The Disaggregated Data Action Plan (DDAP), established through Budget 2021, is a whole-of-government approach led by Statistics Canada to collect, analyze, and disseminate disaggregated data pertaining to the four employment equity (EE) groups: women, Indigenous Peoples, racialized populations, and persons with disabilities. Where relevant and possible, it also covers lower levels of geography and other equity- and rights-seeking groups (e.g., Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex people and those who use other terms related to gender or sexual diversity [2SLGBTQI+ population]; immigrants; low-income populations; children; and seniors). The DDAP aims to support governmental and societal efforts to address known inequalities by integrating fairness and inclusion considerations into decision making. Budget 2021 allocated $172 million to support the DDAP's first five years, and another $36.3 million was allocated to sustain ongoing related activities.
The DDAP governance structure included agency-level and interdepartmental governance bodies. Within Statistics Canada, the Assistant Chief Statisticians (ACS) Steering Committee is supported by the Director General Governance Committee and its related working groups. External bodies include the Assistant Deputy Minister Federal Advisory Committee on Disaggregated Data and the Federal Advisory Committee on the Disaggregation of Justice and Community Safety Statistics. Administrative and logistical support is provided by the DDAP Secretariat.
The DDAP is expected to contribute to building a more equitable Canada by advancing more representative data collection, enhancing statistics on diverse populations, addressing systemic racism and gender discrimination, and integrating fairness and inclusion into decision-making processes to achieve the intended impact. The DDAP included various projects aimed at enhancing the agency's capacity to disaggregate data. Agency leadership also promoted a cultural shift toward prioritizing disaggregated data and analysis. Although the majority (66%) of funding was allocated to the Social, Health and Labour Statistics Field (Field 8), almost all fields benefited from DDAP initiatives.
Since its inception, the DDAP has supported a variety of projects and activities through core funding and targeted calls for applications. Ten core-funded projects formed the foundational of the DDAP's commitment, receiving continuous funding across multiple fiscal years or until project completion. Projects funded through the call for applications process were selected based on criteria aligned with the DDAP's goals and were intended to support early-stage or ongoing work. By 2024/2025, the DDAP supported 74 projects and activities. As the initiative moves into the final year of its five-year funding, the $172 million has been fully allocated.
The objective of this evaluation is to provide credible and neutral information on the relevance, design and delivery, and performance of the DDAP. The scope of the evaluation covered the DDAP's design and delivery, including its governance structure; the sustainability of new activities within the agency's ongoing operations; and progress toward its intended short-, medium-, and long-term results.
Key findings and recommendations
The DDAP is supporting Canada's information needs and aligns with government-wide priorities, as well as Statistics Canada's strategic priorities and core responsibilities. DDAP projects and activities align with the federal government's data priorities and needs outlined in recent federal budgets, strategies, and reports, as well as agency-wide priorities for more disaggregated data, leading-edge methods and data integration described in mandate letters and strategic documents.
The DDAP governance structure and mechanisms facilitate oversight across the federal government and the agency, but they focus primarily on monitoring implementation rather than tracking progress toward intended outcomes. While the governance structure provides some elements of accountability, gaps remain, and the emphasis on implementation over strategic direction limits its ability to facilitate the achievement of medium- and long-term outcomes.
Consultative efforts informed some DDAP priorities and projects; however, concerns remain that some disaggregated data products are released without sufficient consultation, risking the advancement of a deficit narrative. While DDAP activities built upon, and in some cases improved, existing infrastructure, resources and capabilities, initiatives dependent on oversampling are unsustainable. Efforts to sustain new DDAP-funded activities by integrating them within the agency's ongoing operations were limited. Cost-recovery agreements could help, but the current fiscal climate limits this option.
Although the DDAP is making progress toward its intended results, some areas require further attention. Awareness-raising and training activities have helped participants better understand data disaggregation, yet some barriers to applying and acquiring disaggregated data knowledge were identified. The DDAP is helping to address information gaps, but the reliance on oversampling to produce disaggregated data from flagship surveys was identified as a challenge to sustainably doing so. The action plan is improving certain aspects of data quality; however, some issues with relevance and accessibility persist.
The DDAP is supporting and reinforcing a cultural shift that prioritizes disaggregated data and intersectional analysis by expanding the availability of disaggregated data and related products. However, further progress will require greater emphasis on awareness and training. Some early evidence suggests that the DDAP is positively impacting data users, but these impacts are limited in part by data users' and decision makers' capacities to understand and use disaggregated data and analytical products. There is also some concern that the DDAP's long-term outcome is outside Statistics Canada's influence and mandate.
In light of these findings, the following recommendations are proposed.
Recommendation 1
The ACS of Field 8 should ensure that the DDAP governance is strengthened to directly support the initiative in achieving its intermediate and ultimate outcomes by:
- updating DDAP oversight committees' mandates to clearly articulate accountabilities, particularly around the provision of strategic direction and the achievement of the DDAP's medium- and long-term objectives
- focusing future projects and activities on sustainability
- establishing effective communication (e.g., leveraging proposed governance tables) to ensure that priorities, expected outcomes, and performance measures are well understood by staff, key partners and stakeholders (e.g., on a regular basis, using two-way dialogue).
Recommendation 2
The ACS of Field 8 should ensure that outreach and engagement efforts are comprehensive and consistent, so that the ongoing needs of data users, including those from EE groups, are understood and being met by the DDAP's disaggregated data and analytical products.