Office of the Auditor General of Canada’s 2025–26 Departmental Plan

Gender-based analysis plus (GBA Plus) supplementary information table

Section 1: Institutional GBA Plus governance and capacity

Governance

The Office of the Auditor General of Canada (OAG) integrates GBA Plus considerations into its audit work to provide elected officials and Canadian society with objective information on the government’s progress on its gender, equity, diversity, and inclusion priorities. This work is supported by a refined audit methodology and audit professionals’ increased awareness and knowledge of GBA Plus. Diversity and inclusion are central to the identity and activities of the entire office, both in terms of audit products and internal operations.

The OAG’s Executive Sponsor for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion and Champion of GBA Plus ensures that GBA Plus is factored into the OAG’s work. This role acts as a liaison to the Executive Committee on matters related to diversity and inclusion.

The Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Accessibility, and Official Languages Committee provides oversight and reports on compliance and progress toward achieving a diverse workforce and an inclusive workplace. This committee reports to the People Management Committee, which makes recommendations that regularly include a GBA Plus lens to the Executive Committee on matters related to people management.

Capacity

Planned activities in 2025–26 to support the advancement of Canada’s GBA Plus commitments are as follows:

• In all of our audit work, the OAG is committed to examining how government departments, agencies, Crown corporations, and territorial organizations are progressing toward their gender, equity, diversity, and inclusion commitments, including the use of the GBA Plus tool when required.
• A team within the OAG provides technical advice to audit teams. This team will continue to deliver training, provide internal guidance, and develop tools to build capacity and ensure that all audit products produced by the OAG consider a GBA Plus lens.
• The Principal of Human Resources acts as the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Champion, ensuring that GBA Plus considerations are integrated into strategies and plans related to people management before these documents are recommended for approval by the members of the People Management Committee and the Executive Committee.

The following major initiatives are underway to support equity, diversity, and inclusion within the OAG:

• The OAG is in the implementation phase of its 2023–26 diversity and inclusion plan. Specific commitments in the diversity and inclusion plan include
  • a training curriculum for employees that incorporates elements on diversity, employment equity, anti‑racism and anti‑harassment, GBA Plus, Indigenous issues, and inclusive hiring practices
  • the addition of a new Auditor General Award category, recognizing people who demonstrate and encourage a diverse, healthy, and inclusive professional environment and culture, including supporting employee well‑being, learning, and growth
  • an employment system review, which will identify barriers and biases and measures to eliminate or mitigate them
  • a review of OAG policies to ensure that they reflect diversity and inclusion and GBA Plus perspectives

Human resources (full‑time equivalents) dedicated to GBA Plus

The OAG will allocate 2 full‑time equivalents—1 for the performance audit practice and 1 for the area of human resources—to GBA Plus activities for the 2025–26 fiscal year. These resources will focus on tasks such as integrating gender, equity, diversity, and inclusion content into performance audits; organizing training for auditors; creating and updating tools to support performance audit teams; acting as a GBA Plus champion and focal point; supporting the implementation of GBA Plus initiatives; and furthering the integration of Indigenous and decolonization lenses into the performance audit practice. Furthermore, within the framework of legislative amendments and policy development, the Human Resources team is enhancing its strategic expertise by consistently applying GBA Plus methodology and actively integrating its insights into initiatives.

Section 2: Gender and diversity impacts, by program

Core responsibility: Legislative auditing

Program name: Legislative audit

GBA Plus data collection plan

Our audit reports benefit Canadian society. A number of our performance audit reports have directly and indirectly examined how the government considers GBA Plus and equity, diversity, and inclusion lenses in the design, development, implementation, monitoring, and reporting of programs, policies, and initiatives. This includes various identity factors and circumstances that intersect and influence who we are and how we experience programs, policies, and initiatives differently. The recommendations from those reports can lead to better outcomes for diverse members of Canadian society.

This program does not collect sufficient data to enable it to monitor or report program effects by gender and diversity.

The following actions are being taken to enable future monitoring or reporting of the program’s effects by gender and diversity:

• The OAG tracks the performance of selected federal organizations in several areas previously audited. This includes the implementation status of selected OAG recommendations and key actions taken by organizations in response to our recommendations.
• Strengthening our capacity to monitor and report on effects by gender and diversity, the OAG will include recommendations that focus on these aspects and track and report on progress made by federal organizations in implementing these recommendations.