Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy
2020 to 2023 Short-form Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy
Name of department
Statistics Canada
Date
January 2021
Context
Although Statistics Canada is not bound by the Federal Sustainable Development Act and is not required to develop a full departmental sustainable development strategy, Statistics Canada adheres to the principles of the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy (FSDS) by complying with the Policy on Green Procurement.
The Policy on Green Procurement supports the Government of Canada's effort to promote environmental stewardship. In keeping with the objectives of the policy, Statistics Canada supports sustainable development by integrating environmental performance considerations into the procurement decision making process through the actions described in the 2019 to 2022 FSDS "Greening Government" goal.
Commitments
Please refer to the table below.
Integrating sustainable development
Statistics Canada will continue to ensure that its decision-making process includes consideration of FSDS goals and targets through its Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) process. An SEA for policy, plan or program proposals includes an analysis of the impacts of the given proposal on the environment, including on FSDS goals and targets.
Public statements on the results of Statistics Canada's assessments will be made public and announced on its website when an initiative has undergone a detailed SEA. The purpose of the public statement is to demonstrate that the environmental effects, including the impacts on achieving the FSDS goals and targets, of the approved policy, plan or program have been considered during proposal development and decision making.
FSDS goal: Greening Government
| FSDS target | FSDS contributing actions | Corresponding departmental action(s) | Contribution by each departmental action to the FSDS goal and target | Starting point(s), target(s) and performance indicator(s) for departmental actions | Link to the department's Program Inventory |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actions supporting the Greening Government goal and the Policy on Green Procurement | Departments will use environmental criteria to reduce the environmental impact and ensure best value in government procurement decisions |
|
Motivate suppliers to reduce the environmental impact of their goods, services and supply chains. |
|
|
| Support for green procurement will be strengthened, including guidance, tools and training for public service employees |
|
Motivate suppliers to green their goods, services and supply chain. |
|
||
|
|||||
Gender-based analysis plus
Institutional GBA+ Capacity
Statistics Canada has established a Centre for Gender, Diversity and Inclusion Statistics to report on progress made towards gender equality and address gaps in the availability of disaggregated data and analysis on gender, race, class, sexual orientation, disability and other intersecting identities. The Centre enables data users to easily access and analyze a wealth of statistical information, relevant to the evaluation of programs, policies and initiatives from a gender, diversity and inclusion perspective.
Statistics Canada is committed to creating not only a diverse and inclusive workforce, but a safe place for all employees. Statistics Canada's Diversity and Inclusion Framework and goals include:
- Have a workforce that is representative of the Canadian population
- Attract and retain a talented, skilled and diverse workforce
- Understand inclusion barriers within the agency
- Create barrier free processes, policies, practices and programs
- Tracking progress and measure results
In 2021-22, the agency will continue to implement the Equity Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan and support progress in areas under five pillars; recruitment, development, increasing awareness, visible leadership and accountability, and accessibility. A few examples of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion actions include:
- Increase hiring of racialized employees for all new recruitment, promotions and acting assignments for executive positions
- Calculate projected gaps to inform potential hiring goals and staffing strategies with hiring managers
- Develop an accountability mechanism for Champions
- Develop and put in place a mandatory pledge for support and engagement from management in relations to diversity and inclusion
- Identify and implement diversity and inclusion mandatory training for all employees
Statistics Canada plans to continue to diversify its hiring practices and staffing processes to ensure it is inclusive and accessible to all Canadians. As part of the agency's commitment to inclusivity and accessibility, the agency is amending questions in the hiring process to give flexibility to candidates who may have been out of the workforce for some time, removing barriers at the outset of the hiring process, and encouraging women to apply to male dominated fields where they are under-represented.
In addition, Statistics Canada is committed to tracking employment equity gaps and in 2021-22 a new Dashboard for management will be available with more indicators, giving management a better idea of the retention rate, promotion rate, and other key information regarding employment equity and diversity and inclusion. This will better equip management to understand and address the gaps in their division.
Highlights of GBA+ Results Reporting Capacity by Program
Economic and Environmental Statistics
National Economic Accounts Program:
To support the economic participation and prosperity framework, the human resources modules for the Infrastructure Accounts and selected satellite accounts (natural resources, environment) contain detailed breakdowns for men and women. For 2021-22, work is underway to link the labour productivity program to labour force characteristics which will provide further GBA+ insights. As well, estimates of the value of unpaid household work, for women and men, will be updated, thereby contributing to GBA+ and supporting analysis related to gender inequalities in Canada.
Corporations Return Act:
This was used to construct a gender database for corporate Canada. Coupled with additional information the database does provide insight on gender distribution within senior ranks of corporate Canada and therefore inform on the Gender Results Framework pillar: Leadership and Democratic Participation. Thus far the project has provided research and further insights into gender representation of decisions makers within the corporate sector in Canada. For 2021-22, the agency would like to widen the scope of the project to include a broader diversity lens especially within the immigrant population. This research initiative will pursue a research agenda focusing on the Canadian corporate sector developments in the areas of diversity within the existing GBA+ framework. The goal is to table a report by March 31, 2022 that outlines the findings and propose potential future initiatives for analytical studies and statistical outputs.
COVID-19
New disaggregated data based on gender will be released, particularly as they relate to the impact of the economic downturn in the context of the pandemic.
Socio-economic Statistics
With a joint goal to increase knowledge and literacy under five of the pillars of the Gender Results Framework (GRF) (Economic Participation and Prosperity; Poverty Reduction, Health and Well-being; Leadership and Democratic Participation; Education and Skills Development; Gender-based Violence and Access to Justice), the Department for Women and Gender Equality (WAGE) has engaged Statistics Canada to address important gaps in the availability of data and analysis related to gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, ethnocultural characteristics and their intersecting identities. Among projects supported by WAGE, the Centre will produce a report on the assessment of adding intersectionality to the Gender Results Framework indicators. The Centre will also release a few analytical products to inform on Canada's diversity: an analytical series on the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LGB) population, including an article on the linguistic and ethnocultural diversity among lesbian, gay and bisexual Canadians, a paper on the sociodemographic profile of women living in rural and remote areas of Canada (including immigrant status, Indigenous identity and ethnocultural characteristics. Further, a greater emphasis was placed on disaggregating data as much as possible so all papers will include as much information on diverse population groups as the data will allow.
Since the onset of the pandemic, the Centre released a number of articles on the impact of COVID-19 on diverse population groups, including mental health and gender, mental health for population groups designated as visible minorities, the impact of COVID-19 on LGBTQ2+ Canadians and parenting through the pandemic. An article on statistical standards used to disaggregate data was also released. The Centre has also modified the Gender, Diversity and Inclusion Statistics Hub to highlight the COVID-19 articles that used disaggregated data and also organized them by diverse population group.
The Centre has also been developing a standard for measuring sexual orientation. The first round of consultations took place in winter 2020 with experts within the federal government, academia and community organizations. The next phase took place in summer 2020 where 17 focus groups were conducted. Since late January 2021, the proposed standards have been available for review by the public. A final round of qualitative testing will take place in late March and a final report with recommendations will be prepared in the first quarter of 2021-2022.
Social Inclusion Framework
With funding from Canada's Anti-Racism strategy, Diversity and Sociocultural Statistics will continue to work on the development of its conceptual framework on social inclusion, including a large number of social inclusion indicators based on 2016 Census data (to be later updated based on 2021 Census data) and other survey data such as the General Social Survey. These indicators will be presented on the Gender, Diversity and Inclusion Statistics HUB using a new disaggregated classification of ethnocultural groups that combines the population group question with the ethnic and cultural origin question. Indicators are currently in production and a new interactive tool to present them on GDIS Hub is currently in development through what is now called The Social Indicators Visualization Project.
General Social Survey on Social Identity
Work is also being undertaken with regards to collection and dissemination of ethno-cultural statistics. For example, with support from Heritage Canada, the new cycle of the General Social Survey on Social Identity will allow for the disaggregation of some specific ethno cultural groups to allow for increased data and more targeted policy analysis with respect to the experiences of some ethno-cultural groups for most provinces/provincial regions of Canada.
Labour Force Survey
Starting in the July 2020 reference month, the Labour Force Survey started collecting information on visible minority status which can be used to report on the labour market activities of persons belonging to population groups designated as visible minorities.
Justice Statistics
The Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics has released a number of articles and reports on Gender Based Violence. In addition, many projects are underway to report on the experiences of diverse population groups. Two such are projects are:
- Statistics Canada and the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police publicly announced a commitment to work with the policing community and key organizations to add Indigenous identify and ethno-cultural groups to police-reported crime data. This will help inform issues of system inequities and shine light on the experiences of these populations.
- A collaborative project with the Government of Saskatchewan was undertaken to respond to the growing need to better understand the pathways individuals take through and, often back into, the justice system. This includes understanding how certain population groups, such as Indigenous peoples, may be more vulnerable to repeat contacts with the system.
Census
2021 Census
Various ethnocultural concepts, such as immigration, language groups, ethnic origins, population groups designated as visible minorities and religion will be measured on the 2021 Census. The data will provide detailed and granular disaggregation of data on population groups designated as visible minorities. In addition, Statistics Canada is consulting with experts and data users with the objective of developing a more disaggregated classification of groups designated as visible minorities for dissemination and analytical purposes using Census data. This new classification (2021 Census derived variable) combines information from the question on population groups with information from the ethnic and cultural origin question.
Cost-recovered Statistical ServicesFootnote 1
Cost Recovery projects are reflected throughout the programs mentioned.
For example, a portion of work being done to address important data gaps in collaboration with the Department for Women and Gender Equity (WAGE), is a cost-recovery program.
Centre of Expertise
Economic Analysis Projects
Data has been collected and shared on Private Enterprises by gender of primary owner, age of primary owner and enterprise size. In 2021-22, the agency plans to undertake projects that update and expand its capacity to report on gender and diversity. Specifically, the statistics on Private Enterprises by gender of primary owner will be updated to the latest period possible (2018), and research projects will be undertaken to examine human capital by gender, gross domestic product by gender, the performance gaps between women-owned and men-owned enterprises, as well as Black business owners and persons with disabilities and business ownership in Canada.
Internal Services
Statistics Canada’s Employment Equity, Diversity and Inclusion team supports two different pillars of the Gender Results Framework:
Economic Participation and Prosperity- Increased labour market opportunities for women, especially women in under-represented groups
Leadership and Democratic Participation- More women in senior management positions and more diversity in senior leadership positions.
Initiatives are targeted towards all employment equity groups, including Indigenous, members of population groups designated as visible minority and people with disability.
Here are some of the initiatives the agency is currently working on that support the pillars and goals of the Gender Results Framework:
- Increase diversity in staffing process. We are working on adding a paragraph to questions during the hiring process to give the flexibility for candidates to use their own personal experience rather than only work-related experience to meet the merit criteria.
- Review of tools (Track Record) for our staffing team in order to remove barriers in the hiring process and be more diverse/inclusive at the outset.
- Add specific paragraphs encouraging women to apply to under-represented fields or male dominated fields, such as IT.
- Add a column in the screening board report to identify people that have self-declared during the process. We will be able to see if more women have applied to the jobs that had specific wording to encourage them to apply and self-declare with the new column on the screening board report.
- Create and implement a new Dashboard for management with employment equity (EE) data and more indicators than only the gaps and the Work Force Availability. It will also give a better idea of the retention rate, promotion rate, and will contain official language information and other key information regarding EE, diversity and inclusion in order to better identify and address the gaps in their division.
- Review the Self-ID form. This will be a revamp to change more specifically the gender identity section, in order to include more than just male or female. We will be able to collect more accurate data on gender including Two-Spirit and trans employees and see where they are situated in the Agency, for example, at the executive level.
- Establish an integrated approach to development and talent management for career progression for equity-seeking groups, e.g. through mentoring, coaching, and sponsorship by senior leaders.
- Partner with educational and training institutions to provide a direct pathway into public service jobs for Indigenous peoples in occupations and departments in which they are under-represented.