Gender-based analysis plus

Table 1: Institutional GBA Plus Capacity

Gender, diversity and intersectionality are key considerations in the work of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) in facilitating the arrival of immigrants, providing protection to refugees, offering settlement programming to newcomers and granting citizenship. The Strategic and Gender Priorities Team, which is part of the Strategic Policy and Planning Branch, is the Department’s GBA Plus focal point. The Unit promotes and supports the Department’s application and implementation of GBA Plus.

The Director General of the Strategic Policy and Planning Branch is responsible for providing GBA Plus functional guidance and strategic advice to the Department. IRCC’s GBA Plus institutional capacity is also supported by Champions at the senior management level, as well as a number of employee networks, such as the Women’s Network and Pride@IRCC.

Since 2001, IRCC has had a legislative requirement under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) to report on GBA Plus in the Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration. To better support evidence-based GBA Plus, the Department has extensive data that is disaggregated by gender, as well as other intersectional factors, such as age and country of citizenship. In addition, IRCC is working to further incorporate GBA Plus into performance measurement and evaluation processes to ensure IRCC programs address GBA Plus considerations.

In 2020–21, the Department had 3.0 full-time equivalents (FTEs) dedicated to the implementation of GBA Plus: 2 FTEs in the GBA Plus Unit and 1 FTE in the Settlement and Integration Sector. In addition, GBA Plus work is regularly undertaken by the policy and operational branches within IRCC.

Highlights of GBA Plus results

The IRCC GBA Plus Unit provides advice on policy and operational initiatives, and reviews key initiatives for GBA Plus considerations through the review of Memoranda to Cabinet, Treasury Board Submissions, and federal budget proposals. In 2020–21, the GBA Plus Unit reviewed and provided guidance on over 75 key policy and program initiatives.

To build awareness, the GBA Plus Unit leads information sessions for IRCC staff. In 2020–21, the Unit led 10 sessions that engaged staff and IRCC management. In addition to increasing awareness of GBA Plus, these sessions highlighted the utility of intersectional analysis in all of the work happening across the Department. The GBA Plus Unit catered each session to the needs and unique work of the audience to showcase how GBA Plus can result in more robust policies, programs and initiatives that aid in reducing inequity.

Every year, the GBA Plus Unit organizes GBA Plus Awareness Week. In 2020, this week included a presentation from the Centre for Gender, Diversity and Inclusion Statistics Hub housed at Statistics Canada on the importance of using data from a GBA Plus perspective. Disaggregated data is key to enabling GBA Plus that can support the development of more equitable policies, programs and outcomes for Canadians and newcomers. Additionally, GBA Plus Awareness Week included a 101 course, partnered with an “Ask Me Anything” session, that allowed employees to become more acquainted with the GBA Plus analytical lens, as well as ask any questions they may have pertaining to the utility and function of GBA Plus in their lines of work.

Moreover, the GBA Plus Unit leads the Department’s reporting on its work to advance GBA Plus. In 2020–21, IRCC reported on GBA Plus through the Departmental Results Report, the Departmental Plan, the Women and Gender Equality’s (WAGE) GBA Plus Implementation Survey, the Annual Progress Report for Canada’s National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, and the Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration. These multiple channels strengthen IRCC’s reporting function and the GBA Plus Unit will continue to work with the Chief Data Officer Branch in this endeavour in 2021–22. Further information on these projects can be found below.

In 2020–21, IRCC made progress on a number of projects, including: Enhanced settlement programming to address gender-based violence; the Caregiver Home Child Care Provider and Home Support Worker pilots; the Visible Minority Women (VMNW) pilot; and the Rainbow Refugees Assistance Partnership. The Department implemented notable policy and program changes as a result of GBA Plus considerations, such as aids to victims of family violence; the inclusion of sex and gender identifiers on IRCC documents; and the addition of GBA Plus in Departmental evaluations.

As well, IRCC continues to implement GBA Plus principles in workplace design, including universal accessible washrooms, privacy film and glazing on boardroom windows, and modesty panels on collaborative tables.

Settlement and integration sector: Adapting to COVID-19

Despite the unprecedented challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department continued to apply a GBA Plus lens to support groups that have experienced increased vulnerabilities and complex needs. For example, in response to mounting evidence and growing concern about the increase in gender-based violence (GBV) during the pandemic, the Settlement and Integration Policy Branch consulted with stakeholders across the country to identify and mitigate the barriers to supports and services for newcomers experiencing violence. Consequently, IRCC issued guidance and resources to the settlement sector to continue providing GBV supports as a critical and essential service online, via telephone and in-person when it was necessary and safe to do so. IRCC also continued to expedite processing of temporary resident permits for cases of family violence and trafficked persons.

Table 2: Gender and Diversity Impacts, by Program

Core Responsibility 1: Visitors, International Students and Temporary Workers

Program: Visitor

Target Population: Eligible foreign nationals seeking to enter Canada as visitors

Distribution of Benefits:

By Gender: Broadly gender-balanced

By Income Level: No significant distributional impacts

By Age Group: No significant inter-generational impacts or impacts generation between youth and seniors

Other

The Visitors Program facilitates legitimate travel to Canada by issuing a visa or an eTA to foreign nationals, who apply and are eligible, that allows them to enter Canada as a visitor. Eligibility for a visa or an eTA is not based on gender. Visa policy decisions are made on a country-by-country basis. Over the past five years, more TRVs were issued to applicants from India and China than any other TRV-required country. During that same period, more eTAs were issued to applicants from the United Kingdom and France than any other eTA-required country.

In 2020–21, to protect Canadians from the outbreak of COVID-19, the Prime Minister announced travel restrictions that limited travel to Canada. To visit Canada, foreign nationals had to be eligible for a visa or eTA under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and be exempted from the travel restrictions under the Orders in Council under the Quarantine Act and the Interim Order under the Aeronautics Act. During this period, IRCC prioritized visa applications from key cohorts exempted from travel restrictions, including immediate and extended family members, permit-exempt critical workers and those travelling on compassionate grounds.

Supplementary information sources

Not applicable

GBA Plus data collection plan

The Visitors Program collects data to monitor gender and diversity and to support federal budget requests for visitor-related initiatives. Data from relevant performance indicators may be disaggregated by demographic characteristics (such as age, gender/sex, citizenship, marital status, country of origin and citizenship at birth). GBA Plus data may be also extracted from the annual Client Experience Survey of Citizenship and Immigration clients to assess whether specific client groups or demographics experience certain aspects of the Visitors Program differently.

The Visitors Program is working to further incorporate GBA Plus into performance measurement and continuing its efforts to raise awareness and promote discussion around GBA Plus considerations throughout IRCC. For example, in 2020, IRCC held a series of intradepartmental bias and anti-racism workshops to promote GBA Plus discussion and awareness in the context of IRCC programs, including the Visitors Program. In addition, a pilot project has been put forward to monitor and evaluate the performance of the eTA Expansion Program as part of the Department’s anti-racism work to examine real and perceived biases. IRCC will also continue to take every effort to ensure that risk analyses are conscious of GBA Plus considerations and based on relevant evidence, which includes collecting and analyzing disaggregated data.

Core Responsibility: 1 Visitors, International Students and Temporary Workers

Program: International Students

Target Population: Eligible foreign nationals seeking to enter Canada as visitors

Distribution of Benefits:

By Gender: Broadly gender-balanced

By Income Level: No significant distributional impacts

By Age Group: No significant inter-generational impacts or impacts generation between youth and seniors

Other

The International Students Program facilitates legitimate travel to Canada for study at designated institutions. The Program issues study permits to foreign nationals, who apply and are eligible, that allow them to enter Canada as students. The Program also issues study permits to foreign nationals in Canada who are acquiring or extending their study permits. Eligibility for a study permit is not based on GBA Plus identifiers, but rather on acceptance for study at an approved institution.

International students have remained a priority throughout the pandemic. Although the Canadian border has remained closed to non-essential travel, international students have been able to travel to Canada since October 20, 2020, provided they meet the requirement of attending a designated learning institution with a COVID-19 readiness plan approved by provincial or territorial authorities. Students coming from abroad bring new cultures, ideas, innovation and competencies to our landscape.

In 2020, the top five countries of citizenship of study permit applications processed were India, China, Nigeria, Iran and South Korea. Consistent with previous years, in 2020 most international students were from India and China.

In addition, in 2020 most study permit applications were processed for students destined to study in Canada’s largest provinces: Ontario (42%), British Columbia (19%) and Quebec (18%).

Post-secondary (university and college level) institutions across Canada continue to attract the majority of international students, with college programs consistently growing in popularity year after year.

Core Responsibility 1: Visitors, International Students and Temporary Workers

Program: Temporary Workers

Target Population: Foreign nationals (i.e., anyone who is not a Canadian citizen or a Permanent Resident) who receive work permits.

Distribution of Benefits:

By Gender: 60 per cent - 79 per cent men

By Income Level: No significant distributional impacts

By Age Group: No significant inter-generational impacts or impacts generation between youth and seniors

Other

The International Mobility Program (IMP) collects and reports on various indicators so that the Department can analyze the gendered aspects of foreign nationals coming to Canada for work with an IMP-issued work permit. Most recently, in March 2021, instructions on sex or gender identifiers on IRCC documents and in IRCC systems have been updated to allow temporary residents to obtain a change of sex or gender identifier on their IRCC documents. This change complies with the new IRCC Sex and Gender Identifier Policy, which aligns with the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat’s Policy Direction to Modernize the Government of Canada’s Sex and Gender Information Practices.

Temporary workers may now identify themselves as male (M), female (F) or another gender (X) when completing their work permit applications. They may also change their gender identity at a later date by completing a Request Form for a Change of Sex or Gender Identifier.

GBA Plus data collection plan

Work permit data, including gender, age, country of origin and occupation (if applicable) are collected through the work permit applications by IRCC.

IMP data collection practices build on analytical infrastructure to inform decision-making in the area of temporary foreign workers. This relies on close collaboration with Departmental research areas to build analytical tools that provide insight into the impact of identity factors on program results and longer-term outcomes.

A dataset that links applications for the open work permit for vulnerable workers (OWP-V) to a client’s personal characteristics, occupation, and previous and subsequent work permits is currently under development. This dataset will provide the ability to analyze how characteristics such as ethnicity (using country of origin as a proxy), gender, occupation, and age affect an individual’s program results (probability of being issued an open work permit and processing time). In the shorter term, this data will also help to identify potential pockets of deeper vulnerability and benefit. Experiments are being undertaken with codifying anonymized applications, interview notes, and officer decisions to investigate trends in the labour exploitation of temporary foreign workers in Canada.

International Experience Canada (IEC) typically reports on gender in data requests, statistical reports, and corporate reporting. Gender is also in the collection template for IEC’s data exchange with partner countries. IEC has also done research specifically related to LGBTQ+ populations.

For IEC, research and analysis that directs promotion and stakeholder engagement activity always considers GBA Plus. Engagement initiatives support inclusiveness and aim to ensure that all youth are aware of, and can benefit from, international experiences.

Core Responsibility 2: Immigrants and Refugees Selection and Integration

Program: Federal Economic Immigration

Target Population: Foreign nationals that meet the requirements of federal economic immigration programs.

Distribution of Benefits:

By Gender: Broadly gender-balanced

By Income Level: No significant distributional impacts

By Age Group: No significant inter-generational impacts or impacts generation between youth and seniors

Other

Economic Immigration plays a critical role in our economic recovery from the pandemic, but it also continues to shape our country’s increasingly diverse society and culture.

In 2020, the top five countries of citizenship for federal economic immigrants were: India, China, Nigeria, Philippines, and France. Consistent with previous years, the top country of citizenship for federal economic immigrants was India.

GBA Plus data collection plan

Nothing to report for 2020–21.

Core Responsibility 2: Immigrants and Refugees Selection and Integration

Program: Provincial Economic Immigration

Target Population: Foreign nationals that meet the requirements of provincial economic immigration programs.

Distribution of Benefits:

By Gender: 60 per cent - 79 per cent men

By Income Level: No significant distributional impacts

By Age Group: No significant inter-generational impacts or impacts generation between youth and seniors

Other

The Regional Economic Programs take a whole-of-family approach to ensuring that newcomers have the support they need upon arrival, which maximizes the potential for economic participation of accompanying spouses.

For example, in the evaluation of the Atlantic Immigration Pilot, survey respondents consistently reported that settlement plans were useful in supporting settlement and integration of primary applicants and their families, including when analyzed by gender.

GBA Plus data collection plan

IRCC is currently developing a holistic methodology to report on all Regional Economic Programs, which will allow the Department to better understand the outcomes of these programs by gender, enhance its reporting on GBA Plus results, and ensure that future policy development is inclusive and intersectional.

Core Responsibility 2: Immigrants and Refugees Selection and Integration

Program: Family Reunification

Target Population: Foreign nationals who have family members in Canada (Canadian citizens or permanent residents).

Distribution of Benefits:

By Gender: Broadly gender-balanced

By Income Level: No significant distributional impacts

By Age Group: No significant inter-generational impacts or impacts generation between youth and seniors

Other

Age distribution: The Family Reunification Program has different streams, each of which has a different age profile. The different age profiles occur due to age limits in some criteria (e.g., dependent children must generally be under 22 years), or as a result of the typical age of people who are in certain relationships (e.g., spouses, parents and grandparents).

Family violence protection: The largest stream in the Family Reunification Program is sponsored spouses and partners, and often the spouse or partner is in Canada while the application is being processed.

In 2019, the Department implemented two initiatives to support foreign nationals in Canada who are in situations of family violence. The initiatives help these individuals find safety, specifically those whose immigration status may be precarious due to their reliance on an abusive spouse or partner for their status in Canada (including, but not limited to, sponsored spouses and partners).

First, individuals in this vulnerable situation who are also out-of-status may apply for an expedited, fee-exempt, temporary resident permit, which includes a fee-exempt work permit and Interim Federal Health Program coverage. In 2020–21, 108 temporary resident permits for victims of family violence were issued to adults and their dependent children, which provided them with the security of short-term immigration status to help escape the influence of abuse so that they had time to decide their next course of action.

Second, an expedited process is available for individuals in Canada who are in urgent situations of family violence and who apply for permanent residence on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. In 2020–21, 92 positive eligibility decisions were made on these applications.

In 2020–21, the majority of applicants for both measures were women.

These measures support the objective under Canada’s Gender Results Framework to eliminate gender-based violence.

GBA Plus data collection plan

Nothing to report for 2020–21.

Core Responsibility 2: Immigrants and Refugees Selection and Integration

Program: Humanitarian/Compassionate and Discretionary Immigration

Target Population: Foreign nationals coming from different regions and demographic groups.

Distribution of Benefits:

By Gender: Broadly gender-balanced

By Income Level: No significant distributional impacts

By Age Group: No significant inter-generational impacts or impacts generation between youth and seniors

GBA Plus data collection plan

There are currently no initiatives to increase measurement capacity relating to gender and diversity specifically for the Discretionary Immigration Program (Humanitarian and Compassionate and Public Policy). More generally, the Departmental Plan of 2020–21 indicated that the IRCC GBA Plus Unit would work with the Chief Data Officer Branch to continue to enhance data and reporting capacity for GBA Plus.

Core Responsibility 2: Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration

Program: Resettlement Assistance Program (RAP)

Target Population: Government-assisted refugees (GAR) and other eligible clients (e.g., refugees admitted to Canada under public policies, privately-supported refugees [PSR] admitted under a blended/cost-sharing initiative, such as Blended Visa Office-Referred Refugees [BVOR]).

Distribution of Benefits:

By Gender: Broadly gender-balanced

By Income Level: No significant distributional impacts

By Age Group: No significant inter-generational impacts or impacts generation between youth and seniors

Other

All streams of the Refugee Resettlement Program provide protection and help to many vulnerable populations around the world. Some specific initiatives include:

• The Rainbow Refugee Assistance Partnership, which supports the private sponsorship of LGBTI refugees who are fleeing violence and persecution; and
• The Assistance to Women at Risk Program, within the GAR’s stream, which recognizes the unique needs of refugee women and children. It is designed to offer resettlement opportunities to women who do not have the protection of a family unit and who find themselves in precarious situations.

The pandemic created a more challenging environment for the RAP program, due to the lower number of refugees arriving, the need for quarantine, and distancing requirements. Nevertheless, the proportion of RAP clients by gender and age were similar to the previous fiscal year, with the exception of a slight increase (2%) of the youngest group of clients. In terms of official language knowledge at admission, more RAP clients had no knowledge of either of the official languages in 2020–21 over the previous fiscal year (71% vs 59.5%), where a lower number of refugees had knowledge of English (22% vs 34%).

GBA Plus data collection plan

The RAP data collection plan includes a review of the survey questions collected for RAP in the Newcomer Outcomes Survey. This will result in an in-depth analysis of the data collected to date and potential revisions of the survey questions to better reflect the current program direction and policy. The 2020 annual Newcomer Outcomes Survey included a question on race.

The survey data will be analyzed against the outcomes of the RAP program, as well as outcomes of refugees, to assess successes and barriers in accessing services, achieving outcomes and meeting immediate needs for refugee clients of different races.

The Department is engaged in an ongoing exercise to assess and analyze RAP data from both an operational and policy lens. Data linkages with the Global Case Management System allow analysis of RAP data against client characteristics collected at landing, including gender, age, education levels, mother tongue, knowledge of official languages and country of birth. Outcomes of the three types of resettled refugees (GARs, PSRs and BVORs) will be assessed by program use and outcomes using multiple characteristics. IRCC partners involved in the delivery of the Refugee Resettlement program will be solicited to enable mutual benefit of the findings. The results of this exercise will feed into the outcomes, policy and operational decision making.

Core Responsibility 2: Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration

Program: Asylum

Target Population: Asylum Seeker

Distribution of Benefits:

By Gender: Broadly gender-balanced

By Income Level: Somewhat benefits low income individuals

By Age Group: No significant inter-generational impacts or impacts generation between youth and seniors

Other

Not applicable.

Core Responsibility 2: Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration

Program: Settlement

Target Population: Newcomers to Canada (permanent residents of Canada, protected persons, individuals who have been selected to become permanent residents, some temporary foreign workers).

Distribution of Benefits:

By Gender: 60 per cent - 79 per cent women

By Income Level: No significant distributional impacts

By Age Group: No significant inter-generational impacts or impacts generation between youth and seniors

Other

Program results by gender and other intersecting factors and/or data collection initiatives.

1. Enhanced settlement programming to address Gender-Based Violence

   In June 2017, the Government of Canada announced It’s Time: Canada’s Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence as the federal response to gender-based violence. The initiative focuses on three main areas of action: prevention; support for survivors and their families; and the promotion of responsive legal and justice systems.

   Under this federal strategy, IRCC received $1.5 million in funding over five years (2017–22) to further enhance the Settlement Program, which delivers pre- and post-arrival settlement services to newcomers to Canada. The funding is being used to develop and implement a settlement sector strategy on gender-based violence (GBV) through a coordinated partnership of settlement and anti-violence sector organizations. The GBV Partnership has completed a needs assessment for the settlement sector, and created a series of online capacity building training modules to establish a common base of knowledge and assist front-line settlement workers to identify abuse and make appropriate community referrals. Hundreds of new and returning participants attended these trainings. The trainings are available on the website www.ngbv.ca, along with the settlement sector strategy.

   In response to the increase in gender-based violence in the pandemic context, IRCC consulted Service Provider Organizations (SPOs) to better understand the situation for newcomers. IRCC issued guidance and information to organizations on the continuation of services considered essential, which included providing support to clients experiencing gender-based violence.

   This initiative is contributing to Canada’s broader gender equality goals and addresses gender-based violence for newcomers through capacity building for front line settlement workers and enhanced place-based services. It aligns with the goal of Pillar 4 (Gender-Based Violence and Access to Justice) of the Gender Results Framework: Eliminating gender-based violence and harassment, and promoting security of the person and access to justice.

2. Racialized Newcomer Women Pilot (formerly Visible Minority Newcomer Women Pilot)

   The additional funding builds on existing investments: Budget 2018 committed $31.9M for a three-year pilot (launched in 2018) to support the employment and career advancement of racialized newcomer women. Programming has been designed to address multiple barriers, including gender- and race-based discrimination, precarious or low-income employment, lack of affordable childcare, and weak social support. Through the pilot, the Social Research and Demonstration Corporation (SRDC) continued to test four employment models, delivered by eight settlement service providers that incorporate tailored programming elements, such as employer engagement, essential skills training, recruitment specialists and/or wage subsidies. The pilot also included funding for partnerships with new settlement service providers, intended to strengthen the employment outcomes of racialized newcomer women through new innovative interventions; capacity building in smaller organizations that serve or are led by visible minority newcomer women; and digital/online learning.

   This initiative aligns with the goal of Pillar 2 (Economic Participation and Prosperity) of the Gender Results Framework: “Equal and full participation in the economy.” This initiative will contribute to greater opportunities for racialized newcomer women to participate equally and fully in the economy, and best practices may inform further settlement supports for newcomer women.

Key impacts on gender and diversity

IRCC provides funding to more than 500 settlement service provider organizations across Canada to deliver pre- and post-arrival settlement services to help newcomers successfully establish themselves and integrate into Canadian society. IRCC’s 2020–21 Settlement Program data indicates that women account for 57% of unique clients. A range of tailored settlement supports are available to populations that face additional barriers to services and are at increased risk of marginalization, including newcomer and racialized women, youth, seniors, people living with a disability, members of the LGBTQ2 community, and other equity-seeking groups. These services include Needs and Assets Assessments and Referrals, Information and Orientation, Employment-Related Services, Language Training and Community Connections. To facilitate access to this programming, support services are available, including transportation, provisions for persons with disabilities, translation/interpretation for immediate settlement needs, child care, and short-term counselling. GBA Plus informs multiple aspects of the Settlement Program to meet the needs of diverse newcomers.

Progress on Anti-Racism activities:

The 2020 version of the annual Newcomer Outcome Survey included, for the first time, a question on race, resulting in the collection of race disaggregated data for newcomers, including non-clients and clients of the Settlement Program, and refugees. These quantitative data will be combined with other qualitative and quantitative data in future years to produce a more comprehensive picture of the barriers faced by racialized newcomers. This will provide an evidence base about potential programming and policy changes for future funding processes to help address racial bias in our programs and policies and to inform the direction of targeted programming aimed at supporting racialized clients. An intersectional lens will be used to better address not only the needs of gender-diverse, racialized clients, but also the needs of racialized newcomers from all equity-seeking groups.

IRCC is incorporating an anti-racism focus internally. This facilitates recruitment, hiring, retention, and career advancement for employees from diverse backgrounds, and supports external-facing programming and policy development for the Settlement and Resettlement Assistance Programs.

GBA Plus data collection plan

The 2020 annual Newcomer Outcomes Survey will allow for in-depth analysis of the data collected. Potential revisions of the survey questions may be required to better reflect the current program direction and policy. The latest survey also included a question on race.

The survey data will be analyzed against the outcomes of the Settlement Program to assess successes and barriers in accessing services, achieving outcomes and meeting immediate needs for clients of different races.

This work contributes to increasing knowledge on relevant available demographic variables that can be used to support GBA Plus analysis.

Core Responsibility 3: Citizenship and Passports

Program: Citizenship

Target Population: All newcomers, including resettled refugees (both the GAR and the PRS programs) in the grants line of business. Target populations in other lines of business in citizenship program (proofs, renunciation and revocation, citizenship promotion) are Canadian citizens.

Distribution of Benefits:

By Gender: Broadly gender-balanced

By Income Level: No significant distributional impacts

By Age Group: No significant inter-generational impacts or impacts generation between youth and seniors

Other

In 2020–21, there was a change in the interpretation of “parent” under the Citizenship Act. This allows non-biological Canadian parents who are their child’s legal parent at birth to pass down Canadian citizenship to their children born abroad in the first generation helps Canadian parents who have relied on assisted human reproduction to start a family, including members of the LGBTQ2+ community.

Supplementary information sources

Program delivery update: Definition of “parent” for determining citizenship by descent.

GBA Plus data collection plan

The Citizenship Branch is working to finalize the Citizenship Guide and its study tools. A GBA Plus analysis of the draft guide and the study tools has been conducted to ensure adequate representation of various groups in the content and images of the guide.

Also, an assessment has been conducted to identify the main barriers to citizenship acquisition based on socio-economic factors.

Core Responsibility 3: Citizenship and Passports

Program: Passport

Target Population: Individuals seeking a travel document issued by the Government of Canada, either domestically or abroad.

Distribution of Benefits:

By Gender: 60 per cent - 79 per cent women

By Income Level: No significant distributional impacts

By Age Group: Primarily benefits youth, children and/or future generations

Other

Social Impact: Historically, Canadian men were more likely than Canadian women to have a valid passport. In 2020, more passports were issued to women than men, especially in the 25–34 age group.

Human Resources: Passport Program employees are being actively encouraged to complete the GBA Plus course developed by the Department of Women and Gender Equality to enhance the integration of GBA Plus concepts in the design and implementation of programs and policies.

GBA Plus data collection plan

The annual Passport Program Client Experience Survey was revised to collect additional data to allow for improved analysis. In addition to expanding beyond binary gender categories, questions were further developed to gather a wider range of demographic information such as age, nationality, disability, language, education and income. The results of the survey help to identify emerging trends and issues that both in-Canada and abroad clients face.

Core Responsibility: Internal Services

Program: Administration, Security and Accommodation (ASA)

Target Population: Department’s employees

Distribution of Benefits:

By Gender: Broadly gender-balanced

By Income Level: No significant distributional impacts

By Age Group: No significant inter-generational impacts or impacts generation between youth and seniors.

Other

ASA started the process of a long-term Accommodation Strategy aimed at consolidating and modernizing IRCC’s office space portfolio to support the needs of a remote workforce with access to modern, accessible and agile workspaces.

The Department has also delivered over 14 space retrofit projects throughout its buildings (known as the National Program of Work) in the past year and rolled out measures in accordance with the recommendations of health authorities to support safe re-integration, such as plexiglass installation, physical distancing floorplans, comprehensive signage, and specialized cleaning protocols. IRCC is continuing to implement GBA Plus principles in workplace design including universal accessible washrooms, privacy film and glazing on boardroom windows, and modesty panels on collaborative tables.

Core Responsibility: Internal Services

Program: Anti-racism Task Force

Target Population: Departmental Employees

Distribution of Benefits:

By Gender: Broadly gender-balanced

By Income Level: No significant distributional impacts

By Age Group: No significant inter-generational impacts or impacts generation between youth and seniors

Other

In 2020–21, IRCC implemented a number of initiatives to advance its efforts on anti-racism, diversity, equity and inclusion, including the creation of the Anti-Racism Task Force in July 2020.

The Task Force works collaboratively with all branches within the Department to combat systemic racism through the review and reform of IRCC policies, programs and service delivery approaches, including internal people management practices. The work of the Task Force aims to integrate anti-racism into how the Department approaches its work to create a more equitable and inclusive workplace.

The primary focus in the past fiscal year has been building capacity to learn and understand anti-racism and discrimination to equip the Department to take effective action:

1. IRCC Anti-Racism Survey. In November 2020, the Department launched its first anti-racism survey, which was completed by 2,712 employees. The data established a baseline for understanding the impacts of racism on the workforce and will be a mechanism to assess and measure the effects of anti-racism initiatives on the workforce in subsequent annual surveys.
2. Unconscious Bias training offered by the Canada School of Public Service. As of January 31, 2021, there was a completion rate of above 80% across the Department.
3. Anti-Racism Workshops for Middle Management beginning March 2021.
4. Anti-Racism Employee Focus groups hosted February 2021 to discuss how racism can be eliminated in the Department.
5. Anti-Racism Coaching Services for Executives have been contracted for the next two years. The pilot was launched in March 2021 and is currently underway.

Core Responsibility: Internal Services

Program: Human Resources

Target Population: Departmental Employees

Distribution of Benefits:

By Gender: Broadly gender-balanced

By Income Level: No significant distributional impacts

By Age Group: No significant inter-generational impacts or impacts generation between youth and seniors

Other

Human Resources works very closely with the Anti-Racism taskforce towards ensuring that all processes are exempt of bias that could negatively affect individuals from a racialized group.

For example, this has led to implementing recruitment initiatives for the organization where consideration was given to gender and various equity-seeking groups. The Department also attended career fairs targeted towards increasing the representation of groups such as women and other equity-seeking groups in underrepresented areas, such as within IT. In addition, the Department has expanded its leadership program offerings by focusing on building leadership capabilities, networks and sponsorship of members of racialized groups towards achieving the next career step.

GBA Plus data collection plan

In 2020–21, data requirements and collection methods to assess the impact of this program were finalized and implemented with cohorts at the mid-point and post-mortem check-ins. Analysis of results will be conducted in 2021–22 for possible integration as a Departmental leadership program development option.

Employment equity data is voluntary, in that employees self-declare as belonging to one of the designated groups through our platform. IRCC actively encourages participation in the self-identification process and will be launching a campaign in the Fall of 2021explaining the role of the information in advancing diversity and inclusion initiatives and to ensuring that efforts are properly directed.

Core Responsibility: Internal Services

Program: Research and Evaluation

Target Population: Departmental employees.

Distribution of Benefits:

By Gender: Broadly gender-balanced

By Income Level: No significant distributional impacts

By Age Group: No significant inter-generational impacts or impacts generation between youth and seniors

GBA Plus data collection plan

Acknowledging that evaluation plays a role in wider Government of Canada initiatives, IRCC has taken active measures to support a GBA Plus lens to assessing how interconnected identity factors (e.g., gender and sex) impact an individual’s experiences of policies, programs, and initiatives.

Notably, to articulate the role that evaluations can play in GBA Plus, a guide was developed with key questions to ask when conducting evaluations and performance measurement.

In addition, IRCC uses GBA Plus techniques in data collection methods where relevant. Generally, IRCC provides a gender breakdown in its evaluation analyses to examine the extent to which gender differences on relevant variables exist, and explore the potential implications of these differences.

At times, when pertinent for a specific program, the evaluation framework will include specific questions or indicators to investigate particular GBA Plus considerations.

• For example, the Citizenship Evaluation, completed in 2020, looked at the factors affecting the decision to apply for citizenship, and the potential challenges or barriers for vulnerable newcomer groups, exploring factors, such as immigration category, income level, and official language proficiency.
• As another example, the Family Reunification Evaluation, currently underway, will examine newcomer and sponsor access to the program for the Spouse, Common Law and Conjugal Partner as well as Parent and Grandparent streams, including potential barriers to access. Efforts will be focused on equitable access to family reunification, with a specific question related to GBA Plus: To what extent do Family Reunification applicants face barriers related to gender and other GBA Plus considerations with regards to program eligibility and application processes?

Table 3: Program Links to Gender Results Framework

Table 4: Program Links to Quality of Life Framework