Good afternoon.
Thank you for inviting me to speak about the measures our department is taking to ensure that gender-based analysis is applied to our policies and programs. We believe that solid analysis on a wide range of issues, including gender, is key to fulfilling our departmental mandate. As you know, it's a mandate that focuses on Canadians' social and economic well-being and has a very broad impact on Canadians' lives. So given that broad mandate, we realize that gender-based analysis is an integral part of our policy work.
I know that before you prepared your report for 2005, you actually heard from representatives of two departments, Human Resources and Social Development and Skills Development. The representatives of those departments at that time described how the two departments address the issue of gender-based analysis.
Each had a slightly different approach. For example, Social Development Canada focussed on its advisors network and training tools. Human Resources and Skills Development Canada emphasized the responsibility of managers to ensure that GBA was fully addressed in the course of policy and program development, and provided a challenge function through its policy committees.
Then, as you know, in February 2006 the new department of Human Resources and Social Development was announced and was created. Since then the department has worked on integrating its approach, obviously, to gender-based analysis.
Overall, we take an integrated approach to gender-based analysis. We hold all managers responsible for analysis within their mandates. Gender-based analysis is one of the important lenses that they're held responsible for.
In addition to that accountability for each manager, at each manager's level, challenge functions are built into the process. We have policy committees at the DG and ADM levels, and I will talk a little bit more on how that process works.
In addition to that approach, we have a unit of three FTEs in the international social policy and diversity division of the strategic policy branch in our department, and that unit is mandated to coordinate learning events, tools, and other resources to assist employees in performing gender analysis. That's the legacy of the gender analysis and policy division that had been in the old social development department.
During our transition period into the new department, this unit has focused its efforts on meeting interdepartmental reporting requirements such as contributing to Canada's report on our implementation of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, but as the new department is coming into place, this unit is going to spend more of its time and resources on learning events and tools.
In particular, the predecessor to the Department of Social Development Canada had a lot of success with what they called “learning events”. For example, just before the new department was created in January 2006, a gender-based analysis training session was held. It was actually open to employees of both of the former departments. It was basically a course that used case studies and exercises to demonstrate the process of incorporating gender and other diversity considerations at the various stages of the policy development process. About 25 people attended, and the evaluations show that it was actually quite a useful session. People learned a lot about it and got the tools they need to be able to take the integrated approach to gender-based analysis.
So this is the kind of thing we think we need to do more of, given that we've taken an integrated approach to gender-based analysis.
That's generally how we approach gender-based analysis. What I'd like to do fairly quickly, if I can, is address specifically the recommendations in your report to demonstrate how we have responded to those recommendations. There was a recommendation with respect to having a designated responsibility centre for gender-based analysis in the department, and while I've said that each manager is responsible for gender-based analysis, we have placed the gender-based unit in the branch. It's called our strategic policy branch. So it's the assistant deputy minister of strategic policy who has particular responsibility for coordinating that unit, making sure the tools and resources are provided.
There was a recommendation with respect to participation in the interdepartmental committee on gender-based analysis. We are a member. Originally, it was in two departments. Now the one department is a member of that committee and participates actively.