Response to parliamentary committees and external audits: 2022-23 Departmental Results Report, Women and Gender Equality Canada
Response to parliamentary committees
Standing Committee on the Status of Women Report 4 - Towards a Violence-Free Canada: Addressing and Eliminating Intimate Partner and Family Violence
The committee undertook a study on intimate partner violence (IPV) in Canada including causes, impacts, data, justice system responses, prevention and supports for survivors. The committee presented 28 recommendations in its report. A government response was tabled with the committee on October 7, 2022.
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)
Spring 2022 Reports of the Auditor General of Canada Report 3 – Follow-up on Gender-based Analysis Plus
Summary
GBA Plus is the result of a sustained commitment and continuous improvement. The Government has made significant progress, incrementally increasing the scope, scale, and quality of GBA Plus application throughout decision-making. Progress on GBA Plus has been informed by several audits (2009, 2015) and external studies of GBA Plus that have identified areas in which progress has been made and in which there is need for improvement.
This 3rd audit focused on whether the Privy Council Office (PCO), the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS), and Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE) advanced the implementation of Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus) in government in their responses to selected recommendations from the 2015 Fall Reports of the Auditor General of Canada, Report 1—Implementing Gender-Based Analysis. In addition, this audit looked at how GBA Plus findings can impact the Gender Results Framework (GRF), one of the Government of Canada’s equality-related frameworks that WAGE leads.
Overall, the audit found that while WAGE, PCO and TBS had partially addressed recommendations from the 2015 audit, little progress had been made in the implementation of GBA Plus within the federal government and longstanding barriers to the implementation of GBA Plus persist. In addition, the audit found a lack of specific and measurable targets for the Gender Results Framework (GRF), including a gap in reporting results with better disaggregated data.
The Report included seven recommendations for PCO, TBS and WAGE to address those persistent barriers and to strengthen the application, accountability and transparency of GBA Plus across the federal government, which were responded in a Management Response and Action Plan (MRAP) which was tabled with the Standing Committee on Public Accounts on November 30, 2022.
This audit is important because applying GBA Plus to support the development of responsive and inclusive policies, programs, and other initiatives ensures that government initiatives address ongoing or emerging challenges that stand in the way of equality, fairness, and inclusion, which includes those to advance gender equality. In turn, this can lead to better results for Canadians.
The Auditor General made four recommendations of direct relevance to WAGE. In 2022-23, WAGE developed a detailed MRAP workplan with expected outcomes against all four recommendations and listed specific activities to fill the identified gaps. This tool has been set to ensure the monitoring and planning for completion of all outcomes in fiscal year 2024-25. An important number of key interim milestones of each outcome are already on track and one has been completed in this fiscal year:
- Under recommendation 3.45: Final Expected Outcome/Results 3.45_1 “Funding, undertaking, and disseminating research on intersectional gender equality and inequities” - WAGE has launched a Call for Proposals for community-based research.
WAGE’s response and corrective action
Recommendation 3.45 – Women and Gender Equality Canada should ensure its efforts as a leader and centre of expertise help to advance Gender-based Analysis Plus across all of the federal government.
Department’s Response: Agreed. Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE) will strengthen the department as a Centre of Expertise for advancing gender equality and supporting the application of GBA Plus across government decision-making processes. This will allow WAGE to support line departments as they work to advance equality and inclusion across their portfolios. WAGE will also work with various partners on enhancing GBA Plus so that it better captures the lived experiences of all Canadians.
As a centre of expertise, WAGE will also:
- Fund, undertake, and disseminate research on gender equality that uncovers intersectional gender inequalities, their causes, and consequences. This evidence can be used to inform GBA Plus by line departments.
- Work with federal partners to identify and address barriers to the implementation of GBA Plus in decision making.
- Work with federal partners to develop and disseminate training, resources, and other materials to support the implementation of GBA Plus in decision making.
Recommendation 3.57 – The Privy Council Office, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, and Women and Gender Equality Canada should, within their respective mandates, work with departments and agencies to ensure that disaggregated data is sought, compiled, and used in the design, delivery, and measurement of all policies, programs, and initiatives.
Department’s Response: Agreed. Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE) will continue to support efforts by federal partners to improve access to, and availability of, disaggregated data for GBA Plus. Moreover, WAGE will fund and undertake research and data collection related to intersectional gender equality to optimize the availability of data and evidence to inform GBA Plus at all stages of an initiative. WAGE will continue to update its tools and resources to support the collection and use of disaggregated data and other information sources for the application of intersectional GBA Plus.
Recommendation 3.66 – Women and Gender Equality Canada, with the support of the Privy Council Office and the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, should, on a regular basis, comprehensively monitor and publicly report on the status of Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus) implementation across the federal government, including plans to advance GBA Plus implementation.
Department’s Response: Agreed. WAGE will continue to improve monitoring and public reporting on the status of GBA Plus implementation across government by:
- Identifying and implementing various tools to collect information in order to monitor and publicly report on the status of GBA Plus.
- Improving the annual GBA Plus Implementation Survey by addressing the methodological and other concerns identified by the Office of the Auditor General of Canada.
- Ensuring public reporting of information that demonstrates progress and challenges at a government‑wide level and over time.
- Having one annual meeting on the monitoring and public reporting on GBA Plus implementation involving senior officials to discuss the assessment of GBA Plus implementation.
Recommendation 3.88 – Women and Gender Equality Canada, in collaboration with other responsible departments and agencies and central agencies, should:
- Develop specific and measurable targets for the results frameworks that it leads and to which it contributes.
- Develop and implement a plan and monitor results to improve the availability of data for the intersectional identity factors relevant to all indicators used in related frameworks.
Department’s Response: Agreed. GBA Plus is a tool that generates evidence on inequalities to inform decisions and actions. It does this by allowing for a better understanding of issues and of who is impacted by them, how they are impacted, what barriers can prevent certain individuals or groups from accessing supports to overcome issues, and how initiatives might be tailored to better respond to the unique needs of diverse people. Every person is unique, with lived experience that is shaped by a range of intersecting factors. When undertaking GBA Plus, one needs to consider diverse factors, including age, culture, disability, education, economic status, ethnicity, gender, geography, language, race, religion, sex, and sexual orientation. While GBA Plus can contribute to the development and implementation of initiatives to advance equality, including gender equality, this analysis alone will not achieve full equality.
Targets for outcomes are policy decisions that need to be assessed in an all‑of‑government context, rather than by any individual department.
To respond to this recommendation, Women and Gender Equality Canada will continue to work with partners across government to develop specific and measurable quantitative indicators to strengthen accountability as it relates to GBA Plus itself and will encourage the development of meaningful quantitative indicators in various equality-related frameworks.
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.
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