Photo Credit: Facebook/Hamilton Santa Claus Parade
Hamilton’s four Santa Claus parades were at risk of cancellation this year after new City of Hamilton grant funding criteria cut funding to three parades and significantly reduced funding for the fourth.
The four Hamilton Santa Claus parades are held in Downtown Hamilton, Stoney Creek, Binbrook, and Flamborough.
As reported extensively by the Hamilton Community News, this year the city evaluated organizations’ City Enrichment Fund grant applications, giving them A, B, and C ratings based on a reimagination of the application process in an attempt to make it more “equitable.”
Councillor Nrinder Nann (Ward 3 – East Hamilton Centre) is chair of the grants subcommittee and was the one who proposed changing the city enrichment fund’s process.
This is the first year that the city allocated funding using the new procedure emphasizing “equity, diversity, and inclusion.”
Nann claims that the city enrichment fund had previously “underperformed in supporting communities and organizations” and “organizations that were addressing the needs of equity-deserving residents were adversely impacted.”
In another change, city staff appeared to have unilaterally decided that no organization would receive 100 per cent of the funding requested.
Staff instead limited approved organizations to receive a maximum of 75 per cent of their funding request in a new effort to try to provide money to almost every single group that submitted a request.
As a result of trying to fund almost all groups, many groups experienced cuts and others deemed undeserving of funds were cut altogether.
There were reportedly 100 new organizations applying for funding this year under the new criteria.
However, the result was that a number of organizations that had previously received funding and were relying on it again this year were caught entirely off guard when staff determined that they would receive little to no funding at all.
The new A, B, and C rating system determined that groups with an A rating would receive 75 per cent of their funding request, organizations with a B rating would receive 61 per cent of their request, and organizations with a C rating would not receive any funds at all.
The City of Hamilton says that the City Enrichment Fund provides “municipal investment in a wide range of program areas that supports the City’s Strategic Plan and 25-year Community Vision.”
There are seven program areas including agriculture, arts, communities, culture and heritage, community services, digital (pilot program), environment, and sports and active lifestyles.
As a result of the new process focused on “equity”, the Stoney Creek parade received a B grade, significantly reducing its funding, while the other three parades were given a C grade and initially denied funding.
The Stoney Creek Santa Claus parade received $3,000 in 2022 and requested $3,500 in 2023 but was only initially granted $2,135.
Meanwhile, the Flamborough Santa Claus parade received $15,000 in 2022 and requested the same amount this year but was initially denied funding entirely.
The Hamilton Santa Claus Parade, which runs downtown, received $46,231 in 2022 and was requesting $50,000 this year but was also initially denied funding entirely.
Finally, at a General Council meeting, Councillor Jeff Beattie (Ward 10 – Stoney Creek-Fruitland-Winona) brought forward a motion to allow applicants to appeal their allocated funding amount.
The motion passed barely in an 8 to 6 vote.
Those in favour of allowing organizations to appeal their funding allocation were (8): Matt Francis (Ward 5 – Hamilton East-Stoney Creek), Esther Pauls (Ward 7 – Central Mountain), Jeff Beattie (Ward 10 – Stoney Creek-Fruitland-Winona), Mark Tadeson (Ward 11 – Glanbrook-Binbrook-Mount Hope), Craig Cassar (Ward 12 – Ancaster-West Flamborough), Mike Spadafora (Ward 14 – West Mountain), Ted McMeekin (Ward 15 – East Flamborough-Waterdown), and Andrea Horwath (Mayor).
Those against allowing organizations to appeal, which would have put the Santa Claus parades in jeopardy were (6): Maureen Wilson (Ward 1 – Chedoke-Cootes-Westdale), Cameron Kroetsch (Ward 2 – Downtown Hamilton), Nrinder Nann (Ward 3 – East Hamilton Centre), John-Paul Danko (Ward 8 – West/Central Mountain), Brad Clark (Ward 9 – Upper Stoney Creek), and Alex Wilson (Ward 13 – Dundas-Central Flamborough).
Absent from the meeting were Tammy Hwang (Ward 4 – Hamilton East) and Tom Jackson (Ward 6 – East Mountain).
After hearing appeals, Hamilton’s grant subcommittee agreed to provide full funding to all of the city’s Santa Claus parades and over 70 other organizations that requested reconsideration of their funding allocations in addition to the organizations that were already approved.
However, members of the grants subcommittee seemed to indicate that this appeals process would not be happening again next year.
Thus, it remains to be seen what will happen regarding Santa Claus parade funding in the future.
Santa Claus Parade Schedule
Hamilton Parade – Saturday, November 18 – 11:00AM
Flamborough Parade – Saturday, November 25 – 6:30PM
Stoney Creek Parade – Saturday, December 2 – 2PM
Binbrook Parade – Saturday, December 9 – 2PM
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
