Gender-based analysis plus — Departmental Results Report 2019-20

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Institutional GBA+ capacity

Governance Structures

To ensure that Gender-based Analysis plus (GBA+) is integrated in the Department’s decision-making processes, the Department has a GBA+ Responsibility Centre, located within the Strategic Policy and International Affairs Branch, and has had a Community of Practice, active with representation from every branch, region and corporate service area, for the past four fiscal years.

Sport Canada has a Policy (Actively Engaged: A Policy on Sport for Women and Girls) which focuses on gender equity in sport and also addresses the goals of a strategy or framework through the following mechanisms:

Accountability

The Department’s Senior Management and Governance Committees review progress and assess the extent to which GBA+ is included in decision-making within the Department.

Departmental decision-making processes

With support from the accountability and coordination mechanisms described above, each branch is responsible for implementing GBA+ within their area of responsibility.

Human Resources

The Department had the following human resources dedicated to GBA+ implementation in 2019-20:

Furthermore, a total of 7.56 FTEs were dedicated in 2019-20 within the following specific teams:

In addition, the Department took a number of steps to advance the implementation of GBA+:

GBA+ Awareness Week was held from September 23 to 27, 2019. The week sought to build capacity and awareness through a series of events including a GBA+ kiosk and booth, a GBA+ Awareness Week Digital Campaign, a GBA+ Helper Interactive Session, and a well-attended training session by keynote speaker Rania El Mugammar.

Highlights of GBA+ Results by Program

Core Responsibility 1: Creativity, arts and culture

Parliamentary review of the Copyright Act

Parliament heard from a wide and diverse group of stakeholders during the parliamentary review of the Copyright Act. PCH officials will apply a robust GBA+ lens in any future policy development.

Creative Export Strategy

Gender and diversity considerations are taken in to account in the development of Creative Export Strategy activities, which aims to support Canadian creative exporters by improving the economic situation of Canadians working in this sector. For example, applications or projects that include plans or commitments to implement gender or diversity considerations in staffing, leadership and decision-making roles receive bonus points in the assessment process of the Creative Export Canada program.

TV5 partnership

Considerations related to gender equality, diversity and inclusiveness are taken into consideration in the development of new initiatives led by Canada within the TV5 partnership.

These considerations are also taken into account for the composition of the Board of Directors of TV5 Québec Canada and TV5 NUMÉRIQUE.

Music Policy and Programs Directorate (MPPD)

In 2019-20, the Music Policy and Programs Directorate (MPPD) undertook a study to better understand the barriers and challenges facing the Indigenous music community, which was a follow-up report to the National Indigenous Music Impact Study it contributed to in 2018-19. In 2020-21, MPPD will review the recommendations to inform future program development of the Canada Music Fund (CMF). For the CMF, an amount of $100,000 in Vote 5 was allocated, in 2019-2020, to strengthen the program’s capacity to research challenges faced by artists and entrepreneurs of different gender groups and ethnic backgrounds and report on the demographics of their applicants. This type of investment helps the Department better understand the demographic composition of its recipients and assess whether further incentives would be beneficial.

Canada Book Fund’s Accessibility Initiative

Through an additional investment of $22.8 million over five years (2019-20 to 2023-24), the Canada Book Fund has undertaken an initiative to support the sustainable production and distribution of accessible digital books that can be used by all Canadians, including persons with print disabilities. The expected outcome of the accessibility initiative is that Canadians will have access to Canadian-authored digital books that are accessible. This includes those readers in underserved communities, advancing the economic and social participation of Canadians with print disabilities.

Digital Citizen Initiative (DCI)

The initial GBA+ analysis completed for the DCI after its launch in January of 2019 found that there is a gap in current information about how disinformation affects different groups in Canada.

The DCI itself strives for diversity and inclusion for those working on funded projects, in accordance with relevant legislation and policy frameworks guiding human resources management within the public service. Additionally, for any organization that receives funding, will be strongly encouraged to consider GBA+ implications with respect to their internal operations (hiring practices, work environment, etc.).

It is expected that the foundation of research will be built upon further developing our understanding of the impact of disinformation on vulnerable communities, minority groups, including but not limited to immigrants, racialized communities, the LGBTQ2 community, and official language minority communities. Ultimately, the aim and expected long-term result is that the Government is better equipped to understand and make evidence-based decisions on the best ways to combat online disinformation in Canada. By using this research to identify factors with a GBA+ lens, a part of this ultimate outcome is that the Government will be able to develop solutions to counter the negative effects that online disinformation may have on the different segments of the Canadian populations. To measure this performance, the DCI actively monitors the ongoing research that examines the impact that online disinformation has on minority and marginalized communities.

Arts Branch

In 2019-20, the Arts Branch and partners funded two research reports using Statistics Canada Census data to provide valuable GBA+ data and analysis about artists in Canada. The reports are available online at:

On January 29, 2019, the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage tabled a report on gender parity on boards of directors and in senior executive positions of Canadian artistic and cultural organizations. In 2019-20, the Department of Canadian Heritage responded to the Committee’s recommendation to support the development of harassment and gender parity policies within artistic and cultural organizations. Through the Canada Cultural Investment Fund, the Department, in partnership with the Canada Council for the Arts, supported the “Respectful Workplaces in the Arts” initiative. This project, led by the Cultural Human Resources Council is creating tools, and providing training and guidance to as many as 1,750 arts and cultural organizations. In 2019-20, sixty-one workshops on Maintaining Respectful Workplaces were delivered.

Core Responsibility 2: Heritage and celebration

Building Communities through Arts and Heritage / Canada History Fund

By funding activities that promote broad perspectives and practical understanding of all Canadian identities across Canada, the program continues to encourage intersectional analysis and social inclusion. These activities promote participation of all Canadians and showcase Canada’s linguistic, cultural, Indigenous and regional diversity in all of its dimensions.

Major Events, Commemorations and Capital Experience Branch

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. The GBA+ related data collection is done periodically through public opinion research. Surveys conducted typically include demographic questions related to gender, age, household income, education level, language and employment status.

Core Responsibility 3: Sport

Gender Equity in Sport Strategy

The Department’s Gender Equity in Sport Strategy aims to increase the representation and participation of women and girls in sport. This strategy is implemented and monitored by the Gender Equity Secretariat and all Sport Canada Staff are required to complete GBA+ training. The department works closely with key stakeholders with expertise in gender and sport, in implementing the strategy and this expertise is used in analyzing the programming results.

Sport Canada’s Athlete Assistance Program

Sport Canada’s Athlete Assistance Program is the Department’s sole transfer payment program that collects microdata from individual recipients, based on GBA+ principles. This data is disaggregated based on sex, first official language, city and province, indigenous, and able-bodied status (Olympic or Paralympic).

The department conducted a Report Card exercise which examined the diversity and inclusion policies of funded sport organisations, including the gender balance within management and leadership. This review also examined how GBA+ principles are implemented throughout operations, programming and relevant reporting.

Innovation programming invited proposals to focus on underrepresented communities such as LGBTQ2 and Indigenous groups.

Gender Equity Secretariat

Budget 2018 announced a funding commitment to support a comprehensive, long-term Gender Equity in Sport Strategy aimed at increasing the representation and participation of women and girls in sport. The Government of Canada created a Gender Equity Secretariat within Sport Canada, to implement and monitor the Strategy.

The Secretariat undertakes the evaluation and monitoring of multiple funding agreements to:

Federal-Provincial/Territorial Sport Committee Implementation Work Group on Women and Girls in Sport

The Secretariat oversees the co-chairing of the Federal-Provincial/Territorial Sport Committee Implementation Work Group on Women and Girls in Sport and regular participation in outreach activities to promote the Strategy and the various supporting initiatives.

Core Responsibility 4: Diversity and inclusion

The Multiculturalism Program

The Multiculturalism Program actively contributes to the Government of Canada’s goal to foster and promote an inclusive society where everyone is able to fully participate in the economic, cultural, social and political spheres. Program activities and funding touch on issues that affect various groups differently across Canada in consideration of GBA+, which is a factor in research projects and for grants and contributions project funding.

Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy (CARS)

The focus of the Multiculturalism Program and Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy (CARS) are on communities that have experienced racism and discrimination, such as racialized groups, religious minorities, and Indigenous Peoples - while considering intersectionality, including women and girls.

Community Support, Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Initiatives (CSMARI)

In 2019-20 the Community Support, Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Initiatives (CSMARI) program’s Events and Projects components prioritized funding towards initiatives with a focus on racialized women and girls. At the same time, the Program started tracking the kind of identity intersections that GBA+ explores. In 2019-20, CSMARI Events funded 19 initiatives with a focus on women and girls.

The Anti-Racism Secretariat

The Anti-Racism Secretariat, created through CARS, has been tasked with taking a whole-of-government approach to addressing racism and discrimination and reporting publicly on results. In response to recent racially charged incidents in Canada and elsewhere the Secretariat was tasked by the Prime Minister to develop an Anti-Racism Tool that could be applied to existing and future policies, programs and services, and which served to eradicate racism from our approach. It will be developed collaboratively with WAGE and in consultation with other federal organizations. The Anti-Racism Tool will be centred around discrimination based on one’s perceived race, ethnicity and/or religious identity (i.e., racism), while also considering other intersectional identities (i.e., age, sexual orientation, religion, ability, etc.), much like how the GBA+ tool centres concepts of gender in its approach.

CARS places a new focus on data and evidence to support improved decision making as part of anti-racism efforts. Through CARS a $3 million investment has been made in an oversampling of Statistics Canada’s 2020 General Social Survey – Social Identity. The oversampling will obtain intersectional data such as gender, education and income level on various ethno cultural population groups. Another CARS investment is the Canadian Legal Problems Survey (CLPS) ($660K), which will obtain data relating to discrimination faced by Canadians during their interaction with the legal system. The CLPS will obtain information on how discrimination plays out within different equity-seeking groups including members of the LGBTQ2 community, Indigenous groups and Black Canadians.

The Indigenous Languages and Cultures Program (ILCP)

The Indigenous Languages and Cultures Program (ILCP) considers distinction (First Nation, Inuit and Métis) and place of residence (province or territory) in allocating its funding. Communities implement activities for different age groups that are equally accessible to women, men and people with other gender identities.

The work to begin implementing the Indigenous Languages Act engaged national Indigenous organizations, self-governing Indigenous governments and other Indigenous governing bodies, in order to take into account a diversity of perspectives and achieve more inclusive outcomes.

The Exchanges Canada Program and Youth Take Charge Program

The Exchanges Canada Program and Youth Take Charge Program assessed applications against the reach, diversity, and number of youth involved in the proposals. Overall, youth-serving organizations funded by the Exchanges Canada Program delivered projects on a geographic and demographic scope and scale reflective of the overall Canadian youth population, which helped ensure gender and demographic diversity in programming.

Also, as part of the Exchanges Canada and Youth Take Charge funding agreements, organizations were required to submit demographic information on participants, which for Exchanges Canada included data on participant ages, sex, province/territory of residence, and language as well as Indigenous, racialized and disability status, and rural community. Youth Take Charge collected demographic data on age, sex, language and official-language minority community as well as Indigenous, racialized and disability status. These data were tracked and monitored by the Programs, and were used to ensure that a range of demographic groups, and youth from throughout Canada, had opportunities to be included in funded activities.

The Exchanges Canada Program contribution agreements with recipients included targets for participant representation that is comparable to the Canadian population (as established by the latest Statistics Canada census data). In 2019–20, targets for the Program’s five demographic groups were all exceeded, with the exception of visible minority youth, underrepresented by about 4 points. Indigenous youth represented 12% of participants; rural youth represented 33% of participants; youth with disabilities represented 5% of participants; youth from low income householdsFootnote 1 represented 37% of participants; and 18% of participants were visible minority youth. Footnote 2

Youth Secretariat

Youth as a population represent the full spectrum of Canadian diversity, where individuals all have multiple identities that intersect, such as ethnicity, religion, age, and mental or physical disability, etc. As such, a youth lens was applied to policy papers, analyses and initiatives that were developed and/or reviewed by the Youth Secretariat to ensure that considerations of age and youth were undertaken as part of the policy and program analysis. Stakeholder consultation and engagement approaches continued to focus on developing approaches to reach youth furthest from opportunity, racialized youth, as well as First Nations, Métis, and Inuit youth.

LGBTQ Action Plan and programming

In support of key mandate letter commitments for the Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth, priority actions undertaken by the LGBTQ2 Secretariat included ongoing work to engage with civil society representatives of LGBTQ2 communities while preparing to fulsomely consult to lay the groundwork for an LGBTQ2 action plan that would guide the work of the federal government on issues important to LGBTQ2 Canadians.

This contributed to departmental GBA+ efforts to better understand the ways in which all Canadians are affected by Government policies, programs, and services.

Core Responsibility 5: Official Languages

2018-2023 Action Plan for Official Languages

In 2019-20, Canadian Heritage coordinated a GBA+ follow-up exercise with the federal partners of the 2018-2023 Action Plan for Official Languages. The exercise documented how GBA+ considerations were taken into account in the implementation of initiatives, as well as the collection of disaggregated data.

In addition to the GBA+ follow-up exercise conducted in the context of the implementation of the 2018-2023 Action Plan, GBA+ is systematically integrated into policy and program development in the area of official languages. Disaggregated data for different population groups also enable the application of a GBA+ lens on the attainment of results.

Internal Services

Employment Systems Review

The Department is conducting an Employment Systems Review, which is a thorough analysis of practices relating to hiring, retention, promotion, career development, etc. – to identify and remove the barriers affecting the employment equity (EE) designated group members. This is accomplished via the collection and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data, consequently feeding the departmental Employment Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EE, D&I) Strategy and Action Plan.

Federal Research Data Centre analytical work (with Statistics Canada)

Using micro-data, ongoing collaboration with Statistics Canada to ensure the most precise detail possible in terms of diversity variables, including sex assigned at birth, visible minority or immigrant status, Indigenous status, and more.

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