FEWO Committee Report

Ms. Marilyn Gladu, M.P.
Chair, Standing Committee on the Status of Women
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6

Dear Ms. Gladu:

Pursuant to Standing Order 109 of the House of Commons, I am pleased to respond on behalf of the Government of Canada to the recommendations made by the House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women in its Fourth Report, Implementing Gender-based Analysis Plus in the Government of Canada, tabled on June 15, 2016.

The Government appreciates the important work undertaken by you and members of the Committee and extends thanks as well to the numerous witnesses who contributed to the study of the ways in which the Government could more fully implement Gender-based Analysis (GBA), also known as Gender-based Analysis Plus. As you know, GBA is a critical tool to assess the impacts of our policies, programs and legislation on diverse groups. The “plus” is used to emphasize that GBA also includes the consideration of multiple intersecting identity factors including, age, culture, ability, geography, education and others.

The Government agrees with the overall intent of the Report and its recommendations. We have renewed our commitment to GBA as a priority, as reflected in my mandate letter as Minister of Status of Women, and further underscored by Budget 2016, which provided for increased investments in Status of Women Canada (SWC) to enhance the Agency’s capacity to implement our GBA mandate and to reinstate advocacy and research functions, in line with the Committee’s recommendation 21. 

As you know, in April 2016, SWC, the Privy Council Office (PCO) and the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) released a GBA Action Plan (2016-2020). This Action Plan lays out the specific activities SWC, PCO and TBS will undertake in response to the gaps identified by the Auditor General in his Fall 2015 report in order to strengthen overall GBA implementation and accountability.

I am pleased to note that many of the activities and priorities identified in the GBA Action Plan align with the recommendations provided in your report. In addition, I believe that a number of the Committee’s recommendations can further strengthen our approach. The following response, organized along six broad themes — Definitions and Intersectionality, Training, Enhanced Engagement, Supporting GBA Networks, Accountability and Reporting, and Mandatory GBA Requirements — provides greater detail on the Government’s approach to strengthening the implementation of GBA in line with the Committee’s recommendations.

Definitions and Intersectionality

The Government agrees with recommendations 1 and 2, and views a clear definition of “gender” and “sex” as an important element in understanding how to use and apply GBA tools.  Moreover, the Government already includes intersectionality (i.e., the examination of intersecting identity factors) as a core component of GBA. This is reflected in SWC’s GBA training tools, which were developed in consultation with key experts both inside and outside government. The term “GBA+” reflects an intersectional approach, with the “plus” serving to highlight that a full analysis requires going beyond gender to consider diverse intersecting identity factors.  

SWC is committed to examining and updating definitions of gender and sex to ensure clarity and alignment with current research and best practices. This will include, for example, incorporating a non-binary definition of gender, in line with work ongoing in a number of federal departments and with broader discourse in Canadian society.

Training

We share the Committee’s view of training as a foundation for the sustainable application of GBA, and agrees with recommendations 5, 6, 9 and 10. The GBA Action Plan (2016-20) sets out key milestones for systematically building GBA capacity across federal departments and agencies. The Committee’s recommendations also provide important additional considerations to enhance our approach.

SWC will undertake regular updates and enhancements to its foundational training tool, the Introduction to GBA+ online course, to ensure its consistency, ongoing relevance and effectiveness. This will be done through the periodic update of case studies and resources to reflect subject matter relevant to additional sectors of government, the incorporation of emerging technology and learning tools to ensure accessibility and user-friendly design, and the development of new interactive multimedia components.

In line with recommendation 16, SWC is working with Statistics Canada, including through the Interdepartmental Committee on GBA+ and the GBA+ Champions meetings, to make departments aware of the sex-disaggregated data that is available and to assess data gaps. SWC will continue to collaborate with Statistics Canada to assist departments and agencies to locate sex-disaggregated data in their specific subject areas. This is well aligned with the PCO-led work on data requirements as part of Results and Delivery. This work is designed to ensure that departments share knowledge about data sources and gaps and to ensure that there is a coordinated federal request for new data, including for sex-disaggregated data, as may be required.

SWC will also work with the Canada School of Public Service (CSPS) to identify ways to promote GBA, including as part of CSPS’s renewed policy training suite. Additionally, in line with the Committee’s recommendation, SWC will explore ways to reach out to public policy programs of post-secondary institutions to raise awareness of available GBA tools in order to help sensitize and educate the public servants, policy-makers and leaders of the future.

Expanding the mandatory completion of GBA training for federal officials is central to efforts to promote GBA as a core competency across all sectors and functions. Since the Committee’s report was released, the number of public servants that have successfully completed the Introduction to GBA+ course has risen to over 10,000, with an increasing number of departments voluntarily initiating mandatory requirements for some or all employees. For example, all employees at Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) were required to complete the online course by March 31 2016, and new employees will be required to complete it within 6 months of employment. PCO has made this training mandatory for analysts responsible for playing a challenge function and providing advice on policy, program and legislative initiatives, as well as for Executives. The Department of National Defence (DND) and Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) have also made a commitment to incorporate GBA into military planning and operations, including in related education and training. This includes mandatory completion of the GBA online course for key sectors, with a view to developing CAF-specific GBA training resources in the coming year.

SWC will continue to work with departments and sectors to promote the online course as a fundamental tool for all employees and to work with all federal organizations, clustered by their mandates, to develop and deliver advanced GBA training. SWC will also encourage individual departments to identify the human and financial resources they require in order to effectively deliver training and monitor implementation of GBA.

With respect to recommendations 7 and 8, the Government agrees in principle and recognizes the value of improving the awareness of GBA among Parliamentarians and their staff, and employees of the House of Commons, Library of Parliament and Senate. This is technically out of the purview of the Government and would need to be addressed by the Parliament of Canada. While voluntary response to completing GBA training through the GBA challenge was a record success in 2016, there is still room for improvement. I will discuss mandatory training for Parliamentarians and parliamentary staff with the Government House Leader as well as with the Government Representative in the Senate to determine how best to implement these recommendations.

Enhanced Engagement beyond the Federal Government

The Government agrees with the Committee’s recommendations 4 and 20 and will work to identify ways to promote the use and the positive outcomes of GBA beyond the federal government. SWC currently promotes GBA to the general public through the provision of up-to-date information on the SWC website, including links to key resources, and through the GBA online course, available to all Canadians free of charge. SWC has also worked to enhance social media engagement (e.g., using Facebook and Twitter), in addition to hosting and supporting annual awareness events as part of GBA Awareness Week. SWC will continue to promote GBA success stories on the SWC website and through regular enhancements to the online course.

SWC routinely engages with provinces and territories through the Federal-Provincial-Territorial (FPT) Status of Women Ministers and senior officials forums, and liaises frequently to provide advice and guidance on GBA to provincial and territorial officials. As well, GBA is a standing agenda item for Ministerial meeting agendas.  Since the launch of the online course in 2012, almost 800 officials from all provinces and territories have completed it, with many using it as the basis for additional training or in support of provincial/territorial GBA strategies. In addition, through the FPT Forum of Ministers responsible for the Status of Women, senior officials have created an evergreen compendium of GBA models across all jurisdictions. SWC will continue to engage and support PT partners both bilaterally and through the FPT forum.

SWC also frequently engages with international partners through the United Nations and other multi-lateral forums to discuss best practices and identify promising models for GBA and gender equality, including ensuring that commitments to gender mainstreaming approaches such as GBA are a part of key international documents. 

Supporting GBA Networks

We agree with recommendation 19 to promote collaboration among federal departments and agencies and to identify best practices in GBA implementation.

SWC will continue to support and seek to expand the membership of the federal Interdepartmental Committee on GBA+, currently composed of over 35 departments and agencies, as a key site of collaboration and strategic discussion on GBA. As part of the GBA Action Plan, a Steering Committee of senior officials from SWC, PCO and TBS will also meet semi-annually to review progress and lessons learned and to determine priorities. SWC will also increase the frequency of its meeting of GBA+ Champions from annually to semi-annually starting in Fall 2016, as a forum for senior-level discussions and collaboration on GBA.

Accountability and Reporting

The Auditor General noted that leadership of senior management and monitoring and reporting on GBA represented gaps in the Government’s ability to fully implement GBA, and these areas form a key part of the GBA Action Plan. For this reason, we agree in principle with recommendations 11, 12, 15 and 18.  In addition to continuing to convene the GBA+ Champions forum, we will continue to work to strengthen accountability for GBA, including among senior management.  SWC is now a member of the Public Service Management Advisory Committee (PSMAC), which consists of 43 deputy-level members of federal departments, and will use this forum to facilitate ongoing information sharing and reporting on GBA.

In 2016, for the first time, all Deputies were asked to provide responses to a GBA Implementation Survey. SWC and the central agencies will examine the results to determine key gaps and to identify additional areas for targeted action.  The Government will also continue to promote the implementation of a GBA Framework, a set of elements to support the sustainable use of GBA, in all departments and to request updates on Framework implementation as part of annual survey reports. In order to gauge the Action Plan’s success, SWC will table an interim progress report (2017) and a final report (2018) to the Public Accounts Committee, and will also examine the possibility of conducting a formal evaluation of GBA implementation in government in 2020.

Mandatory GBA Requirements

With respect to recommendations 3, 14 and 17, that GBA be the subject of legislation and that a Commissioner for Gender Equality be appointed by June 2017, we agree that more needs to be done to strengthen accountability and oversight for GBA.  My appointment as the first-ever full Minister of Status of Women demonstrates the Government’s strong commitment to ensuring that gender and diversity considerations are brought to the Cabinet table. I have also reached out to my colleagues to encourage them to ensure that their officials are trained and that GBA is considered a part of the development and delivery of their own mandate commitments.

In line with the GBA Action Plan (2016-20) and recommendation 13, TBS and PCO have updated their templates and tools which make it mandatory that evidence be provided to demonstrate that GBA has been considered and was completed as necessary, and that relevant analysis is reflected in options and advice presented, including in a designated mandatory section of Memoranda to Cabinet and Treasury Board submissions. At the same time, both PCO and TBS are working to build the capacity of their analysts to play this role through increased completion of GBA training. All central agencies will explore ways to better communicate publicly the role and value-added of their challenge function with respect to GBA. These augmented requirements, along with Budget 2016 investments to strengthen SWC’s ability to provide GBA advice and track concrete results, provide important advances in creating greater monitoring and accountability of GBA implementation.

We will closely monitor the Action Plan’s implementation and the impact of these enhanced measures on the rigour and quality of GBA.  We will also continue to explore additional means to improve monitoring, oversight and accountability for GBA implementation, including the careful consideration of legislative and non-legislative approaches and will report back to you by March 31, 2018, at the same time as the Standing Committee on Public Accounts.

Conclusion

I would once again like to take this opportunity to thank you and the members of the Standing Committee for your important work and for your commitment to ensuring that Canada’s decision-makers consider the experiences of diverse groups of women and men.

Sincerely,

The Honourable Patty Hajdu, P.C., M.P.