Gender-based analysis plus: 2025 to 2026 Departmental Plan

Introduction

In 2018, Parliament passed the Canadian Gender Budgeting Act. The Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports are being used to fulfill the President of the Treasury Board’s obligations to make public, every year, analysis on the impacts of expenditure programs on gender and diversity.

Each organization is responsible for conducting their own Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus).

The Policy on Results indicates that Program officials, as designated by Deputy Heads, are responsible for ensuring data collection for meeting policy requirements.

Applicability

All organizations must complete GBA Plus supplementary information tables in departmental plans and departmental results reports on an annual basis.

Section 1: Institutional GBA Plus governance and capacity

Definition of gender-based analysis plus (GBA Plus)

A process used to identify the impacts of policies, programs and services on different groups of:

• women
• men
• gender-diverse people

The "plus" considers many factors, such as race, ethnicity, religion, age, and mental or physical disability. As a disability focused organization, GBA Plus analysis is always at the forefront of the decisions being made and how the organization operates overall.

Governance

Accessibility Standards Canada was established in July 2019. It is a small organization, which is led by an 11-member Board of Directors. The Accessible Canada Act requires the government to consider diversity when appointing Directors. This includes having Directors:

• who are people with disabilities
• that reflect the diversity of Canadian society
• that reflect the diversity of disabilities faced by Canadians

The organization does not have dedicated staff to the implementation of GBA Plus, however, GBA Plus is taken into consideration throughout its operations and programming.

Most of the board members are persons with disabilities. They represent a variety of disabilities. There is gender equality on the Board. The Board is responsible for setting the organization’s strategic direction. It ensures that GBA plus is included in all the organization’s decision-making.

The organization has 58 planned full-time equivalents (employees) in 2025 to 2026. More than 30% of staff identify as having a disability, and at Management level, 50% of managers are women and 50% men. The organization as a whole collectively shares responsibility to take GBA plus into consideration in its operations.

In addition, Accessibility Standards Canada, is advancing the implementation of the GBA Plus governance through its Grants and Contributions funding program, by advancing Accessibility Standards Research, it aims to gather data on how funding recipients consider the needs of the members of the diverse population of Canada and engage them into their research project.

The goal is for recipients to anticipate and mitigate barriers to accessibility while taking into consideration the needs of under-represented groups. Applicants to the program must include, as part of their application, information on the people involved in their project. This is for all levels of the project, whether it’s project staff or research participants.

During the funding application process, applicants must fill the application forms and indicate the estimated total number of people involved in their project, and their participation goals from diverse intersectional groups (disability, gender, 2SLGBTQI+, race, indigeneity, and age). Those groups are in line with the framework identified in Accessibility Standards Canada’s Intersectional Strategy.

Applicants that receive funding must give the people involved in their research project an opportunity to self-identify as part of those categories. Funded recipients must then be accountable and report on this data throughout the research project and at the end of it, to show their continued participation goals and results. This means that Accessibility Standards Canada can gather data on how our funded projects support inclusiveness and meet the needs of Canada’s diverse population.

Capacity

To advance the organization’s GBA Plus capacity, the intersectionality lens was added to the reporting requirements of Grants and Contributions two years ago to ensure that going forward, our funded research projects are inclusive, and the diverse needs of population groups historically overlooked are taken into consideration.

Efforts have been made to encourage past funding recipients to start collecting and reporting on this data, and for current funding recipients to be more consistent in their reporting. Funding recipients have been guided to understand the aim of this initiative, their responsibility to collect data while respecting their own organizations’ privacy policies.

Highlights of GBA Plus results reporting by program

1. Standards Development
2. Outreach and Knowledge

Standards development

Our standards are developed to address accessibility barriers irrespective of gender, race, sexuality, or other forms of identity.

To ensure that standards address all barriers faced by Canadians with disabilities, an intersectionality framework and strategy for the standards development process was developed in 2023. The intersectionality framework focuses on the following identities as they relate to barriers to accessibility:

• Gender
• Disability
• 2SLGBTQI+
• Race
• Indigeneity

To enhance diversity within our standards development process, Accessibility Standards Canada has developed an intersectionality strategy which:

• Continues to require organizations applying to our grants and contributions program to explain how they will include intersectionality (GBA Plus analysis) in the planning and delivery of their projects. This requirement will be reflected in signed agreements with funding recipients.
• Requires the work of the technical committees to reflect the needs of all Canadians living with disabilities.
• Seeks to balance committee membership to ensure diversity of expertise and lived experience.
• Requires 30% of technical committee members to be experts with a disability or lived experience.
• Requires at least 30% of all technical committee members to be from an equity seeking and deserving group (2SLGBTQI+, Indigenous peoples, women, and visible minorities). Currently more than 50% of all committee members are people with disabilities and 56% are women. Many racialized people, Indigenous people, 2SLGBTQI+ individuals, women, seniors and youth also serve on our technical committees.
• Extends intersectionality to the public review processes for draft standards. All participants in the public review process will be asked to respond to voluntary intersectionality questions.

To continue to build on this foundation of inclusivity, we will:

• Ensure all team members complete the GBA Plus course or participate in a refresher course to maintain a high-level of awareness and understanding of diversity and inclusion.
• Incorporate an intersectional approach in our communications and messaging to reflect diverse experiences and identities. This includes using inclusive language and visuals that represent gender, race, ethnicity, disability, age, and other identity factors.
• Review key messages and campaigns through a GBA Plus lens to confirm they resonate with and are accessible to diverse groups.
• Use gender-neutral and plain language to make our content respectful and ensure equal access to information for all audiences.
• Provide accessible tools and alternative methods to ensure that people with disabilities can easily access and understand the information.
• Offer multiple ways to provide feedback on our communications products and tools to our audiences to improve communication and ensure we are reaching everyone effectively.

Outreach and Knowledge

We engage with disability groups across the country, private and public entities, and all levels of government with the objective of addressing accessibility barriers.

The foundation to collect data in accordance with our newly established GBA Plus Strategy has been laid. Accessibility Standards Canada will start reporting on the direct and indirect GBA Plus impact of its Standards Development and Outreach and Knowledge Programs from the fiscal year 2025 to 2026.