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Gender-based analysis plus: general information — Departmental Plan 2023-24

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Institutional GBA Plus Capacity

Governance

In 2023-24, Canadian Heritage will continue its work to strengthen GBA Plus governance within the Department by formalizing and aligning current and future activities to support different components of the GBA Plus Framework. The Department’s governance structure consists of a GBA Plus Champion, a GBA Plus Responsibility Centre, and a GBA Plus Community of Practice. The GBA Plus Responsibility Centre coordinates the Community of Practice, which consists of representation from every branch, region, and corporate service area, and for which GBA Plus training is a membership requirement. Each branch is responsible for implementing GBA Plus within their area of responsibility.

The GBA Plus Responsibility Centre leads and coordinates GBA Plus activities at Canadian Heritage and supports the application of GBA Plus in Departmental policy, programs, and research activities by reviewing Memoranda to Cabinet, Treasury Board Submissions and Budget proposals and by signing off on appropriate GBA Plus analysis. It also plays an important role in planning, monitoring, and reporting on GBA Plus at Canadian Heritage, including by coordinating the Annual GBA Plus Implementation Survey, and the GBA Plus supplementary tables of the Departmental Results Report and the Departmental Plan. Finally, the GBA Plus Responsibility Centre fosters GBA Plus capacity at Canadian Heritage through the Community of Practice, GBA Plus promotion and training, and special projects as needed.

In 2023-24, the GBA Plus Responsibility Centre will advance a workplan that reflects the needs that have been identified in the Department through various activities in 2022-23, including at Community of Practice meetings, and through the GBA Plus Responsibility Centre’s ongoing review of the department’s activities, including:

The GBA Plus Responsibility Centre also plans to reinvigorate the departmental GBA Plus Community of Practice. As members of the Community of Practice play an advisory role in their respective branches, the GBA Plus Responsibility Centre plans to further leverage their expertise to collaboratively work to highlight success, to share best practices, to identity gaps and emerging priorities and to pilot initiatives that serve as concrete examples of GBA Plus application.

In addition, some branches of the Department have additional governance mechanisms on GBA Plus. For example, Sport Canada’s Gender Equity, Inclusion and Innovation Unit, launched through Budget 2018, continues to ensure that GBA Plus and considerations on diverse populations of Canadians are integrated into decision-making processes, including Cabinet and Budget submissions. It is anticipated that all Sport Canada staff will complete the Canada School of Public Service’s Introduction to GBA Plus course, developed by Women and Gender Equality Canada, by early 2023-24.

By virtue of their mandate, a number of groups within the Department also have a heightened focus on addressing barriers faced by various population groups, for example the Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Branch and Anti-Racism Secretariat, the Youth Secretariat, the Official Languages Branch, the Accessibility Office, the Indigenous Languages Branch and the Reconciliation, Treaties and Engagement Branch. As a result, these groups provide additional policy expertise and advice related to specific elements of GBA Plus and intersectional analysis.

Human Resources

The Department has the following human resources dedicated to GBA Plus implementation:

Furthermore, a total of 10.85 FTEs have been dedicated within the following specific teams:

Major initiatives to advance GBA Plus departmental capacity

A number of complementary and intersecting initiatives are planned for 2023-24 to further enhance GBA Plus Capacity, as outlined above. Internal services will undertake work to improve data collection, tool provision, and program diversity.

In addition, the Policy Research Group will continue its work to further enhance departmental capacity for evidence-based GBA Plus, particularly with a grounding in intersectional research. Notable planned initiatives include:

The Human Resources and Workplace Management Branch will pursue its commitment to ensure a range of GBA Plus identity factors are considered during the development of tools, surveys, programs, policies, as well as during consultations with employees of the Department. More specifically, the Human Resources and Workplace Management Branch will continue the implementation of the Canadian Heritage Employment Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and Action Plan 2021-24, as well as the elimination of barriers identified during the employment systems review related to recruitment, promotion, professional development, etc. Actions outlined in the Strategy will contribute to the achievement of Deputy Ministers’ commitments on Diversity and Inclusion, as well as the elimination of inequalities between different groups, including members of the 2SLGBTQI+ community.

The Accessibility Office will continue to implement the department’s Accessibility Plan launched in December 2022. Canadians embrace diversity by celebrating many races, ethnicities cultures, gender identities, languages, and religions. Disability is another way that people live, view, experience and express themselves differently. It is a universal condition that cuts across many identity factors. The Accessibility Office promotes an intersectional analysis and the comprehensive concept of inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility. It has identified areas where greater disaggregated data is needed (e.g., the populations targeted by Canadian Heritage’s programs and services) and is working to collect the data it needs to further expand the Office’s capacity to report on impacts by gender and diversity. In addition, the Accessibility Office will participate in the work to develop a Federal Data Strategy on Accessibility and Disability Inclusion led by Employment and Social Development-Canada.

The Evaluation Services Directorate plans on pursuing the efforts to improve its ability to integrate question related to GBA Plus, equity and diversity, reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, accessibility, and sustainable development. The Evaluation Services Directorate is now using an internal tool for evaluators to better integrate questions and indicators to assess the progress of programs in meeting commitments to equity-deserving groups and in addressing complex questions related to diversity and inclusion, including notions of accessibility, anti-racism, reconciliation, GBA Plus and 2SLGBTQI+.

Reconciliation, Treaties and Engagement Branch, which was created in Fall 2021 to develop relevant and effective strategies to support Canadian Heritage-related to reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, will:

Highlights of GBA Plus Results Reporting Capacity by Program

Arts

The Arts Program has several years of historical and current high-level data drawn from organizations’ mandates which is used to report on program impact on selected groups: urban, rural or remote communities, official language minority communities, Indigenous, ethnocultural (including visible minorities and racialized) communities, and youth.

However, the Arts Program funds organizations rather than individuals, posing challenges to collecting individual-level disaggregated data. While information is available on ultimate beneficiaries via alternate measures (e.g., links to mandate of organization), to date the information collected has focused more on information related to diversity than to gender.

Examples of actions being taken to enable future monitoring or reporting of the program’s impacts by gender and diversity include:

Harbourfront Centre Funding Program Evaluation 2014–15 to 2017–18:

As part of the Harbourfront Centre Funding Program evaluation (2018), the program continues to work on its commitment to gather and review existing statistical information related to GBA Plus considerations for the Harbourfront Centre Board and management. This information will help inform the development of GBA Plus indicators for the Harbourfront Centre Funding Program.

Though the work was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Harbourfront Centre has provided the Department with a GBA Plus Data Collection Strategy. A joint review of the strategy was completed by Arts Branch policy and program advisors, and the results of the review were shared with the organization. Harbourfront Centre has created a survey, taking into consideration feedback provided, and intends to provide a first set of data by March 31, 2023.

The initiative is progressing, and the program will be able to report in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 Departmental Results Reports.

Labour Force Survey and Census 2021:

Arts Branch will continue to deepen its understanding of employment in the arts sector by analyzing disaggregated data, including Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey data and Census 2021 data through disaggregation by multiple identity factors, including gender.

Cultural Marketplace Framework

The Cultural Marketplace Framework Program contains multiple components. Some components collect sufficient data to enable monitoring and/or reporting on program impacts by gender and diversity, while others have strategies in place to improve data collection.

Digital Citizen Initiative:

In January 2019, the Government of Canada announced its strategy for protecting democracy from increases in online disinformation and electoral interference. This included the launch of the Digital Citizen Initiative, which aims to strengthen Canadians’ resilience to online harms. The Digital Citizen Initiative team is also supporting the development of policy options to address online hate, a key issue for equity-deserving communities, as online hate often has a disproportionate impact on women, the 2SLGBTQI+ community, and other groups. This initiative supports the Government’s work in the Gender Results Framework, which is aimed at eliminating Gender-Based Violence and increasing Access to Justice. It is expected that, if adopted, new policies will introduce mechanisms aimed at minimizing the gender-based violence and harassment stemming from online hate.

While the Digital Citizen Initiative has some data on impacts of disinformation on various communities through the projects it has funded, it does not currently have sufficient data to enable it to monitor and/or report program impacts by gender and diversity on a year-to-year basis. There is a gap in existing research on these topics, and there continues to be a gap in currently available information about how disinformation and online hate affect different groups in Canada. In order to address that gap, the Digital Citizen Initiative will continue to use the efforts dedicated to the research component of the Digital Citizen Initiative to gain a greater understanding of who is most likely to disseminate disinformation and online hate, who is most likely to be impacted by it, and the most effective ways to tailor responses to identified groups.

Copyright:

In supporting the Government in its commitment to extend the copyright terms of protection and address other copyright issues, such as artists’ resale rights, the copyright policy team will be routinely using GBA Plus processes, deepening its analysis and systematically incorporating diversity considerations into policy advice. Resulting work will be cognizant of the diverse groups (e.g., Indigenous communities, 2SLGBTQI+, French language creators and racialized and ethno-cultural communities) and how they may experience copyright policies.

Film and Video:

For its screen sector policy analysis and development work, Film and Video Policy and Programs will work to put forward considerations for a better representation of Canadian diversity, including, Indigenous Peoples, Black and racialized communities, 2SLGBTQI+ communities, Official Language Minority Communities, women, and people with disabilities.

Film and Video Policy and Programs is working with its partners, including Telefilm Canada and the National Film Board of Canada, to prioritize data collection on these communities in order to better respond to their needs.

Cultural Industries Support and Development

The Cultural Industries Support and Development Program contains multiple components. Some components collect sufficient data to enable monitoring and/or reporting on program impacts by gender and diversity, while others have strategies in place to improve data collection.

Canada Media Fund:

The Canada Media Fund, a third-party delivery program, is responsible for data collection and reports on its results annually to the Department. As such, Canadian Heritage has access to aggregate data on gender balance but not detailed breakdowns below this aggregate level. At this time, as part of its 2021-23 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategy, the Canada Media Fund is conducting initial data collection using its new Persona-ID tool on members of underrepresented communities applying to its programs. The use of the Persona-ID tool will support evidence-based decision-making, and tracking progress on the communities’ participation and in securing funding.

In 2023-24, the Canada Media Fund will continue its work to establish a baseline by collecting disaggregated diversity and inclusion data on funded companies and projects. It will also work with partners to set standards of privacy, language and best practices in diversity and inclusion data collection and usage across the industry.

Local Journalism Initiative:

The Local Journalism Initiative’s third-party Administrator Organizations collect data on coverage of Indigenous, ethnocultural, Official Language Minority and 2SLGBTQI+ communities, including self-reported data on journalists that belong to these communities. The program does not currently collect gender-based data on journalists employed through the program.

Indigenous Screen Office Program:

The Indigenous Screen Office is required to report annually to the Department on gender, geographic location, language and other gender and diversity indicators of its recipients.

Fiscal Year 2022-23 will be the Indigenous Screen Office Program’s first full year of operation. The need to build capacity in data collection and reporting on impacts relating to gender and diversity will be assessed following an analysis after the first year of operation and reception of program data.

News Remuneration:

While no data collection plan is envisioned for now, efforts will be made to integrate GBA Plus considerations, stemming from Census data, into the news remuneration regime, to the extent that is appropriate for the scope of that legislative tool.

Creative Export Strategy:

As part of the Creative Export Strategy’s Measurement and Results Strategy, the Department has developed a data entry system, which tracks all the Strategy’s beneficiaries. Data collected includes information on the beneficiary, such as their cultural sector, headquarters location, and target market, and the type of support that they received.

Moving forward, the Department intends to collect information on the gender and diversity of the creative businesses’ ownership and leadership, as well as information on whether the company’s initiatives supported by the Strategy have an impact on gender and diversity. In fiscal year 2023-24, the International Trade Branch will develop and implement an Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility Data Collection Plan. This will allow Canadian Heritage to understand who is accessing Creative Export Strategy’s programs and services and enable it to understand and address systemic gaps and barriers to access. The Creative Export Strategy intends to collect data on the following six priority groups and would capture the intersectionality of applicants, where applicable: Indigeneity, racialized community, 2SLGBTQI+, person with disabilities, women, and official language minority community.

Canada Book Fund:

The Canada Book Fund does not currently collect data on recipients in terms of gender. However, the program does collect data on recipients in terms of diversity of their owners (Indigenous and racialized communities) and asks if the organizations are from official language minority communities.

In 2022-23, the Canada Book Fund started collecting data on sales of books by authors from official-language minority, Indigenous and racialized communities.

Canada Music Fund:

The Canada Music Fund will continue to monitor issues relating to gender equality, diversity and inclusion in order to alleviate possible systemic barriers faced by equity-deserving groups through short-, medium- and long-term changes to the program. The Canada Music Fund, along with its two third-party administrators, will continue to work towards a more robust data collection approach that will allow for more efficient reporting of program impacts by gender and diversity. In time, this data will provide the opportunity for further analysis and potential recommendations for future program development. In addition, the Canada Music Fund will continue to convey to applicants/recipients that concrete entrepreneurial policies and practices that encourage gender equality, diversity and inclusion are beneficial to the entire Canadian music industry, including individual organizations, their membership, and the audiences they serve.

Canada Periodical Fund:

Through the funding application forms, the Canada Periodical Fund collects disaggregated administrative data using variables such as type of periodical (e.g., newspaper or magazine), equity-deserving community served (e.g., ethnocultural, official-language minority, Indigenous, 2SLGBTQI+), geography (e.g., province or territory), and language (e.g., English, French, or other).

To seek the further disaggregated data, Canadian Heritage will leverage a multitude of data sources and triangulate any qualitative/quantitative information stemming from these sources. To do so, Canadian Heritage plans to enter into partnerships with external research organizations and consultants to conduct a magazine and newspaper benchmarking exercise and to perform an environmental scan on all data sources that currently exist on the periodical industry. This would allow the Department to deepen its understanding of the economic health of the Canadian periodical industry as well as the extent to which diversity and inclusion are fully embedded as part of the operations and services of magazine and newspaper organizations.

Findings from these data sources will inform future policies on the Canadian magazine and newspaper sectors as well as program guidelines and funding processes for the Canada Periodical Fund. Furthermore, these findings could guide actions to improve the inclusivity and impact of the program.

In addition, the Department is currently working with Statistics Canada to explore the possibility of adapting some products to meet its periodical programs’ needs, in particular, regarding diversity in the newspaper and news media environment and on news consumption and frequency among certain segments of the population, such as Indigenous peoples or visible minorities in Canada.

National Celebrations, Commemoration and Symbols

The Celebration and Commemoration Program largely distributes small grants to community organizations, not individuals or larger arts and cultural institutions, where tracking may be more institutionalized and where the reporting capacity is higher. While funding recipients are required to report on the number of participants reached by a project or initiative, they are not obliged to track the intersectional identity factors of participants and the final activity reports do not generally capture disaggregated data. In addition, as part of a larger government initiative to enhance the accessibility of funding programs, Celebrate Canada implemented a Fast Track system for grants under $5,000 (representing approximately 75% of all approved projects), which requires less information from clients and simplifies the application process.

Events organized by the Major Events, Commemorations and Capital Experience Branch, such as Canada Day, Winterlude, and the Sound and Light show, are free, open to the public, and aim to be accessible to all Canadians, for instance through various broadcast initiatives. The GBA Plus related data collection is limited and done through occasional public opinion research.

Community Engagement and Heritage

The Building Communities through Arts and Heritage Program is exploring avenues to collect, and measure disaggregated data provided by its client base. In doing so, the program has completed a survey and analysis of comparable international programs, each engaged in a variation of GBA Plus, to assess for useful mechanisms and routes. No indicators have been developed for the moment. This is an ongoing project and remains in the development stage.

However, the program has established one GBA Plus indicator to measure the total amount of funding provided to local groups organizing 2SLGBTQI+ events with a target of $1 million per fiscal year.

Preservation of and Access to Heritage

Gender and diversity data of participating youth is collected for Young Canada Works-Heritage Program. As part of the evaluation questionnaire at the end of their employment, participants are asked to self-identify by gender and/or as one or many of the following: Indigenous person, racialized person, person with a disability, a member of an official language minority community.

The Young Canada Works-Heritage Program is examining adding self-identification to its application forms so that GBA Plus data is available from the onset of the process. Young Canada Works-Heritage also has a targeted outreach initiative to reach equity-deserving youth, the impact of which can be reported on through comparison of results from previous years.

The Canadian Conservation Institute and the Canadian Heritage Information Network collect diversity data on individuals who participate in learning activities that they provide. Participants are asked whether they self-identify as one or many of the following: Indigenous person, a racialized person, a member of an ethno-cultural group or a member of an official language minority community.

Learning About Canadian History

The Canada History Fund currently collects client-reported summary data regarding the total number of Canadians accessing learning materials, primarily through access to digital resources online. Canada History Fund recipients provide high-level web analytics about online users. Client organizations are limited to web analytics as a data source, which does not support the collection of information regarding the user, such as gender or age. The Canada History Fund continues to explore avenues to adjust if possible, including during the program evaluation scheduled to launch in 2023-24.

Sport Development and High Performance

The Hosting Program and the Athlete Assistance Program collect data to monitor and report program impacts by sex. Sports are traditionally divided by biological sex, not gender, and participation in events tends to align with sex. Data on other identity factors are also collected through events geared towards specific demographics, such as the North American Indigenous Games or the Paralympics.

In 2023-24, indicators will be updated, and a data strategy will be developed to measure Hosting Program objectives.

The Sport Support Program collects sufficient data to monitor and report on program impacts by gender and diversity. The National Sport Organization component of the Sport Support Program collects data on the self-described gender identity of athlete competitors, coaches, officials, other club/league recreational participants, board of directors, paid staff, staff leadership, and technical experts. Responses are optional but will be used to help improve Sport Canada’s understanding and commitment to strengthening equity, diversity and inclusion.

Other components of the Sport Support Program target specific underrepresented groups and collect relevant data to demonstrate program impact. The Sport for Social Development in Indigenous Communities component targets Indigenous communities, the Community Sport for All component targets equity-deserving populations (in particular, Black, Indigenous, racialized, 2SLGBTQI+, low income, persons with a disability and newcomer groups), and the Innovation Initiative component targets equity-deserving populations (target populations change year to year).

GBA Plus and considerations on diverse populations will continue to be integrated into policy and financial decision-making processes.

Sport Canada is currently reviewing how data on gender and other intersecting identity factors are being collected and used across the branch. This effort aims to clarify and streamline the use of the terms gender and sex to ensure that gender disaggregation across projects is inclusive of the full 2SLGBTQI+ spectrum and goes beyond binary classifications. The review will provide recommendations for disaggregated data on sex, gender identity, and other intersecting variables within existing datasets and collections at Sport Canada. Highlighting both available data and data gaps will help Sport Canada improve current data analysis and future data collection to better inform decision-making, policies, and programs.

In October 2022, the Government of Canada announced renewed funding of $25.3 million over three years to help recruit and retain women and girls in sport and support ongoing efforts to move towards gender equity in the Canadian sport system. Funding will help to ensure that Canadian sport better reflects Canadian society by supporting more women in coaching, officiating, and leadership positions, providing more opportunities for girls and women to participate in sport, and enhancing the collection of data and research necessary for decision making. Funding will also be used to support activities that expand efforts to include other demographic groups that are underrepresented in sport. A significant portion of this funding will be disbursed through the Sport Support Program and as such, additional data will be available to report on impacts by gender and diversity.

Multiculturalism

In September 2022, the Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Branch launched a survey for its projects funded through the Anti-Racism Action Program, which will collect data on the gender, ethnicity, and religious affiliation of program participants. The information collected through the survey will be used for internal performance measurement. Survey results will help the Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Branch improve its funding programs and better serve communities. Best practices from this survey will be applied to future program surveys.

Human Rights

The impact of the Human Rights’ Program is monitored through program evaluations. Additionally, the program obtains data from the General Social Survey, which is conducted every five years.

The impact of the Court Challenges’ Program is monitored through program evaluations, and through data collection including surveys administered by the program administrator. The Court Challenges Program’s first evaluation since its reinstatement in 2018, began in the fall 2022. This evaluation, combined with the survey, will provide important information on the program’s impacts by gender and diversity. Since the program is administered by an independent third-party to avoid any perception of conflicts of interest, specific information on test cases funded by the program is limited, which ultimately limits the depth of the GBA Plus analysis as it pertains to the Court Challenges Program.

Indigenous Languages and Cultures

The Indigenous Languages Component of the Indigenous Languages and Culture Program considers distinct peoples (First Nation, Inuit and Métis) and place of residence (province or territory) in allocating its funding, so that all Indigenous people, regardless of gender, age, distinction or place of residence, can reclaim, revitalize, maintain and strengthen their languages.

Participant data is collected under the following categories: age (under 25 years of age, between 25 and 44 years of age, over 45 years of age); gender (male or female); distinction and/or place of residence.

The program is working with an Indigenous researcher to conduct in-depth analysis of Statistics Canada data to identify trends in the status and characteristics of Indigenous languages and communities using data from the 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016 Censuses. The research findings will support GBA Plus by providing data disaggregated by language, place of residence, gender, age and distinction on measures of language vitality (mother tongue, knowledge, and regular/primary home use) as well as information at the national and local levels on progress made.

The program is also reviewing Census 2021 data from Statistics Canada to understand characteristics of the Indigenous population in Canada, whether they are able to speak an Indigenous language or are non-speakers. Variables of language, place or residence (province/territory, remote/rural/urban, on- and off-reserve), gender, age, and distinction are used.

Canadian Heritage intends to work jointly with Indigenous partners, as it renews its results framework, to determine how best to collect information about the differential impacts of the program on segments of the Indigenous population, and to determine what, if any, specific targets should be set for underrepresented groups.

Youth Engagement

The Exchanges Canada Program is conducting a GBA Plus to identify barriers to participation from diverse communities and work to eliminate or reduce them. A GBA Plus of the Youth Take Charge Program is being planned for 2023-24.

Results of Prime Minister’s Youth Council applications and engagement data continue to be monitored during each campaign launch to ensure that under-represented groups are engaged and that there is diversity of representation. The Youth Secretariat works with targeted stakeholders to reach specific communities.

Further to this, the Youth Secretariat will continue to employ a youth-centred engagement approach that was developed for the first State of Youth Report (published in August 2021), which supported the participation of youth self-identifying with diverse identities, experiences, and backgrounds, including but not limited to Indigeneity, race, culture and ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, religion, citizenship and newcomer status, ability, geographic location, economic profiles and circumstances, and language profiles.

The Youth Secretariat will also continue to work with Statistics Canada, youth-serving organizations, and federal departments to understand which indicators and data could be included in the next State of Youth Report.

Official Languages

The Official Languages Branch has developed a generic GBA Plus which is annually updated and systematically integrated in the development of programs and policies on official languages. Disaggregated data for different population groups further allows it to apply a GBA Plus lens to obtain results. The generic GBA Plus has made it possible to identify revealing observations on the situation experienced by several groups of people belonging to the French-speaking and English-speaking linguistic minorities in the country.

As well, work on the post-census survey on the vitality of official language minority communities will continue. In 2021, the Government of Canada committed $7.5 million to fund this work that seeks to gather data on linguistic minorities (Francophones outside Quebec and English Quebecers) to better identify their needs. This will be the second survey of its kind (after an early study in 2016).

The data from the survey – which will include, among other information, demographic and social data concerning gender, place of birth, place of residence and household composition – will help to better understand the current situation of people in official language minority settings on current issues such as education and access to a variety of services in the language of the minority (such as healthcare and legal services), as well as linguistic uses in daily household activities, at work, or in the public realm. Results of this very wide survey will serve to improve Canadians’ access to services in the official language of their choice. Results should be published by mid-2024.

Disaggregated data from 2021 census will allow the Official Languages Branch to update some of its indicators and trends that have been observed in previous census records (gender, age group, level of education, income level, unemployment rate, language transmission, etc.). This update will enable the Official Languages Branch to further align its programs with a view to address equity, diversity, and inclusion outcomes more fully.

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