The global pandemic caused devastating economic impacts, including high levels of unemployment. As with the 2008 recession, self-employment has been encouraged as a pathway towards economic participation and boosting the labour market.
Yet marginalized groups, including women and Indigenous people, continue to face barriers to starting and growing a business. In 2022, only 18 per cent of small and midsize businesses in Canada were majority women-owned, only 16 per cent were owned by visible minorities and only two per cent were Indigenous-owned.
