Advancing GBA+ capacity through case studies in Burnaby

The Civic Innovation Lab Society was co-founded in 2022 by the City of Burnaby and Simon Fraser University to serve as a long-term accelerator of Burnaby-focused research and community engagement. The Lab’s mandate is to advance education through the provision of collaborative learning and research opportunities and to contribute to the economic, social and environmental well-being of Burnaby’s community members.
The City of Burnaby is committed to using new training and resources to build more equitable and inclusive community plans that reflect the needs of diverse communities. Since 2023, Burnaby has been formalizing the use of Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+), a systematic method employed by federal and provincial governments to evaluate systemic inequalities to understand how policies, programs, and initiatives may affect diverse groups of community members (Government of Canada, n.d.). The GBA+ framework can inform all stages of a plan’s development and has been cited as a promising practice for cities to move transportation equity work from ‘rhetoric to reality’ (Williams et al. 2023).
While studies have called for wider and deeper uptake of GBA+ in local policies across Canada, GBA+ remains a topic of research focus and critical analysis (Cameron & Tedds, 2023). The GBA+ work in the City of Burnaby is still early in its evolution, and research is warranted to help them proceed in an evidence-based way. Using a bike learning zone and a transportation policy review as case studies, this research will advance GBA+ work within the City of Burnaby in transportation and urban and social planning. The CapaCITY/É research team, the Mitacs Umbrella holder, aims to support cities by improving sustainable transportation options, while keeping a focus on equity (Winters et al. 2024). Learnings from this proposed research will provide findings of interest to the broader CapaCITY/É research team and city partners across Canada.

Faculty Supervisor:

Meghan Winters

Student:

Partner:

Civic Innovation Lab

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Education; Other services (except public administration)

University:

Simon Fraser University

Program: