The federal government is committed to dispensing $93 million over a four-year period to black businesses

BY PAUL JUNOR

Many in the African-Canadian community welcomed the launch of the Black Entrepreneurship Program on Wednesday, September 9th, 2020. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement in Toronto at HXOUSE, which is focused on creating an environment for innovation and to give youth opportunities to develop their talents.

This initiative was no doubt influenced by the work of the Black Caucus. This group, which was created in 2015 and is comprised of: eight black MPs, 12 parliamentarians from the Liberal, NDP and the Green Party and senators of different parties. The group in a statement called for reforms to policing, justice corrections, as well as economic help for black businesses that were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This is something I’ve never really witnessed in all my life in any country that I’ve studied.”
(HXOUSE’s co-founder, Ahmed Ismail)

At the press conference in Toronto, the Prime Minister had this to say,

“An investment in black excellence is an investment in economic empowerment and economic empowerment is an essential part of justice. It’s justice against a system that has locked out far too many black entrepreneurs and denied them the same opportunities as other Canadians.”

The Black Caucus in their call stated, “However, to rid our society of racism will require concrete action by all levels of government to begin to make a difference.”

The Prime Minister stated, “We are committed to moving forward on a huge range of measures. We’re working with communities. We’re working with leaders like members of the Parliamentary Black Caucus to identify what exactly we need to move forward on first in priority.” He stated further that, “I think it’s really important that we all come forward and look at bold ideas that we can take on very soon to fix the systemic discrimination that continues to exist in our country.”

There will be the distribution of $221 million from a partnership between the federal government and eight financial institutions. It will involve a financial hub with training and mentorship provided. The federal government is committed to dispensing $93 million over a four-year period.

The banks will contribute $128 million for loans of between $25,000 and $250,000 for black business owners. In addition, $33 million will come from the federal government towards the loan. $53 million will go to black business organizations to help them with mentorship, financial planning and business training, as well as $6.5 million toward data collection.

Greg Fergus, Liberal MP who is chair of the Black Caucus notes that, “It will not in one fall swoop eliminate all systemic discrimination and the consequences, but we’ve taken a positive step forward.”