Evidence of meeting #12 for Status of Women in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was gba.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Anju Dhillon Liberal Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle, QC
How do you find having a champion impacts the implementation of GBA in policy development?
Director General, Strategy and Intergovernmental Relations, Strategic and Service Policy Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development
We have a network of people across the department. Every initiative certainly benefits from people who can promote it and talk about it. Frankly, I think it is about the organization as a whole being comfortable talking about it. I think a champion is a focal point. In my view, it is nice to have a champion, but I think the important work is done at the program level as people undertake the development and analysis of policies and data. That is really where it happens.
Champions can ask questions, but anybody can ask questions. You don't need a champion to ask questions about these important issues.
Liberal
Director General, Strategy and Intergovernmental Relations, Strategic and Service Policy Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development
It doesn't hurt to have a profile on things. That's for sure, and we are moving forward with putting that kind of focus on it at ESDC.
Liberal
Anju Dhillon Liberal Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle, QC
For the rest, do you feel that you have the necessary tools to understand and implement GBA?
Director General, Strategic Policy, Cabinet and Parliamentary Affairs, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
As opposed to having a champion, we actually have accountabilities that are very clear. Our deputy minister and our senior ADM of policy and strategic direction both must ensure that any initiative going forward has a gender-based analysis attached to it.
In addition, in terms of our Treasury Board submissions, there is a requirement that there be a gender-based assessment done for those as well. We are doing our utmost to drive it throughout the organization, but also to make sure that everybody is accountable, not just one person as a focal point, although that is also very helpful.
Conservative
Assistant Auditor General, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
Thank you, Madam Chair.
The member's question just prompted me with one of the points that we have noted in our report. Status of Women put forward the GBA+ framework. Between 2009 and 2013, 25 departments committed to implementing that, and five more entered into this commitment in the early part of 2015.
However, the government is way broader than just 30 departments. Part of that network.... I don't know whether your conversation with Status of Women covered what aspect of the government has signed on to implement the GBA framework. A lot of what we talk about could be restricted to that group of 25 or 30 that have committed.
That is an area or question that the committee might be interested in.
Liberal
Anju Dhillon Liberal Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle, QC
The Auditor General reports that there has been progress, but also that further efforts could be made. In your view, what further efforts could be made by Status of Women Canada and the central agencies in order to promote full implementation of GBA?
Assistant Auditor General, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
We've made a number of recommendations, which are contained in the report itself. The big one probably is the one that deals with barriers. We have noted a few points as we go along the audit, and we have identified them in the report. We did not necessarily set out to do that, and these are points we observed. The recommendation was to suggest to the government, and to the central agencies, to step back, take a look, and see what some of the barriers are, and why departments and agencies are slow or having trouble implementing a GBA framework. In that way, what are the ways to overcome them? That, I think, is a significant one.
The other one is for Status of Women to look at their resourcing and how much work they are going to be able to do on that. I believe there have been changes in recent times.
Conservative
Conservative
Karen Vecchio Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON
I would like to pass to Ms. Harder the question you had previously.
Conservative
Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
I'll be brief.
Just to refresh, in the 2016 budget your department was given $23.7 million for an urban aboriginal strategy. I'm wondering how GBA will be applied to going about that.
Director General, Strategic Policy, Cabinet and Parliamentary Affairs, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
As with all other policy initiatives in the department, if there is an MC required—and I know we're going back and forth as to whether an MC will be required—there will be a gender-based analysis required. It's a GBA+.
Additionally, when there's a Treasury Board submission to access those funds, there will be a requirement that a GBA+ be done, as well. It is very much part of the work that's done in terms of policy in the department.
Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
There's one thing that would really help me. I find we're talking a lot in theory, or about ideas that are out there. I have something specific when we're talking about urban aboriginal strategy. What would be the types of questions you would ask, or the type of analysis you would do, to make sure it is gender-based when you come out with policy with regards to this?
Director General, Strategic Policy, Cabinet and Parliamentary Affairs, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
We have a detailed GBA questionnaire with all sorts of questions that programs go through when they are developing an initiative. For example, if there is a negotiation process that is part of an initiative, one of the questions is whether the meetings are at such a time that they're accommodating people's work hours, as well as their child care arrangements, and if they are ensuring that they're not having a negative impact in terms of their timing of these discussions of these meetings. Another asks if they are making information available to people in a way they can manage around their daily lives. There are specific and detailed questions that are required in any GBA assessment.
Conservative
Karen Vecchio Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON
Thank you.
I'll go back to Gail Mitchell. If you don't mind, I'm looking at some of your programs. Are there any programs you can say are failing and that we should be doing better on after doing all of the GBA, and that even with implementation it does not get the results you're looking for?
Director General, Strategy and Intergovernmental Relations, Strategic and Service Policy Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development
That's a big question—
Director General, Strategy and Intergovernmental Relations, Strategic and Service Policy Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development
—considering that ESDC delivers programs from the start of life to the very end.
We have a vigorous assessment and evaluation program where we take a hard look at our programs with a view to assessing where we're falling down and the types of interventions that are needed to improve that.
The current set of priorities our ministers have in front of them point to areas where improvement is going to be needed, whether it's from EI, old age security, Canada Pension Plan, or disability. There's a whole range of areas where I wouldn't say the programs are failing, but we want them to do more.
Conservative
Karen Vecchio Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON
One of the pet things I look at is the Canada Pension Plan, because many of our women did not put in. My mother, for instance, didn't work full time after she had her children. What sort of things do you do to rectify issues like that, when there's not...? We've moved on and we've put in a financial plan, but it's not really available, and we recognize we have this. My mom is still married to my father, and that means they have very little CPP from that. The old age security, of course, is stuck at a certain amount, as well. What are some things we can do to help out the CPP program for women?
Director General, Strategy and Intergovernmental Relations, Strategic and Service Policy Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development
Well, there are other measures. There's the guaranteed income supplement, as well, that is targeted specifically to low-income seniors. I'm not sure if your parents are already seniors and already collecting or if they're anticipating that in the future, but there are measures.
There are also complementary programs at the provincial level to support seniors who are in a low-income category. There's work under way. The Department of Finance is taking a hard look at the Canada Pension Plan, so that's another venue for people to raise issues, so there are interventions.
In Canada we kind of look at retirement income. There's the private piece of it that individuals provide for in the context of employment and then there's government. What's the right balance across all of those? We kind of expect that there's an evenness across those three key pillars when it comes to retirement security, but we definitely target some interventions to support low-income seniors.
As I mentioned, the top-up to the guaranteed income supplement for single seniors is really an acknowledgement that single women, in particular, face fiscal challenges for the reasons that you've elaborated in terms of workforce.
