Supplementary information tables

Gender-Based Analysis Plus

Governance Structures	Gender and Diversity Focal Point(s): Strategic Policy at Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) provides overarching leadership on Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA+) including integration into Cabinet items and sharing government-wide best practices identified by Status of Women Canada. This unit works closely with the Gender Focal Point within the Canadian Coast Guard, which is a separate unit available to consider Coast Guard specific concerns. The Focal Points coordinate the integration of GBA+ into departmental decision making through: A GBA Framework (adopted in 2012) establishes departmental guidelines and responsibilities. The framework is readily available to all employees through the intradepartmental network and refinement of the framework is considered an evergreen process. The Framework mandates a requirement to consider sex, gender and diversity issues (through a GBA+ analysis) in the development of all initiatives, policy, or program proposals seeking new funds or Ministerial approval. This includes Memoranda to Cabinet, Federal Budget proposals, and Treasury Board Submissions. The GBA+ Focal Points are tasked with supporting the application of a GBA+ lens during initiative development, raising awareness, enhancing knowledge through sharing of best practices, and performing periodic stock takes to ensure GBA+ standards are being applied consistently department-wide. Reporting and monitoring by the Gender Focal Points include tracking implementation progress through a GBA+ worklist tracker, departmental docket tracking for completed GBA+ forms for Memoranda to Cabinet, and Budget Proposals with record keeping within DFO’s Cabinet Affairs for all completed items. Intra-departmental Network: A reinvigorated director-level working group forms a key element of the GBA+ accountability structure at DFO by expanding our shared accountability model and enhancing our GBA+ knowledge base. The group meets quarterly. Senior Management Oversight: An Assistant Deputy Minister-led Policy Committee is consulted on major developments and initiatives for departmental GBA+ implementation and is chaired by DFO’s senior executive GBA+ champion. The committee provides an avenue for the Gender Focal Points to provide strategic advice to senior executives on department-wide GBA+ implementation. Departmental Plan: Going forward, DFO will report on GBA+ implementation through the Departmental Results Report.
Human Resources	Fisheries and Oceans Canada plans to have 2.5 full-time equivalents (FTEs) dedicated to GBA+ implementation in 2018-19. This includes 1.0 full FTE (the GBA+ Focal Point) to support and monitor GBA+ within the Department; and 0.5 FTE that assists with matters specific to the Canadian Coast Guard. For 2018-19, Strategic Policy intends to enhance its GBA+ capacity by increasing the dedicated FTE count to 2.0 by recruiting new expertise and by integrating GBA+ into policy development. As evident from recent federal Budgets, GBA+ has become a whole-of-government priority. At DFO and the Canadian Coast Guard, policy and program development are areas of shared responsibility between internal enabling services (e.g. Strategic Policy on Memoranda to Cabinet and the Chief Financial Officer on Treasury Board submissions) and the DFO Sectors and Canadian Coast Guard who are the program authorities. As such, the Department has made a concerted effort to ensure that staff in sectors and the Coast Guard have an awareness of, and training in, GBA+ to support the development of expertise that can be applied in the relevant operational contexts across the Department.
Planned Initiatives	For All Planned Initiatives: The Department will continue to collect, refine, and analyze data through interdepartmental efforts and best practices led by Status of Women Canada, and will leverage the newly announced Centre for Gender, Diversity and Inclusion Statistics at Statistics Canada. DFO will pursue measures and strategies, as necessary, to ensure that women and men of all identity factors, including Indigenous peoples, or any segment of the population that may be more vulnerable, have an equal opportunity to provide input during the development of new policies, regulations and mechanisms. Proposed Changes to the Fisheries Act: In February 2018, the Government introduced proposed amendments to the Fisheries Act, which include an amendment that the Minister’s decision making under the Act may consider the intersection of sex, gender, and other identity issues alongside other social, economic, and cultural factors, as well as other important considerations. DFO is among the first departments to propose enshrining GBA+ though legislation. The development of policies and mechanisms to reflect the proposed legislative changes would include GBA+ as a consideration that could be applied to ensure rigorous analysis of sex, gender, and other intersectional factors for Canadians. The Department will continue working to integrate sex, gender, and other identity considerations into decision making, and to avoid reinforcing existing inequities. Additionally, as programs and policies are developed further, analysis to inform more specific assessments of differential impacts will be undertaken. Advancing Reconciliation: The Indigenous Affairs and Reconciliation Directorate at DFO is undertaking a complete review of their collaborative management and commercial programming, and as a part of this review, DFO will be introducing additional performance measures to track gender-based employment statistics aimed at pursuing opportunities to increase employment for Indigenous women. In addition, DFO will be advancing proposals to negotiate treaties and reconciliation agreements over the coming year. Each proposal will consider and incorporate GBA+ considerations, drawing on existing information and gathering new information through department-wide collaboration. DFO will continue to strengthen and consolidate its capacity to implement its treaty and reconciliation obligations with Indigenous Nations across Canada where DFO manages the fisheries. The long-term benefits of achieving agreements, implementing treaty obligations, and conducting meaningful engagement will contribute to narrowing the economic gap between Indigenous Nations and non-Indigenous Canadians, reducing health risks associated with living in communities with low socio-economic outcomes. DFO will take measures to ensure that treaty rights and the benefits of fisheries agreements (treaty or reconciliation) are communicated equally to men and women. Canadian Coast Guard Sustained Efforts Towards Diversity and Inclusion: Building a more diverse workforce as well as more inclusive and respectful workplaces will continue to be a priority for the Canadian Coast Guard in 2018-19. Specific attention will be placed on applying a GBA+ lens to the Coast Guard’s national recruitment and retention strategy, and on providing equal opportunities for women and gender-diverse individuals in hiring and promotion. GBA+ principles and training will also be integrated into the onboarding process of new employees. The Coast Guard is working to ensure that its members have safe, practical, and inclusive uniforms. Work to modernize uniforms will be undertaken alongside other federal public service security and defence organizations, with a view to establishing common guiding principles, as well as leveraging best practices, economies of scale, and whole-of-government innovation. The Coast Guard will also continue to promote awareness of diversity and inclusion through targeted social media campaigns and by participating in a number of national initiatives such as the Day of Pink and Pride Parades in locations across the country. Shipbuilding: The Coast Guard will continue efforts to ensure that the physical work environment is not a barrier to equal participation. For example, the Coast Guard recently assessed sightlines on its Search and Rescue Lifeboats and learned that the height of the bridge dashboard inhibited sightlines for shorter personnel. Some other vessels have levers that are not easily operated by personnel who are shorter or have lower body weight and strength. In 2018-19, the Coast Guard will actively work to identify and address these types of barriers in designing new classes of vessels for its fleet, including projects that are currently underway. In working to ensure Coast Guard vessels and policies do not inadvertently pose physical or social barriers to inclusion, the Coast Guard will reinforce a workplace culture that is inclusive and focused on the recruitment of a diverse workforce that is representative of the Canadians we serve. The development of indicators to monitor GBA+ implementation is underway.

Governance Structures

Gender and Diversity Focal Point(s): Strategic Policy at Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) provides overarching leadership on Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA+) including integration into Cabinet items and sharing government-wide best practices identified by Status of Women Canada. This unit works closely with the Gender Focal Point within the Canadian Coast Guard, which is a separate unit available to consider Coast Guard specific concerns. The Focal Points coordinate the integration of GBA+ into departmental decision making through:

A GBA Framework (adopted in 2012) establishes departmental guidelines and responsibilities. The framework is readily available to all employees through the intradepartmental network and refinement of the framework is considered an evergreen process.
The Framework mandates a requirement to consider sex, gender and diversity issues (through a GBA+ analysis) in the development of all initiatives, policy, or program proposals seeking new funds or Ministerial approval. This includes Memoranda to Cabinet, Federal Budget proposals, and Treasury Board Submissions.
The GBA+ Focal Points are tasked with supporting the application of a GBA+ lens during initiative development, raising awareness, enhancing knowledge through sharing of best practices, and performing periodic stock takes to ensure GBA+ standards are being applied consistently department-wide.
Reporting and monitoring by the Gender Focal Points include tracking implementation progress through a GBA+ worklist tracker, departmental docket tracking for completed GBA+ forms for Memoranda to Cabinet, and Budget Proposals with record keeping within DFO’s Cabinet Affairs for all completed items.

Intra-departmental Network: A reinvigorated director-level working group forms a key element of the GBA+ accountability structure at DFO by expanding our shared accountability model and enhancing our GBA+ knowledge base. The group meets quarterly.

Senior Management Oversight: An Assistant Deputy Minister-led Policy Committee is consulted on major developments and initiatives for departmental GBA+ implementation and is chaired by DFO’s senior executive GBA+ champion. The committee provides an avenue for the Gender Focal Points to provide strategic advice to senior executives on department-wide GBA+ implementation.

Departmental Plan: Going forward, DFO will report on GBA+ implementation through the Departmental Results Report.

Human Resources

Fisheries and Oceans Canada plans to have 2.5 full-time equivalents (FTEs) dedicated to GBA+ implementation in 2018-19.

This includes 1.0 full FTE (the GBA+ Focal Point) to support and monitor GBA+ within the Department; and 0.5 FTE that assists with matters specific to the Canadian Coast Guard.

For 2018-19, Strategic Policy intends to enhance its GBA+ capacity by increasing the dedicated FTE count to 2.0 by recruiting new expertise and by integrating GBA+ into policy development.

As evident from recent federal Budgets, GBA+ has become a whole-of-government priority. At DFO and the Canadian Coast Guard, policy and program development are areas of shared responsibility between internal enabling services (e.g. Strategic Policy on Memoranda to Cabinet and the Chief Financial Officer on Treasury Board submissions) and the DFO Sectors and Canadian Coast Guard who are the program authorities. As such, the Department has made a concerted effort to ensure that staff in sectors and the Coast Guard have an awareness of, and training in, GBA+ to support the development of expertise that can be applied in the relevant operational contexts across the Department.

Planned Initiatives

For All Planned Initiatives: The Department will continue to collect, refine, and analyze data through interdepartmental efforts and best practices led by Status of Women Canada, and will leverage the newly announced Centre for Gender, Diversity and Inclusion Statistics at Statistics Canada.

DFO will pursue measures and strategies, as necessary, to ensure that women and men of all identity factors, including Indigenous peoples, or any segment of the population that may be more vulnerable, have an equal opportunity to provide input during the development of new policies, regulations and mechanisms.

Proposed Changes to the Fisheries Act: In February 2018, the Government introduced proposed amendments to the Fisheries Act, which include an amendment that the Minister’s decision making under the Act may consider the intersection of sex, gender, and other identity issues alongside other social, economic, and cultural factors, as well as other important considerations.

DFO is among the first departments to propose enshrining GBA+ though legislation. The development of policies and mechanisms to reflect the proposed legislative changes would include GBA+ as a consideration that could be applied to ensure rigorous analysis of sex, gender, and other intersectional factors for Canadians.

The Department will continue working to integrate sex, gender, and other identity considerations into decision making, and to avoid reinforcing existing inequities. Additionally, as programs and policies are developed further, analysis to inform more specific assessments of differential impacts will be undertaken.

Advancing Reconciliation: The Indigenous Affairs and Reconciliation Directorate at DFO is undertaking a complete review of their collaborative management and commercial programming, and as a part of this review, DFO will be introducing additional performance measures to track gender-based employment statistics aimed at pursuing opportunities to increase employment for Indigenous women.

In addition, DFO will be advancing proposals to negotiate treaties and reconciliation agreements over the coming year. Each proposal will consider and incorporate GBA+ considerations, drawing on existing information and gathering new information through department-wide collaboration. DFO will continue to strengthen and consolidate its capacity to implement its treaty and reconciliation obligations with Indigenous Nations across Canada where DFO manages the fisheries.

The long-term benefits of achieving agreements, implementing treaty obligations, and conducting meaningful engagement will contribute to narrowing the economic gap between Indigenous Nations and non-Indigenous Canadians, reducing health risks associated with living in communities with low socio-economic outcomes. DFO will take measures to ensure that treaty rights and the benefits of fisheries agreements (treaty or reconciliation) are communicated equally to men and women.

Canadian Coast Guard

Sustained Efforts Towards Diversity and Inclusion: Building a more diverse workforce as well as more inclusive and respectful workplaces will continue to be a priority for the Canadian Coast Guard in 2018-19. Specific attention will be placed on applying a GBA+ lens to the Coast Guard’s national recruitment and retention strategy, and on providing equal opportunities for women and gender-diverse individuals in hiring and promotion. GBA+ principles and training will also be integrated into the onboarding process of new employees.

The Coast Guard is working to ensure that its members have safe, practical, and inclusive uniforms. Work to modernize uniforms will be undertaken alongside other federal public service security and defence organizations, with a view to establishing common guiding principles, as well as leveraging best practices, economies of scale, and whole-of-government innovation.

The Coast Guard will also continue to promote awareness of diversity and inclusion through targeted social media campaigns and by participating in a number of national initiatives such as the Day of Pink and Pride Parades in locations across the country.

Shipbuilding: The Coast Guard will continue efforts to ensure that the physical work environment is not a barrier to equal participation. For example, the Coast Guard recently assessed sightlines on its Search and Rescue Lifeboats and learned that the height of the bridge dashboard inhibited sightlines for shorter personnel. Some other vessels have levers that are not easily operated by personnel who are shorter or have lower body weight and strength. In 2018-19, the Coast Guard will actively work to identify and address these types of barriers in designing new classes of vessels for its fleet, including projects that are currently underway.

In working to ensure Coast Guard vessels and policies do not inadvertently pose physical or social barriers to inclusion, the Coast Guard will reinforce a workplace culture that is inclusive and focused on the recruitment of a diverse workforce that is representative of the Canadians we serve.

The development of indicators to monitor GBA+ implementation is underway.

Date modified:: 2018-04-16