Rejection letter ESDC sent to Black organizations ‘completely unacceptable’: Hussen
Several Black organizations were denied federal funding through a program designed to help such groups build capacity - after Employment and Social Development Canada told them their leadership was not sufficiently Black.
Velma Morgan, the chair of Operation Black Vote, said her group received an email from the department on Tuesday saying their application did not show “the organization is led and governed by people who self-identify as Black.”
The department sent a second email the next day, saying their applications were not approved because it did not receive “the information required to move forward,” she said.
“As if we’re incompetent or foolish and we’re going to believe the second email over the original email,” Morgan said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
She said Operation Black Vote, a not-for-profit, multipartisan organization that aims to get more Black people elected at all levels of government, is one of at least five Black organizations that were not approved for funding.
The program, called the Supporting Black Canadian Communities Initiative, provides funding to Canadian Black-led non-profit and charitable organizations to help them build capacity. The applications guidelines say at least two-thirds of the leadership and the governance structure must be people who self-identify as Black. The mandate of the organization must also be focused on serving Black communities.
Morgan said everyone on her team is Black. She also said the other organizations she knows about should also not have been rejected for the reason outlined in the first letter.
“If you’re from the Black community, you know that they’re Black-run and Black-focused,” she said.
Social Development Minister Ahmed Hussen said the initial letter his department sent to unsuccessful applicants was “completely unacceptable” and that he demanded a retraction as soon as he saw it.
In a thread on Twitter Thursday night, Hussen said he discussed with his department’s officials how such a mistake could have happened and implemented measures to make sure it does not happen again.
“I will continue to work with Black Canadian organizations to improve our systems,” said Hussen, who also mentioned the systemic barriers he has faced as Black person.
The department did not respond Friday to questions about why this happened and what officials plan to do next.
Morgan said the Liberal government should hire more Black people to sit at every decisionmaking table.