Status of Women committee  Maybe one recent example I can give is the initiative to bring bring 25,000 Syrian refugees into Canada before February. Through that exercise, the department had not only the plan to help bring 25,000 people to Canada but also the follow-up with the provinces and all of the work that's going to be done for their resettlement and the integration.

Status of Women committee  I think it helps plan for the settlement and the integration so that we can work more effectively with provinces on settlement and settlement services.

Status of Women committee  The needs are very different, and that's taken into account, I think, by the department as it's funding various settlement agencies in different places. It depends on the makeup of the families coming. What we saw, for example, is that a lot of these families are large, which has an impact on the level of services, where they get their services and where they're going to stay.

Status of Women committee  I don't think I have really anything to add. It's very similar from PCO's perspective. It depends on the issue; it depends on the department. I don't think there's necessarily a correlation between signing on to the action plan and doing gender-based analysis. Just because the department hasn't signed on to the action plan—I think there are 29 or 30 that have signed on—it doesn't mean that they're not doing gender-based analysis.

Status of Women committee  They're not reporting to PCO, so maybe the question is better put to Status of Women, who is tracking that.

Status of Women committee  What we'll do at PCO is to require that GBA be done before proposals come in, and we'll work with Status of Women and the departments to make sure that the analysis is done before we get to see a first proposal. If it comes in early enough and there are some obvious gender issues that have not been analyzed, we'll work with the department to give them some direction and guidance and make sure that the research and analysis can be done.

Status of Women committee  It's very much the way my colleague at TBS explained it. We play a challenge function role. We're there to make sure that the policy proposals that come forward have gone through a thorough analysis and have been looked at not just through the GBA lens but with the various factors that need to come into play.

Status of Women committee  It's not all perfect. It is very uneven, I think, as the Auditor General's report points out. We do push back. We do play a challenge function. On a weekly basis, we make decisions about whether proposals are ready to go to cabinet because they have done the necessary policy work for there to be a good conversation at cabinet.

Status of Women committee  I have a couple of reactions to that. Part of it is accountability, making sure that deputies understand that it's important and that they make it a priority in their departments. As I said in my opening remarks, the fact that the Prime Minister has put it in the minister's mandate letter makes it a priority and makes it easier for us to say to the departments that it is important.

Status of Women committee  I agree completely that champions are important, and their network across departments is really key, because that's where they share best practices. They can also bring back the information they obtain and promote it within their departments. At PCO we do have a champion. To address what Renée's talking about, our deputy secretary, who's the champion, is also the deputy secretary for operations, which sees maybe 80% of all the proposals that come to cabinet.

Status of Women committee  My presentation is the shortest, so I get to go first. Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the committee. I am pleased to be here today to speak with you about gender-based analysis, GBA, and how it can help the government to make decisions on policies, programs, and legislation that benefit all Canadians, in order to support diversity in Canada.