Gender-based analysis plus
Gender-based analysis plus
Introduction
In 2018, Parliament passed the Canadian Gender Budgeting Act. The Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports are being used to fulfill the President of the Treasury Board’s obligations to make public, every year, analysis on the impacts of expenditure programs on gender and diversity.
Each department is responsible for conducting their own Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus)
The Policy on Results indicates that Program officials, as designated by Deputy Heads, are responsible for ensuring data collection for meeting policy requirements.
Applicability
All organizations must complete GBA Plus supplementary information tables in departmental plans and departmental results reports on an annual basis.
Section 1: Institutional GBA Plus governance and capacity
Governance
As a small organization, the NFB is integrating GBA+ into its very governance structure, with its Human Resources division and Strategic Planning and Government Relations team assuming responsibility for the GBA+ process. In 2023–24, the NFB recruited a Senior Advisor, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, who serves as a consultant on EDI and an agent of change supporting the organizational transformation efforts to ensure that EDI continues to be an NFB priority. This senior advisor works closely with the Strategic Planning and Government Relations team to implement GBA+ and integrate it into the NFB’s decision-making processes. These people also carry out the tasks of consulting, monitoring and reporting on this subject.
Capacity
In February 2021, the NFB released a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Plan that aimed to drive sustainable and meaningful change and make the NFB an egalitarian, open and diverse organization. In 2023, the NFB introduced a self-declaration questionnaire to gather information about its community of creators and creation partners so that it could ensure better, more equitable representation of marginalized and underrepresented voices. That same year, the NFB made the commitment that by March 31, 2025, over 30% of its current productions and co-productions would be directed by filmmakers who identify as Black or as persons of colour. In 2025–2026, the NFB will implement new, concrete priorities across the entire organization, including the deployment of an antiracism and antidiscrimination policy.
Human resources (full-time equivalents) dedicated to GBA Plus
Three (3) full-time equivalents (FTEs) are dedicated to GBA Plus:
- One person is dedicated full-time
- Senior advisor, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
- Four (4) people are dedicated part-time
- Advisor, Labour Relations, Diversity & Inclusion
- Head, Strategic Planning and Governmental Relations
- Two (2) Analysts, Strategic Planning and Governmental Relations
Section 2: Gender and diversity impacts, by program
Core responsibility: Audiovisual Programming and Production
Program name: Audiovisual Programming and Production
Program goals: The NFB, by working with filmmakers and artists from every region of Canada, seeks to reflect in its works the Canadian diversity as well as the perspectives and experiences of communities that are underrepresented in the media and to develop innovative new storytelling forms and approaches.
GBA Plus data collection plan
This program collects enough data to enable it to monitor and/or report program impacts by gender and diversity (GBA Plus). The self-declaration questionnaire introduced in 2023 is sent out to the filmmakers, artists and production-team members with whom the NFB collaborates. This tool allows the NFB to gather data on Indigenous, racial and ethnic identity; disability status; gender identity and expression; belonging to the 2SLGBTQI+ community; and belonging to an official-language minority community. This questionnaire is designed to facilitate an evaluation of the NFB’s measures and initiatives and thus allow it to determine what percentage of its production costs for active works are allocated to works by members of these groups. These data are incorporated into the NFB’s Departmental Results Framework and its strategy for measuring the performance of its equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives. In 2024–2025, the NFB followed the best practices and directives on privacy set out by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS). In this context, the NFB submitted a Privacy Impact Assessment to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner and established a new personal information bank with the support of TBS. These steps enabled the NFB not only to use this information in aggregated form for statistical purposes, but also to incorporate it into the NFB’s administrative decision-making process to support, meet and monitor its commitments regarding representation of Canadian diversity. This information will be used to support equity and diversity initiatives, to monitor progress and to influence decisions related to equity and diversity within the NFB and NFB projects. This will make it possible to, among other things, hire people from underrepresented groups for NFB production and distribution projects and various NFB initiatives, and to develop action plans in this regard.
Core responsibility: Content Accessibility and Audience Engagement
Program name: Preservation, Conservation and Digitization of Works
Program goals: This program sets out to preserve, digitize and restore works in the National Film Board’s collection, in keeping with the NFB’s digitization plan for audiovisual materials, to secure their longevity and availability for Canadians and Indigenous peoples, today and in the future, wherever they may be.
GBA Plus data collection plan
As this program is technical in nature, it does not collect sufficient data to enable it to monitor and/or report program impacts by gender and diversity.
As the caretaker of one of the world’s largest collections of films by and about Indigenous people, the NFB recognizes that it has the responsibility to preserve, organize and contextualize this collection and make it accessible to audiences in a variety of contexts. However, as specifically regards archives, excerpts and photographs representing Indigenous participants, the NFB has discontinued granting licences to clients who do not identify as Indigenous, until NFB Archives has reviewed and updated its archiving protocols, in accordance with the NFB’s Indigenous Action Plan, the protocols developed by imagineNATIVE, and the guidelines provided by the Indigenous Screen Office.
In 2022, the NFB conservation team’s expertise led to a special partnership with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. Under this partnership, the NFB is converting the videos of Survivors’ statements and other original audiovisual content recorded at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings into formats suitable for archiving and for posting on the web. In total, some 7,000 statements and more than 1,500 hours of content will be preserved through this project.
Core responsibility: Content Accessibility and Audience Engagement
Program name: Distribution of Works and Audience Engagement
Program goals: This program makes National Film Board works available to Canadian and international audiences in their chosen formats. By reaching Canadian audiences through public partners, broadcasters, festivals, community screenings, cultural organizations, libraries, schools and its own online distribution channels, the NFB and it films stimulate discussion and encourage debate about the issues that Canadians consider important.
GBA Plus data collection plan
For years now the NFB has been compiling statistics on general audience numbers by market, interactions with online audiences, and participation in festivals promoting gender equity and diversity. Since 2024, the NFB has been using Google Analytics as a data-collection tool to facilitate better monitoring of its media campaigns and better understanding of its target audience. This tool allows the NFB to classify its results according to the geographic origin of its audiences and nfb.ca page traffic. The NFB can thus monitor the direct impact of its media campaigns on its online views and analyze its costs per click, and then adjust its marketing strategies accordingly. By continuing to improve its tools and the way it uses them, the NFB can reach the widest possible audience, so that Canadians can see and hear the many voices and stories that come from every part of Canada.
One important way that the NFB promotes works that represent the diversity of Canada is through its educational offerings, which are available in both official languages. By continuing to offer new teaching resources, themed channels, mini-lessons and learning programs, the NFB’s online viewing platform remains a reliable source, a safe space and an important learning destination for students and educators, with whom the NFB has been working for over 40 years. The NFB strives to ensure that all of its digital products for the education audience, as well as for the general public, comply with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1. So, the NFB makes many of its online videos available with closed captioning for the hearing impaired and described video for the visually impaired. The NFB also works continuously to improve its websites, in order to eliminate barriers that make them harder for people with disabilities to use. This work will continue in 2025–2026, when the NFB will also be introducing its updated Accessibility Plan.
To ensure inclusive results when it comes to accessibility of works and interactions with audiences, on its Education portal and through other platforms or other media, the NFB will continue to distribute audiovisual works that reflect the full richness of the realities of Canadians and, in particular, those from underrepresented groups: members of the 2SLGBTQI+ community, people from racialized and diverse backgrounds, members of Indigenous communities, women, people with disabilities, and official language minority communities. In addition to giving these audiovisual productions a prominent place in its regular programming, the NFB marks annual celebrations such as Black History Month, Pride Month and National Indigenous History Month by offering special programming and creating themed channels featuring films by members of underrepresented communities, thus contributing to the discoverability of their works.
Core responsibility: Content Accessibility and Audience Engagement
Program name: Promotion of Works and NFB Outreach
Program goals: This program is dedicated to making the NFB, NFB works that reflect the diversity of Canadian voices, and NFB filmmakers from across Canada better known. The NFB promotes its works and engages in outreach at major festivals in Canada and elsewhere, as well as on the national and international markets and at major industry events. It also engages in promotion and outreach through public relations and promotional activities in the cultural sector and the film industry, including public events and NFB participation in roundtables, competitions and award ceremonies.
GBA Plus data collection plan
For some years now, the NFB has been measuring the percentage of awards going to works created by women and Indigenous creators, as well as the coverage of these works in the national and international media. Since the implementation of its self-identification form, the NFB is now also able to determine the percentage of awards going to works by filmmakers from groups that have been underrepresented because of their racial or ethnic identity, disability, gender expression or membership in the 2SLGBTQI+ community.
In 2025–2026, the NFB will continue to partner with various festivals, to get involved in roundtables, to participate in Q&A sessions, and to collaborate with organizations to promote audiovisual works reflecting the realities, experiences and perspectives of the people of Canada, in particular those who are underrepresented in the media landscape (Indigenous people, women, people with disabilities, racialized and diverse cultural groups, and the 2SLGBTQI+ community), to ensure these important Canadian stories are seen and heard.