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 department 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
Governance
Over the years, the Office of the Correctional Investigator (OCI) has continued to demonstrate its commitment to GBA Plus through its investigative work on a range of issues effecting federally sentenced individuals, with a focus on vulnerable populations including Indigenous People, Black individuals, women, gender diverse individuals, aging offenders and individuals with mental health concerns. Given the diverse nature of this population and the intersectionality of needs and identity factors, the nature of our work is inherently grounded in core concepts of GBA Plus. The OCI Annual Report speaks to this work and reports on the needs and issues of this diverse population, with recommendations to Correctional Service of Canada to address identified barriers and challenges federally sentenced individuals face. The OCI also has a women offender portfolio, champions for accessibility, diversity equity and inclusion as well as a dedicated resource for our Indigenous portfolio. In their respective roles, these representatives bring forward and champion GBA Plus issues in how the OCI advances its work.
To further establish and strengthen the governance of GBA Plus, the Office will:
- Appoint a GBA Plus champion for the organization
- Establish a small working group, with support from external subject matter experts, to develop a GBA Plus Framework
Capacity
The OCI is a small organization with fewer than 50 employees, and while it is fully committed to GBA Plus, it does not have dedicated resources. However, it has established an informal network to draw support and expertise from other departments and agencies.
Human resources (full-time equivalents) dedicated to GBA Plus
As noted above, the OCI is a small organization with fewer than 50 employees, and as such, it does not have any dedicated resources to work on GBA Plus. Any work done in support of GBA Plus is conducted along with other regular duties.
Section 2: Gender and diversity impacts, by program
Core responsibility: Independent Oversight of Federal Corrections
Program name: Ombuds for federally sentenced individuals
Program goals: The OCI conducts investigations of complaints directed to the Correctional Service of Canada by federally sentenced individuals and carries out systemic investigations of issues that affect large numbers of this population. Over the last fiscal years, the OCI has demonstrated its commitment to GBA Plus through on a range of issues effecting federally sentenced individuals, with a focus on vulnerable populations including Indigenous People, Black individuals, women, aging offenders, and individuals with mental health concerns. Given the diverse nature of this population and the intersectionality of needs and identity factors, the nature of our work is inherently grounded in core concepts of GBA Plus.
GBA Plus data collection plan
The OCI collects and reports data through current business processes that have access to demographic information. As part of development of the GBA Plus Framework, OCI will identify indicators for which results will be broken down by specific population groups based on existing data collection capabilities. Where current data is insufficient to report by gender and diversity across all programs, OCI will identify and assess potential mechanisms to address data gaps.
