Infrastructure Canada: Active Transportation Fund

Deadline: 31-Mar-22

Infrastructure Canada is now accepting applications for both the planning and capital funding streams of the Active Transportation Fund.

Active transportation refers to the movement of people or goods powered by human activity. Active transportation includes walking, cycling and the use of human-powered or hybrid mobility aids such as wheelchairs, scooters, e-bikes, rollerblades, snowshoes and cross-country skis, and more.

Active transportation provides tangible benefits to communities, shortening commute times for families, creating good middle-class jobs, growing the economy, promoting healthier lifestyles, cutting air and noise pollution, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The objective of the Fund is to increase the total amount, usage, and quality of active transportation infrastructure throughout Canada. The Fund will support capital and planning projects that encourage a modal shift away from cars and improve the safety and security of Canadians.

In advancing this objective, the Fund will also support the goals of the Strengthened Climate Plan and improve the resilience of communities. In recognition that almost every journey begins and ends with a form of active transportation, the Fund will seek to enhance the impact of other modes of transit by supporting first-and-last kilometre connections to existing and planned infrastructure.

The Active Transportation Fund seeks to:

• Improve community connections and promote social equity amongst vulnerable Canadians
• Make travel by active transportation easier, more convenient and enjoyable, and enhance user safety and security
• Encourage people to choose active transportation over personal vehicles (including supporting walking and cycling to access transit)
• Contribute to long-term, sustainable, inclusive economic growth, while setting the foundation for achieving a more inclusive Canada and net-zero climate emissions by 2050
• Support the Canadian economy through a reduction in congestion, the creation of jobs and enhanced access via active transportation modes to businesses

Funding Streams

• Planning and Design Projects (Grant Program): Planning and design projects refer to the development or enhancement of formal active transportation strategic planning documents or stakeholder engagement. This could entail the development of an Active Transportation Strategy, that could support the National Active Transportation Strategy, or the development of an active transportation component which can be added to other planning documents, such as Official Community Plans, Sustainability Plans, and Transportation Plans.
• Capital Projects (Contribution Program): Capital projects refer to new infrastructure construction, enhancement of existing infrastructure, and fixed design and safety features that encourage increased active transportation.

Funding Information

The maximum amount payable for a planning project will not exceed $50,000.

Eligibility Criteria

• An applicant must be a legal entity capable of entering into legally binding agreements. To be considered an eligible recipient, applicants must fit within one of the following categories:
  • A municipal, local or regional government established by or under provincial or territorial statute. 
  • A provincial or territorial government.
  • A public sector body that is established by or under provincial or territorial statute or by regulation or is wholly-owned by a province, territory, municipal or regional government, including, but not limited to:
    • Municipally-owned corporations (e.g. autonomous organizations owned by municipalities, used to produce or deliver local public services outside the local bureaucracy); 
    • A provincial or territorial organization that delivers municipal services (e.g. public utilities, community health services, economic development bodies); and 
    • Any other form of local governance that exists outside of the municipality description (e.g. local service districts; public-private partnership boards that manage community facilities). 
• Not-for-profit organizations.
• Eligible Indigenous Recipients include:
  • Indigenous Governing Body:
    • A band council within the meaning of Section 2 of the Indian Act; 
    • A First Nation, Inuit or Métis government or authority established pursuant to a SelfGovernment Agreement or a Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement between Her Majesty the Queen in right of Canada and an Indigenous people of Canada, that has been approved, given effect and declared valid by federal legislation;
    • A First Nation, Inuit or Métis government that are established by or under legislation whether federal or provincial that incorporates a governance structure.
  • A federally or provincially incorporated not-for-profit organization whose mandate is to improve Indigenous outcomes, organizations serving Indigenous communities living in urban centers and First Nations living off reserve; and
  • Indigenous development corporations.
  • Indigenous development corporations are normally set up by an Indigenous community/ organization/government. These corporations constitute the business/economic arm of Indigenous communities /governments and typically count the members of the community as their shareholders. Their primary role is to develop the economic activity of the Indigenous community that established them. Indigenous development corporations generally fall under two categories: for-profit and not-for-profit. The for-profit model however is unique in that profits are then re-invested in the community.

For more information, visit Infrastructure Canada.

For more information, visit https://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/trans/index-eng.html