Thank you.
Mr. Chair and committee members, first let me state our appreciation for the committee's understanding of the travel vagaries of Highway 401, since we were parked for an hour outside Kitchener.
Thank you for the opportunity to address the committee on behalf of Partners in Employment, a coalition of agencies in London and Middlesex County that provides employment services for people with disabilities. PIE's mission is to create a coordinated, person-centred employment and training system for persons with disabilities.
Bruce and I will be sharing the first five minutes and then we'll be joined by Mark Anderson, a new vision advocate, who will make a brief concluding statement.
Like many communities, we are working together to try to improve the employment opportunities and continued employment success for persons with disabilities.
Next week, through the leadership of TD Canada Trust and the London Chamber of Commerce, 250 employers will be attending an Ability First Conference, learning why businesses can prosper when they hire persons with disabilities.
We are about to launch a new resource to facilitate the school-to-work transition for youth with disabilities. We've recently been recognized for our collaborative self-employment, exploration and development program, our SEED program, opening new opportunities for potential entrepreneurs with disabilities.
However, despite these and other local efforts, as our document “The Time to Act is Now: Including People with Disabilities in Employment & Community Life” points out--and I hope all the committee members have received that document--persons with disabilities continue to be unemployed and underemployed, to live in poverty, and to face barriers to full inclusion.
While our document recognizes that all levels of government and the private and non-profit sectors have a role to play, today we wish to emphasize the important role that the federal government needs to play as a catalyst for change, first--as our colleagues from the March of Dimes mentioned earlier--by setting the right context and framework through the establishment of a national disabilities act that would articulate national standards and definitions for many areas, including employment and income support, and would promote inclusion in all aspects of community life. We believe many employers would welcome a clear national framework to facilitate their operations.