We highlighted a few potential barriers in paragraph 1.58, on page 16. There we indicated that it is a commitment, but it is just a commitment. There is no government directive or policy that requires it to be done. In other words, when we go to a department and do an audit, if they didn't do it, then they didn't honour a commitment, and that's the extent of it.
If there was non-compliance with the law, that would be very serious, whereas if there was non-compliance with a government directive or policy, they would get a “non-compliant” kind of observation from us. This is not a non-compliance kind of thing, because there is no real requirement to do so. There's no mandatory need to actually have that done, so that might be one of the elements.
The other thing we observed is that sometimes they are working under very tight timelines. The public servants often work under very extreme timelines in terms of being able to move forward with a policy consideration.
When you look at what they have to do, there's also some sort of analysis that they have to get done. This is just one thing. They may not actually have time to do so, and in fact in one of the cases, we noticed that they completed the GBA analysis after they had made all the policy decisions. They just made sure they had completed the due diligence required and did not really have time to consider it and fully integrate it into the policy decisions themselves.
Finally, it speaks to the point that another member raised earlier, which was the capacity within the departments themselves and whether they fully understand what the analysis entails. It's not just checking a box. It's about them asking what they are trying to do and what they are hoping to accomplish. Do they understand the data source they have to gather? Who do they have to consult and how do they analyze the results of that? If there is an issue, what are they supposed to do about that?
For all those aspects, they need to be supported by Status of Women, which is the centre of expertise to help them.
The staff has to do the right thing. Then there needs to be a review by senior management. If senior management doesn't ask as much of it or doesn't challenge it as much, then it becomes a weaker part of the submission and the analysis.