Gender and diversity

In May 2018, as part of Canada’s commitment to advancing gender equality, diversity, and inclusion, ISED revised the Value Proposition to introduce a new mandatory requirement, the Gender and Diversity Plan. At this time, the Gender and Diversity Plan is not an evaluated component of the Industrial and Technological Benefits Policy. Through the Gender and Diversity Plan, bidders are required to describe their approach to achieving gender balance and increasing diversity within their Canadian corporate structures and broader supply chains in Canada.

The Gender and Diversity Plan may include, but is not limited to, the following:

  • the bidder’s public approach to promoting diversity, inclusion, equality;
  • the bidder’s corporate anti-discrimination policies;
  • training available to educate the bidder’s workforce on diversity and inclusion;
  • available statistics on the proportion of designated groups employed at all levels of the bidder’s firm in Canada;
  • how diversity and inclusion is factored into the bidder’s supplier selection methods in Canada; or
  • other corporate activities that seek to increase or support diversity in Canada.