VANCOUVER — The Government of Canada has introduced the Canadian Seafood Stabilization Fund (CSSF), a $62.5-million fund designed to help fish and seafood processors in Western Canada, Quebec and Atlantic Canada get through the crisis and prepare for economic recovery, so their communities can continue to thrive.
The Honourable Bernadette Jordan, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, along with the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages, announced Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD) will accept applications from Indigenous and non-Indigenous fish and seafood processors in the west as of June 22, 2020.
WD has been allocated more than $9 million in funding from Fisheries and Oceans Canada to support fish, seafood and aquaculture processors across Western Canada. The fund will be delivered to fish processors in the Prairies by WD and through a partnership agreement with the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC (IAF) in British Columbia. With more than 20 years of experience supporting British Columbia’s food producers, IAF will provide high-quality and cost-effective delivery of the CSSF to local processors.
The CSSF will help fish and seafood processors put in place health-and-safety measures to help protect workers against COVID-19 and maintain Canadian jobs. It will increase plant capacity to process, store, package and distribute healthy, high-quality products and to adapt processes and marketing to suit changing consumer demands. Bolstering the processing sector will be vital to supporting fish and seafood harvesters and strengthening Canada’s food supply chain.
The CSSF is one part of the Government of Canada’s ongoing effort to support Canada’s fish and seafood sector, which includes more than $500 million in combined investments this year through this fund, the Fish Harvester Benefit and the Fish Harvester Grant.
More information on the CSSF is available on WD’s website.
