I would say it's the program design. It's systems that don't work in partnerships. Programs can actually work against each other—federal and provincial levels that don't cooperate, that don't see true value in making somebody permanently employable.
In this province people with disabilities were on what we call the 10-42—10 weeks of work, 42 weeks of unemployment. It's two systems that constantly pay to keep people out of work. We did this. This is a system we designed. Now we're trying to respond and say it's the long-term things. It's not getting the job; it's keeping the job. It's that support that makes a person continue to be employable. It's programs that discount that people have bigger dreams than being a low-level clerk at Revenue Canada, or the mail room clerk in a government office. It's about those aspirations and dreams that make people want to become a member of Parliament, a CEO. We've limited ourselves.
I would remind you that this program design was by us, not by people with disabilities. They did not build the institutions we locked them up in. They did not build the buildings with the stairs that they cannot use to apply for a job. The real problem is around consultation with programs. You know what? People with disabilities are well able to tell us what we need to do. The thing we're missing is that we very often don't listen, or they don't fit into the slot that we have designed for them.