ADVOCACY

You shouldn’t have to pay to make your voice heard.
Because the power to make change is priceless.

At CanWCC, there is no cost to speak, be heard, and influence policy change.

We want as many voices as possible to be included in our advocacy, so our free Community membership is open to people of all ages, genders, and circumstances.

If you support what we do, we want to include you.

BECOME A MEMBER
We also offer equity pricing on our paid membership to make membership accessible and inclusive.
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Simple acts of advocacy can fuel incredible change.

Commit an Act of Advocacy Today

CanWCC doesn’t have an Advocacy Department. Instead, advocacy is a part of everything we do. It is the responsibility of all departments and team members. Everything we do is advocacy and contributes to our advocacy efforts.

That’s true for our members, too. Joining CanWCC is an act of advocacy. Getting up every day and running a business is an act of advocacy. Taking care of themselves and their community are acts of advocacy.

These everyday acts of advocacy add up to a larger collective impact.

We advocate for economic equity.

Economic inequity plays a key role in keeping women and other equity-deserving people from realizing their economic independence and agency. It shows up in gaps in funding opportunities, accessing networks and resources, and how funders fundamentally approach women-led businesses. 

In discussions with our members and the larger community, the issue of access to capital comes up constantly and when our members speak, we listen.

Keep reading to learn about some of the issues that CanWCC is currently working on.

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CanWCC works to harness the power of the collective (from the grassroots up) to influence change at the systemic level (from the government down).
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New Child Income Support Plan

Currently, maternity and parental leave and benefits are tied to waged/salaried employment, which excludes many people from the program.

Parental leave is administered in the same way and by the same agency as Employment Insurance benefits, which makes it challenging to establish unpaid domestic and care work as legitimate, valuable work.

Establishing the value of parental care work is not simply a philosophical issue. For example, parental leave income is subject to income tax but is not considered “earned income” for RRSP purposes. This is likely due to its inclusion under the EI umbrella since EI income is treated similarly. This reduces the amount of RRSP contribution room and is a unique penalty to those who decide to take maternity/paternity leave.

Recommendation
CanWCC recommends that the Federal Government commit to creating a stand-alone New Child Income Support Program within the next five years. The current program can be phased out over this time.

Download CanWCC's Policy Paper to learn more.

Refundable Tax Credit for Expenses Related to Diversity Programs

Access to large corporate and government supply chains is critical to accelerating revenue growth. The business case for supplier diversity is clear, and a number of large corporations have established supplier diversity policies that allocate a percentage of annual procurement from minority suppliers (including majority women-owned businesses).

Certification is expensive, onerous, and invasive. Women business owners can expect to pay close to $1,000 per year - every year - to be certified. Given the information collected, the process goes beyond simple ownership verification into a procurement professional's due diligence.

The cost of due diligence should not be borne by an underutilized supplier and legitimate suppliers should not be penalized because the potential for fraud exists.

Recommendation
If third-party certification remains a requirement by corporations (and the government), CanWCC recommends that the government implement a 100% refundable tax credit for annual certification fees to allow businesses to recoup the full amount when filing their tax returns.

Download CanWCC’s 2025 Pre-Budget submission to learn more.

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Policy Support for Self-Employed People

Equity-deserving groups are disproportionately represented in self-employment:

  • 10% of the Canadian labour force are self-employed.
  • 80% of women entrepreneurs are self-employed.
  • 50% of Black and 68% of Indigenous entrepreneurs are self-employed.
  • 25% of all self-employed individuals are people of colour.
  • 18% of individuals living in rural Canada are self-employed.

Public policy discussions about small business consistently focus on employers and formal waged with benefits job creation. This excludes 10% of Canadian businesses and workers, making it harder for them to survive, make a living, and grow their businesses. There is no recognition that the self-employed individual is an employer of one. There is also no recognition of self-employed business owners' indirect economic contribution, providing goods and services to each other, the public, and small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs).

An excellent example of the problem is the Canada Digital Adoption Plan. In Budget 20218 the Federal Government announced a $4 billion investment in the Canada Digital Adoption Plan (CDAP). This program provides microgrants and loans to businesses to assist with technology adoption expenses. To qualify for the program, a company of one enterprise must have at least one additional employee, making 80% of women entrepreneurs and 50% of Black and Indigenous entrepreneurs ineligible.

Recommendations
CanWCC recommends that the government extend current and future small business programs and policy eligibility to include self-employed individuals. We also recommend that the government ensure that all improvements made to policies that impact self-employed workers are done through the lens of resolving gender and race-based inequity.

Download CanWCC’s Invisible Entrepreneurs Report to learn more.

Reports and Resources

EXPLORE OUR ADVOCACY

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