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Alberta

Province separating Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism grant programs

Published

1 year ago

5 minute read

Empowering and supporting communities

Alberta’s government has launched two new grant programs to support community-driven diversity, inclusivity and anti-racism initiatives.

In December 2023, the government separated the Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Grant program into two new programs, an Ethnocultural Grant program and an Anti-Racism Grant program. The separation follows advice from the Alberta Anti-Racism Advisory Council and will better support diversity, inclusion and multicultural efforts. Both grant programs are currently open for applications.

“Our government is committed to building an inclusive province. These new grant programs will help support Alberta’s multicultural, Indigenous and Métis communities’ initiatives that celebrate their contributions to the province and our collective prosperity, as well as help address issues of racism and discrimination to foster a more tolerant and inclusive society.”

Muhammad Yaseen, Minister of Immigration and Multiculturalism

As Alberta’s population becomes increasingly diverse, it is vital for the government to promote the benefits and value of multiculturalism and intercultural connections within Alberta communities while addressing issues of racism and discrimination. The new grant programs help eligible organizations create programming specific to the issues and concerns of their communities.

  • The Ethnocultural Grant program supports community initiatives that promote Alberta’s multicultural diversity and foster inclusivity, including supporting Indigenous community organizations in celebrating and sharing their rich historical heritage.
  • The Anti-Racism Grant program is designed to increase awareness of racism, its impact and the challenges faced by racialized groups, and to support community-driven anti-racism initiatives.

“We are a non-profit organization, relying 100 per cent on volunteers. With the support of the grant, we were able to successfully organize the very successful Taste of Igboland event, featuring educational and cultural activities. The grant gave us the opportunity to have a voice, and showcasing our culture gave us a sense of identity.”

Uche Okereafor, president, Igbo Cultural Association of Edmonton in Canada

“The Culture Camp that we host each summer solstice provides us with the opportunities to share our culture through teachings and ceremony with our visitors. Regardless of the ethnicity of our visitors, these four days bring people together in the spirit of treaty. By stepping a foot into our world, we can start to move forward together in good relation with one another.”

Cheryl Whiskeyjack, executive director, Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Society

“As a recipient of the Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Grant, our RACE Inclusify Workshop in October 2023, in partnership with DiversityFirst, USA, was a monumental success. Our participants gained invaluable insights into cross-cultural connections and the challenges faced by Indigenous and racialized groups. This knowledge empowered our attendees with the tools to recognize and actively combat racism in their daily lives. This experience has been a milestone in our journey towards a more inclusive and understanding Alberta, and it’s a testament to the power of collaboration and shared commitment to social progress.”

Patrick Arthur, executive director, Centre for Intellectual Excellence

Quick facts

  • Budget 2023 allocated $8 million over three years for the Ethnocultural Grant program and $1.5 million over three years for the Anti-Racism Grant program.
  • The Ethnocultural Grant program has two streams:
    • Stream 1 is for projects that create opportunities for intercultural connections with ethnocultural and Indigenous groups (funding up to $50,000).
    • Stream 2 is for projects that create opportunities to celebrate diversity (funding up to $15,000).
  • The Anti-Racism Grant operates two streams with specific program objectives:
    • Stream 1 is for projects that promote awareness of racism and the impacts of racism faced by Indigenous and racialized groups. Projects aligning with at least one outcome in either program objective of educating Albertans on the impacts of racism or enabling community organizations to develop their ability to support anti-racism projects are eligible for up to $5,000 in funding.
    • Stream 2 supports community organization anti-racism projects. Projects aligning with at least one outcome in both program objectives of educating Albertans on the impacts of racism or enabling community organizations to develop their ability to support anti-racism projects are eligible for up to $10,000 in funding.
  • In 2022-23, the Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Grant program provided $3.63 million to 130 community organizations to increase cross-cultural awareness and help prevent and address racism.
Related Topics:

This is a news release from the Government of Alberta.

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Alberta

Alberta takes big step towards shorter wait times and higher quality health care

Published on April 9, 2025

By

From the Fraser Institute

By Nadeem Esmail

On Monday, the Smith government announced that beginning next year it will change the way it funds surgeries in Alberta. This is a big step towards unlocking the ability of Alberta’s health-care system to provide more, better and faster services for the same or possibly fewer dollars.

To understand the significance of this change, you must understand the consequences of the current (and outdated) approach.

Currently, the Alberta government pays a lump sum of money to hospitals each year. Consequently, hospitals perceive patients as a drain on their budgets. From the hospital’s perspective, there’s little financial incentive to serve more patients, operate more efficiently and provide superior quality services.

Consider what would happen if your local grocery store received a giant bag of money each year to feed people. The number of items would quickly decline to whatever was most convenient for the store to provide. (Have a favourite cereal? Too bad.) Store hours would become less convenient for customers, alongside a general decline in overall service. This type of grocery store, like an Alberta hospital, is actually financially better off (that is, it saves money) if you go elsewhere.

The Smith government plans to flip this entire system on its head, to the benefit of patients and taxpayers. Instead of handing out bags of money each year to providers, the new system—known as “activity-based funding”—will pay health-care providers for each patient they treat, based on the patient’s particular condition and important factors that may add complexity or cost to their care.

This turns patients from a drain on budgets into a source of additional revenue. The result, as has been demonstrated in other universal health-care systems worldwide, is more services delivered using existing health-care infrastructure, lower wait times, improved quality of care, improved access to medical technologies, and less waste.

In other words, Albertans will receive far better value from their health-care system, which is currently among the most expensive in the world. And relief can’t come soon enough—for example, last year in Alberta the median wait time for orthopedic surgeries including hip and knee replacements was 66.8 weeks.

The naysayers argue this approach will undermine the province’s universal system and hurt patients. But by allowing a spectrum of providers to compete for the delivery of quality care, Alberta will follow the lead of other more successful universal health-care systems in countries such as Australia, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland and create greater accountability for hospitals and other health-care providers. Taxpayers will get a much better picture of what they’re paying for and how much they pay.

Again, Alberta is not exploring an untested policy. Almost every other developed country with universal health care uses some form of “activity-based funding” for hospital and surgical care. And remember, we already spend more on health care than our counterparts in nearly all of these countries yet endure longer wait times and poorer access to services generally, in part because of how we pay for surgical care.

While the devil is always in the details, and while it’s still possible for the Alberta government to get this wrong, Monday’s announcement is a big step in the right direction. A funding model that puts patients first will get Albertans more of the high-quality health care they already pay for in a timelier fashion. And provide to other provinces an example of bold health-care reform.

Nadeem Esmail

Senior Fellow, Fraser Institute
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Alberta

Alberta’s embrace of activity-based funding is great news for patients

Published on April 9, 2025

By

From the Montreal Economic Institute

Alberta’s move to fund acute care services through activity-based funding follows best practices internationally, points out an MEI researcher following an announcement made by Premier Danielle Smith earlier today.

“For too long, the way hospitals were funded in Alberta incentivized treating fewer patients, contributing to our long wait times,” explains Krystle Wittevrongel, director of research at the MEI. “International experience has shown that, with the proper funding models in place, health systems become more efficient to the benefit of patients.”

Currently, Alberta’s hospitals are financed under a system called “global budgeting.” This involves allocating a pre-set amount of funding to pay for a specific number of services based on previous years’ budgets.

Under the government’s newly proposed funding system, hospitals receive a fixed payment for each treatment delivered.

An Economic Note published by the MEI last year showed that Quebec’s gradual adoption of activity-based funding led to higher productivity and lower costs in the province’s health system.

Notably, the province observed that the per-procedure cost of MRIs fell by four per cent as the number of procedures performed increased by 22 per cent.

In the radiology and oncology sector, it observed productivity increases of 26 per cent while procedure costs decreased by seven per cent.

“Being able to perform more surgeries, at lower costs, and within shorter timelines is exactly what Alberta’s patients need, and Premier Smith understands that,” continued Mrs. Wittevrongel. “Today’s announcement is a good first step, and we look forward to seeing a successful roll-out once appropriate funding levels per procedure are set.”

The governments expects to roll-out this new funding model for select procedures starting in 2026.

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The MEI is an independent public policy think tank with offices in Montreal, Ottawa, and Calgary. Through its publications, media appearances, and advisory services to policymakers, the MEI stimulates public policy debate and reforms based on sound economics and entrepreneurship.

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