Canada’s National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security - Department of Women and Gender Equality Canada progress report - 2022-2023

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• Women and Gender Equality Canada and women, peace and security
• Women and Gender Equality Canada’s role and approach to Gender-based Analysis Plus
• Collaboration with action plan partners on women, peace and security

Women and Gender Equality Canada and women, peace and security

The Department of Women and Gender Equality (WAGE) officially became a department of the Government of Canada on December 13, 2019. This change from agency to department modernized and formalized, in law, the roles of the Minister and the Department - to support the advancement of gender equality as a central priority for the Government of Canada through policy, programming, funding, and research, and to coordinate such efforts across the federal government.

WAGE acts as a Centre for Excellence on Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus), both inside and outside of government, and facilitates the transfer of knowledge, capacity building, resources and engagement related to GBA Plus among various stakeholders. One of WAGE’s key roles is to help build the capacity of federal departments and agencies in applying rigorous GBA Plus. This includes the development and provision of tools and training for use by all federal government employees, as well as more targeted training for specific sectors, including the security and defence sector.

As such, WAGE provides technical advice, guidance, and assistance on key Government of Canada initiatives related to gender equality and GBA Plus mainstreaming, to ensure that all plans, programs and/or initiatives and peace support operations are responsive to GBA Plus considerations, including equity, diversity and inclusion at large.

WAGE also provides expertise in the area of gender-based violence (GBV). Launched in 2018, the GBV Knowledge Centre online platform has become an invaluable resource on GBV for CNAP partner departments, external partners, educators and civil society organizations. As the focal point of the Canada’s Gender-Based Violence Strategy, the Knowledge Centre facilitates the alignment of existing federal resources, coordinates new federal initiatives, supports the sharing of research and data, ensures alignment with provincial and territorial strategies, and accounts publicly for results.

Women and Gender Equality Canada’s role and approach to Gender-based Analysis Plus 

Women and Gender Equality (WAGE) is the lead for the implementation of the Government’s commitment to apply GBA Plus. Progress resulting from the government’s GBA Plus Action Plan for 2016-2020 included new requirements for GBA Plus in Cabinet proposals; the establishment and strengthening of networks; the launch of GBA Plus implementation surveys to gauge progress in implementation; and enhanced GBA Plus training and tools. A review of progress and the impact of activities is underway, and consideration will be given to the development of additional training and tools to ensure GBA Plus is applied across government, at all levels. The Government also directed that GBA Plus be integrated into Departmental Results Frameworks, Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, to strengthen its ability to monitor the impact of GBA Plus on government programs, policies and initiatives. The Government has also directed that GBA Plus be integrated into the design and conduct of future government consultations, and guidance to this effect is being created in partnership with the Privy Council Office. In addition, Budget 2019 moved GBA Plus even further, reflecting concerted efforts to incorporate GBA Plus in the policy development process and to make the Government’s analysis available to Canadians.

Specifically, the GBA Plus Action Plan (2016-2020) launched by WAGE, the Privy Council Office and the Treasury Board Secretariat, laid out detailed commitments to increase the integration of GBA Plus across government, including:

• enhancing GBA Plus training and capacity in key sectors across government;
• convening ‘clusters’ of like-minded departments to promote information-sharing and collaboration among members in order to support sustainable GBA Plus implementation across the federal government;
• increasing accountability, monitoring, and reporting through the collection and analysis of detailed GBA Plus reports from all departments and by developing a more robust monitoring framework; and,
• increasing the availability of gender-disaggregated data and gender-based research to inform rigours GBA Plus.

Continued progress has been made against each commitment contributing to effective networks and robust infrastructure post 2020. The process has been one of continuous improvement building on lessons learned, which include:

• Need for greater understanding of intersectional GBA Plus that reflects multiple social identity factors
• Capacity resources and tools are not sufficient in certain contexts
• Lack of clarity of WAGE’s role in some mandatory processes (e.g., MCs, TB submissions)
• Limited monitoring of the impacts of GBA Plus
• Without a senior-level decision-making body, coordination and alignment across departments remains overly siloed

To ensure the Government of Canada has the rigorous tools required to deliver on commitments and advance equality, diversity and inclusion priorities, efforts will continue to build on progress and sustain momentum. Moving forward, the following have been identified as priority actions:

• Strengthen Quality and Rigour: A consistent, rigorous and intersectional GBA plus methodology to align different “lenses” all government business.
• Increase Capacity: A competent network of GBA Plus experts working across the federal public service and functional areas.

Enhance Governance and Accountability: Effective and inclusive governance, accountability and Transparency mechanisms.

Collaboration with action plan partners on women, peace and security

WAGE works closely with the lead Women, Peace and Security Action Plan partner departments Global Affairs Canada (GAC), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the Department of National Defence (DND) and the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) to increase their capacity to apply an intersectional gender and diversity lens to their policies, plans and operations. WAGE also currently has an agreement with the Centre for Intercultural Learning (CIL) at Global Affairs Canada to deliver GBA Plus training to federal government organizations upon request, and internationally. WAGE is also leading the implementation of Canada’s Strategy to Address and Prevent Gender-Based Violence (Canada’s GBV Strategy), in which DND/CAF and the RCMP are partners. WAGE is also the supporting Action Plan lead partners on internal cultural change initiatives geared to increasing the number of women able to deploy in support of peace operations. WAGE also collaborates with all supporting and implementing CNAP partners in the development and participation in events, discussions and learning sessions of mutual concern to ensure continued progress in the application of GBA Plus.

Activity 1 

Women and Gender Equality Canada works with the RCMP and DND/CAF to help them develop their internal capacity to apply GBA Plus to their policies, plans and programs in support of their culture change initiatives. This has included the collaborative development of advanced GBA Plus training for policy personnel.

Completed Activities

Engagement: Officials from RCMP, DND/CAF have been included in engagement sessions to inform work underway to enhance the framing and parameters of GBA Plus. This includes participation in regular interdepartmental network meetings of GBA Plus Focal Point and in engagement sessions specific to the development of a government response to a recent Senate Committee Study examining the GBA Plus as part of the public policy process.

Provision of tools and guidance: In addition, WAGE has developed and disseminated new intersectional GBA Plus tools including step-by-step guidance to better guide its application in diverse contexts. These tools have been piloted over the past two years and feedback from diverse communities of practice has been collected to inform the next iteration of the guidance.

Results and progress

Design of targeted learning opportunities: Collaboration has begun with a view to co-design a series of ‘train-the-trainer’ learning events. The approach being explored is cohort based, with participation of key groups within RCMP, DND/CAF, and more specifically, with groups that are well placed in the organizations to support context specific GBA Plus implementation. The development of targeted curriculum will be undertaken over the first quarter of 2023 and could be delivered as soon as spring 2024. Advancing this work requires collaborative planning and ongoing communication to ensure that the approach and content designed for the learning sessions respond to the needs of the organization and the sector more broadly.

Challenges to the pace of progress relate to limitations in capacity and competing priorities. To overcome these challenges, WAGE is developing an engagement plan that prioritizes training provision to federal organizations with existing/emerging capacity. The goal is to develop leaders in key functional communities, who in turn can support GBA Plus implementation across organizational business lines.

Activity 2

Women and Gender Equality Canada is leading the implementation of Canada’s Strategy to Address and Prevent Gender-Based Violence (Canada’s GBV Strategy), in which DND/CAF and the RCMP are partners.

Completed activities

Launch of National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence.

Results and progress

Building on the foundation laid by the federal GBV Strategy, WAGE and provincial/territorial partners launched the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence in November 2022. This 10-year National Action Plan sets a framework for a Canada free of gender-based violence that supports victims, survivors, and their families, no matter where they live. The Plan aims to engage all people in Canada in changing social norms, attitudes and behaviours that contribute to GBV; address the social and economic factors that contribute to GBV; set out a framework for anyone facing GBV to have reliable and timely access to culturally appropriate ad accessible protection and services; and improve the health, social, economic and justice outcomes of those impacted by GBV. The federal contribution to the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence is the federal GBV Strategy, which includes DND and RCMP as partners.

Activity 4

Women and Gender Equality Canada also works closely with Global Affairs Canada in preparing for and in negotiating the agreed conclusions of the annual UN Commission on the Status of Women, which includes advancing the Government of Canada’s position on WPS.

Completed activities

At the 66th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women in March 2022, Canada supported 2 key priority areas:

• the release of women and children taken hostage, including those subsequently imprisoned, in armed conflicts; and
• the empowerment of all women and girls in the context of climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction policies and programs.

The agreed conclusions, which were negotiated virtually, recognizes that women and girls play a vital role as agents of change for sustainable development.

The Commission also recognized the establishment of the women and peace and security agenda and reaffirmed that the full, equal, effective, and meaningful participation of women in all stages of peace processes, conflict prevention, conflict resolution and peacebuilding is one of the essential factors for the maintenance and promotion of international peace and security, including in the context of climate change, environmental degradation, and disasters.