Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus)

1.1 Basic Organizational Capacity (BOC)

Target population: First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples

Distribution of Benefits

By gender: 60 to 79% men

Key impacts

Key impacts (other): BOC provides Indigenous Representative Organizations with core capacity funding to support core operations and salaries within their respective organizations. These organizations are instrumental in advancing Indigenous self-determination and strengthening Crown-Indigenous relationships based on respect, cooperation, partnership, and recognition of rights. BOC is allocated to national and regional Indigenous organizations inclusive of all genders and Indigenous distinctions in order to ensure that diverse Indigenous voices are heard on issues that affect them. The program has indirect impacts on First Nations, Inuit and Métis women. Of the 50 recognized organizations eligible for BOC funds, there are 4 organizations that specifically serve Indigenous women, and additional Indigenous Representative Organizations have women's councils that also serve the interests of women members and citizens.

GBA Plus Data Collection Plan: Nothing to report for 2020–21.

1.2 Consultation and Accommodation

Target population: Indigenous peoples

Distribution of Benefits

By gender: broadly gender-balanced
By income level: no significant distributional impacts
By age group: no significant inter-generational impacts or impacts generation between youth and seniors

Key impacts

Key impacts (other): Being cognizant of the administrative reporting burden on Indigenous partners, performance measurement, and indicators of the program for emerging GBA Plus impacts will be encouraged within the existing reporting structure for Indigenous peoples but not imposed by CIRNAC. The department will look for opportunities to work collaboratively towards the collection of GBA Plus-relevant data where appropriate and where Indigenous partners are interested in collaborating on GBA Plus objectives.

GBA Plus Data Collection Plan: Nothing to report for 2020–21.

1.3 Consultation and Policy Development

Target population: First Nations and Inuit peoples

Distribution of Benefits

By gender: 60 to 79% men

Key impacts (other): This program has direct impacts on First Nations and Inuit men, women, and gender diverse people as it supports advocacy and leadership capacity of Indigenous Representative Organizations to be meaningful players in advancing Indigenous self-determination. It has indirect benefits for First Nations and Inuit women, as all of the National Indigenous Women's Organizations are eligible recipients of this program, and additional Indigenous Representative Organizations have women's councils that also serve the interest of women members and citizens.

GBA Plus Data Collection Plan: Nothing to report for 2020–21.

1.4 Federal Interlocutor's Contribution Program

Target population: Métis, Non-Status Indians, off-reserve, urban, Indigenous women, gender diverse, and other off-reserve Indigenous people

Distribution of Benefits

By gender: 60 to 79% men

Key impacts

GBA Plus Data Collection Plan: Baseline data collected through the development and implementation of long-term work plans with partner organizations and communities will assist in measuring and tracking GBA Plus considerations.

1.5 First Nation Jurisdiction over Land and Fiscal Management

The program works directly with the institutions (i.e. First Nations Tax Commission, First Nations Financial Management Board, and First Nations Finance Authority) and not with First Nations. Therefore, the program does not collect or have access to GBA Plus information and does not have direct gender or intersectional based impacts. The program seeks to provide additional governance tools to First Nations governments so they can invest in much needed community infrastructure. As such, any impacts would be indirect and arise from decisions rendered by chief and council in regards to selection of infrastructure projects.

1.6 Management and Implementation of Agreements and Treaties

Target population: Modern Treaty and Self-governing Partners

Distribution of Benefits

By gender: broadly gender-balanced
By income level: no significant distributional impacts
By age group: no significant inter-generational impacts or impacts generation between youth and seniors

Key impacts (other): Not available

GBA Plus Data Collection Plan: Nothing to report for 2020–21. CIRNAC officials will continue to seek out opportunities to collaborate with Indigenous partners on GBA Plus data collection strategies.

1.7 Negotiations of Claims and Self-Government Agreements

Target population: All Indigenous Groups in negotiations with the Government of Canada, or who already have agreement(s) with the Government of Canada

Distribution of Benefits

By gender: 60 to 79% men
By income level: no significant distributional impacts
By age group: no significant inter-generational impacts or impacts generation between youth and seniors

Key impacts (other): Training on diversity and inclusion has been provided. There are organized discussions on safe space training and unconscious bias training with employees.

The ultimate goal of CIRNAC's work is, among other things, a shift in accountability away from the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations to the government of self-determining Indigenous communities. Thus, a major indicator of success is the number of agreements with Indigenous groups, that have been reached through the lenses of the Guidelines for Federal Officials Concerning the Application of GBA Plus to Treaties and Aboriginal Government Negotiations.

CIRNAC negotiates and implements a variety of rights-based agreements, comprehensive land claims and self-government agreements (as well as specific claims, special claims and out-of-court settlements) with Indigenous groups. This approach is towards a more mutual, reciprocal model, based on a nation-to-nation, Inuit-Crown, government-to-government relationship. Self-government agreements are entrenching their own mechanisms that are guided by GBA Plus considerations.

Finally, the GBA Plus Guidelines help ensure that negotiators know how to implement GBA Plus at every stage of the negotiation process. GBA Plus has been applied to over 160 tables this past year.

Supplementary Information Sources:

• Evaluation of the Impacts of Self-Government Agreements (2016)
• Implementation of modern treaties and self-government agreements

GBA Plus Data Collection Plan: CIRNAC recently developed GBA Plus best practices in the GBA Plus Guidelines. Now that the Guidelines for Federal Officials Concerning the Application of GBA Plus to Treaties and Aboriginal Government Negotiations are completed, CIRNAC is looking towards ways to capture key data on how Guidelines are being implemented and followed. There are GBA Plus data collection and analysis tools in development to improve the capacity to measure and assess the impacts of the program on gender and diversity in the future.

1.8 Other claims

This program does not provide direct services to Indigenous communities and therefore does not collect nor have access to GBA Plus information or data.

1.9 Residential Schools Resolution

Target population: Residential School Survivors and inter-generationally impacted families and communities

Distribution of Benefits

By gender: broadly gender-balanced
By age group: primarily benefits seniors or the baby boom generation

Key impacts (other): Not available

GBA Plus Data Collection Plan: Nothing to report for 2020–21.

1.10 Specific Claims

CIRNAC is not positioned to identify distribution of benefits of specific claims settlement agreements on individual members of a First Nation. As the settlement agreement provides the First Nation with the sole authority and responsibility for administration of the settlement compensation, Canada is not in a position to address such effects post-agreement, and Canada does not seek to ask First Nations to report on the use, access and benefits derived by the use of the settlement funds.

2.1 Canadian High Arctic Research Station

Target population: Groups involved in the construction of the Canadian High Arctic Research Station (CHARS) in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut

Distribution of Benefits

By gender: predominantly men (80% or more men)
By income level: somewhat benefits low income individuals (Somewhat progressive)
By age group: no significant inter-generational impacts or impacts generation between youth and seniors

Key impacts (other): The target group is expected to directly benefit from job creation, local skills training and the hiring of local firms. The project particularly benefits men with a low to moderate degree of education. As well, some Nunavut Inuit-targeted technical and manual skilled positions, including carpentry, mechanical and electrical trades may favour Inuit men.

The construction project has benefited the Inuit population as construction of a federal facility in Nunavut requires the implementation of an Inuit Benefits Plan that specifically includes a Human Resources plan, skills development plan, and hiring of Inuit businesses. The project provides training and seeks to diversify the type of skills that will be taught to the various Inuit involved in this effort. The project aims to provide additional benefits where necessary for Inuit during employment, such as on-campus meals and housing so as to support meaningful engagement that may otherwise be hindered by socio-economic barriers. In addition, guided tours of the jobsite have allowed the local community to appreciate the efforts that are being put into the construction and learn about the ways the facility could be used for public engagement.

The completion of the construction itself will provide indirect long-term benefits to a diverse group of people in the local community including women, youth, Elders, disabled, and others who will have access to the facility and to programs operated on the CHARS campus by Polar Knowledge Canada.

GBA Plus Data Collection Plan: CIRNAC's responsibility as manager for this major Crown project will be phased out with the transfer of ownership of the facility to Polar Knowledge Canada. This construction project is delivered through a third-party Construction Manager, EllisDon Construction, while Public Services and Procurement Canada is responsible for managing the contracting and for reporting to Treasury Board on major Crown projects such as CHARS. In this context, CIRNAC has limited ability to collect data on the target population in support of departmental results.

As the future custodian, Polar Knowledge Canada will be responsible for ongoing monitoring and evaluation of CHARS research programs and operations. While Polar Knowledge Canada does not directly collect sex or gender-disaggregated data to measure the gender-based impacts of the Science and Technology Program at the CHARS campus, the participation and leadership of Indigenous researchers on projects led or supported by Polar Knowledge Canada are measured by 2 performance indicators in Polar Knowledge Canada's Departmental Results Framework: (1) Percentage of Arctic research projects led or supported by Polar Knowledge Canada that include Indigenous or local knowledge and (2) Percentage of Arctic projects led or supported by Polar Knowledge Canada that involve Northerners. As well, the inclusion of youth in outreach and engagement activities, such as science camps, is measured in indicator (3) Percentage of Polar Knowledge Canada-led or supported projects that involve youth or early career researchers.

2.2 Climate Change Adaptation and Clean Energy

Target population: All northern peoples and southern First Nations, Métis.

Distribution of Benefits

By gender: 60% to 79% men
By income level: no significant distributional impacts
By age group: no significant inter-generational impacts or impacts generation between youth and seniors

Key impacts (other): Not available

GBA Plus Data Collection Plan: Nothing to report for 2020–21.

2.3 Northern and Arctic Environmental Sustainability

Target population: Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in the territories

Distribution of Benefits

By gender: predominantly men (80% or more men)
By income level: somewhat benefits high income individuals (somewhat regressive)
By age group: no significant inter-generational impacts or impacts generation between youth and seniors

Key impacts (other): The Northern Participant Funding Program supports Indigenous participation in impact assessments of major projects in the 3 territories. That participation has a bias towards the effects of projects on traditionally male land use and activities, to the detriment of looking at the impacts on Indigenous women. Quantitative data is sparse, but there is growing qualitative evidence supporting this difference.

GBA Plus Data Collection Plan: Starting in 2021–22 the Northern Participant Funding Program will add an indicator tracking how many recipients incorporated GBA Plus into their program delivery.

2.4 Northern and Arctic Governance and Partnerships

Target population: All Northerners, Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in the territories

Distribution of Benefits

By gender: broadly gender-balanced
By income level: no significant distributional impacts
By age group: no significant inter-generational impacts or impacts generation between youth and seniors

Key impacts (other): Not available

GBA Plus Data Collection Plan: Nothing to report in 2020–21.

2.5 Northern Contaminated Sites

Target population: Indigenous peoples and Northerners living in proximity to contaminated sites in Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut

Distribution of Benefits

By gender: broadly gender-balanced

Key impacts

Key impacts (other): In 2020–21, the Northern Contaminated Sites Program advanced strategies that have been co-developed with partners on a number of projects to promote employment, training, and business opportunities for Indigenous peoples and Northerners:

• Giant Mine Remediation Project: Co-developed a socio-economic strategy and associated socio-economic implementation plan and established a socio-economic working group and socio-economic advisory body with participation of Indigenous rights-holders, partners and stakeholders.
• Faro Mine Remediation Project: Began co-developing a Socio-Economic Framework to guide the delivery of socio-economic benefits, allocating approximately $1.5 million for Ross River Dena Council, Liard First Nation, and Selkirk First Nation to participate in the project.
• Great Bear Lake Remediation Project: Signed a co-developed Governance Agreement, ensuring Délı̨nę community members have a say in decisions about the clean-up of abandoned mines sites on their traditional territory.
• Mount Nansen Remediation Project: Negotiated a Participation Benefit Agreement with the Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation and subcontracted a Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation Development Corporation to support water quality monitoring for the project from September 2020 to September 2021.

GBA Plus Data Collection Plan: The program requires contractors to report data on employment, training, and sub-contracting on a quarterly basis. This includes the person-hours of employment and hours of training completed by gender identity, Indigenous identity, and Northern residency. In accordance with the Treasury Board Secretariat's Policy Direction to Modernize the Government of Canada's Sex and Gender Information Practices, the quarterly reports collect gender-disaggregated data for the purposes of completing, implementing, and monitoring GBA Plus considerations, and includes a non-binary gender identification option. This information is collected by the project quarterly reports, and the department updates the socio-economic data repository annually so that projects can complete independent analysis. This practice allows projects to measure GBA Plus impacts and monitor progress in relation to the targets on an annual basis. As this item is regularly reviewed and adjusted to optimize the program's data collection process, updates will be reported accordingly.

2.6 Northern Regulatory and Legislative Frameworks

Target population: All Canadians, but particularly Inuit, Northerners, territorial governments and industry stakeholders

Distribution of Benefits

By gender: broadly gender-balanced
By income level: no significant distributional impacts
By age group: no significant inter-generational impacts or impacts generation between youth and seniors

Key impacts (other): Not available

GBA Plus Data Collection Plan: Nothing to report in 2020–21.

2.7 Northern Strategic and Science Policy

Target population: All northerners

Distribution of Benefits

By gender: broadly gender-balanced
By income level: somewhat benefits low income individuals (somewhat progressive)
By age group: no significant inter-generational impacts or impacts generation between youth and seniors

Key impacts (other): The program provides support for the shared priorities, goals and objectives of Canada's Arctic and Northern Policy Framework, specifically for Goal 1: Canadian Arctic and northern Indigenous peoples are resilient and healthy. There are unacceptable gaps in health and social development outcomes between Arctic and northern Indigenous peoples and most other Canadians. The Task Force on Post-Secondary Education in the North, the Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning, and the construction of a science building at Yukon College as it transitions to Yukon University will all contribute to mitigating the inequities caused by poor access to education for Arctic and northern Indigenous peoples.

While the benefits of establishing a Task Force on Post-Secondary Education in the North and support for the science building at Yukon College are expected to be broadly gender balanced, it is anticipated that support for the Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning (Dechinta Centre) will provide particular support for women. The Dechinta Centre is noteworthy for the support it offers to single parents, particularly single mothers, through integrated child-care and schooling for the children of students. Through its engagement with students, the Dechinta Centre found that a lack of childcare was the principal barrier preventing women for attending post-secondary education in the Northwest Territories. Also, Yukon College has stated that there will be benefits to Indigenous peoples, recent immigrants, veterans, young people, people with disabilities and women.

Supplementary Information Sources:

• Education as a social determinant of First Nations, Inuit and Métis Health
• Indigenous Post-Secondary Education, 2011
• Postsecondary enrolments, by registration status, institution type, status of student in Canada and gender

GBA Plus Data Collection Plan: Nothing to report in 2020–21.

2.8 Nutrition North

Target Population: Residents of isolated, northern communities. While NNC is a program of general application, programming seeks to benefit residents with lower incomes, particularly Indigenous people, women, children, young and/or lone parents, people with disabilities, elders and others who are most vulnerable to food insecurity.

Distribution of Benefits

By gender: broadly gender-balanced
By income level: strongly benefits low income individuals (strongly progressive)
By age group: no significant inter-generational impacts or impacts generation between youth and seniors

Key Impacts (other): Because of women's role as caregivers and their direct involvement in food preparation and caregiving activities inside the household, the retail food subsidy which lowers the price of food, directly benefits women and other vulnerable groups that may be under their responsibility such as children and elders. Recognizing that home-baking is an important element of women's role inside the household, in 2019 NNC expanded its subsidy list to include essential baking items. It has also added feminine hygiene products to provide increased supports to women and individuals that might need them.

While the retail subsidy component is of general application, the Harvesters Support Grant is targeted at the most vulnerable and ensures the equitable distribution of food among women, elders, and children. This benefits Indigenous and lower-income groups by increasing access to healthy, traditional foods that does not need to be purchased at the store. While men are more likely to engage in the dangerous aspect of harvesting activities on the land, the Grant reinforces women's roles in gathering medicinal plants and berries as well as handling other harvesting activities such as meal preparation, making clothes, jewelry, tools, and other art pieces. The Grant promotes the sharing of traditional knowledge by fostering the youths' participation in harvesting trips, training, and educational activities around harvesting and food preparation and preservation. It also helps expand the traditional sharing networks by making harvests and traditional foods more available and by distributing them to elders, children, single-parent households, persons with disabilities and other groups that may not be able to directly participate in harvesting activities.

To further support knowledge of healthy eating in NNC eligible communities, there are Nutrition Education Initiatives led by Indigenous Services Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada. These initiatives include cooking classes, in-store tastings, and workshops for traditional food preparation. Women are reported to be more likely to participate and be involved in these activities than men as they tend to lead decision making on nutrition within their households.

While current programming benefit to the most vulnerable, NNC continues to develop options that support longer-term solutions of improving food security and social outcomes which will impact the younger generations through the restoration of pride in culture and reducing the cognitive impacts of malnutrition. The Program is currently co-developing options with Indigenous partners to further improve the program in a way that better supports the most vulnerable and center women's participation and amplify their role as keepers of communities and traditions.

Supplementary Information Sources:

• Aboriginal People's Survey (2017)
• Final Report on the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (2019)
• Canadian Community Health Survey, 2014, 2015-16
• Nutrition North Canada, 2016 Engagement, What We Heard
• Inuit Health Survey (IHS, 2007-2008)
• Pauktuutit – Inuit Women of Canada, Food Mail Review, Inuit Gender-Based Analysis
• Council of Canadian Academies | CCA | Aboriginal Food Security in Northern Canada: An Assessment of the State of Knowledge
• Lemke, S., & Delormier, T. 2017. Indigenous Peoples' food systems, nutrition, and gender: Conceptual and methodological considerations. Maternal & child nutrition, 13(3)

GBA Plus Data Collection Plan: NNC collects program data related to food shipments and food cost/sale price. Additionally, the program receives progress reports on harvesting activities supported by the Harvesters Support Grant which provide a qualitative lens as to how Grant initiatives are benefitting vulnerable groups, such as women and elders. As well, NNC continues to consult with Indigenous partners to gain a more nuanced approach to the lived experiences of women and other vulnerable groups in eligible communities.