2022-23 Departmental Results Report: Supplementary Information Tables

From: Parole Board of Canada

Gender-based analysis plus

Section 1: institutional GBA Plus governance and capacity

Governance

The Parole Board of Canada (PBC) has a Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) Framework that serves as the PBC's statement of intent and seeks to build and sustain the practice of GBA+ through several streams. The Framework ensures that GBA+ is applied in all areas of the PBC’s policies, programs, and initiatives.

Capacity

The PBC is conducting an employment system review for employment equity groups and 2SLGBTQI+ individuals to outline areas for improvement. This fiscal year, the PBC Working Group on Diversity and Systemic Racism completed a report entitled Moving Towards Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, following a review of existing reports and recommendations, and extensive consultation. The report identified common themes for action and made recommendations in each of these areas, which informed the development of an action plan for advancing diversity, equity and inclusion. The PBC also established an Accessibility Plan, which aims to improve its programs and services by proactively identifying and addressing organizational accessibility barriers.

Section 2: gender and diversity impacts, by program

Core responsibility: Conditional Release Decisions

Program name: Conditional Release Decisions

Program goals: Conditional release contributes to the protection of society by allowing some incarcerated individuals to continue to serve part of their sentence outside of the institution in the community under supervision and subject to conditions. When making conditional release decisions, Board members consider all relevant and available information, with consideration for gender, ethnic, cultural and linguistic differences and the special intersecting needs of incarcerated individuals.

Target population: Incarcerated Individuals

Distribution of benefits

Distribution	Group
By gender	Predominantly men (e.g. 80 per cent or more men)
By income level	No significant distributional impacts
By age group	No significant intergenerational impacts or impacts generation between youth and seniors

Specific demographic group outcomes: Indigenous and Black people are over-represented in the federally incarcerated population. Indigenous peoples are also less likely to be released on conditional release and are incarcerated for longer periods of time prior to release on parole compared to other groups.

Key program impacts* on gender and diversity: Board members are required to consider systemic and background factors that have played a part in bringing an individual into interaction with the criminal justice system. Board members are also required to consider alternative community interventions in decision-making for Indigenous peoples. The PBC offers alternative models of hearings to provide a culturally responsive process, while adhering to the criteria for conditional release decision-making.

Key program impacts statistics

Statistic	Observed results*	Data source	Comment
Number of culturally responsive hearings	614 hearings conducted by the PBC in 2022-23 that involved an Indigenous Elder or Cultural Advisor	Integrated Decision System

*2022-23 or most recent

Other key program impacts

In 2022-23, the PBC:

• Continued to offer culturally responsive hearing formats for Indigenous offenders and non-Indigenous offenders who have demonstrated a commitment to an Indigenous way of life;
• Completed a comprehensive review and realignment of the Decision-Making Policy Manual for Board Members, with amendments to support gender and culturally responsive decision-making;
• Participated in the development and implementation of the Government of Canada’s Federal 2SLGBTQI+ Action Plan, including the provision of training sessions to Board members and staff on workplace inclusion for gender and sexual diversity;
• Implemented a framework for the application of guiding principles to serve as a foundation for working with women in the conditional release process;
• Provided Board members and staff with informational products to enhance cultural competency, awareness and application of Indigenous cultural protocol and social history;
• Formalized a needs-based approach for the use of virtual hearings, which includes consideration for responsive hearing practices;
• Continued to provide training for Board members (i.e., Indigenous Cultural Responsiveness Training (ICRT), which includes a Blanket Exercise); and
• In May 2022, held its first in-person Annual Training on Risk Assessment (ATRA) since the beginning of the pandemic. ATRA 2022 provided continuous training to Board members and staff on topics related to risk assessment and decision-making within the context of Indigenous Social History, hearing management and Elder-assisted hearings, Indigenous women and Indigenous victims, among others.

Supplementary information sources

• 2021 Corrections and Conditional Release Statistical Overview
• State of the Criminal Justice System Dashboard

GBA Plus data collection plan

• Offender identification information such as age, ethnicity, and gender, entered into the Correctional Service of Canada’s (CSC) Offender Management System (OMS) and PBC decisions recorded in the PBC Integrated Decisions System (IDS) are stored in the CSC/PBC data warehouse. Furthermore, recent reporting and analysis on the profile of offenders in the federal correctional system, including ethnocultural group disparities in conditional release decisions and how these have evolved in recent years, have been possible through accessing the information in the data warehouse.
• The PBC and CSC’s Victims Application Module (VAM) also has the capability to capture disaggregated self-reported data with respect to registered victims.
• Work is underway at the PBC to remove salutations from all Conditional Release forms. The majority have been updated and remaining forms will be completed by 2024-25.
• In order to accommodate gender identity, CSC made changes to OMS in November 2019. The PBC made simultaneous updates to IDS to ensure that the most recent offender chosen name/pronoun as identified and collected by CSC is available. These updates along with a Gender Considerations Tool are ensuring that the PBC takes an inclusive and respectful approach in addressing offenders with gender considerations, including in responding to correspondence and conducting conditional release reviews.

Core responsibility: Conditional Release Openness and Accountability

Program name: Conditional Release Openness and Accountability

Program goals: The PBC operates in an open and accountable manner, consistent with the provisions of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA). This includes working with victims of crime, incarcerated individuals, and the public in a transparent and responsive manner.

Target population: All Canadians

Distribution of benefits

Distribution	Group
By gender	Broadly gender-balanced
By income level	No significant distributional impacts
By age group	No significant intergenerational impacts or impacts generation between youth and seniors

Specific demographic group outcomes: These activities are available to all segments of the Canadian population and involve working with victims of crime, offenders, and the public by providing information about our policies and programs, including access to the PBC's registry of decisions, as well as providing assistance for observers at hearings. The core responsibility also includes working to encourage citizen engagement, and enhancing public education and awareness.

Key program impacts* on gender and diversity: Depending on the activity, the impact on gender may vary. For example, the majority of offenders are men, more victims of violent crime are women. For accessing decisions, or attending hearings as observers, this service is available to the Canadian public on request. As such, statistics collected are not broken down by gender, though some outreach sessions may be targeted to specific demographic groups.

Other key program impacts

In 2022-23, the PBC:

• Participated in many internal and external working groups and committees, such as the Chairperson’s Indigenous Circle and the PBC Committee on Victims, in order to remain informed and sensitive to the issues facing specific groups. The PBC continues to explore new partnerships with groups representing various vulnerable populations;
• Delivered in-reach initiatives to prepare women for parole hearings and it has now become part of ongoing regional commitments aligned to our corporate priorities;
• Provided training sessions and resources to staff working directly with victims of crime on culturally responsive communication; and
• Delivered the “Gendered Parole in Canada: Making a Difference” presentation at the American Probation and Parole Association’s Institute.

Core responsibility: Record Suspension and Expungement Decisions/Clemency Recommendations

Program name: Record Suspension and Expungement Decisions/Clemency Recommendations

Program goals: Record suspensions help remove the stigma of a criminal record so that people with criminal records who have completed their sentences and are living law-abiding lives can access meaningful employment, housing, education, and volunteer opportunities. An expungement order allows for the permanent destruction of a judicial record of conviction for eligible offences where the activity no longer constitutes an offence under an Act of Parliament, and if the criminalization of the activity is considered a historical injustice. Clemency is granted in exceptional circumstances in deserving cases involving federal offences, where no other remedy exists in law to reduce severe negative effects of criminal sanctions. While these programs are not required to report on gender data, information about gender is collected as one of the identifiers used to identify individuals for investigation of applications as part of the record suspension and clemency processes. In the case of expungement, gender data is not collected.

Target population: Applicants seeking a Record Suspension or Expungement Decisions or Clemency

Distribution of benefits

Distribution	Group
By gender	60 per cent - 79 per cent men
By income level	Somewhat benefits low-income individuals (somewhat progressive)
By age group	No significant intergenerational impacts or impacts generation between youth and seniors

Specific demographic group outcomes: Given the reduction in the record suspension application fee, it is expected that access to record suspensions will increase for a greater number of individuals, facilitating access to employment, housing, education and other necessities that support sustained reintegration. The reduction in fee will assist in alleviating pre-existing barriers for those disproportionately affected by the criminal justice system.

Other key program impacts on gender and diversity

Legislatively, this core responsibility is not required to report on gender data, unless requested on an ad-hoc basis by the Minister of Public Safety.

All programs remove stigmatizing barriers of having a criminal record that allow people to pursue two of the pillars and goals: education and skills development and economic prosperity and participation. Having a criminal record disproportionately impacts racialized and marginalized communities by exacerbating pre-existing socioeconomic barriers. As of January 1, 2022, the Government of Canada announced a reduction to the record suspension application fee from $657.77 to $50.00 in accordance with the Pardon Services Fees Order, as a means to take steps towards increasing accessibility.

In March 2023, the Government of Canada expanded the list of eligible convictions in the Schedule to the Expungement Act by adding bawdy house offences, other indecency-based offences and abortion-related offences to the list of offences eligible for expungement.

The Expungement Application Guide and Form were updated to be as gender inclusive as possible. Gender data is not collected on the application form and gender-neutral language replaced gendered language in the guide where possible (e.g., removing references to “brother/sister”). Additionally, a question was added to the expungement application form that asks for the applicant to provide their preferred name for correspondence in addition to their legal name.

GBA Plus data collection plan

In 2022-23, the PBC ensured the record suspension and cannabis record suspension application forms, along with internal case management systems included a third gender box - “Another Gender” as a non-binary option to enable comprehensive gender data collection for possible future reporting.

Scales

Gender scale

• First group: predominantly men (80% or more men)
• Second group: 60% to 79% men
• Third group: broadly gender-balanced
• Fourth group: 60% to 79% women
• Fifth group: predominantly women (80% or more women)

Income‑level scale

• First group: strongly benefits low‑income individuals (strongly progressive)
• Second group: somewhat benefits low‑income individuals (somewhat progressive)
• Third group: no significant distributional impacts
• Fourth group: somewhat benefits high‑income individuals (somewhat regressive)
• Fifth group: strongly benefits high‑income individuals (strongly regressive)

Age‑group scale

• First group: primarily benefits youth, children or future generations
• Second group: no significant intergenerational impacts or impacts on generations - between youths and seniors
• Third group: primarily benefits seniors or the baby boom generation

Response to Parliamentary Committees and External Audits

Response to parliamentary committees

There were no parliamentary committee reports requiring a response in 2022–23.

Response to audits conducted by the Office of the Auditor General of Canada (including audits conducted by the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development)

There were no audits in 2022–23 requiring a response.

Response to audits conducted by the Public Service Commission of Canada or the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages

There were no audits in 2022–23 requiring a response.