Gender-based analysis (GBA) Plus
Institutional GBA Plus
Governance
Public Safety Canada remains committed to ensuring the application of Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus) in the development and implementation of its policies and programs, and management of its operations to inform the Department’s work to keep all Canadians safe.
The Department’s de-centralized governance model for GBA Plus ensures that the responsibility to advance the implementation of GBA Plus is shared across the Department, including improving and maintaining GBA Plus capacity and applying GBA Plus considerations to all aspects of the Department's mandate:
- The GBA Plus Champion provides senior-level leadership, including promoting GBA Plus and mentoring to the GBA Plus Advisor Network;
- The GBA Plus Center of Expertise builds capacity across the organization through learning events, training and knowledge mobilization;
- The GBA Plus Advisor Network, managed by the departmental GBA Plus Center of Expertise, serves as a learning and information-sharing forum to support GBA Plus Advisors, who are embedded in each directorate of Public Safety Canada. The GBA Plus Advisor Network is a forum for GBA Plus Advisors to ask questions, share tools, resources, best practices and lessons learned, to empower them to provide meaningful advice and guidance to enhance organizational capacity; and
- Assistant Deputy Ministers are responsible for ensuring GBA Plus is effectively applied to initiatives, and for tracking and reporting on GBA Plus outcomes within their area of responsibility.
The GBA Plus Centre of Expertise will continue to work with the Diversity and Inclusion Secretariat as well as all relevant departmental forums, such as the READI (Respect, Equity, Accessibility, Diversity and Inclusion)Committee, Positive Space, Diversity and Inclusion Forum, all employee networks, and the forthcoming new Data Governance Committee to identify opportunities to further integrate GBA Plus in departmental policies and programs.
Capacity
In 2024 to 2025, Public Safety Canada’s GBA Plus Centre of Expertise will:
- Publish updated GBA Plus materials to provide enhanced support to Public Safety employees and ensure they have the tools, resources and guidance they need to do quality GBA Plus;
- Develop an internal communications strategy to:
- Raise awareness across the organization of the roles and responsibilities of key players in the departmental GBA Plus governance structure;
- Provide guidance on recently enhanced GBA Plus requirements; and,
- Promote GBA Plus resources and capacity-building opportunities available in collaboration with the departmental GBA Plus Advisor Network.
- Report on key departmental performance indicators to senior management. These performance indicators leverage and are in line with responses from the 2022 to 2023 GBA Plus Implementation Survey, led by the Department of Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE), who publish survey result highlights on their website; and,
- Address key findings from the 2023 departmental GBA Plus Advisor Survey regarding capacity, awareness, training and support, as well as understanding of Advisors’ roles and responsibilities. This will be accomplished, in part, by increasing the frequency of meetings from quarterly to bimonthly and intensifying focus on identifying and providing tools to support high quality GBA Plus.
Highlights of GBA Plus Results Reporting Capacity by Program
Program: National Security Leadership
GBA Plus Data Collection Plan
While sufficient GBA Plus data is not currently collected for this program, the Department is committed to establishing a systematic approach for tracking and quantifying the measurable impacts of diversity factors within our programs and policy teams. Recognizing the inherent complexity of this endeavor, we anticipate a deliberate integration and practice period to track the results over time.
Anticipated Impact(s) of Program on Diverse Groups
Several major initiatives are planned to advance the Department’s commitment to GBA Plus principles when renewing our Secure Air Travel Act list. The primary focus will be on refining existing processes and introducing innovative strategies when evaluating individuals and help the Minister of Public Safety make the appropriate decision during our renewal periods. Additionally, Public Safety Canada is dedicated to monitoring and evaluating the progress of ongoing initiatives, ensuring that they align seamlessly with overarching goals and meet GBA standards.
Program: Critical Infrastructure
GBA Plus Data Collection Plan
The Critical Infrastructure Directorate (CID) aims to strengthen the resilience of physical and digital infrastructure in Canada from an all-hazards perspective and has not collected appropriate data to enable the monitoring and reporting of program impacts by gender and diversity. The nature of Canada’s CI sectoral configuration has created a gap in the data we are able to collect and use to inform policy development due to the varying levels of resources, departmental maturity, and access to federal support in each sectors’ Lead Federal Department. Consequently, the data that was collected as part of CID's most recent consultation represents a small fraction of all of Canada’s various CI stakeholders and cannot be meaningfully used to inform large-scale policy development. As CID continues to work towards renewing Canada’s approach to CI, efforts are being made that allow for more robust GBA Plus data collection from a variety of diverse CI stakeholders.
Anticipated Impact(s) of Program on Diverse Groups
Not applicable.
Program: Cyber Security
GBA Plus Data Collection Plan
Although the Cyber Security Program does not yet collect sufficient data to enable it to monitor or report each program impact by gender and diversity factors, the Department is working towards improving collection of disaggregated data in various domains.
To start, current access to the cyber security workforce is limited, which limits the diversity of Canada’s cyber security workforce and the growth of Canada’s cyber security industry. In particular, Canada’s cyber workforce is lacking individuals from rural provinces and territories, and women. Improved disaggregated data collection in this domain will allow the Cyber Security Program to better understand the current demographics in Canada’s cyber security industry, and to measure how its future initiatives impact these demographics and improve Canada’s cyber security industry’s diversity.
In this vein, the Cyber Security Program will continue collaborating with Statistics Canada on the Canadian Survey on Cyber Security and Cybercrime (CSCSC) to explore additional survey questions that could provide further information on the diversity of responding organizations’ while balancing the need for privacy. This might include questions outlining to which sectors organizations belong, and the provinces and territories in which organizations are located.
Additionally, for any future consultations with the public, the Cyber Security Program will begin collecting additional disaggregated data, such as whether participating individuals belong to diverse groups and to which sectors organizations belong. During past consultations, such as when the Cyber Security Program held its “Consulting on Canada’s Approach to Cyber Security” consultations in August 2022, only limited disaggregated data was collected on cyber security consultation participants, such as which province or territory participants were located, and the gender of individuals participating.
Anticipated Impact(s) of Program on Diverse Groups
The National Cyber Security Directorate will ensure all employees receive their GBA Plus certifications. Moreover, the Cyber Security Program will continue its work with National Cyber Security Strategy partners to move forward on GBA Plus capacity-building, including building best practices and continuing research and analysis of GBA Plus in the cybercommunity. This is expected to facilitate improved use of GBA Plus analysis in the Cyber Security Program partners and stakeholders’ policy development and procedures
In addition, the Cyber Security Program aims to promote its various educational tools to bring awareness to cyber security careers to diverse groups, specifically individuals living in rural and remote areas and women, and continue to work closely with the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security to support and promote its cyber security awareness tools to groups that may be more susceptible to cyber threats. These initiatives aim to improve Canadians’ ability to counteract cyber threats and accessibility to the cyber security workforce and industry.
Finally, the Cyber Security Program plans to share an infographic informed by the Survey on Cyber Security and Cyber Crime that provides insights on how many women are involved in Canada’s cyber security industry. This infographic will impact a diverse group by providing currently missing information on the current cyber security industry. It will also allow the Cyber Security Program to quantitatively measure its initiatives’ impacts on the number of women involved in Canada’s cyber security industry.
Program: Crime Prevention
GBA Plus Data Collection Plans
GBA Plus considerations are central to the work of the National Crime Prevention Strategy (NCPS). In 2024 to 2025, the NCPS will continue to draw on research and crime statistics (including youth crime statistics, hate crime statistics and incarceration rates) to inform priorities for upcoming calls for applications. For ongoing funded projects supported under other NCPS funding programs, GBA Plus data will continue to be gathered through Annual Performance Reports (APRs). APRs are submitted annually by funding recipients, as part of their required reporting. The APRs supplement Activity Reports and provide detailed information about the participants being served by the project. Funding recipients complete the APR template, which includes a series of questions about the project participants (i.e. number of participants that completed the project, age group of participants, sex, etc.). This information is collected within the Public Safety Information Management System and analyzed to provide a clear picture of who is being reached by NCPS projects. The data is also used to report on various performance indicators, including changes in risk and protective factors.
Also, as was the case in the last call for applications through the Security Infrastructure Program (SIP), GBA Plus related information will continue to be collected through the SIP funding Application Form for the 2024 call for applications. Information collected will be analyzed to ensure that the SIP is reaching communities most at risk of hate-motivated crime.
Anticipated Impact(s) of Program on Diverse Groups
In 2024 to 2025, priority youth populations will continue to be reached through NCPS funded projects. Current NCPS priority groups include at-risk children (6-11 years), youth (12-17 years) and young adults (18-29 years); Indigenous populations and Northern communities. The 2021 call for applications through the Crime Prevention Action Fund prioritized funding for projects that focus on Black and Indigenous youth. These projects are ongoing.
Project activities funded through the NCPS’ Crime Prevention Action Fund, Youth Gang Prevention Fund and the Northern and Indigenous Crime Prevention Fund will focus on addressing risk factors (i.e. antisocial behaviours) and building protective factors (i.e. life skills) amongst priority populations in an aim to decrease the likelihood of future contact with the criminal justice system.
Projects funded through the NCPS’ SIP benefit communities most at-risk of being targeted by hate motivated crimes by providing funding to help enhance the sense of security amongst populations accessing community gathering spaces.
In 2024 to 2025, the NCPS will also continue to develop, disseminate and promote the use of best practices in crime prevention and will continue to expand the knowledge base of crime prevention in Canada. Information about successful practices and lessons learned will continue to be gathered from evaluation reports and shared with practitioners, partners and stakeholders via research publications, knowledge sharing opportunities (i.e. interdepartmental meetings; meetings with Provincial and Territorial partners via the Federal-Provincial-Territorial (FPT) Working Group on Crime Prevention), as well as through the Crime Prevention Inventory (CPI). Through this knowledge sharing, the NCPS provides practitioners with tools and knowledge to inform the implementation of interventions that are based on best practices and have a greater likelihood of effectively preventing crime among groups at greatest risk for future involvement in crime.
Program: Law Enforcement and Policing
GBA Plus Data Collection Plan
The Firearms Compensation Program Web Portal will provide impacted firearms businesses and owners access to a user-friendly Web Portal to enable their participation in the Program. The Web Portal will support the collection of GBA Plus factors from individual owners on a voluntary and consensual basis; including factors such as gender, age, and region of residence. No GBA Plus data will be collected as part of the implementation of the Program for firearms businesses.
Anticipated Impact(s) of Program on Diverse Groups
Firearms control measures limiting access to firearms, including the Firearms Compensation Program, are in direct response to violent crimes involving a firearm, including police-reported intimate partner violence and homicides.
The Firearms Compensation Program will contribute to a reduction in overall firearms violence and help protect diverse population in Canada from gun violence.
Program: Serious and Organized Crime
GBA Plus Data Collection Plan
Online Child Sexual Exploitation
In 2024 to 2025, Public Safety Canada (PS) will collect data on victims of online child sexual exploitation (OCSE) and offenders through reports provided by specialized Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) policing units funded by PS. Data collected may include sociodemographic characteristics such as age and gender. PS will also continue to collaborate with Statistics Canada on the production of evidence-based reports on the impacts of the crime on vulnerable populations and those living in rural or remote communities. These efforts will further Public Safety Canada’s understanding of the crime and inform the tailoring of initiatives to combat OCSE to specific groups and regions, beyond 2024 to 2025.
National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking
Organizations funded through the National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking (NSCHT) provide annual reports to the Department outlining how findings of their respective GBA Plus analyses have been incorporated in their project design and information about the demographic categories of their target population, and ages and gender of project participants where possible. In 2024 to 2025, after all projects have been completed, the Department will develop a narrative report to better understand the reach and impact of funded projects on its intended audience, including at-risk populations.
In Summer 2024, a horizontal evaluation of the NSCHT will be completed. The evaluation will include an assessment of how initiatives under the NSCHT have addressed targeted marginalized and vulnerable groups. These findings will be critical to identifying key achievements, lessons learned, and areas where concerted attention remains.
Anticipated Impact(s) of Program on Diverse Groups
Online Child Sexual Exploitation
It is anticipated that more specialized awareness raising and educational resource material on OCSE will be available and accessible to diverse populations (e.g., at-risk youth groups). It is expected that the increased accessibility of these resources will assist communities in being able to identify different forms of OCSE and their impact (e.g., sextortion), to know which resources are available and where to find them.
Program: Border Policy
GBA Plus Data Collection Plan
The Border Policy program does not collect GBA Plus-related data and will not be advancing efforts to improve and/or implement disaggregated data collection in 2024 to 2025. The Border Policy program plays a coordinating role in border-related policies led by the Canadian Border Services Agency and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. The Department also oversees the Preclearance treaty between Canada and the United States, however the Preclearance program in Canada is delivered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The program relies on data collected by other Government departments and Public Safety Canada portfolio partners. For example, portfolio and Government partners are the sources of information on irregular migrants crossing the border on a daily basis (e.g., source country, location, in addition to some information related to age, sex/gender trends), as well as qualitative analysis on migration patterns.
In 2024 to 2025, the Department will continue to monitor and analyze available GBA Plus qualitative and quantitative data from partners and ensure this information is taken into account throughout the policy development process, as well as in advice provided to decision makers.
Anticipated Impact(s) of Program on Diverse Groups
Not applicable.
Program: Indigenous Policing
GBA Plus Data Collection Plan
Public Safety Canada’s Indigenous policing programs (First Nations and Inuit Policing Program (FNIPP) and First Nations and Inuit Policing Facilities Program (FNIPFP)) fund, in collaboration with provinces and territories of jurisdiction, provide police services and police infrastructure investments that help ensure police services that are professional, dedicated and responsive to First Nations and Inuit communities.
Current performance indicators include:
- Number and percentage of communities receiving policing services through the FNIPP who report that policing services are being delivered in a manner that is respectful to their culture(s);
- Percentage of FNIPP funded officers reported that their workload is dedicated to serving the Indigenous community;
- Number and Percentage of communities receiving policing services through the FNIPP that reported their police service is focusing its efforts on the public safety issues identified by the community(ies);
- A sustained reduction of police reported crime over time; and
- A sustained reduction of police reported violent crime over time.
As Public Safety Canada funds these programs but does not deliver them, the intended benefits of the programs are broad in nature. Since community-based priorities are determined at the community and service-provider level, Public Safety Canada does not have input into the activities of the police service-provider.
The Indigenous Affairs Branch applies a GBA Plus lens in its management of the Indigenous policing programs and liaises with other government departments on GBA Plus issues, noting that Indigenous communities often suffer from disproportionately high crime rates, including high incidence rates of gender-based domestic violence. These conditions, as well as poor socio-economic conditions and other social determinants of health considerations, have been identified by advocates and researchers as causal factors in Canada’s ongoing efforts to prevent missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+Footnote 1 people.
At present, program data and performance indicators do not provide information on how the programs impact these GBA Plus considerations. As part of the Indigenous Affairs Branch’s overall efforts to reform and improve the Indigenous policing programs, the performance reporting and data collected by the program will be revised collaboratively with First Nations and Inuit representatives. These efforts are expected to simplify and streamline reporting requirements, but also identify opportunities to better capture how the programs are making a GBA Plus impact in the communities they serve.
In the interim, FNIPP is supporting Community Consultative Groups (CCGs) which act as a liaison between the First Nations or Inuit community and the police officer(s) assigned to work within the community.
The CCGs undertake specific activities that are designed to ensure the community receives police services that best meet its particular needs and defines the working relationship that will exist between the CCG, the police service provider and the community.
In 2024 to 2025, Public Safety Canada will also be piloting a limited number of Community Safety Officer projects under the FNIPP which will provide First Nations communities with another avenue to address their specific community safety needs. The intended and expected distribution of benefits is the same as the FNIPP. The results of this pilot will not be available until 2026 to 2027.
Anticipated Impact(s) of Program on Diverse Groups
Through Statistics Canada’s Criminal victimization of First Nations, Métis and Inuit people in Canada, 2018 to 2020 report, it is shown that Indigenous people are overrepresented among victims of violence in Canada, including a higher victimization rate of women and 2SLGBTQQIA people. This was particularly true for people with intersecting GBA plus identities, including socioeconomic status, young adults, people who experienced violence during childhood, people with a history of homelessness, people who have experienced discrimination, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.
While we know the FNIPP is likely relevant to various GBA plus identities, PS does not currently have sufficient data collection strategies to effectively draw conclusions on the GBA plus impacts of our programming investments.
Program: Corrections
GBA Plus Data Collection Plan
Aboriginal Community Safety Planning Initiative (ACSPI):
The ACSPI employs a GBA Plus approach to safety by bringing together community members representing diverse views to share their safety priorities and perspectives in a productive environment. In 2024 to 2025, ACSPI will continue to support activities and outcomes directed towards Indigenous men, women and girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ individuals. The ACSPI maintains an internal dataset of all completed safety plans and tracks the quantity and diversity of community-identified solutions designed to address issues related to men, women, girls, and gender diverse people. Some of the issues tracked include, among others, the impact of a strong identity on community safety, awareness of issues such as drinking while pregnant and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder, the presence of sexual exploitation and trafficking in community, and instances of gender-based violence.
The ACSPI will use this knowledge to inform mitigation strategies and best practices to communities, including through planned communication materials in 2024 to 2025 and our Community of Practice. Additionally, in 2024 to 2025, ACSPI will engage with previous Indigenous program funding recipients and evaluators to determine how the Department can most effectively support project evaluations relating to community safety and community corrections. This will improve the department’s evaluation outcomes and ability to provide more comprehensive support to Indigenous funding recipients and programs targeting diverse groups. These actions should allow the ACSPI to serve the needs of these diverse groups and to continue to collaborate to address priorities identified in the Federal 2SLGBTQQI+ Action Plan and the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls initiative.
Indigenous Community Corrections Initiative (ICCI):
ICCI funds projects that support alternatives to incarceration and reintegration supports in an effort to reduce recidivism and improve community safety. GBA Plus factors (e.g., women, 2SLGBTQQIA+, disabilities, impacts on community members, including family members) will be given strong consideration in the ICCI renewal in projects funded in 2024 to 2025. The program will collect GBA Plus disaggregated project data from recipients involved in long term project implementation-related initiatives, including how many justice-involved Indigenous 2SLGBTQQIA+ persons and women participated in the program, the types of program activities they participated in, and whether they recidivated during the program completion. The data collected will inform whether the ICCI reduces the likelihood of future recidivism and increases access to culturally/gender-appropriate programming in justice settings. Likewise, the program and will report on findings where participant and community privacy concerns can be adequately addressed, as ICCI projects are being implemented.
Anticipated Impact(s) of Program on Diverse Groups
Aboriginal Community Safety Planning Initiative (ACSPI):
The ACSPI employs a GBA Plus approach to safety by bringing together community members representing diverse views to share their safety priorities and perspectives in a productive environment. In 2024 to 2025, ACSPI aims to complete 25 Community Safety Plans with Indigenous communities across Canada. During the development of a Community Safety Plan, the core group may include representation from women, girls, youth, elders, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people By bringing together community members with diverse identities and perspectives into a core group for safety planning, ACSPI provides the time and space for communities to identify the needs and priorities of not only the broader community but also its most vulnerable members, including women and girls. This might result in the development of informed strategies to mitigate the trafficking of girls and women, or the creation of safe spaces for men and women to gather together or separately to address trauma and see community members on a path to healing with the intent to decrease instances of domestic and interpersonal violence against members.
ACSPI will also continue to assist in the development and funding of gendered community safety projects such as the “Holding Up Our Women and Girls: Prevention and Safety Initiative,” which includes such activities as community intervention training, women’s health and safety workshops, trauma-informed programming, and cultural connection events in order to achieve a healthier and safer home and community. These achievements will ultimately strengthen community wellbeing, safety, and resilience.
Program: Emergency Preparedness
GBA Plus Data Collection Plan
Emergency Management Strategy (EMS) Action Plan:
GBA Plus considerations are embedded within each of the EMS Action Plan’s key initiatives (e.g., National Risk Profile, Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements review, etc.). While the Action Plan itself will not be advancing efforts to improve disaggregated data collection, key initiatives within the Action Plan will continue to improve and implement disaggregated data collection and monitor program impacts through their respective processes.
National Risk Profile (NRP):
The NRP collects sufficient data to enable it to monitor and report program impacts by gender and diversity (GBA Plus). Through the NRP, Public Safety Canada reaches out to representatives and experts from diverse and vulnerable populations to learn more about how these populations are disproportionately impacted by disasters in Canada, so that efforts can be made towards ensuring that the Department takes a whole-of-society approach to addressing disaster risk, that takes into account the needs of all individuals and groups.
Diversity and Inclusion Grants and Contributions Programs Review:
The Department developed a strategy for collecting and analyzing disaggregated data on funding applicants, recipients and project participants in 2023 to 2024. The data is primarily collected through the Standard Funding Application Form and project activity reports. The demographic attributes identified for data collection are aligned with Statistics Canada to ensure consistency, uniformity and interoperability across the Government of Canada. These include but are not limited to: ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, age and gender.
Looking forward to 2024 to 2025, this data will be used to conduct ongoing demographical analyses to better inform Public Safety Canada’s program design and delivery and in particular, identify any gaps to address funding needs for underrepresented communities.
In 2024 to 2025, the Strategy will also be expanded to include additional funding programs that are undergoing a Call for Applications during the fiscal year. In addition, the Strategy will be supported by efforts to strengthen data governance, promote internal collaboration amongst departmental colleagues and develop a community of practice. For example, the Demographic Data Collection Governance Framework – developed in October 2022 – will be refined and recirculated to promote consensus and action amongst stakeholders regarding their roles and responsibilities. Additionally, the Demographic Data Plan will be finalized to provide guidance on elements such as ethics, privacy, data storage and data access. Lastly, the Department will report on the strategy’s progress and success stories through departmental forums and reports to promote uptake of the strategy and foster knowledge building.
Anticipated Impact(s) of Program on Diverse Groups
Emergency Management Strategy (EMS) Action Plan:
Indigenous populations, marginalized groups with reduced physical mobility, the elderly, persons with physical or mental disabilities, and persons living alone, are more susceptible to disaster impacts. Indigenous, remote, and small communities are more vulnerable to disasters because of underlying social, economic, and environmental drivers. The initiatives within the EMS Action Plan seek to reduce pan-Canadian disaster risks from all hazards, and will have broad implications for the general Canadian population and specific groups that are most vulnerable to disaster impacts.
National Risk Profile (NRP):
The NRP is anticipated to have overall positive effects on all segments of the population, particularly vulnerable populations, as the NRP uses GBA Plus tools to collect information concerning the impacts all segments face from disasters, with the goal of informing decision making to reduce risks and increase resilience for all people in Canada.
Program: Emergency Response/Recovery
GBA Plus Data Collection Plan
National Public Alerting System (NPAS):
In 2024 to 2025, the Department will collaborate with provinces and territories to strengthen the overall use, sustainability, continuity of service and governance of the NPAS.
Humanitarian Workforce:
As the collection of GBA Plus data was a new activity for funding recipients under the Humanitarian Workforce program, they were initially unclear as to what data they should be gathering and/or how it could be gathered as they had previously been providing services to those impacted by a disaster/large-scale emergency without collecting demographic statistics. In 2024 to 2025, Public Safety Canada will continue to work closely with the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) funded under the program to explore which data could be gathered, what collection methods could be used, and how vulnerable communities could be engaged. Funded NGOs will also continue to examine how they work with various communities and will work towards making progress on identified opportunities that they could pursue going forward, including on the recruitment of a more diverse base of volunteers, hiring Indigenous consultants, and reviewing the ways they work with communities.
Post-Traumatic Stress Injuries (PTSI):
Presently, the PTSI Program collects data to monitor program impacts across gender and diversity. However, there are some challenges with collecting robust GBA Plus data for PSPNET, as clients who register for PSPNET are not required to disclose any personal information. Canadian Institute for Public Safety Research and Treatment (CIPSRT) is trying to mitigate this by asking for the information to be provided voluntarily in post-treatment surveys. To date, CIPSRT has collected disaggregated data on gender, ethnicity/race, age, and urban/non-urban residency. No significant differences in outcomes based on these identity factors has been found. CIPSRT will continue to report on GBA Plus factors involving PSPNET participants where possible (age, gender, ethnicity) and will continue to ensure staff are up to date on GBA Plus training.
Search and Rescue New Initiatives Fund (SAR NIF):
In 2023 to 2024, the Department added questions to the SAR NIF application process to facilitate data gathering for the 2024 to 2025 cycle.
COSPAS-SARSAT:
The International Cospas-Sarsat Programme is an automated satellite-aided distress alerting and location system to support SAR authorities around the world. SAR distress alert and location data is passed onto SAR authorities without discrimination. The objective of the Programme is to reduce search times in the delivery of search and rescue in order to reduce potential risk to human life. The International Cospas-Sarsat Programme does not collect data that is outside the scope of its activities.
Anticipated Impact(s) of Program on Diverse Groups
National Public Alerting System (NPAS):
While the NPAS has benefits for all Canadians, it directly impacts low-income individuals, seniors, Indigenous communities, and visible minority groups, including those living in rural, remote and isolated areas, due to changes in technology and the alerting landscape. These groups are often not prepared for emergency events due to issues with accessibility (i.e., lack of access to technology), relevance, and reach of emergency public alerts to vulnerable and underserved populations.
Humanitarian Workforce:
While disasters emergency events affect all Canadians, there is a disproportionate impact on specific demographic groups due to their increased vulnerability. Severe emergency events frequently exacerbate underlying inequalities, in part because socially marginalized populations are often concentrated in environmentally exposed areas. There is also an intersection between social factors (e.g., poverty and age) and increased reliance on social service organizations. For example, if a climate-driven disaster occurs in the context of a health emergency, at risk groups may experience additional challenges when it comes to safety measures (e.g., social distancing) and overcrowding due to evacuation orders following a flood or wildfire. It is anticipated that funding delivered under Humanitarian Workforce program will increase the capacity and ability of non-governmental organizations to work with socially or economically marginalized communities, Indigenous peoples, and diverse ethno-cultural communities.
Post-Traumatic Stress Injuries (PTSI):
With regards to the PTSI Program, it is anticipated that all groups and sectors of public safety personnel (e.g., police, fire, paramedic, border services, etc.) will be impacted by GBA Plus work.
Program: Emergency Prevention/Mitigation
GBA Plus Data Collection Plan
Flood insurance program:
Work to stand-up a low-cost flood insurance regime will continue to integrate GBA Plus analysis by improving the socio-economic and demographic understanding of those that live in areas at high risk of flooding through the use of private and public data sources.
Flood risk portal:
The Flood Insurance Portal initiative collects sufficient data to enable it to monitor and report program impacts by gender and diversity (GBA Plus). The department will work with provinces and territories to identify disaggregated data that could be collected to create program indicators. Indicators would allow for a better understanding of results achieved by the flood insurance program.
Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangement (DFAA) Renewal:
Once the program launches, generalized information will be available that speaks to how the DFAA supports vulnerable people in recovery post-disaster. The program will not collect personal information, but may collect macro-level information from provinces and territories on the funding, use, and impacts of programs designed to support vulnerable people.
Anticipated Impact(s) of Program on Diverse Groups
National Adaptation Strategy (NAS):
Public Safety Canada is the federal lead for the Disaster Resilience section of the NAS. Climate change affects some people and communities more than others. It amplifies existing vulnerabilities and socio-economic inequities, resulting in some populations including Indigenous, Black, Racialized, low-income, 2SLGBTQQIA+, and women experiencing climate change impacts more severely. The Disaster Resilience objectives under the NAS speak to the need for evidence that is informed by local and Indigenous knowledge, and which are inclusive of the whole of society. The main goal aims to reduce overall disaster risks particularly for vulnerable sectors, regions, and populations at greater risk.
Disaster Financial Assistance Agreements (DFAA) Renewal:
The DFAA Renewal was undertaken in part to redress the changing of the programs’ overall impact on Canadians, and especially those most vulnerable. The modernization of the program is meant to, in part, provide clearer and more representative provisions for vulnerable populations by removing barriers to access that these groups have faced in the past and which prevented funding which otherwise was considered admissible, though not easily accessible.
Flood Risk Portal:
Along with a property’s flood hazard rating, the Portal will communicate a community flood risk rating, that will be at the neighbourhood level and will include Social Vulnerability Indices and information about infrastructure to ensure that both physical and social impacts of disaster are considered. Special emphasis will be given to areas hosting communities with social vulnerability. Communications will target communities with social vulnerability such as those with a lower socioeconomic status, seniors, newcomers to Canada (less than 10 years), and Indigenous Peoples who are often more disproportionally impacted by flooding. This overall seeks to improve whole-of-society resilience to disasters and reduce vulnerabilities.
Heavy Urban Search and Rescue (HUSAR):
Public Safety Canada’s planned HUSAR accreditation commits to acknowledging the potentially under-represented sectors of society within first responses criteria that require GBA to ensure responses are fulsome and available to all.
- Date modified: