2023-24 Gender-Based Analysis Plus

Publication type
Departmental plans
Date

Introduction

Each organization is responsible to conduct its own analysis, under the Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus) framework, to support this government-wide reporting requirement.

In 2018, Parliament passed the Canadian Gender Budgeting Act. The departmental plans and departmental results reports are being used to fulfil the President of the Treasury Board’s obligations to make public analysis on the impacts of expenditure programs on gender and diversity.

Applicability

All departments must complete the GBA Plus supplementary information table. Even if GBA Plus is deemed not relevant to a department’s programs, the department must complete the table and explain how GBA Plus is not relevant.

General information

Institutional GBA Plus capacity

OSFI is a prudential financial regulator, focused on financial stability and on the solvency, liquidity, and safety and soundness of federally regulated financial institutions (FRFIs) and private pension plans (FRPPs).

In its regulatory and supervisory role, OSFI’s primary interactions are with federally regulated entities, which include all banks in Canada, all federally incorporated or registered trust and loan companies, insurance companies, cooperative credit associations, fraternal benefit societies and private pension plans. There are over 400 FRFIs and approximately 1,200 FRPPs regulated by OSFI. OSFI’s scope of regulation does not include consumer or consumer-related issues or the securities sector, which are the responsibility of other federal and/or provincial agencies. OSFI develops supervisory policy and guidelines for these regulated entities and does not collect individual microdata information from entities it regulates. Although OSFI does not develop or manage individual programs specifically targeted to individuals or groups, the entities it regulates provide services and benefits to all Canadians.

Diversity and inclusion are core values OSFI upholds. For the 2023-24 reporting period, OSFI has a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) unit, which was created in 2021-22. OSFI continues to implement a corporate DEI Strategy and a 3-year Action Plan. The Action Plan requires the review of human resources policies and processes, which includes applying a GBA Plus lens. In the coming years, GBA Plus training will be offered to all managers through Women and Gender Equality Canada.

Highlights of GBA Plus results reporting capacity by program

Risk Assessment and Intervention – Federally Regulated Financial Institutions

In its regulatory and supervisory role, OSFI’s primary interactions are with federally regulated financial institutions and pension plans and the scope of regulation does not include consumer or consumer-related issues or the securities sector. Given its mandate, OSFI does not collect individual recipient microdata information nor provide direct services or benefits to individuals or targeted groups. As such, quantifying the distribution of benefits by gender, income level, or age group is not applicable to OSFI’s role or context. No program indicators currently identify impacts on these sub-populations.

Regulation and Guidance of Federally Regulated Financial Institutions
Regulatory Approvals and Legislative Precedents
Federally Regulated Private Pension Plans
Actuarial Valuation and Advice

Demographic trends are considered in actuarial analyses, and the Office of the Chief Actuary performs an enabling function to other government organizations through the provision of actuarial valuation and advisory services. It provides checks and balances on future costs of pension plans under its responsibility, and performs statutory actuarial valuations of various programs, including the Canada Pension Plan and Canada Student Financial Assistance Act. The GBA Plus impact and analysis for these programs are conducted by their administrators.

Internal Services

In 2023-24, the implementation of OSFI’s DEI Strategy and associated 3-year Action Plan includes the following activities to support GBA Plus:

  • Conduct a review of human resources policies to determine alignment with DEI objectives.
  • Conduct a GBA Plus review and strategy pilot project with one area of the organization, to use as a case study before sharing and rolling out across OSFI.
  • Prepare a pay equity plan.
  • Implement actions identified in the Accessibility Plan.
  • Continue to provide foundational DEI related training to all employees to increase understanding of diversity, equity and inclusion related issues and encourage critical thinking about the systems and processes currently in place.

OSFI is currently developing mechanisms for measuring success and progress of the DEI Strategy. For this work, OSFI will leverage the Centre for Global Inclusion’s DEI benchmarks as a starting point to help track progress against the broader vision for DEI at OSFI.