Question Period Note: Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus)

What is the government doing to improve the implementation of GBA Plus?

• The COVID-19 outbreak shed light on many inequalities and on the need for government to have rigorous tools to identify and respond to the needs of diverse people and groups.
• GBA Plus is the tool that has helped guide government decision making, ensuring that investments are responsive, fair and support the diverse needs of Canadians, especially those who need it most.
• Budget 2021 contains the GBA Plus summaries of over 300 budget measures, describing how equality issues were considered in the government’s effort to build a better, fairer, more prosperous, and more innovative future.
• As the lead department for GBA Plus, Women and Gender Equality Canada will continue to work with federal departments to strengthen the implementation of GBA Plus so that its principles of equality, fairness and inclusion are embedded in all decision-making. This will help ensure that everyone can participate equally in Canada’s economic recovery, regardless of their gender, race, indigeneity, disability, sexual orientation or other factors.

GBA Plus is an analytical tool to support the development of responsive and inclusive initiatives, including policies, programs, legislation, regulations, and other initiatives. GBA Plus is a process for understanding who is impacted by an issue and/or initiative and how; identifying how the initiative could be tailored to meet diverse needs of the people most impacted; and anticipating and mitigating for any barriers to accessing or benefitting from the initiative. Applying GBA Plus to initiatives ensures that diversity considerations are embedded throughout the decision-making process, allowing for responsive and inclusive initiatives that meet the needs of diverse groups of people. GBA plus considers many factors, including age, economic status, education, ethnicity, gender, geography, language, race, religion, sex, and sexual orientation.

As a centre for expertise for GBA Plus, Women and Gender Equality Canada works to:
o Promote a greater understanding of, GBA Plus as a tool for advancing fairness, equality, and inclusion;
o Provides guidance, develops tools and training, supports the implementation of GBA Plus across and federal departments and agencies; and
o Contributes to evidence-based practices, including those related to policy and program development, and gender budgeting.

Federal departments and agencies are currently required to integrate GBA Plus into all Memoranda to Cabinet, Treasury Board submissions, legislation, regulations, and budget proposals. Furthermore, GBA Plus is now included in key legislation, including, the Impact Assessment Act, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and the Accessible Canada Act.

In their January 2021 mandate letters, Ministers were instructed to “apply Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus) in the decisions that you make and consider public policies through an intersectional lens in order to address systemic inequities including: systemic racism; unconscious bias; Gender-based discrimination; barriers for persons with disabilities; discrimination against LGBTQ2 communities; and inequities faced by all vulnerable populations. Whenever possible, you will work to improve the quality and availability of disaggregated data to ensure that policy decisions benefit all communities.”.

Minister Monsef’s 2019 and 2021 mandate letters included specific commitments to strengthen GBA Plus and its application, calling on the Minister to:
• “With the support of the Minister of Middle Class Prosperity and Associate Minister of Finance and the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion, work with the Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth on a process of evaluating Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus) with the goal of enhancing the framing and parameters of this analytical tool, and with particular attention to the intersectional analysis of race, indigeneity, disability and sexual identity, among other characteristics.” (January 2021 mandate letter)
• “Work to ensure that rigorous Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus) is performed on all Cabinet proposals from every department….Continue to work with the Minister of Finance and work with the Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth to improve the quality and scope of GBA+ in future budgets.” (December 2019 mandate letter)

Budget 2021 included more than 300 GBA Plus summaries and the analysis was more sophisticated than previously seen. Amongst the improvements:
• A greater proportion of GBA Pluses were performed at earlier stages of the initiative life cycle, and;
• The GBA Plus summaries included more than 50 examples of measures for which GBA Plus led to changes being made to the initiative to minimize possible negative impacts on certain individuals or groups, or included plans and strategies to reduce barriers to participation.

In addition to improvements made to the analysis of individual initiatives, the overall Budget was informed by GBA Plus, which led to important and strategic investments to advance equality, including:
• Targeted investments to address differential impacts of the pandemic such as: a $15 federal minimum wage; affordable housing; taking action to end gender-based violence; supporting youth and small businesses, taking action on systemic racism; investing in Indigenous peoples and reconciliation; investing in child care, job creation and in green jobs.
• Providing funding to Statistics Canada, Justice Canada and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council to ensure the sustainability and rigour of GBA Plus by improving access to disaggregated data. This funding consists of more than $190 million over 5 years, starting in 2021-22, to implement a Disaggregated Data Action Plan that will: address data and knowledge gaps; support the collection and use of disaggregated data in the justice system; and support academic research into systemic barriers facing diverse groups.
 

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