Evidence of meeting #23 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was students.
9:30 a.m.
Agent de développement de solutions et de projets, Fondation de la langue française pour l'innovation sociale et scientifique
I'm not sure I understand your question.
9:30 a.m.
NDP
Denise Savoie NDP Victoria, BC
Are we talking about teaching materials intended for courses offered to Francophones?
9:30 a.m.
Agent de développement de solutions et de projets, Fondation de la langue française pour l'innovation sociale et scientifique
Yes.
9:30 a.m.
Agent de développement de solutions et de projets, Fondation de la langue française pour l'innovation sociale et scientifique
Llibraries are still central to the transmission of knowledge. You can't disregard that fact. If each institution has a 100,000-book library, it's because that's a necessity. We're talking about the translation of teaching material and books into French, but we also have to talk about the translation of material in the libraries. That goes without saying.
9:30 a.m.
NDP
Denise Savoie NDP Victoria, BC
To get back to the problem you raised, I'd like to know whether, in your view, it exists solely at Parks Canada. Have you checked this?
9:30 a.m.
As an Individual
I know someone who, before working at the canal, had the same experience at Customs and Excise Canada, as part of the FSWEP.
9:30 a.m.
NDP
Denise Savoie NDP Victoria, BC
Were those positions for students or regular positions filled by students?
9:30 a.m.
As an Individual
In fact, under the cover of a student assignment, they're filling classified positions. To add to my colleague's remarks, I'd say that all the agencies may have problems with implementation of the FSWEP, since there's no monitoring. For example, I heard that, at Statistics Canada, they hadn't yet paid students for hours worked this past summer.
In that case as well, they can only complain, but if the administration doesn't pay them, they won't have any recourse. They can't even ask the Public Service Commission to investigate the situation.
9:30 a.m.
NDP
Denise Savoie NDP Victoria, BC
I'm going to set aside the wage issue for the moment.
You see the fact that students are filling classified positions as a problem. It seems to me that may be a positive experience for them.
9:35 a.m.
As an Individual
Of course, but there is a discriminatory factor. For example, you only need a high school diploma to be a lock operator. Employees who have merely completed their fifth year of high school occupy a classified position and earn practically $20 an hour, whereas we're paid $8.95 an hour for the same work because we're students.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dean Allison
Thank you, Madame Savoie.
I have some other questions I'd like to ask Madame Moreau in terms of the opportunities fund. As we've travelled--we have just come from the east--the importance of the fund has been mentioned at each stop along the way. I'd like you to elaborate a little bit more on some of the projects you're involved in.
I understand the fund is $30 million across the country. Is that correct? As well, what kinds of funds flow to Quebec specifically, and to your organization? Maybe you could elaborate on some of the programs you're involved in.
9:35 a.m.
Director general, SPHERE-Québec (Soutien à la personne handicapée en route vers l'emploi au Québec)
I hope I clearly understood the question in English. I'll try to answer you, but correct me if I'm wrong.
SPHERE-Québec is an organization that offers its services in Quebec. It is mandated by the Department of Human Resources and Social Development Canada to manage, across Quebec, the portion of the envelope for the Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities that is allocated to that province. The Opportunities Fund is a Canadian program. Is that what you asked me?
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dean Allison
No, it wasn't, but I'll try again.
I understood all that. I understood how important the opportunities fund is; as I said, it has been mentioned in other provinces we've been in. I just wanted to know specifically if $30 million was the correct amount of the fund nationally, and then how much your organization received. You mentioned some programs, but I was more curious about the types of different programs that you deliver here in the province.
9:35 a.m.
Director general, SPHERE-Québec (Soutien à la personne handicapée en route vers l'emploi au Québec)
SPHERE-Québec receives an average of $3.5 or $4 million annually for persons with disabilities in Quebec. Those amounts are clearly inadequate. Even though they enable us to help between 500 and 700 persons with disabilities each year, there are other needs that must be met.
The Opportunities Fund supplements the provincial programs. There are already programs of this kind in Quebec. To avoid any overlap, we strive, in as flexible a manner as possible, to meet individual needs, to fill certain gaps. The service offered varies with each region, the needs of each person, the availability of funding in Quebec and that of our own funds.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dean Allison
Could you elaborate a bit more? You talked about a few examples previously, but could you give me a few more examples of the services that are delivered--maybe of the variety of different programs you offer?
9:35 a.m.
Director general, SPHERE-Québec (Soutien à la personne handicapée en route vers l'emploi au Québec)
These are individual measures. So we respond to the needs of one person at a time. For example, we may pay interpretation costs during a training period for one deaf person who is entering a job at a plant. This may involve team meetings or meetings during which that person's supervisor explains instructions. We can also pay the costs to build a ramp enabling a person in a wheelchair to access the building where he or she will work.
I'd like to turn the floor over to Ms. Vincent, who works in the field. She can give you concrete examples of what we can do.
9:40 a.m.
Project Agent, SPHERE-Québec (Soutien à la personne handicapée en route vers l'emploi au Québec)
There are different components. Obviously, we also help people enter the labour market. So it's possible for us to pay a portion of their salary, until they can enter the market and develop their employability in the context of their job. As Nancy said, we can adapt workstations because we work with persons with disabilities and we serve people with all kinds of disabilities. People who have functional physical limitations need specific adaptations to their workstations or access to their place of work. As for persons living with a mental disability, they need to be accompanied in the work places to assist them in learning their duties. What is difficult for an employer is to take in one person and to have to increase necessary supervision time for another employee by a factor of 10 or 15. This is the business world, and employers have no time to waste. We have to accommodate them and be able to provide these employers with assistance that will enable them to open their doors and give this experience a try, and that leads to extraordinary job retention situations.
We can also take part in skills development. We said earlier that the persons with disabilities that we work with are far removed from the labour market. They haven't received employment insurance in three years. That's a standard these days. In 2006, even a person without disabilities looking for work after being unemployed for three or more years is suffering from a major handicap.
We can help these people by finding them remedial training that will enable them to enter the labour market. Skills development is also an area we're trying to focus on and invest in. Special training is a path we think is very promising because people are trained and can have access to the regular labour market.
9:40 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dean Allison
Thank you very much.
Next is Mr. D'Amours. You have five minutes, please.
9:40 a.m.
Liberal
Jean-Claude D'Amours Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'm going back to the question of dedicated transfers. I'm going to speak to Mr. Giroux and Mr. Ndobo.
I'd like to understand a minor distinction with regard to the provinces' obligation. You want transfers to be dedicated, and that's one thing, but you don't want any obligations imposed on the provinces. Are we in fact talking about the social transfer divided in two, that is to say the social portion on the one hand and postsecondary education on the other? If that's in fact what you mean, what effect would not imposing obligations on the provinces have? In fact, there is an obligation because amounts must be allocated specifically to postsecondary education. Do you mean that the provincial governments wouldn't be required to allocate the amounts in such and such a way?
9:40 a.m.
President, Conseil national des cycles supérieurs, Quebec Federation of University Students
In fact, what we mean is that the money should go to the provinces so that they can manage it in accordance with their priorities. In the rest of Canada, tuition fees are higher than in Quebec. What does that cause? To help students, the government will put in place programs like the Canada Student Loan Program or the Canada Education Savings Grant. Consequently, the provinces that charge high tuition fees will benefit much more from those programs than provinces that choose to maintain lower tuition fees.
The provinces that choose to use resources to guarantee accessibility will be put at a disadvantage because those that receive the most money from those programs will be, on the contrary, the ones that have decided to reduce accessibility by charging high fees. We would like the provinces to be able to use the amounts as they see fit.
Canada has a system for providing financial assistance for education which has been aware of the actual situation in the field since the 1960s. That system is much more honed than a program such as the Canadian Millennium Scholarship Foundation, which was established about 10 years ago. We think Quebec organizations are much more capable of managing the money and distributing it to students in a fair and efficient manner.
We want the money to be transferred to the provinces through a dedicated transfer. I stated the benefits of that transfer earlier. It also clearly shows the federal contribution and that of the province. We can know which level is doing its work in the education field and which one is not. Consequently, the provinces can use the funds in the way they consider most effective for their education sector.
9:45 a.m.
Liberal
Jean-Claude D'Amours Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
Okay. That helps me. You're right, tuition costs are much higher in other provinces. In New Brunswick, for example, annual tuition fees for students at the bachelor's level vary between $5,200 and $5,400. In Quebec, they're much lower than those amounts.
This is a major challenge for the students of a number of regions, particularly for minority Francophone students. They often need to travel, which results in additional costs. Mr. Ndobo was telling me earlier that he was a graduate of the University of Moncton. I'm extremely proud to have you here. This is proof that it's a highly recognized institution.
Once the transfers are made, we wind up in a debate that's hard to win. Money is indeed transferred, but, ultimately, what amount should actually be allocated to the future of our youth? That's currently very hard to determine. A dedicated transfer, as you said, would show who's doing his job and who isn't. The Canadian public wants to be able to blame, as it were, the person who's not doing his or her job well.
9:45 a.m.
President, Conseil national des cycles supérieurs, Quebec Federation of University Students
Absolutely. As regards dedicated transfers, that's one thing that has previously been done in the past. The former Canada Health and Social Transfer was split in two: one transfer for health and the other for social programs. That clarifies the federal government's contribution to the health sector. We think we should adopt this model for postsecondary education.