Good morning, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, my name is John Rae. I'm the first vice-president of the Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians, a national not-for-profit organization of Canadians who are blind, deaf-blind, or partially sighted.
On this occasion, I want to frame my comments a bit differently. I don't like to do things the same way each time. I don't want you all to get bored with what I might be here to tell you. Today I want to frame my comments in the context of the pandemic and the poor, a contrast in government response.
Think about it. Today Canadians are concerned about the possible swine flu pandemic. Government officials are doing something about it. They are concerned. They are acting. A vaccine has just been approved, and plans are being developed to make it available to Canadians.
Will we, as persons with disabilities, have the same access to that remedy, or will we be expected to sit on the sidelines and wait our turn, as is often the case? Well, that's a question for a different time and place.
When we think about the poor, however, the situation is quite different. Years ago Parliament passed a resolution to eradicate child poverty in Canada. We're still a long way away from achieving that goal. Report upon report has talked about the plight of the poor, and Canada's disabled population is among the poorest and most unemployed in our country.
Report upon report has talked about the benefits--psychologically, socially, economically, and in all other aspects--of doing something concrete to deal with the chronic poverty that continues to plague far too many Canadians. This is why the AEBC has called upon the government to develop a national economic strategy for persons who are blind in this country.
You notice I used the term national “economic” strategy and not national “employment” strategy. We do that purposely.
Here are some of the major aspects of that economic strategy. Number one is government will, the kind of will that seems to be present in fighting the pandemic, the kind of will that we've never seen when it comes to dealing with persons with disabilities. We believe the Prime Minister should call upon business, labour, and community leaders, put them in a room, and lock them there until they come up with a new deal. He should keep them there until emerging smoke shows that they are ready with that new deal.
Second, we believe the Government of Canada needs to embark upon a national outreach strategy, just as it is doing in the area of racial minorities, to increase our representation within the federal public service.
Third, in the area of income there is a chronic need to put more money into the pockets of Canada's poor. The current disability tax credit does assist some disabled Canadians who work, but it's misnamed. It's not really a credit but a deduction. We believe the DTC should be revamped and become a true tax credit that would go to all disabled Canadians who qualify.
Fourth, in its last budget the government earmarked a fair bit of money for infrastructure programs. Here was an opportunity lost. Why did those programs not include a provision that earmarked some of those funds to assist in making transportation systems more accessible, retrofitting some old buildings at some of Canada's colleges and universities, and doing things of that sort?
In closing I will note that way back in 1981, the federal government released the landmark Obstacles report, and the International Year of Disabled Persons was conducted under the theme of full participation and equality. That wasn't yesterday. That wasn't last year. That was 1981. Old guys like me remember that year. We remember that theme. We thought it was very forward-looking at the time.
It is high time that the Government of Canada showed some leadership and brought us into the mainstream. We are tired of sitting on the sidelines. We want to be part of Canada's mainstream.
Thank you.