Manitoba’s NDP government is launching a taxpayer-funded business grant program exclusively for entrepreneurs who identify as black.
The provincial government, in collaboration with the Manitoba Chamber of Commerce, announced that they are now accepting applications for entrepreneurs and business owners who run black-owned and black-led businesses. Those who are not black are ineligible.
The province is offering black businesses a grant between $5,000 and $20,000 in an effort to help black Manitobans “address the realities, barriers and opportunities specific to Black entrepreneurs and business owners in Manitoba.”
“Our government is proud to work with the Black business community in Manitoba to create good jobs and grow our economy,” said Business, Mining, Trade, and Job Creation Minister Jamie Moses.
“This program will help Black-owned and Black-led small businesses in Manitoba overcome systemic barriers and grow successful businesses in Manitoba.”
The grant will be focused on three areas— training on capital acquisition, helping to build relationships with professionals, and building business skills.
The grant application form requires the applicant to declare that the organization is black-owned or black-led, though it is not clear how the chamber of commerce and the government will be validating the claim.
The province established a four member steering committee to administer the program, consisting of the chamber of commerce’s president Chuck Davidson and three black women from advocacy organizations representing the African and Caribbean communities in Manitoba.
Manitoba’s NDP government follows a trend of governments providing specific racial and ethnic groups with exclusive government benefits inaccessible by non-minorities or minorities excluded from consideration.
In 2020, the Trudeau government created a multi-million dollar loan program exclusively for black entrepreneurs, offering black businesses with loans up to $250,000.
In Ontario, the City of Toronto is in the process of recruiting an organization to administer a black-only homeless shelter that will provide black-specific programming and resources to its clients.