the timely implementation of mitigation measures for identified vulnerabilities at missions. Travel limitations, the drawdown of mission capacity, global supply chain disruptions and limited access to professional services during the pandemic continued to impact the delivery of real property projects.

This risk links to core responsibility 5: Support for Canada’s presence abroad.

Risk statement: “Pandemic impacts, including supply chain issues, could impede GAC’s ability to deliver real property investments including Duty of Care obligations and security requirements.”

Examples of response strategy employed:

• conducted a review of supply chain operations and enhanced mission inventory management framework

• continued to develop and implement the Service Delivery Portal, a web-based solution to improve the timeliness and accuracy of GAC’s service delivery reporting
• reviewed the governance and process of the real property projects from business case to execution by looking at real property governance, process, key functions, roles and responsibilities, and tools between the various responsibility centers within the department
• ensured Public Services and Procurement Canada developed a Real Property Risk Management Plan for the 125 Sussex Drive Project and other projects in the National Capital Region
• developed GAC internal systems and controls to track project delivery (on scope, budget and time) and reporting processes

Contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses

Government of Canada departments are to meet a target of awarding at least 5% of the total value of contracts to Indigenous businesses each year. This commitment is to be fully implemented by the end of 2024–25.

Global Affairs Canada’s result for 2023-24:

Table 12: Total value of contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses¹

As shown in the Table 12, Global Affairs Canada awarded 4.75% of the total value of all contracts to Indigenous businesses for the fiscal year.

International procurement: Due to the nature of GAC’s overseas operations, contracting opportunities with Canadian Indigenous businesses outside of Canada is severely limited.

Emergency/crisis contracting: Due to unforeseen events and the urgency of particular situations to act quickly, such as natural disasters, pandemics, conflicts, wars and evacuations, the requirement(s) could not be satisfied by relying on normal contracting processes, including Indigenous consideration.

To further develop and improve the procurement strategy for Indigenous businesses, information sessions were organized in 2023-24 in collaboration with Indigenous Services Canada and offered to the GAC business owners/project authorities. Additionally, an information session for GAC’s business owners/project authorities was organized in collaboration with the Procurement Alliance on the topic of procurements for Indigenous businesses. GAC also modified its internal domestic procurement business processes to include Indigenous suppliers, when possible, for all traditional (invitational) tenders.

To promote the importance of setting aside procurement requirements for Indigenous businesses, GAC’s Procurement and Material Management Intranet page now incorporates a section on “Indigenous Consideration in Procurement.” As well, the importance of meeting or exceeding the 5% target of the total value of the department’s domestic contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses was communicated and promoted via an internal GAC broadcast message in September 2023. Further, fund center managers were advised to consider allocating at least 5% of their fiscal procurement budget toward procurement for Indigenous businesses as well as to purchase all office supplies from an Indigenous business standing offer.

Employees have also been asked to work with procurement officers to voluntarily set aside certain requirements for goods and services for Indigenous business competition under the Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Businesses and identify Indigenous business capacity by using the Indigenous Business Directory. The net result of all these initiatives and actions is that GAC achieved a result of 4.75% in 2023-24.

Spending and human resources

In this section

• Spending
• Funding
• Financial statement highlights
• Human resources

Spending

This section presents an overview of the department’s actual and planned expenditures from 2021–22 to 2026–27.

Graph 1 Actual spending by core responsibility in 2023-24

Graph 1 presents how much the department spent in 2023–24 to carry out core responsibilities and internal services.

Text version

Actual spending by core responsibility in 2023-24:

International Advocacy and Diplomacy: $1,006,668,770

Trade and Investment: $380,255,841

Development, Peace and Security Programming: $5,368,772,391

Help for Canadians Abroad: $85,977,299

Support for Canada's Presence Abroad: $1,229,035,508

Internal Services: $387,369,490

Analysis of actual spending by core responsibility

GAC’s total expenses decreased by $848 million or 10% compared to 2022-23. While some expenses increased, the net result is a decrease of $848 million, as detailed here:

• transfer payments for COVID-19 related funding accounted for $732 million of expenses in 2022-23 compared to $0 in 2023-24
• decrease of $440 million in payments to Canadian non-governmental organizations and to international banks and financial institutions for programs and projects that are sunsetting
• increase of $210 million in salaries and employee benefits due to the renewal of multiple collective agreements, which resulted in increases to Canadian based staff regular pay, retroactive salary payments as well as increases to paid benefits
• increase of $35 million in grants and contributions to the United Nations and related organizations
• the remaining increase of $79 million is due to an amalgam of items of lesser value

GAC’s total expenses exceeded planned expenses by $147 million or 2%, which is explained by differences resulting from estimates and assumptions used for the preparation of the future-oriented statement of operations compared to actuals.

Budgetary performance summary

Table 13 Actual three-year spending on core responsibilities and internal services (dollars)

Table 13 presents how much money Global Affairs Canada spent over the past three years to carry out its core responsibilities and for internal services.

Analysis of the past three years of spending

The above table provides an overview of the Department’s actual spending over the last three fiscal years.

The table includes Main Estimates 2023-24 (initial financial resources for the delivery of departmental programs), planned spending 2023-24 (actual anticipated spending over the course of the fiscal year), 2023-24 total authorities available for use (total amount the department received in spending authority during the year), and actual spending (amount the department spent) in the last three fiscal years.

The variance of $383.9 million between 2021-22 actual spending ($8.07 billion) and 2023-24 actual spending ($8.46 billion) is mainly attributable to the additional funding/spending during the fiscal year of 2023-24:

• funding for Canada’s international climate finance and biodiversity program
• funding to help developing countries address the impact of climate change
• funding to support Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy
• funding for Duty of Care initiatives
• funding for increased costs related to inflation on foreign service allowance, locally engaged staff salaries and related benefits, currency fluctuations on operations incurred at missions abroad, increased payments and currency fluctuations of assessed contribution
• funding for global health investments
• funding for collective bargaining agreements
• funding for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
• funding to implement Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy (horizontal initiative)
• funding for the Peace and Stabilization Operations Program
• funding for Canada’s response to the crisis in Haiti
• funding to strengthen Canada’s sanctions capacity and leadership
• funding for reinforcing and modernizing core consular capacity to assist Canadians abroad
• funding to strengthen Canada’s diplomatic presence in Central and Eastern Europe and the Caucasus region
• funding for Canada’s participation at World Expo Osaka 2025

The above increases were offset by the sunset or decrease of the actual spending to the following initiatives:

• decrease of funding for Canada’s engagement in United Nations peace operations and peacebuilding
• sunset of funding for Canada’s participation at the World Expo in Dubai
• decrease of funding for Canada’s Middle East Strategy to address the crises in Iraq and Syria and the impacts on the region
• sunset of funding for the Global Partnership for Education
• decrease of funding for the Strategic Priorities Fund for international assistance
• sunset of funding for Canada’s response to the Venezuelan refugee and migrant crisis in Latin America and the Caribbean Region
• decrease of funding to help developing countries address the impact of climate change
• sunset of funding for pandemic responses related to COVID-19
• reductions related to refocusing government spending

More financial information from previous years is available on the Finances section of GC Infobase.

Table 14 - Planned three-year spending on core responsibilities and internal services (dollars)

Table 14 presents how much money Global Affairs Canada’s plans to spend over the next three years to carry out its core responsibilities and for internal services.

Analysis of the next three years of spending

The above table provides an overview of the Department’s planned three-year spending for the future three years. It is important to note that the planned spending for 2024-25, 2025-26 and 2026-27 was published in the 2024-25 Departmental Plan. These figures were prepared based on funding approved up until February 2024.

The variance of $1.38 billion between 2024-25 planned spending ($8.81 billion) and 2026-27 planned spending ($7.43 billion) is mainly attributable to the sunset or decrease of funding for the following initiatives:

• decrease of funding to help developing countries address the impact of climate change
• sunset of funding for Canada’s international climate finance and biodiversity program
• decrease of funding for the Duty of Care Initiatives
• sunset of funding for Canada’s Middle East Strategy to address the crises in Iraq and Syria and the impacts on the region
• decrease of funding for the Peace and Stabilization Operations Program
• sunset of funding for the management of the Canada-U.S. softwood lumber file (to be renewed)
• sunset of funding for Canada’s participation at World Expo Osaka 2025
• decrease of funding to strengthen Canada's sanctions capacity and leadership
• sunset of funding for Canada’s response to the crisis in Haiti
• sunset of funding for establishing a Ukraine Action Team to support Canada’s core foreign policy, peace and security objectives in Ukraine
• sunset of funding for the Creative Export Strategy
• reductions related to refocusing government spending

The above decreases were offset by the increases of the planned spending for:

• locally engaged staff pension benefits (special funding requirement)
• compensation for the collective bargaining agreement
• funding to implement Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy (horizontal initiative)
• funding to strengthen Canada’s diplomatic presence in Central and Eastern Europe and the Caucasus region

More detailed financial information from previous years is available on the Finances section of GC Infobase.

Funding

This section provides an overview of the department’s voted and statutory funding for its core responsibilities and for internal services. For further information on funding authorities, consult the Government of Canada budgets and expenditures.

Graph 2: Approved funding (statutory and voted) over a six-year period

Graph 2 summarizes the department’s approved voted and statutory funding from 2021-22 to 2026-27.

Text version

Fiscal year	Total	Voted	Statutory
2021–22	$8,074,210,761	$7,651,744,417	$422,466,344
2022-23	$9,254,203,627	$8,659,481,084	$594,722,543
2023-24	$8,458,079,299	$8,005,606,868	$452,472,431
2024–25	$8,808,093,823	$8,421,939,295	$386,154,528
2025-26	$8,108,557,903	$7,722,482,274	$386,075,629
2026-27	$7,427,324,859	$7,030,267,254	$397,057,605

Analysis of statutory and voted funding over a six-year period

The above graph presents the department’s spending trend from 2021-22 to 2026-27, divided into two spending categories: voted spending (in dark blue), which is provided by Parliament to support program delivery and for managing the department’s resources; and statutory spending (in red), for expenditures mandated by legislative regulations.

From 2021-22 to 2022-23, an increase of $1.2 billion in actual spending is attributable to the following initiatives for which the funding increased:

• funding to support Canada’s response to the global food and nutrition crisis, with a focus in Sub-Saharan Africa
• funding for Canada’s response to advance Ukrainian resilience and early recovery
• funding to support Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy
• funding to support Duty of Care initiatives
• funding for pandemic responses related to COVID-19
• funding to help developing countries address the impact of climate change
• funding for Canada’s international climate finance and biodiversity program
• funding to support the financial intermediary fund for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response
• funding for humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan

These increases were offset by the following decreases:

• strategic Priorities Fund for international assistance
• funding for Canada’s Middle East Strategy
• funding for locally engaged staff salaries and related benefits incurred at missions

From 2022-23 to 2023-24, a decrease of $796 million in actual spending is mainly attributable to the following initiatives for which the funding sunset or decreased:

• sunset of funding of pandemic responses related to COVID-19
• sunset of funding to support Canada’s response to the global food and nutrition crisis, with a focus in Sub-Saharan Africa
• sunset of funding for Canada’s response to advance Ukrainian resilience and early recovery
• decrease of Strategic Priorities Fund for international assistance
• sunset of funding for the Global Partnership for Education
• sunset of funding in support of the financial intermediary fund for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response
• decrease of funding to help developing countries address the impact of climate change
• sunset of funding for humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan
• sunset of funding for Canada’s engagement in United Nations peace operations and Peacebuilding
• reductions related to refocusing government spending

These decreases were offset by the following increases:

• funding to support Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy
• funding for Canada’s international climate finance and biodiversity programs
• funding for global health investments
• funding for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
• funding for increased costs related to inflation on foreign service allowance, locally engaged staff salaries and related benefits, currency fluctuations on operations incurred at missions abroad, increased payments and currency fluctuations of assessed contributions
• funding to support Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy (horizontal initiative)
• funding for the Peace and Stabilization Operations Program

From 2023-24 to 2026-27, Global Affairs Canada’s spending profile varies from $8.46 billion in 2023-24 to $7.43 billion in 2026-27. It is important to note that the planned spending for 2024-25, 2025-26 and 2026-27 were published in the 2024-25 Departmental Plan. These figures were prepared based on funding approved up until February 2024.

A decrease of $1.03 billion is mainly attributable to the following initiatives that are planned to sunset or decrease in their authorities between 2023-24 and 2026-27:

• decrease of initiatives to help developing countries address the impact of climate change
• sunset of funding for Canada’s international climate finance and biodiversity programs
• decrease of funding for Duty of Care initiatives
• decrease of funding for global health investments
• sunset of funding to support Canada’s strategy in response to the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar and Bangladesh
• sunset of funding for Canada’s Middle East Strategy to address the crises in Iraq and Syria and the impacts on the region
• decrease of funding due to refocusing government spending

These decreases were offset by the following increased funding:

• increase of funding to implement Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy (horizontal item)
• increase of funding for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
• increase of funding for locally engaged staff pension benefits

For further information on Global Affairs Canada's departmental voted and statutory expenditures, consult the Public Accounts of Canada.

Financial statement highlights

Global Affairs Canada's complete financial statements (unaudited or audited) for the year ended March 31, 2024, are available online.

Table 15 Condensed Statement of Operations (unaudited or audited) for the year ended March 31, 2024 (dollars)

Table 15 summarizes the expenses and revenues for 2023–24 which net to the cost of operations before government funding and transfers.

The 2023–24 planned results information is provided in Global Affairs Canada's Future-Oriented Statement of Operations and Notes 2023–24.

Table 16 summarizes actual expenses and revenues which net to the cost of operations before government funding and transfers.

Table 17 Condensed Statement of Financial Position (unaudited or audited) as of March 31, 2024 (dollars)

Table 17 provides a brief snapshot of the department’s liabilities (what it owes) and assets (what the department owns), which helps to indicate its ability to carry out programs and services.

Human resources

This section presents an overview of the department’s actual and planned human resources from 2021–22 to 2026–27.

Table 18: Actual human resources for core responsibilities and internal services

Table 18 shows a summary of human resources, in full-time equivalents (FTEs), for Global Affairs Canada's core responsibilities and for its internal services for the previous three fiscal years.

Analysis of human resources over the last three years

From FY 2021-22 to FY2023-24, Global Affairs Canada’s total full-time equivalents have increased by 840 (+6.8%) to deliver new funded programs and initiatives in support of department's mandate and priorities.

The increase of full-time equivalents from 2021-22 (12,309) and 2023-24 (13,149) reflects the anticipated full-time equivalents for newly funded initiatives as well as sunset initiatives.

The newly funded initiatives mainly include:

• reinforcing and Modernizing Core Consular Capacity to Assist Canadians Abroad
• implementation of Canada's Indo-Pacific Strategy
• administration of trade controls
• helping developing countries address the impact of climate change
• Canada’s international climate finance and biodiversity program
• strengthening Canada's diplomatic presence in Central and Eastern Europe and the Caucasus region
• strengthening Canada’s Capacity for a Global China
• establishing a Ukraine Action Team to support Canada’s core foreign policy, peace and security objectives in Ukraine
• Canada's response to the crisis in Haiti

Full-time equivalents for these new initiatives are offset by sunset initiatives such as:

• Canada's engagement in United Nations peace operations and peacebuilding
• Business Woman in International Trade
• Canadian Creative Export Strategy

Table 19: Human resources planning summary for core responsibilities and internal services

Table 19 shows information on human resources, in full-time equivalents (FTEs), for each of Global Affairs Canada's core responsibilities and for its internal services planned for the next three years. uman resources for the current fiscal year are forecasted based on year to date.

Analysis of human resources for the next three years

It is important to note that the planned full-time equivalents for 2024-25, 2025-26 and 2026-27 were published in the 2024-25 Departmental Plan. These figures were prepared based on resources approved up until February 2024.

From 2024-25 to 2026-27, Global Affairs Canada’s total full-time equivalents have decreased by 116 (0.88%) due to the decreased or sunset funding.

The decrease of full-time equivalents from 2024-25 (13,237) and 2026-27 (13,121) reflects the decreased full-time equivalents due to some sunset initiatives.

The decreased funding or sunset initiatives mainly include:

• sunset of funding for the management of the Canada-U.S. Softwood Lumber file
• sunset of funding for Canada’s Middle East Strategy to address the crises in Iraq and Syria and the impacts on the region
• decrease of funding to help developing countries address the impact of climate change
• sunset of funding for Canada’s international climate finance and biodiversity program
• sunset of funding for Canada's participation at World Expo Osaka 2025
• sunset of funding for establishing a Ukraine Action Team to support Canada’s core foreign policy, peace and security objectives in Ukraine

Full-time equivalents for these sunset initiatives are offset by the increased funding initiatives such as funding to implement Canada's Indo-Pacific Strategy.

Corporate information

Departmental profile

Appropriate minister(s): Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Mary Ng, Minister of Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development; and Ahmed Hussen, Minister of International Development.

Institutional head(s): David Morrison, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs; Rob Stewart, Deputy Minister of International Trade; Christopher MacLennan, Deputy Minister of International Development.

Ministerial portfolio: Global Affairs Canada. The following federal entities operate at arm’s length and report to Parliament through the Global Affairs Canada ministers: the Canadian Commercial Corporation, Export Development Canada, the International Development Research Centre and Invest in Canada.

Enabling instrument(s): Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Act, S.C. 2013, c. 33, s. 174x

Year of incorporation / commencement: 1909

Other:

Departmental contact information

Mailing address: Global Affairs Canada
125 Sussex Drive
Ottawa ON K1A 0G2
Canada

Telephone: 1-800-267-8376 (toll-free in Canada)

613-944-4000 (in the National Capital Region and outside Canada)

TTY: If you are deaf or hard of hearing, or if you have a speech impediment and use a text telephone, you can access the TTY service from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Time by calling 613-944-9136 (in Canada only)

Fax: 613-996-9709

Email: info@international.gc.ca

Website(s): http://www.international.gc.ca/

Supplementary information tables

The following supplementary information tables are available on Global Affairs Canada’s website:

• Details on transfer payment programs
• Gender‑based analysis plus
• Horizontal initiatives
• Response to Parliamentary committees and external audits
• United Nations 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals

Federal tax expenditures

The tax system can be used to achieve public policy objectives through the application of special measures such as low tax rates, exemptions, deductions, deferrals and credits. The Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for these measures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures. This report also provides detailed background information on tax expenditures, including descriptions, objectives, historical information and references to related federal spending programs as well as evaluations and GBA Plus of tax expenditures.

Definitions

appropriation (crédit)

Any authority of Parliament to pay money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

budgetary expenditures (dépenses budgétaires)

Operating and capital expenditures; transfer payments to other levels of government, departments or individuals; and payments to Crown corporations.

core responsibility (responsabilité essentielle)

An enduring function or role performed by a department. The intentions of the department with respect to a core responsibility are reflected in one or more related departmental results that the department seeks to contribute to or influence.

Departmental Plan (plan ministériel)

A report on the plans and expected performance of an appropriated department over a 3year period. Departmental Plans are usually tabled in Parliament each spring.

departmental priority (priorité)

A plan or project that a department has chosen to focus and report on during the planning period. Priorities represent the things that are most important or what must be done first to support the achievement of the desired departmental results.

departmental result (résultat ministériel)

A consequence or outcome that a department seeks to achieve. A departmental result is often outside departments’ immediate control, but it should be influenced by program-level outcomes.

departmental result indicator (indicateur de résultat ministériel)

A quantitative measure of progress on a departmental result.

departmental results framework (cadre ministériel des résultats)

A framework that connects the department’s core responsibilities to its departmental results and departmental result indicators.

Departmental Results Report (rapport sur les résultats ministériels)

A report on a department’s actual accomplishments against the plans, priorities and expected results set out in the corresponding Departmental Plan.

fulltime equivalent (équivalent temps plein)

A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person year charge against a departmental budget. For a particular position, the fulltime equivalent figure is the ratio of number of hours the person actually works divided by the standard number of hours set out in the person’s collective agreement.

gender-based analysis plus (GBA Plus) (analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS Plus])

An analytical tool used to assess support the development of responsive and inclusive how different groups of women, men and gender-diverse people experience policies, programs and policies, programs, and other initiatives. GBA Plus is a process for understanding who is impacted by the issue or opportunity being addressed by the initiative; identifying how the initiative could be tailored to meet diverse needs of the people most impacted; and anticipating and mitigating any barriers to accessing or benefitting from the initiative. GBA Plus is an intersectional analysis that goes beyond biological (sex) and socio-cultural (gender) differences to consider other factors, such as age, disability, education, ethnicity, economic status, geography (including rurality), language, race, religion, and sexual orientation.

government-wide priorities (priorités pangouvernementales)

For the purpose of the 2023–24 Departmental Results Report, government-wide priorities are the high-level themes outlining the government’s agenda in the November 23, 2021, Speech from the Throne: building a healthier today and tomorrow; growing a more resilient economy; bolder climate action; fighter harder for safer communities; standing up for diversity and inclusion; moving faster on the path to reconciliation; and fighting for a secure, just and equitable world.

horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)

An initiative where two or more federal departments are given funding to pursue a shared outcome, often linked to a government priority.

non‑budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires)

Net outlays and receipts related to loans, investments and advances, which change the composition of the financial assets of the Government of Canada.

performance (rendement)

What a department did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the department intended to achieve, and how well lessons learned have been identified.

performance indicator (indicateur de rendement)

A qualitative or quantitative means of measuring an output or outcome, with the intention of gauging the performance of an department, program, policy or initiative respecting expected results.

plan (plan)

The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how a department intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally, a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead to the expected result.

planned spending (dépenses prévues)

For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, planned spending refers to those amounts presented in Main Estimates. A department is expected to be aware of the authorities that it has sought and received. The determination of planned spending is a departmental responsibility, and departments must be able to defend the expenditure and accrual numbers presented in their Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports.

program (programme)

Individual or groups of services, activities or combinations thereof that are managed together within the department and focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.

program inventory (répertoire des programmes)

Identifies all the department’s programs and describes how resources are organized to contribute to the department’s core responsibilities and results.

result (résultat)

A consequence attributed, in part, to an department, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single department, policy, program or initiative; instead they are within the area of the department’s influence.

Indigenous business (entreprise autochtones)

For the purpose of the Directive on the Management of Procurement Appendix E: Mandatory Procedures for Contracts Awarded to Indigenous Businesses and the Government of Canada’s commitment that a mandatory minimum target of 5% of the total value of contracts is awarded to Indigenous businesses, a department that meets the definition and requirements as defined by the Indigenous Business Directory.

statutory expenditures (dépenses législatives)

Expenditures that Parliament has approved through legislation other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they may be made.

target (cible)

A measurable performance or success level that a department, program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative.

voted expenditures (dépenses votées)

Expenditures that Parliament approves annually through an appropriation act. The vote wording becomes the governing conditions under which these expenditures may be made.