Thank you very much.

Honourable members and Chairperson, thank you so much for having us here today. I'm pleased to be included in the meeting this morning.

My name is Lisa Vandehei. My role within the defence team is to provide expertise that assists in the implementation of gender-based analysis plus, GBA+. All of us here today work collaboratively towards a more diverse and inclusive defence environment.

Canada's defence policy makes a commitment to integrate GBA+ in all defence activities across the Canadian Armed Forces and the Department of National Defence. The defence team is committed to institutionalizing the use of GBA+ so that we can make effective, equitable and evidence-based decisions. We're working to develop sustainable practices and systems that support our leadership to hold all accountable in conducting a GBA+ analysis, and to developing policies and programs that are informed by the findings of these analyses.

We are working to apply GBA+ in everything we do, from the things we buy, the buildings we build or maintain, our science and technology, our policies, practices, programs and projects. GBA+ is an analytical process to improve how things work for everyone in the defence team, and how the defence team affects others as well. This includes supporting culture change and creating a welcoming, inclusive workplace designed for the people we want to attract and retain.

We've heard already that SSE recognizes that diversity and inclusion are indispensable capabilities that enable the defence team's ability to innovate, work locally and globally and ultimately successfully fulfill its mandate, but how exactly does it do that?

We know that diversity fosters innovation and creativity through a greater variety of problem-solving approaches, perspectives and ideas. People being able to bring their lived experiences to the table matters when you're trying to solve complex problems. A diversity of informed views enables objections and alternatives to be explored more efficiently and solutions to emerge more readily and be adopted with greater confidence. A defence team that reflects the Canadian population in terms of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation and all aspects of each of our lived experiences is better positioned to understand its changing security needs and develop winning solutions.

I'd like to share three key messages with the panel and chair today.

We've made progress and we're having a positive impact by conducting GBA+ analyses. Thus far, we've conducted GBA+ analyses or scans on approximately $40 billion in projects, programs and policies. This has led to some tangible changes and will lead to more.

For example, the MINDS program, which provides opportunities for collaboration between academia, the defence team and the defence and security expert community, now has GBA+ as a 20% rated criteria for funding. In another example, the Canadian Armed Forces provides an allotment of $160 per year towards the purchase of bras to help ensure comfort and safety at work. This allotment doubles during an overseas deployment. For the first time, this policy includes maternity and nursing bras and chest binders.

Our second message is that the institutionalization of GBA+ is a complex process. It's much more than raising awareness about inequality and issues of diversity and inclusion. It requires medium- and long-term planning to build a capability: to have skills, knowledge, leadership and access to relevant disaggregated data and research. We have a strong start. We have a full leadership support and have been allocated resources for this work.

Lastly, changing an organization's culture is one of the most difficult of leadership challenges. An organization's culture, we know, comprises interlocking sets of goals, roles, responsibilities, values, communications practices, attitudes and assumptions. GBA+ is a tool by which we can challenge all of these things and change the way we work. This is what we're doing.

Thank you.

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