The Trudeau government has undertaken to explain to hundreds of American public servants the A B C of a policy centered on gender equality.
Documents obtained by The Press demonstrate that training sessions have been offered to US officials since November 2021 to help them better understand the ins and outs of Gender-Based Analysis Plus, also known as GBA Plus.
Essentially, GBA Plus is a policy assessment of the potential impacts of federal government programs or initiatives on women, men and people of diverse gender identities. The Trudeau government has made this analysis the cornerstone of its budgets by adopting in 2018 the Canadian Gender Budgeting Act.
In Ottawa, it is said that GBA Plus has led to the development of important measures such as the national child care program or the Strategy for women in entrepreneurship, among other things.
A first in the United States
After Democrat Joe Biden came to power, the United States government adopted a national policy on gender equality and equity for the first time in October 2021.
Nearly 1,000 U.S. officials have completed the training, according to documents obtained under the Access to Information Act. Members of the White House who are responsible for the gender equality file also followed her.
So far, two training sessions have been offered. A third is planned for the next few weeks.
“This represents an important opportunity to strengthen collaboration between Canada and the United States to advance the file of gender equality, in particular on issues of pay equity,” read the documents obtained. by The Press.
These documents are part of a briefing note prepared by the Privy Council Office for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ahead of the North American Leaders’ Summit that took place in Washington on November 17-18, 2021.
The office of the Minister for Women, Gender Equality and Youth (FEGC), Marci Ien, said that Canada and the United States have been working together more and more on this file since the arrival of Joe Biden in power. Minister Ien leads the federal government’s efforts to “advance gender equality and ensure greater inclusion of people in all their diversity, across Canada.”
“With respect to GBA Plus training offered to U.S. officials, collaboration between FEGC and the U.S. has intensified following the 2020 presidential elections. The new U.S. administration has demonstrated greater interest in multilateral work on gender equality issues and GBA Plus,” Minister Ien’s director of communications, Riyadh Nazerally, said in an email to The Press.
Mr. Nazerally indicated that FEGC gave a first technical session on November 15, 2021. “The second information session was held on February 22, 2022 and officials from FEGC and the Department of Finance Canada participated. This session focused on Canada’s approach to gender budgeting,” he said.
A third session is scheduled to take place in the coming months to allow senior officials to discuss highlights from previous sessions and identify areas for future discussion.
Canada is not a “first in class”
According to Geneviève Tellier, full professor at the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa and author of a recent study on the subject, the government undoubtedly has a role to play in reducing inequalities between men and women. .
But she says she is “a little surprised” that Canadian government services are retained to give training sessions to American officials.
Canada is not really the leader in this area, like Sweden or the Netherlands. It is very recent that we are interested in this here. There was a document that was produced by the OECD in 2017 and at the time Canada was not even on the list of countries. Justin Trudeau changed things after coming to power, but it’s still timid.
Geneviève Tellier, Full Professor at the School of Political Studies, University of Ottawa
Under the Canadian Gender Budgeting Actthe federal government must submit an annual report that accompanies the budget and explains the comparative analyzes of the budget proposals that have been made.
“Yes, there have been things that have been done. But I am still critical because the Liberal government is always good at adopting processes, but the results are not there. There are no long-term goals,” Ms.me Tellier, noting that some of the analyzes carried out are sometimes superficial.
“I’m not saying what Canada is doing isn’t good, far from it. But Canada is not top of the class either. »
With the collaboration of William Leclerc, The Press