Question Period Note: Gender Based Analysis Plus (GBA+)

• Every person in Canada deserves an equal opportunity to succeed, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, age, sexual orientation, and mental or physical ability.
• That is why our Government uses Gender-based Analysis Plus (or GBA+) to support evidence-based decision-making and consider the impact of all policies on all people in Canada.
• Budget 2019 was the first ever to include a Gender Report making GBA+ of the Budget publicly available.
• We have already achieved gender equity in new appointments. We will continue to improve outreach and monitoring as part of our merit-based process to ensure that all Canadians see themselves reflected in Government appointees.
• Advancing gender equality and diversity in Canada will continue to be a priority for Budget 2020, Cabinet decision-making, and Government appointments.

• Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA+) is an analytical tool used to assess how diverse groups of people may experience policies, programs and initiatives differently. The “plus” in GBA+ emphasizes that analysis should go beyond biological (sex) and socio-cultural (gender) differences to also consider other identity factors, such as belonging to LGBTQ2 communities, race, Indigenous origin or identity, age, language, socio-economic condition, place of residency and disability, etc.
• The Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth has three related mandate commitments:
• Work with the Minister of Finance and the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Rural Economic Development to improve the quality and scope of GBA+ in future budgets, particularly with a focus on diversity analysis;
• Support the work of the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Rural Economic Development to ensure rigorous GBA+ is performed on all Cabinet proposals from every department, with a particular focus on diversity analysis; and
• Support the Prime Minister in the development of monitoring and reporting processes to ensure that the Government’s senior appointments are merit-based and demonstrate gender parity and diversity.
Budget 2019 provided $1 million over two fiscal years to the Department of Canadian Heritage to better support gender equality and diversity in funding allocations for four key programs (Canada Music Fund, Building Communities through Arts and Heritage, Canada Arts Presentation Fund, and the Celebration and Commemoration program). Four research projects both at the Department and in partnership with Statistics Canada will help improve the collection of disaggregated data in order to enable better integration of GBA+ considerations in program design.

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