2023–2024 Departmental Plan - Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus) at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Institutional GBA Plus Capacity

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's (AAFC) approach to ensure that gender-based analysis (GBA) Plus is integrated into departmental decision-making processes during the 2023–24 fiscal year includes:

Departmental Policy Statement on GBA Plus: AAFC's GBA Plus policy statement has undergone renewal to articulate AAFC’s updated commitment to GBA Plus, and its intersectional considerations. The statement also outlines the roles and responsibilities of all AAFC employees to apply GBA Plus to their work.
GBA Plus Champion: The Assistant Deputy Minister of Strategic Policy Branch is the Department's GBA Plus Champion and provides leadership and coordination in the promotion, implementation, and monitoring of GBA Plus in the development of effective policies, programs, and legislation.
GBA Plus Responsibility Centre: The Sector Diversity Policy team in Strategic Policy Branch houses the Department's GBA Plus Responsibility Centre and GBA Plus Focal Points. This team provides guidance and builds capacity across the portfolio on the application of GBA Plus within the Department, acts as a challenge function to ensure robust analyses, and contributes to departmental planning and reporting on GBA Plus. In their work, they ensure key GBA Plus considerations are reflected throughout the policy and program development cycle. The Responsibility Centre also acts as departmental representatives on GBA Plus with other government departments, including Women and Gender Equality Canada.
GBA Plus Data and Analysis Working Group: This intradepartmental working group engages analysts across the department on GBA Plus to increase the data capacity and application for GBA Plus within the Department. The working group developed a series of intersectional data profiles on Indigenous Peoples, women, youth, and other key sectoral underrepresented and marginalized groups, which has been a key tool for GBA Plus. This data has strengthened AAFC's analysis of how, and to what extent, its initiatives may impact the population's diverse groups across the value chain. In 2023–24, these profiles will be updated with data as Statistics Canada releases more reports from the 2021 Census of Population and Census of Agriculture. Ongoing collaborative efforts within the department and with Statistics Canada are underway to enhance the range of gender- and diversity-disaggregated data available to support GBA Plus.
GBA Plus Network of Advisors: The Network of Advisors, consisting of members from across AAFC, acts as a collaborative body that advances the incorporation of robust GBA Plus within policy and program development, GBA Plus training and tools for analysts, and supports the identification of data needs for GBA Plus assessments. Members act as GBA Plus contact points for their respective branches to guide the development of GBA Plus assessments early in the proposal process.
Recommended training: Completion of Women and Gender Equality Canada's GBA Plus online course is recommended to all subject matter experts that lead the development of, for example, Memoranda to Cabinet, Treasury Board submissions, and budget proposals. Ongoing promotion and participation in staff training also takes place throughout the year.
Established GBA Plus guidance: A departmental resource page was created in 2022, and is being refined throughout 2023-24 to serve as a central hub for the whole Department, providing GBA Plus tools and resources related to women in agriculture.

Accountability mechanisms and stakeholder engagement to ensure that GBA Plus is integrated in departmental decision-making processes and services include:

A Framework to Support Underrepresented and Marginalized Groups in the Sector: AAFC is in the process of developing a Framework to support underrepresented and marginalized groups in the sector as a means to identify barriers and use departmental mechanisms to enhance accessibility and equity of AAFC services and initiatives. An action plan will be developed to support the Framework. Efforts will include a monitoring and reporting plan to track progress and impact of efforts to better serve diverse groups.
Mainstreaming GBA Plus Considerations Across AAFC Activities: The GBA Plus Responsibility Center has been collaborating with all AAFC Branches to identify internal mechanisms to embed GBA Plus considerations into day-to-day processes. These mark early efforts to integrate GBA Plus as common and regular practice outside of mandatory processes. Consultations will continue throughout the 2023–24 fiscal year.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's Cabinet Affairs, Treasury Board and Budget proposal submission processes: Completion of the GBA Plus assessment questionnaire by program and policy leads is a mandatory element of the development of Memoranda to Cabinet and other policy or program proposals (i.e., Treasury Board submissions, budget proposals, etc.), providing a framework and guidance to help analysts think about possible diversity impacts related to their proposed initiatives, and assess and address them as needed to ensure all policies and programs are as effective as possible.
Senior Management: A Director General, Assistant Deputy Minister, and Deputy Minister are responsible to approve GBA Plus information included in Memoranda to Cabinet, Treasury Board submissions, and budget proposals.
Sector Engagement Tables: Diverse representation is an important consideration in the composition of all Sectoral Engagement Tables to support the inclusion of a diversity of perspectives in resulting advice and recommendations. The updated engagement structure includes the Canadian Agricultural Youth Council as a consultative body to ensure the perspectives of youth in agriculture are well-understood and directly inform policy, programs, planning, and decision-making for the agriculture and agri-food sector. Their perspectives have informed efforts within the Department, such as through the Food Policy Advisory Council, which advises the Minister on current and emerging food system issues. Planning continues for the creation of a distinct forum for women in the agriculture sector and an Indigenous engagement forum.
The Indigenous Pathfinder Service: Helps to ensure First Nations, Inuit, and Métis individuals and organizations, including businesses and non-profit associations, are accessing support and business opportunities that are available in the agriculture and agri-food sector, increasing the diversity and representation of applicants to our programming. The service provides one-on-one support to help clients navigate and identify available resources and opportunities offered by AAFC and other federal, provincial and territorial partners.
Indigenous Policy Framework: Developed in 2018, the Framework outlines how the Department works to contribute to reconciliation through support for the advancement of Indigenous-led agriculture and food systems. Building on these efforts, work is currently underway to update the Framework and develop an action plan to ensure that the Framework takes into account new branch-led Indigenous strategies and action plans, and Government of Canada commitments to reconciliation and laws, such as the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (UNDA).
As part of a Budget 2018 commitment, all free trade agreements (FTAs) are subject to GBA Plus. AAFC supports Global Affairs Canada in assessing the impacts of Canada's FTA provisions related to trade in agricultural goods to ensure that the benefits and opportunities resulting from FTAs are more widely shared, including among Indigenous Peoples and other underrepresented and marginalized groups.

Monitoring and reporting mechanisms to assess and communicate the extent to which GBA Plus is included in decision-making within the Department include:

GBA Plus Responsibility Centre: Plays a monitoring and challenge function to ensure that detailed GBA Plus assessments are completed and that key considerations are incorporated in the development of all policy, program, and budget proposals. Efforts are underway with provinces and territories to consider the unique and diverse needs of Indigenous People and other underrepresented and marginalized groups, and enhance reporting on program impacts through the 2023–2028 Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP).
Development of GBA Plus Data Collection and Reporting Plans: AAFC Finance and Resource Management Services oversees the Treasury Board submission process to ensure completion of all components, including the development of GBA Plus Data Collection and Reporting Plans, to assess the impact of proposed policies and programs on underrepresented and marginalized groups.

Highlights of GBA Plus Results Reporting Capacity by Program

Programs under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership policy framework (2018–2023) end as of March 31, 2023. Programs and programming changes that will be part of the new Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP, 2023–2028), whose details were still being finalized at the time of publishing this Plan, will be reflected in future departmental reports.

Domestic and international markets core responsibility

Program name	GBA Plus reporting capacity highlights, including for sub-programs, as applicable
Trade and Market Expansion	AAFC works closely with Global Affairs Canada and other departments on Canada's trade diversification strategy and its inclusive approach to trade, including through Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), to ensure that more Canadians have access to the benefits and opportunities that flow from international trade. This includes Canadians who have traditionally been under-represented in international trade, such as women, small and medium enterprises, and Indigenous Peoples. The Trade and Market Expansion program has expanded its GBA Plus disaggregated statistical categories to enable it to monitor and report program impacts by gender and diversity. As part of AAFC's internal process, the Department will continue conducting GBA Plus assessments as a due diligence exercise to ensure negotiators are aware of possible diversity impacts of proposed FTAs and potential inequitable outcomes to those engaged within Canada's agriculture and agri-food sector. AAFC findings feed into the analyses by the lead department, Global Affairs Canada, and impacts are addressed as necessary. AgriMarketing The AgriMarketing Program aims to increase and diversify exports to international markets and seize domestic market opportunities by supporting national associations' industry-led promotional activities that highlight Canadian products and producers. It collects data at the application stage to enable the monitoring and reporting of program impacts by gender and diversity. Starting in April 2023, under the Sustainable CAP, the AgriMarketing Program is collecting additional data points at the application stage to further enhance AAFC’s understanding of the demographics of the program’s applicants to enable analysis on who is accessing funding. Over the duration of Sustainable CAP (2023–2028), AAFC will be monitoring the participation (i.e., funded recipients) of underrepresented and marginalized groups across programming under the framework. Participation in the AgriMarketing Program will be tracked as part of this initiative.
Sector Engagement and Development	The Department has improved inclusion of underrepresented and marginalized groups, ensuring youth, women, and Indigenous Peoples are included in its established Sector Engagement Tables. The inclusion of underrepresented and marginalized voices was a membership recruitment priority for the remaining tables that were implemented in 2022–23 (i.e., Animal Protein, Field Crops, Horticulture, Seafood and Food Processing). The Department will continue to monitor the membership of these Tables, striving for gender parity and significant representation of other underrepresented and marginalized voices. In addition to the Canadian Agricultural Youth Council launched in 2021, AAFC has committed to developing separate forums for women and Indigenous Peoples in the agriculture sector as part of the Sector Engagement Table model. AAFC is continuing to explore how these tables can be created around the unique needs of these groups, addressing key agricultural and food-related priorities and issues in these communities. These fora will foster networking and connectedness on agricultural issues within these communities while informing AAFC and other relevant government policies and programs, ultimately increasing representation and participation of these groups across the sector. AAFC's Regional Operation Directorate ensures inclusion and participation of underrepresented and marginalized groups, including youth, women, and Indigenous Peoples, as part of its planning for the minister's and departmental officials outreach, as well as regional industry engagement activities. AgriCompetitiveness The AgriCompetitiveness Program collects data at the application stage to enable the monitoring and reporting of program impacts by gender and diversity. Starting in April 2023, under the Sustainable CAP, the AgriCompetitiveness Program is collecting additional data points at the application stage to further enhance AAFC’s understanding of the demographics of the program’s applicants to enable analysis on who is accessing funding. Over the duration of Sustainable CAP (2023–2028), AAFC will be monitoring the participation (i.e., funded recipients) of underrepresented and marginalized groups across programming under the framework. Participation in the AgriCompetitiveness Program will be tracked as part of this initiative. The AgriCompetitiveness Program is available to associations; however, the Program supports increased engagement with groups that provide training/curricula to youth and women to strengthen their capacity to be leaders in the sector. AgriDiversity The AgriDiversity Program collects data at the application stage to enable the monitoring and reporting of program impacts by gender and diversity. Starting in April 2023, under the Sustainable CAP, the AgriDiversity Program is collecting additional data points at the application stage to further enhance AAFC’s understanding of the demographics of the program’s applicants to enable analysis on who is accessing funding. Over the duration of Sustainable CAP (2023–2028), AAFC will be monitoring the participation (i.e., funded recipients) of underrepresented and marginalized groups across programming under the framework. Participation in the AgriDiversity Program will be tracked as part of this initiative. Starting in April 2023, the AgriDiversity Program will include more flexibilities to better support a broader range of underrepresented and marginalized groups in the sector. The Program will also be measuring the impact of projects funded under AgriDiversity by monitoring the number of people reached and/or engaged. Youth Employment and Skills Program The Youth Employment and Skills Program collects data at the application stage to enable the monitoring and reporting of program impacts by gender and diversity. Additionally, reports are provided by both employers and interns, on a voluntary basis, outlining additional information that assists with GBA Plus and program analysis. Starting in April 2023, the reports will be expanded to collect additional data points to further enhance AAFC’s understanding of the demographics of the program’s participants. The Youth Employment and Skills Program, in addition to helping youth gain experience in agriculture, provides additional support to youth facing barriers and Indigenous individuals and organizations. An increased cost-share ratio of up to 80% (up to a max of $14,000) is available for these two groups. In addition, youth facing barriers can also receive up to another $5,000 (at an 80% cost share) to cover the costs of addressing employment barriers.
Farm Products Council of Canada	This program does not collect sufficient data to monitor or report program impacts by gender and diversity. The methodology used by the Farm Products Council of Canada deals with the assessment of the agencies' annual reports, financial statements, and concerns that are being raised by Council and addressed by the agencies it oversees throughout the year. The assessment done by the Farm Products Council of Canada does not use indicators that are relevant for GBA Plus.
Supply Management Initiatives	The Department is collaborating with portfolio partners to explore options on how GBA Plus considerations can be applied to future supply-management programs. Dairy Farm Investment Program The Dairy Farm Investment Program collects data at the application stage to enable the monitoring and reporting of program impacts by gender and diversity. Supply Management Processing Investment Fund The Supply Management Processing Investment Fund collects data at the application stage to enable the monitoring and reporting of program impacts by gender and diversity. The Supply Management Processing Investment Fund may provide an additional 10 percent in support of total eligible costs for companies that are owned or led by an underrepresented or marginalized group. Poultry and Egg On-Farm Investment Program The Poultry and Egg On-Farm Investment Program collects data at the application stage to enable the monitoring and reporting of program impacts by gender and diversity. The Program currently enables only one underrepresented group – youth – to self-identify. AAFC is planning to expand the self-identification to include other underrepresented and marginalized groups (e.g., Indigenous Peoples, women, visible minorities/racialized persons, persons with disabilities). The Poultry and Egg On-Farm Investment Program will provide a higher cost share (85:15 as opposed to 70:30) for youth (35 years old and under) who meet the eligible criteria. Market Development Program for Turkey and Chicken The Market Development Program for Turkey and Chicken collects data at the application stage to enable the monitoring and reporting of program impacts by gender and diversity. The Program will work to help mitigate some of the diversity issues that have been identified by promoting the use of inclusive marketing and encouraging the hiring of diverse Canadians to work in the sector.
Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency	This program does not collect sufficient data to monitor or report program impacts by gender and diversity. The Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency does not have the authority nor the appropriate programs and services, to advance the objectives of GBA Plus initiatives. Its legislated mandate is specific to the enforcement of legislation established to ensure that pari-mutuel betting conducted on horse racing is done so in a manner compliant with the Pari-Mutuel Betting Supervision Regulations, and Section 204 of the Criminal Code. This includes the authorization of legal entities (i.e., horse racing associations) to offer betting products, the ongoing review of betting data, and the provision of drug testing of race horses.
Food Policy Initiatives	Local Food Infrastructure Fund & Food Waste Reduction Challenge The Local Food Infrastructure Fund and the Food Waste Reduction Challenge collect data at the application stage to enable the monitoring and reporting of program impacts by gender and diversity. The data is used to report the number of investments made by the Local Food Infrastructure Fund for specific underrepresented and marginalized groups, and to report on the diversity of Food Waste Reduction Challenge winners. In addition for the Local Food Infrastructure Fund, recipients are asked to identify the vulnerable groups that were served by their organization in performance reports submitted to the Department following project completion. AgriCommunication Program The AgriCommunication Program collects data at the application stage to enable the monitoring and reporting of program impacts by gender and diversity.
Water Infrastructure Divestiture	The principal activity under this program is the divestiture by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada of its legacy water infrastructure projects. The purpose is to transfer ownership of federally-owned assets. While part of the Department’s program inventory, it simply constitutes a change in governance and is therefore not applicable to the purpose of monitoring and reporting impacts by gender and diversity.
Federal, Provincial, and Territorial Cost-Shared Markets and Trade	Federal, Provincial, and Territorial Cost-Shared Markets and Trade programming is delivered directly to the sector by the provinces and territories. Starting in April 2023, under the Sustainable CAP, cost-shared programming will start collecting data for GBA Plus to further enhance AAFC’s understanding of the demographics of the program’s applicants to enable analysis on who is accessing funding. Over the duration of Sustainable CAP (2023–2028), AAFC will work with provinces and territories to monitor the participation (i.e., funded recipients) of underrepresented and marginalized groups (i.e., Indigenous Peoples, women, and youth) across programming under the framework.

Science and innovation core responsibility

Program name	GBA Plus reporting capacity highlights, including for sub-programs, as applicable
Foundational Science and Research	The Foundational Science and Research program does not collect sufficient data to enable the monitoring and reporting of program impacts by gender and diversity. A question on GBA Plus considerations has been included in the 2023 Call For Proposals process asking researchers whether they anticipate GBA Plus impacts related to their project outcomes based on gender, age, ethnicity, income, region, culture, or other factors. Researchers will also be asked to consider the differences between sex and gender data whenever a project involves humans or human-derived samples. For the Full Proposal stage, researchers will be required to further explore the GBA Plus considerations in their proposal design. This is a first step towards implementation of a continuous improvement process for the utilization of GBA Plus information to inform project design and for assessing the impacts of projects.
AgriScience	The AgriScience program collects data at the application stage to enable the monitoring and reporting of program impacts by gender and diversity. Starting in April 2023, under the Sustainable CAP, the AgriScience Program is collecting additional data points at the application stage to further enhance AAFC’s understanding of the demographics of the program’s applicants to enable analysis on who is accessing funding. Over the duration of Sustainable CAP (2023–2028), AAFC will be monitoring the participation (i.e., funded recipients) of underrepresented and marginalized groups across programming under the framework. Participation in the AgriScience Program will also be tracked as part of this initiative. In addition, at the final performance reporting stage, recipients will be required to report on the gender and diversity of the highly qualified personnel who were working on funded activities.
AgriInnovate	The AgriInnovate Program collects data at the application stage to enable the monitoring and reporting of program impacts by gender and diversity. Starting in April 2023, under the Sustainable CAP, the AgriInnovate Program is collecting additional data points at the application stage to further enhance AAFC’s understanding of the demographics of the program’s applicants to enable analysis on who is accessing funding. Over the duration of Sustainable CAP (2023–2028), AAFC will be monitoring the participation (i.e., funded recipients) of underrepresented and marginalized groups across programming under the framework. Participation in the AgriInnovate Program will be tracked as part of this initiative.
Environment and Climate Change Programs	Agricultural Climate Solutions (ACS) Living Labs The ACS–Living Labs collects data at the application stage to enable the monitoring and reporting of program impacts by gender and diversity. In addition, recipients will be required to report on the gender and diversity of the highly qualified personnel who were working on funded activities. The Department is also monitoring the impact of this programming on underrepresented and marginalized groups by disaggregating some of the program's performance indicators (e.g., number of partnerships established, number of Highly Qualified Personnel working on funded activities). Agricultural Climate Solutions (ACS) On-Farm Climate Action Fund The ACS–On-Farm Climate Action Fund collects data at the application stage to enable it to monitor and report program impacts by gender and diversity. Agricultural Clean Technology (ACT) Program Both the Adoption Stream and Research and Innovation Stream under ACT collect data at the application stage to enable the monitoring and reporting of program impacts by gender and diversity. For example, both streams under the Program have a disaggregated performance indicator to monitor the impacts on underrepresented and marginalized groups.
Canadian Agricultural Strategic Priorities Program	The Canadian Agricultural Strategic Priorities Program collects data at the application stage to enable the monitoring and reporting of program impacts by gender and diversity. Starting in April 2023, the Program is collecting additional data points at the application stage to further enhance AAFC’s understanding of the demographics of the program’s applicants to enable analysis on who is accessing funding.
Federal, Provincial, and Territorial Cost-shared Science, Research, Innovation and Environment	Federal, Provincial, and Territorial Cost-shared Science, Research, Innovation and Environment programming is delivered directly to the sector by provinces and territories. Starting in April 2023, under the Sustainable CAP, cost-shared programming will start collecting data for GBA Plus to further enhance AAFC’s understanding of the demographics of the program’s applicants to enable analysis on who is accessing funding. Over the duration of Sustainable CAP (2023–2028), AAFC will work with provinces and territories to monitor the participation (i.e., funded recipients) of underrepresented and marginalized groups (i.e., Indigenous Peoples, women, and youth) across programming under the framework.

Sector risk core responsibility

Program name	GBA Plus reporting capacity highlights, including for sub-programs, as applicable
Business Risk Management Programs (AgriStability, AgriInsurance, AgriInvest)	Starting in 2023, the core suite of Business Risk Management Programs (AgriStability, AgriInsurance and AgriInvest) will collect data to contribute to monitoring or reporting of program impacts by gender and diversity. Since AgriInvest has a high number of participants that also receive support from other BRM programs, the approach will be to collect demographic data at the application stage for AgriInvest, and then link it to recipients in other BRM programs to better understand who is accessing these programs.
AgriRisk	The AgriRisk Program collects data at the application stage to enable the monitoring and reporting of program impacts by gender and diversity.
AgriRecovery	AgriRecovery is a federal-provincial-territorial disaster relief framework intended to work together with the core suite of Business Risk Management programs to help agricultural producers recover from natural disasters. AgriRecovery initiatives are cost-shared between the federal government and participating provinces or territories, and typically delivered by the province/territory, or its delivery agent. Ability to collect data and report on impacts by gender and diversity will be considered in negotiations with the provinces on specific AgriRecovery initiatives.
Loan Guarantees Programs	The Loan Guarantee Programs include three programs: the Advance Payments Program (APP), and the Price Pooling Program (PPP) under the Agricultural Marketing Programs Act, and the Canadian Agricultural Loans Act Program (CALA). Through these programs, the federal government guarantees the repayment of loans (APP, CALA) or prices (PPP) in order to improve cash flow and improve marketing opportunities for Canada's agricultural producers (APP), encourage cooperative marketing (PPP), and provide access to the credit needed to establish and improve farming operations (CALA). The Department has taken the initial steps of engaging third-party APP administrators regarding the rationale and importance of collecting GBA Plus data to allow for reporting on program impacts by gender and diversity. This may include changes such as adjusting program forms and electronic delivery and reporting systems to allow for the collection of GBA Plus data from applicants. The CALA program is delivered by financial institutions to eligible producers. The financial institutions are required to apply the same care and procedures in making a CALA loan as they would for conventional loans of similar amounts. The Department is currently undertaking a study of the CALA program, of which a component is assessing the use of the program by underrepresented groups. The Program is reviewing options on how GBA Plus considerations can be incorporated to the program in the future.
Farm Debt Mediation Service	The Farm Debt Mediation Service does not collect sufficient data to enable the monitoring and reporting of program impacts by gender and diversity. Applicants can choose to disclose gender on their application form, but it is not required. Farm Debt Mediation Service is a legislated financial service that helps farmers in financial difficulties mediate solutions with their creditors. The Service relates directly to situations of potential insolvency, where it seeks to help creditors and borrowers find mutually acceptable solutions. The process it follows and information it gathers are therefore highly regulated and confidential. Moreover, this work is led by neutral third-party financial experts. As such, the Service does not share or report on this information beyond the number of farmers helped to ensure the privacy of all involved. The Service is exploring potential options to advance GBA Plus priorities such as working to increase the diversity of members in its Appeal Board, and ensuring that communications are done in a manner that all communities are aware of the Service and can benefit from its help when needed.
Pest Management	This program does not collect sufficient data to enable the monitoring and reporting of program impacts by gender and diversity. Currently, the Pest Management Centre (PMC) considers needs of stakeholders based on geographic factors. As part of the program delivery, the PMC has a system in place which utilizes provincial representatives designated as minor use coordinators who engage stakeholders from various provinces and sectors across Canada to collect information on pest management priorities (i.e., minor use pesticides and integrated pest management solution needs) for scientific research. These priorities are collated and ranked by province and then used in the priority setting process by stakeholders to determine the research projects to be undertaken by the PMC, which, in part, aims to distribute research trials across designated Canadian research sites to meet specific location and crop hardiness zone requirements for regulatory purposes. Moving forward, the PMC will be looking into how progress in the areas mentioned above can be assessed to monitor/report on program impacts as well as other opportunities to build upon its GBA Plus data collection and further the understanding of program impacts and the accessibility of its research through client engagement and communication activities.
Assurance Program	AgriAssurance Program The AgriAssurance Program collects data at the application stage to enable the monitoring and reporting of program impacts by gender and diversity. Starting in April 2023, under the Sustainable CAP, the AgriAssurance Program is collecting additional data points at the application stage to further enhance AAFC’s understanding of the demographics of the program’s applicants to enable analysis on who is accessing funding. Over the duration of Sustainable CAP (2023–2028), AAFC will be monitoring the participation (i.e., funded recipients) of underrepresented and marginalized groups across programming under the framework. Participation in the AgriAssurance Program will also be tracked as part of this initiative. The Program will also disaggregate the diversity data on a regional basis for participants in its Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises component to further analyze applicants.
Federal, Provincial, and Territorial Cost-shared Assurance	Federal, Provincial, and Territorial Cost-shared Assurance programming is delivered directly to the sector by the provinces and territories. Starting in April 2023, under the Sustainable CAP, cost-shared programming will start collecting data for GBA Plus to further enhance AAFC’s understanding of the demographics of the program’s applicants to enable analysis on who is accessing funding. Over the duration of Sustainable CAP (2023–2028), AAFC will work with provinces and territories to monitor the participation (i.e. funded recipients) of underrepresented and marginalized groups (i.e., Indigenous Peoples, women, and youth) across programming under the framework.
Return of Payments	Return of Payments is used to record repayments to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada for programs that have previously sunset. While part of the Department’s program inventory, it is not applicable to the purpose of monitoring and reporting impacts by gender and diversity.
African Swine Fever Response	The African Swine Fever Response program will collect data at the application stage to enable the monitoring and reporting of program impacts by gender and diversity. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada will continue to monitor for impacts throughout implementation of the program using established program administration and reporting mechanisms.

Internal Services

The Department has added non-binary prefixes and personal pronouns to the personnel directory. GBA Plus considerations will also be incorporated where possible as part of the Diversity and Inclusion components in the development and implementation of the Department's Digital Operational Strategic Plan.