methodology

Why a Care Policy Scorecard?

The Care Policy Scorecard was launched by Oxfam in 2021 and was developed collaboratively between organizations and individuals working on the care agenda at the regional, national and global levels.11 COVID-19 highlighted how important care is for our society and our economy, while also demonstrating just how fragile the care sector is. Despite the magnitude of these issues, care has not been adequately taken up by public policies globally. Furthermore, as unpaid care work and, to a large extent, paid care work remain relatively less recognized as public policy issues, an instrument was needed to highlight care work as a responsibility of policy makers and set out what that responsibility entails.

When the Scorecard was conceptualized, there was no global instrument that tracks and measures government progress against key care policies areas through a practical tool – despite a growing body of literature that addresses unpaid and paid care work in different contexts. There are a small number of existing global gender-related scorecards and indexes that include metrics on unpaid and/or paid care and domestic work,

Care Policy Scorecard applied in Canada

For this report, the Scorecard was adapted to analyze the Canadian context. When this tool was being adapted for and applied in the Canadian context, despite the volume of care policies developed and applied at the municipal and provincial levels of government, the scope was limited to the analysis of federal care policies. This limitation was justifiable because of the federal government’s leadership role in creating an enabling environment for care across the country. Therefore, only federal legislation, policies and programs were scored.

Many indicators in the scorecard fall largely under provincial jurisdiction, but some of these indicators still have significant scope for federal action and funding (e.g., public transportation) and thus were retained. Other indicators with no significant federal role, including sanitation services and labour law, were excluded. Although the federal government has jurisdiction over labour law for federally regulated workers, this group such as the Gender Inequality Index and Women Peace and Security Index; however, there is no in-depth and holistic measurement of care policy responses. 12

To outline the key components of a care-enabling public policy environment, the Scorecard draws on the work of feminist and development economists and the International Labour Organization’s 5R framework. This means being able to recognize, reduce and redistribute unpaid care work, adequately reward paid care work and represent care workers in collective bargaining and social dialogue. In addition to this framework, the Scorecard is accompanied by a set of policy indicators and questions that can be used to assess, monitor and evaluate progress systematically and holistically across relevant public policy areas. Recognizing that contextually specific conditions for care need to be understood before applying overarching policies or solutions, the Scorecard is intended to be a tool for advocacy research that can be adapted to multiple contexts by its users.13 includes few, if any, care workers and thus was less relevant to this report.

While prominent, in the context of this report – Canada’s informal economy is smaller in magnitude compared to other countries – therefore the emphasis on “informally employed workers” in several assessment criteria was replaced with an emphasis on a broader scope of marginalized groups, including especially First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples and migrant workers.

These modifications resulted in a scorecard with 21 indicators in eight policy areas. Each indicator is assessed based on 12 to 22 criteria, each given a score of 1, 0.5 or 0. The sum of the scores for each indicator’s criteria is divided by the number of criteria to provide an overall percentage score for each indicator. The percentage scores are then converted to a degree of transformation, a score from 0 to 5 that reflects the degree to which the federal policy in that area is transformative for care.

Finally, one of the cross-cutting assessment criteria of this Scorecard measured the extent to which care policies had been developed in consultation with paid care workers and/or women’s rights organizations. This information was often not publicly available, so researchers surveyed representatives from 16 feminist organizations. This criteria was scored a “1” if at least one representative had been consulted and their input had been taken into account to some extent.

Canada has made significant progress on care-related policies over the past decade, but federal leadership is still lacking in many areas. Little has been done to spur the transformation of gender norms, and many policies have had disproportionate consequences for marginalized groups.

Two indicators were removed from the assessment: timeand energy-saving equipment, and technologies and caresensitive public works programs. They were not deemed as relevant to the Canadian and Global North context; these indicators are more salient in collecting information about care policies in the Global South.

Canada does have an informal economy. (1.7 million Canadians in the labour force pre-pandemic were engaged in gig economy arrangements; about half these arrangements were for supplemental income, the rest were the person’s sole source of income.)14 Canada’s “underground economy” was valued at 2.7% of the GDP ($68.5 billion) in 2021, with residential construction being the largest contributor.

The criteria were mostly assessed by reviewing federal policies, legislation and regulations. Most criteria could be assessed objectively, and this report provides an explanation and source(s) for the score. However, other criteria involved a significant amount of judgement.

For these criteria, the report established specific methods for interpreting the criterion and applied them consistently across indicators. Crucial to this process was consultation and validation workshops with an expert Advisory Group15 consisting of members from advocacy, labour and non-profit organizations in Canada who work in policy areas specific to care. In addition to providing ongoing research support – all final scores were reviewed by this group. Oxfam Canada will continue working with experts and advocates to conduct similar scorecard reports assessing provincial and municipal care policies in Canada to gain a holistic picture of the care policy needs across the countries.

Among the 21 indicators assessed in the Scorecard, the majority scored a 2 or 3 on the degree of transformation scale. This indicates that federal policy exists in these areas but that they are doing little to transform gender norms and the unequal distribution of care work, to value care work, or to eliminate gender inequality. Four indicators received a 4, indicating that policies are moderately transformative. No policies were transformative to a great extent. One indicator scored a one because the policy is under development, and three indicators from Section 3 scored a 0, indicating that there are no federal policies in these areas.

The full scoring data across all indicators (including the references and sources) was organized in a separate Excel file. While not included in this report, it can be accessed by request through Oxfam Canada.

CARE POLICY SCORECARD A tool for assessing country progress towards an enabling policy environment on care

for First Nations Act

2030 Emissions Reduction Plan: Canada’s Next Steps for Clean Air and a Strong Economy

None

The federal government has jurisdiction over piped water on federal lands and First Nations reserves. This section scores policies around the provision of piped water in Indigenous communities.

There is no federal policy for the provision of household electricity, this falls under provincial jurisdiction. However, there is some federal funding for household electricity under the Emissions Reduction Plan.

There is no national policy for sanitation services (we focused on rubbish collection but the same applies for bathrooms, municipal waste).

There is dedicated federal funding for public transportation through the permanent public transit fund, although the allocation of these funds is still under consultation.

Provision of public healthcare services is under provincial jurisdiction but the federal government funds public healthcare services through the Canada Health Transfer.

Multilateral Early Learning and Childcare Framework, 2021 Budget

The federal government has entered into agreements with each province to provide funding to reduce childcare fees and increase childcare capacity.

There is no national policy

There is no comprehensive national policy to provide care services to people with additional care needs. The new Canada Disability Benefit may help people with additional care needs pay for care services.

Canada Pension Plan, Old Age Security, Guaranteed Income Supplement

Canada Child Benefit

The combination of the CPP, GIS and OAS ensure most seniors can live in dignity.

The Canada Child Benefit supports low-income families but is not large enough to lift families in deep poverty out of poverty and is not universally accessible.

The federal government has started to develop a national school food policy but it has not been completed. Pan-Canadian School Food Policy

Under the Canada Labour Code, federally regulated employees now have access to 10 days of paid sick leave per year. Canada Labour Code

Workers have access to paid parental leave through the Employment Insurance System.

The Canada Labour Code outlines that federally regulated workers can request flexible working arrangements but employers are not obligated to oblige them. Canada Labour

There is no national policy regarding onsite childcare. We evaluated the Workplace Day Care Centres policy which applies only to federal government employees.

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Canadian Human Rights Act

Policies developed under the CHRA, which apply to federally regulated employers, outline that employers have a duty to accommodate breastfeeding at work. Discrimination due to breastfeeding has been interpreted as sexbased discrimination under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

CARE POLICY SCORECARD A tool for assessing country progress towards an enabling policy environment on care

The federal minimum wage only applies to federally regulated workers. Most paid care workers fall under provincial legislation.

The Pay Equity Act establishes that federally regulated workers must take proactive steps to achieve pay equity. Pay

Act insurance is available to an increasingly limited subset of workers. inspections largely fall under the responsibility of employers and employees can file labour standards complaints with the ESDC Labour Program.

The Canada Labour Code establishes standard working hours for federally regulated employees.

The Canada Labour Code and Canada Labour Standards Regulations govern when children can work in federally regulated workplaces. Most of Canada’s work on child labour, including Bill S-211, is focused on child labour in foreign supply chains for goods imported into Canada.

The Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulations (enabled under the Canada Labour Code Part II) apply to federally regulated workers.

These regulations apply to federally regulated workers but give precedence to employers’ opinions.

Migrant workers are not adequately protected under existing regulations and their rights are limited by employer-tied worker permits and a lack of paths to permanent residency.

The Canada Labour Code Part establishes the right to join unions for workers in federally regulated workplaces.

CARE POLICY SCORECARD A tool for assessing country progress towards an enabling policy environment on care

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There is no government policy on gender stereotypes in advertising. Industry groups have created policies that prohibit gender stereotypes in advertising and media that are administered on a self-regulating basis.

There is no national policy to raise awareness about care work or shift gender norms around care work.

There is no national education policy to address gender stereotypes.

The Department of Finance is currently developing a Quality of Life framework to measure wellbeing.

Many indicators have a common assessment criteria. Assessment criteria are separated into several categories, including accessibility & reach, budget & administration, design & impact, legislation & ratification and regulation & monitoring. Summarizing the scores by category provides an understanding of federal policy strengths and weaknesses across indicators. The strongest scores were achieved in budget & administration and regulation & monitoring. Policies scored particularly well on assessment criteria related to having a specific government department to oversee the policy, having clear mechanisms to address complaints and having an adequate financial and human resources to implement the policy.

However, policies scored worse on accessibility & reach and design & impact. Criteria that required services to be universally and affordably accessible for and to actually reach (rather than simply be accessible on paper) structurally marginalized populations fared the most poorly. Although the policies exist and can be implemented effectively, they do not prioritize marginalized populations, and when they do, the implementation of the policy may not result in real accessibility in practice.

The gap between what is on paper and what is happening in the real world is significant in policy making and analysis. While this report provides a holistic review of what exists and does not exist, in-depth qualitative research on the experience of living through and navigating care systems was not a part of this exercise. This point is important because many assessment criteria were related to the content of policies and regulations without considering how the policies are implemented and experienced by people on a day-to-day basis.

Further research, stories and public material is crucial to understand the lived realities of navigating care systems in policies in Canada from an intersectional lens. For example, the Canada Health Act, which receives a favourable score, stipulates that to receive full transfer payments to fund health care from the federal government, provinces must “provide for insured health services on uniform terms” for all residents of the province.16 However, in practice, we know that marginalized groups, especially Indigenous peoples, face a wide range of barriers to accessing health care services, including discrimination in the health care system, long wait lists and having to travel long distances to access care.17 In this instance, the accessibility of care services in practice is very different from the accessibility of care services on paper.