January 2002
Research Paper prepared for the Small Business Branch of Industry Canada by Dr. Ted Heidrick and Tracey Nicol
This report presents a review of existing literature pertaining to access to financing by Canadian SMEs that specifically evaluates barriers that may exist as a result of business owner characteristics. These are the results of Phase 1 of a project whose overall objective is an examination of obstacles to small business financing for various profiles of business owners in Canada, with particular emphasis on discrepancies attributed to gender, youth, aboriginal, visible minority, and language minority business ownership.