Departmental Plan 2023-24
Gender–Based Analysis Plus

Institutional GBA Plus Capacity

Governance structures

Infrastructure Canada (INFC) is working toward developing a stronger Gender-based analysis plus (GBA Plus) culture and is implementing a structured approach to incorporate the analytical tool in its daily activities. The Policy and Results Branch leads INFC's efforts on GBA Plus and hosts the Department's GBA Plus Responsibility Centre.

The GBA Plus Responsibility Centre:

  • Provides GBA Plus leadership and raises awareness across the department;
  • Reviews, assesses, and provides guidance on Memoranda to Cabinet, Treasury Board Submissions, and Budget Proposals;
  • Chairs a community of practice aimed toward building GBA Plus capacity across the Department;
  • Works with internal stakeholders to share and disseminate information on best practices;
  • Develops tools and resources, and organizes learning events to increase GBA Plus capacity within the Department;
  • Liaises with the Department for Women and Gender Equality Canada and the broader Government of Canada GBA Plus Interdepartmental Network;
  • Maintains an internal website to provide resources and build capacity across the department; and works in conjunction with INFC's diversity and inclusion network to promote a workplace that welcomes and celebrates differences and breaks down barriers.

The integration of GBA Plus in all facets of INFC's work – from ideation to decision-making, to monitoring and reporting – is supported by senior management. The Deputy Minister's Executive Committee, which is the most senior level of the INFC governance structure, provides strategic direction on policies and programs to ensure that they are made with an understanding of the positive and negative impacts of infrastructure investments on all Canadians.

Overall, INFC is on track to improve the Departmental culture with respect to the implementation of GBA Plus and is committed to ensuring equitable outcomes of infrastructure investments for all Canadians.

Human resources

The INFC GBA Plus Responsibility Centre consists of one full-time employee, two full-time employees providing part-time support (0.5 FTEs), and one manager (0.25 FTEs) dedicated to the implementation and mainstreaming of GBA Plus in the Department.

Planned initiatives

In 2023-2024, planned initiatives will focus on three areas:

  1. Building capacity through awareness and training:
    • Promote GBA Plus training for employees;
    • Deliver outreach activities for employees; and
    • Liaise with INFC’s broader diversity and inclusion network to promote GBA Plus.
  2. Supporting data and analysis:
    • Assess available data and research to support GBA Plus for infrastructure. For example, as an additional source of GBA Plus related data, the Department is leveraging information available through Statistics Canada and other resources to inform its program and policy design and build understanding of the ways different populations benefit from infrastructure investments;
    • Undertake key diagnostics to strengthen GBA Plus, including work that supports the Department’s community benefits initiatives and the Government of Canada’s Integrated Climate Lens;
    • Support GBA Plus analysis in the development of new policies and programs.
  3. Enhancing advice and reporting:
    • Provide evidence-based GBA Plus analyses in Memorandums to Cabinet, Treasury Board Submissions, and Budget proposals;
    • Ensure GBA Plus considerations are included in public reporting; and
    • Explore GBA Plus performance measures for new programs.

Reporting capacity and data

Infrastructure Canada's programs provide services or benefits to all Canadians. The department is committed to ensuring equitable outcomes of infrastructure investments for all Canadians.

Highlights of GBA Plus Results Reporting Capacity by Program

Core Responsibility

GBA Plus Programs and Capacity

Public Infrastructure, Communities, Affordable Housing and Homelessness Policy

Public Infrastructure and Communities Policy
The Public Infrastructure and Community Policy programs provide decision-makers with timely policy recommendations for infrastructure and communities issues. Evidence-based policy decisions related to public infrastructure and communities that target the needs of Canadians and stakeholders (recipients) while considering finite resources, will continue to be informed by policy centres of expertise. Stakeholder engagement, research and market intelligence data and government-wide considerations including GBA Plus are used to inform policy and program development. GBA Plus is incorporated into Infrastructure Canada's evaluations.

Alternative Financing Policy
The Alternative Financing Policy Program provides stakeholders with timely policy recommendations supporting alternative financing of infrastructure. INFC identifies investment opportunities across a range of funding mechanisms aimed to maximize value-for-money as the federal Government directs investment into infrastructure. Evidence-based policy decisions related to alternative financing models that target the needs of Canadians and stakeholders (public/private partners) while considering finite resources, will continue to be informed by policy centres of expertise.

Major Bridges Policy
The Major Bridges Policy program provides stakeholders with timely policy recommendations supporting infrastructure project delivery. Policy centres of expertise will continue to inform evidence-based policy decisions related to public infrastructure that targets the needs of Canadians and stakeholders (public/private partners) while considering finite resources. Stakeholder engagement, research and market intelligence data and government-wide considerations incorporating GBA Plus are used to inform policy and program development.

Homelessness Policy
The Homelessness Policy program works with communities to develop and deliver outcomes-based approaches to address local homelessness needs. The program also leverages homelessness data, including emergency shelter data, Point-in-Time counts of homelessness in Canadian communities and Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy program-level information, to build an understanding of the state of homelessness in Canada, including for select demographic groups (such as women, gender diverse individuals, youth, seniors, Indigenous peoples, newcomers, Veterans, and people with disabilities), and the impact of federal investments where possible.

Notes Regarding the Infrastructure Policy Process
At the time of development of some of Infrastructure Canada's historical and existing programs, GBA Plus data collection plans were not established. In part, long-term contribution agreements between INFC and the provinces and territories did not include data or indicators around GBA Plus.

Certain programs collect administrative data, including project location data, enabling the Department to learn from past programs, and conduct GBA Plus analysis on new programs, which in turn allows for evidence-based policy analysis and decision-making.

Public Infrastructure, Communities, and Homelessness Investments

Public Infrastructure and Communities Investment
Public Infrastructure and Communities Investment recommend projects related to public infrastructure and communities to which funds can be committed. It works to deliver long-term predictable funding that meets diverse and unique local needs in areas such as transit, climate adaptation for resilience, community and cultural infrastructure, and rural and northern development, in order to build stronger, more liveable and more resilient communities. One of the major funds, the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP), supports community needs such as access to jobs, by requiring that individual projects worth over a certain cost threshold ($10 million or $25 million depending on jurisdiction) in federal contribution report on the employment and/or procurement opportunities for at least three Community Employment Benefits (CEB) groups. These groups include apprentices, Indigenous peoples, women, persons with disabilities, Veterans, youth and new Canadians, as well as opportunities for small to medium-sized and social enterprises.

GBA Plus data is generally collected by INFC through the project funding application process, and through progress and final reporting for approved funding applications.  Data collected through eligibility requirements in the project funding application process and reporting from recipients may be used for future GBA Plus analysis. INFC also collects project location data, enabling the Department to conduct GBA Plus analysis on the basis of regional and geographic distribution. For example, analyses may consider the distribution of approved projects in Northern communities and communities of different sizes.

Alternative Financing Investment
The Alternative Financing Investment program provides oversight on federal matters relating to the development of alternative financing approaches for projects under this program. The initiatives are often merit-based and work with provincial, territorial or municipal partners that favour GBA Plus factors such as diverse communities, including projects with Indigenous partners, that are equal-opportunity employers, have diverse boards, or promote economic inclusion.

Major Bridges Investment
A key feature of the Gordie Howe International Bridge (GHIB), one of Major Bridges and Projects’ priorities, is the inclusion of a Community Benefits Plan (CBP). The project is monitored for positive outcomes for local communities and a Workforce Development and Participation Strategy has been geared toward engaging local businesses and focuses on supporting workforce, training and pre-apprenticeship/apprenticeship opportunities. Projects can report on GBA Plus based on identified priorities of the CBP. The Samuel De Champlain Bridge (SDCB) Corridor Project, another priority investment, continues to monitor relevant data to help identify future GBA Plus impact assessment opportunities as the Bridge shifts to full operations. Impact assessments for this Project were completed regarding dedicated transit lanes, multi-use paths, and gender-based employment during construction.

Homelessness Investment
Infrastructure Canada uses a range of funding mechanisms, including direct funding to urban, Indigenous, territorial, rural and remote communities across Canada to help them address their local homelessness needs. Under the program, communities work in partnership with the local community or regional organizations to set direction for addressing homelessness. In this regard, partnerships with a broad range of key sectors and systems that intersect with homelessness are encouraged, including Indigenous organizations, people with lived experience, police and correctional services, landlord associations, and health organizations. Investments made to support distinctions-based approaches to homelessness services are co-developed with Indigenous partners and governments.

Public Infrastructure and Communities Investment Stewardship and Delivery

Allocation-based and Direct Funding Stewardship
For programs such as ICIP, it is the responsibility of program recipients to collect relevant data and report on GBA Plus. For example, this includes information obtained under the Community Employment Benefits and submitted to INFC through the submission of both progress and final reports. In addition, INFC collects project location data, enabling the Department to conduct GBA Plus analysis on the basis of regional and geographic distribution.

Some active programs, including ICIP and direct application programs, also ensure compliance to GBA Plus principles by capturing and measuring key indicators at the community level. For example, these indicators consider:

  • that projects take gender into consideration during the designand/or construction phases;
  • that public facing built assets incorporate universal design;
  • the percentage of federally funded public facing infrastructurewhich will meet the highest published applicable accessibility standard in a respective jurisdiction.

Such indicators are primarily reflected in the outcomes-based Grants and Contribution Agreements with various communities, some of which align funding to project outcomes and milestones for achieving them.

Alternative Financing Oversight
Alternative financing approaches are developed and influenced through Alternative Financing Oversight. Alternative financing investments take into account a diverse range of communities in their program delivery. While the initial program design did not include GBA Plus, current data collection of outputs for awareness building and technical assistance will be provided in the program analysis.

Major Bridges Oversight
Investments in major bridges take into account a diverse range of communities in their project delivery. While the initial major bridge project design did not directly include GBA Plus, ongoing and future data collection to support GBA Plus will be provided in future project analysis.

Homelessness Funding Oversight
The majority of the homelessness program uses a community-based approach so that communities are able to have flexibility in determining their own needs and priorities, and funding projects accordingly. Collection of data through homelessness systems allows for oversight of specific project funding, while creating an overall portrait of homelessness across Canada to support advanced responses to homelessness. All Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy funding recipients are required to provide reporting to INFC, which can include reporting on indicators such as the number of people that were placed in more stable housing, received a prevention service (e.g., utility payment or landlord mediation), started new paid employment, or began receiving income assistance. Recipients receiving funding under certain streams are also required to complete additional reports regarding their community’s progress towards implementing coordinated service delivery, and a Unique Identifier List that ultimately provides a real-time, comprehensive list of those experiencing homelessness in the community. Once in place, the reporting tool allows communities to provide annualized data (and, optionally, monthly data) that focuses on the cumulative levels of homelessness, inflows into and outflows from homelessness, and levels of Indigenous and chronic homelessness in the community.