This is a part of the action plan that I personally am very excited about, because I think we really need to do a better job of explaining to ourselves as federal officials, but more importantly to Canadians, why gender-based analysis is so important. I don't believe that we need to have some formal exercise called “gender-based analysis”, but we do need to ensure that gender considerations are taken into account in all of our programming and policies.
An example is work done last year with ISED, the industry department, in ensuring that women owners of small and medium-sized enterprises and women entrepreneurs were being fully considered in the programs to support SMEs, small and medium-sized enterprises, and in the programming and policies of ISED. It wasn't actually called a formal GBA, but by focusing in on the gender aspect, the department was able to identify gaps and realized they needed more research. They worked with StatsCan to start developing that research and then on going forward with changes to policies and programs.
Going forward, we will be focusing on that part of GBA: how do we tell the story better? As I mentioned in my opening remarks, we'll be developing indicators. We'll be thinking about an evaluation strategy of some sort, whether it's formal or informal. We're not quite sure yet, because it's quite daunting. We'll also be thinking about what kinds of reports we can issue to show people that, yes, it has made a difference to Canadians.