Statement made on 14 May 2009 by Senator Joan Fraser
Hon. Joan Fraser (Acting Deputy Leader of the Opposition):
Honourable senators, on February 3, I put a question to the Leader of the Government in the Senate about gender-based analysis. Her answer — how shall I put this — lacked specificity. However, this week the Auditor General of Canada provided some specifics.
In her most recent report, the Auditor General found that despite the fact that the Government of Canada has been committed to gender-based analysis since 1995, and that Canada bragged in a formal report to the United Nations last October about gender-based analysis being implemented across the federal government, there is no government-wide policy requiring departments and agencies to perform gender-based analysis. The Auditor General looked at 68 initiatives from various departments and only in four of them — less than 10 per cent — was there any evidence that gender-based analysis had been integrated into the policy development process.
Given the importance for all Canadians, but particularly for the women of Canada who represent more than half the population, of ensuring government policies are fair to persons of both genders, will the government begin by apologizing to the women of Canada for this grievous lack?
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