Minister's message

I am proud to present Status of Women Canada’s Departmental Results Report for the fiscal year 2017–18. The past year has been a busy and exciting time for Status of Women Canada (SWC). I am honoured to serve as Minister and remain deeply committed to the work we do to advance gender equality.

Over the past year, our work has continued to focus on four priority areas: addressing gender-based violence (GBV); strengthening the implementation of Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA+); promoting women’s economic security and prosperity, and; increasing the representation of women in leadership roles.

This year we marked the first year of It’s Time: Canada’s Strategy to Address and Prevent Gender-Based Violence, the first federal strategy of its kind. I am heartened by all that we have accomplished. The Me Too and Time’s Up movements and the global Women’s Marches have brought the issues of sexism, misogyny and GBV to the forefront. SWC intends to keep up the momentum and double its efforts to end GBV. In January, I announced $20 million in funding for a call for concepts as part of the new Gender-Based Violence Program, to develop promising practices that strengthen the GBV sector to address gaps in supports for survivors of GBV. Through this Program, we have made funding more accessible to equality-seeking organizations that are addressing gaps in support for underserved groups, such as Indigenous women, LGBTQ2 peoples, women with disabilities, and other populations. Budget 2018 announced increased funding for the GBV Program, allowing SWC to support even more projects.

With the inclusion of the new funds announced in Budget 2018, we have committed nearly $200 million under the Strategy’s three pillars since 2017. Accomplishments to date include 7,000 new and repaired shelter beds, Criminal Code changes to clarify sexual assault laws on consent and intimate partner violence offences, the launch of the first ongoing national survey on GBV in Canada, and engagement with men and boys as partners in advancing gender equality. Also, collaboration with the Canadian Football League during last year’s Grey Cup Festival resulted in over 40,000 individuals pledging to take action to end GBV.

We have also enhanced our use of Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA+) to better understand how women, men and gender-diverse people are impacted differently by government initiatives. Budget 2018 was the first-ever federal budget to apply an intersectional gender lens to all its measures and also introduced the new Gender Results Framework to guide future decision-making and measure our progress. Over 110,000 federal public servants, parliamentarians and parliamentary staff have completed GBA+ online training. This new expertise will support a more consistent and systematic use of GBA+ in legislation, policies and programs of the federal government, including Cabinet proposals, departmental plans and budgeting. In 2018, new legislation will be introduced to enshrine GBA+ within the federal budget-making process and ensure it is applied to all future spending decisions.

The Government of Canada believes that greater representation of women in all types of leadership roles contributes to a stronger Canada. SWC is engaged in initiatives to support the increased representation of women in the executive offices and boardrooms of private corporations and in the leadership of community-based organizations, as well as in the public service itself. In 2016, the Government of Canada introduced Bill C-25 to increase women’s representation, as well as diversity, on corporate boards and in senior management. We also implemented a new approach to Governor in Council (GIC) appointments with a commitment to run open, transparent, and merit-based selection processes to help strengthen trust in Canada’s democracy and ensure the integrity of its public institutions. As a result, 920 appointments have been made via this new process between February 2016 and September 2018, of which 53% were women, bringing the new percentage of women in senior appointments to 47%.

SWC is also investing in projects across Canada that address systemic barriers to gender equality. Last fall, we launched a call for proposals totalling nearly $15 million to improve women’s economic security. Investments focus on collaborative projects that address the root causes limiting the economic security of women in Canada, as well as projects that identify opportunities for Indigenous women’s economic success. In order to ensure that the voices of Indigenous women are heard and help inform federal action on gender equality, SWC has also convened an Indigenous Women’s Circle.

Ensuring that the women’s movement is sustainable and can continue serving, and advocating on behalf of, women and girls across Canada is essential. As a result of Budget 2018, an additional $100 million will be invested over five years to enhance the Women’s Program to build the capacity of equality-seeking organizations, reduce gender inequality and promote a fairer and more productive society. Budget 2018 further addressed systemic barriers to gender equality by, among other things, creating the new parental sharing benefit to support a more equitable distribution of child care within the home, and allocating funding to support the implementation of legislation to ensure all federally-regulated workplaces are free of sexual harassment and violence, and boost legal aid across Canada with a focus on supporting victims of sexual harassment in the workplace.

In December 2017, the Prime Minister announced that advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment would be a key theme of Canada’s 2018 G7 presidency. I am proud that our support to the Gender Equality Advisory Council and the integration of GBA+ throughout our G7 Presidency helped drive concrete outcomes that will remove barriers to equality and empower women and girls around the world.

While we have accomplished a great deal over the past year, much more remains to be done. I am sure that the coming months will again offer us many challenges and opportunities. In the coming year, as part of the Budget 2018 commitment, SWC will become an official department. This will create a legislative basis for SWC to solidify and formalize our role and increase our ability to deliver initiatives that support and enhance the full equality of people of all genders in our society.

I appreciate continued engagement with stakeholders and individuals across the country that share our passionate commitment to the advancement of gender equality in Canada and around the world. I am confident that by working together with all Canadians we will continue to make real progress toward achieving gender equality for all.

Sincerely,

The Honourable Maryam Monsef, P.C, M.P.
Minister of Status of Women

Date modified:

2018-11-20