ARCHIVED – Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration, 2010

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SECTION 5
Gender-Based Analysis of the Impact of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act

Since the introduction of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act in 2002, CIC has been committed to incorporating gender-based analysis (GBA) into its policy and program development processes. While the Act stipulates that CIC must provide an annual GBA on the impact of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the range of GBA activities conducted within CIC goes beyond this legislative requirement. CIC’s current approach to GBA is outlined in its Strategic Framework for Gender-Based Analysis (2005–2010), which describes the Department’s objectives and identifies practical steps to progressively strengthen GBA capacity.

To further the Department’s past accomplishments, a renewed GBA unit will review the strategic policy framework for GBA, including key achievements and challenges faced over the past five years. Based on the outcomes of the review, CIC will identify new opportunities to integrate GBA within the Department’s legislative, policy and operational activities.

Gender-based Research

CIC continues to gather sex-disaggregated data in support of its policy and program development. The Department’s key annual publication, Facts and Figures: Immigration Overview—Permanent and Temporary Residents, [note 39] is a primary source of immigration statistics for the Government, its partners and the private sector. It presents the annual intake, by calendar year, of permanent and temporary residents by category of immigration. The publication contains statistical tables and charts providing gender-based information for permanent residents by immigrant category, source country, intended destination on arrival in Canada, age at landing, level of education, marital status, language ability, occupational skill level and intention to work. Facts and Figures also provides a gender breakdown by principal applicants and dependants, which can be further analyzed to better understand the status of men and women in these specific categories.

GBA at CIC is also supported by current and relevant research conducted through the secretariat of the Metropolis Project, [note 40] an international network for comparative research and public policy development on migration, diversity and immigrant integration in cities in Canada and around the world. To provide CIC with an evidence base to inform its policies and programs, the Metropolis Project continued to support gender-based research by academic affiliates out of the five Metropolis Centres of Excellence, by way of research reports, publications, public seminars, and conference plenary and workshop sessions. The following is a brief sample of these knowledge transfer activities related to gender-based research.

• Working papers:
  • Trafficking in Persons and Transit Countries: A Canada–U.S. Case Study in Global Perspective; [note 41]
  • Immigrant Youth and Crime: Stakeholder Perspectives on Risk and Protective Factors; [note 42]
  • Impact of Canadian Postsecondary Education on Recent Immigrants’ Labour Market Outcomes; [note 43] and
  • A Preliminary Investigation of the Contributions of Sponsored Parents and Grandparents in Canada. [note 44]
• The 12th National Metropolis Conference in Montréal in March 2010, [note 45] which focused on immigration and inclusion with special attention to economic development and the meeting of cultures, included the following workshops with gender themes:
  • Gender-Based Analysis as a Tool for Immigration Policies, Programs and Services;
  • Transition from School to Work: Experiences, Strategies and Trajectories of Youth from Immigrant Families;
  • Conflict and Violence in Immigrant Families; and
  • Protection Services for Survivors of Human Trafficking: A View from the Americas.

Gender-based Analysis in Policy and Program Development

To understand the gender impacts of CIC programs and policies, it is important to see the distribution of arrivals by gender across all immigration categories. Charts 1 and 2 show arrivals by sex and immigration category from 2001 to 2009.

Chart 1: Distribution of Permanent Residents by Immigrant Category and Sex, 2001–2009

Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Facts and Figures 2009.

Chart 2: Permanent Residents by Immigrant Category and Sex, 2001–2009

Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Facts and Figures 2009.

Between 2001 and 2009, the distribution between men and women in the category of temporary foreign workers changed (Chart 3). The proportion of female temporary foreign workers steadily increased, from 25 percent in 2001 to 34 percent in 2009. While this represents roughly 30,000 more women entering under this program, women continue to represent only one-third of temporary foreign workers. The  percentage of highly skilled male temporary foreign workers decreased from 49.5 percent in 2001 to 28.6 percent in 2009, while the percentage of male low-skilled workers remained relatively steady. It is important to note that, in real terms, this decrease represents fewer than 10,000 people. This shift can also be partially explained by an increase in the share of temporary foreign workers who do not declare their skill level. Two examples of programs that contributed to this increase are the Youth Exchange Program and granting of work permits for spouses or common-law partners. These programs have given individuals, mostly women, additional opportunities to work under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. This is reflected in the fact that women’s representation under these categories has risen appreciably; for the Youth Exchange Program they have gone from over 7,000 cases in 2001 to more than 20,000 in 2009, while the number of women who were issued work permits as spouses or common-law partners increased from roughly 900 in 2001 to over 7,000 in 2009. Analysis on the impacts of these trends will continue over the next year.

Chart 3: Temporary Foreign Workers by Occupation Skill Level and Sex, 2001–2009

Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Facts and Figures 2009.

Initiatives undertaken by CIC may have influenced the above-mentioned trends. For example, evidence to date suggests that the Ministerial Instructions issued in November 2008 have had a positive impact on female principal applicants. A preliminary GBA is under way to understand what effects the new criteria had on the gender balance in the Federal Skilled Worker Program in 2009. Early results indicate a small but positive increase in both the percentage of applications submitted by female principal applicants, as well as the number of visas eventually issued to women in the Federal Skilled Worker Program when compared with data from previous years.

For federal skilled workers who received visas in 2009, female and male principal applicants under the Ministerial Instructions showed different occupational distributions. The top five occupations for women are primarily in areas of education, financial management and nursing; the top five for men are in the areas of information technology, education, financial management and health-care professionals (physicians). Beyond the difference in the top five occupations, an interesting trend highlighted in Table 9 is that of relative concentration. In the case of women, the top five occupations represent 72.2 percent of total female principal applicants under the Federal Skilled Worker Program, whereas they represent only 56.6 percent for men.

Table 9: Top Five Occupations for Visas Issued in 2009 for Federal Skilled Worker Female and Male Principal Applicants

Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Facts and Figures 2009.

Current and Ongoing GBA Initiatives

With the recent implementation of Bill C-11, the Balanced Refugee Reform Act, CIC plans to conduct an evaluation of Canada’s new asylum system in three years. This will include an assessment of the pilot programs and progress on backlog reduction. Concurrently, a GBA will be conducted to assess the impact of these changes on men and women. CIC is also developing a performance measurement framework for Canada’s refugee resettlement program that will include indicators produced as a result of gender and diversity considerations. The evaluation of the Government assisted Refugee Program and Resettlement Assistance Program will ensure, to the extent possible, that data collection and analysis will allow for comparison of client outcomes by gender, level of need, age, language, country of origin, region of destination, program design and delivery approach.

Gender considerations continue to be reflected within CIC information products for newcomers. For example, the Department’s emphasis in its flagship publications of the importance of the rights and responsibilities of citizenship includes respect for the equality between men and women. CIC initiated a Settlement Information Renewal Exercise in December 2009 with the aim of substantially revising the settlement-related information CIC provides to newcomers (in print, on-line and in person). The objective is to ensure that this information is relevant, well-organized, timely and consistent across all delivery mechanisms, as well as aligned with information provided by other federal departments. Gender considerations of the specific information needs of men, women and children are reflected in the renewed settlement content. New settlement products are under development and will include a greater emphasis on the health needs of women, and a clear explanation of the individual rights and freedoms of women, men and children under Canadian law, including how to access community and government resources to deal effectively with family violence, and to access temporary shelters, legal representation and police services.

Work is also under way on the development of a child-minding policy to complement changes to the terms and conditions for CIC’s settlement services. Child-minding services support parents interested in participating in CIC settlement services, many of whom are women. Changes will include making child minding available to those who most need it, supporting the range of CIC settlement services that require child minding, and ensuring that child-care workers are properly recognized and supported in their roles with newcomer children.

With CIC’s continued commitment to GBA, the Department can expect increased awareness and understanding about issues related to immigrant, refugee and visible minority women, men and their families, and how these can influence its programming and policies.

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