Exactly. I've got to get through, got to get to the recommendations. Okay.
The labour market dialogue is a series of conversations between employers and social service agencies and people with barriers to employment, and they're trying to discuss what innovative supports employers can be provided with so they can hire people with barriers to employment.
Finally, there is the social purchasing portal, which is basically a business arrangement between businesses that commit to buying services and goods from suppliers that hire people with multiple barriers to employment.
The common thread through all four of those projects is that we're talking about multi-sectoral solutions. When I talk about people with persistent barriers to meaningful employment, that's not one person or one group of people. There are some common groups that often tend to experience these barriers. There are people who are homeless, sex trade workers, ex-inmates, first nations and visible minorities, people with physical and mental disabilities, single parents, mature workers, and immigrants. The nature of those barriers that we're often working with is that they're multiple, compounding, and overwhelming for the people who are experiencing them.
When we talk about the barriers, we actually often like to try to reverse that and ask instead, what are the supports that people are missing in order to become employable? We've gathered a list of them, which you'll see on the PowerPoint that I've distributed, and probably very few of these are going to be new information. I'll just list them for you: transportation, phone, appearance, child care, food, social skills, health, housing, money, friends and family, and education.
There's nothing new on that list, so why am I spending the time to tell you about it? The reason I want to draw it to your attention is that despite the fact that these are things that we know to be issues for employability, they're not reflected in policy. These continue to be challenges for people on the ground.
I want to give you an example of that by telling you a story about Mary, a woman in Victoria. When she moved to Victoria, she got a job in the tourism sector working part time--she's a single parent--then the Asian economy took a downturn and she was laid off. She had to make some quick decisions about what she was going to do in order to be able to cut her budget sufficiently to make ends meet. She didn't have friends or family to rely on; she was new to the community.
The first decision she made was to not have a bus pass. That seems like a good decision, except she then wasn't able to easily access new businesses to distribute her resumés. She also took her child out of child care, which also seems like a good decision--$734 a month she didn't have to spend--but then when she was offered a job, she couldn't get into child care because there is such a long wait for spots and she had lost her spot. She also made the decision a lot of parents do when they're living on low income to ensure that their children have what they need--she started skipping meals. She was skipping two meals a day through the majority of her job search, which fairly immediately started to have a ramification on her health. Then eventually she was still unable to find work and lost her housing.
That's an example of what I mean by multiple and compounding barriers to employment.
For many people, these missing supports are matched by emotional stress, and then people, as they're looking for help, are faced with a piecemeal system. There is no continuous thread taking them through all of the services and supports that they require. Finally, there are people who are faced with discrimination in any form, whether that's based on their past history of employment, such as sex trade workers or people with criminal records, or for people who are first nations or visible minorities.
I want to start talking about solutions and remind you again that the community council's perspective is that it's everyone's responsibility to do something. Because I'm here today addressing a task force of the Government of Canada, I'm going to focus on solutions that the government can take up.
First, we would ask that you review the Canada social transfer. This is not a system that is working for people on the ground to ensure that the dollars are getting to the places where people need them. Within that review, I would encourage you to develop a national poverty reduction strategy, which includes a housing strategy, national welfare standards, and a universal accessible and affordable child care program, and to integrate dental care and pharmacare into the medicare program. I'd also encourage you to adopt an integrated approach across the ministries that address employability issues.
In terms of what services Canada can deliver in supports for employers, we could use some incentives to hire and retrain people with barriers to employment--a community referral service for employers with employees with barriers to employment, encouraging recognition for foreign credentials, and just raising employer awareness about these issues. You also can provide support for community services, such as the organization I am here on behalf of.
The federal government is in a unique position to enable comprehensive community initiatives. You are one of the only organizations that can bring all key players to the table, and I would encourage you to build on the success of initiatives such as SCPI or the urban development agreements, which have had great success, at least on the ground in Victoria. You also have the ability to build capacity for the voluntary sector, providing core funding and longer-term projects and supporting innovation overall.
Finally, we'd encourage you to support individuals and families directly by providing support services for people who are precariously attached to the workforce, or the working poor. Once you've found a minimum wage job, there are almost no services to help you move up and out into more long-term or permanent work.
I'd also encourage you to allow access to education without a loss of benefits. For people who are looking for work, being able to upgrade their skills is a key piece in employability.
Finally, I'd encourage you to look to your own house and ensure that you're paying a living wage for federal workers and contractors.
We really appreciate the opportunity to come here and provide some input, and I look forward to the questions and discussion. Thank you.