The Government of Canada’s recent announcement that it is allocating $800M to a new Social Finance Fund for Canada has vaulted the nation from its lagging position in impact investing and innovative finance to a position as an international leader in this space. While the details are still to be worked out, and the funds are to be spread over ten years, key players in the impact investing sector in Canada have welcomed the announcement. The policy groundwork for the new fund was carried out by a pan-Canadian working group, which generated a new national strategy on social innovation and social finance. This initiative comes as Canada’s new development finance institution, FinDev Canada, has begun animating its peer DFIs to target women entrepreneurs in developing countries. The agency is part of the $3B for this purposed announced earlier this year by a group of DFIs at the G7 meetings and of a new DFI working group on gender and finance. See the Globe and Mail for the whole story.