Thank you for being here today. I really appreciate that the committee has come to Vancouver to allow us to make presentations in person.
I want to talk to you about a framework for an employment strategy that ASPECT has developed. ASPECT is an association of service providers for employability and career training. We have over 145 member organizations. These are community-based employment training agencies located throughout 58 communities in British Columbia. ASPECT members are both non-profit and private organizations that provide community-based employment and career training specifically designed to assist individuals in overcoming their barriers to employment.
All of the not-for-profit organizations are governed by volunteer boards, as is ASPECT. The board of ASPECT has been instrumental in developing this strategy and it has been validated by our members at our last AGM.
Community-based trainers are professionals who specialize in employment and career counselling for individuals struggling with employability issues. Community-based trainers have experience in providing the following services in their communities: academic upgrading, numeracy and literacy, vocational and career assessment counselling, employment preparedness, job skills training, work experience and job placement, job maintenance, crisis support as needed, transition support to independence, and language instruction as required.
The purpose of ASPECT is to facilitate liaison, resource sharing, and problem solving between service-providing agencies and governments, to promote positive working relationships and problem solving, and to coordinate professional development opportunities for the management and staff of agencies.
Our community-based training agencies are long-standing providers for HRSDC. They have always met and typically exceeded the agreed-to performance targets. We address employment barriers and speed the transition to employment and economic independence through some of the following characteristics that are unique to our sector.
We're committed to working with marginalized populations, with people who have barriers to employment. We are client-focused, working with each individual to overcome their barriers. We maintain close working relationships with local employers and employer associations. We're informed about the labour market gaps and the needs in our communities and provinces. Our agencies are connected to other resources in their communities, resulting in significant enhancement in service to multi-barriered clients and also in community capacity building.
ASPECT has maintained a mutually beneficial and collegial relationship with the regional headquarters of HRSDC, now Service Canada, for over a decade. ASPECT often acts as a conduit between service providers in Service Canada, in helping to clarify issues and solve problems.
I meet regularly with regional headquarters and I have served on the interim Voluntary Sector Advisory Committee on Employment, and two of my board members continue on the permanent Voluntary Sector Advisory Committee.
As Canada is called upon to compete in an increasingly global economy, we must undertake the development of a strategy that will prepare people, will increase our productivity, and will provide the greatest opportunity for individual economic self-sufficiency. ASPECT consulted with our own members to obtain their input for the development of this employment strategy. We believe that further extensive consultation and collaboration involving a spectrum of stakeholders, involving all levels of government--employers, workers, agencies, and others--are required in order to develop a strategy that truly addresses the diverse employment and human resource needs in British Columbia and ultimately in Canada.
As a starting point, however, ASPECT is pleased to present this document as a framework for developing such a strategy. This framework will describe the current situation in terms of what is working and what's not working and it will provide a vision for a more comprehensive and responsive strategy. It will articulate the principles that we believe must attach to the strategy and it will provide a series of specific recommendations that are intended as guidance for the next step in the development of a national strategy.
It's important to recognize there are many effective employment-related initiatives currently in British Columbia. The development of a new strategy should build on those strengths while addressing the shortcomings of existing programming.
What's working? Program and service delivery is currently being delivered through local organizations who are in touch with the employment, economic, social, and environmental needs of their communities. Much of this is thanks to Service Canada for resisting the provincial models that have happened here in British Columbia, sort of large corporate brokers that deliver on a province-wide basis.
There are at least some employment services available in most communities, thanks to Service Canada. Some areas have access to a broad diversity of services to meet a spectrum of needs. The federal government has maintained budget levels. The concept of establishing and rewarding the achievement of results is a good one. New contracting models have recently been introduced that provide some flexibility and discretion for delivery organizations in meeting the needs of their clients. Economic growth has provided opportunities, bringing previously marginalized people into higher-skill occupations with greater remuneration, especially in urban areas. There has been no political interference in budgets or in service delivery agency selection, and we've been given an opportunity to influence policies through access to political representatives, such as today.
What's not working? People are falling through the cracks. They don't get service because they don't fall under either the federal or the provincial definitions: people returning to work after a long absence, young people who've not had jobs recently. There does not appear to be any connection between economic employment policy at either the national or the provincial level. There are insufficient support services available--for example, day care-- to enable self-reliance for many workers. Targets and measures of results are not reflective of local conditions and encourage creaming, where we're only serving the most employable clients. Accountability has come to be interpreted by some federal staff as auditing on a micro level, with a focus on monitoring expenses rather than results. There's been some change in that, thanks to the Voluntary Sector Advisory Committee.
Federal-provincial co-management. While there appears to be more communication, differing cultures, philosophies, and priorities have made co-management a failure in British Colombia in relation to coordinated delivery, and HRSDC policies are not clear and often not well communicated to the regions. It's not possible to accurately assess real impact of programs, as data is inadequate, not validated, and often not available to agencies. Service delivery agencies are assuming greater risks with less recompense—less money—resulting in many withdrawing altogether.
So we propose a strategy that's congruent with national economic strategy and is shared by all levels of government.
We believe in triple bottom-line accountability; compassion, tolerance, and respect for all Canadians, regardless of their employment status or their eligibility for EI; consultation—and thank you for this again—inclusion and integration. Social inclusion creates social cohesion. We believe in partnership with the provincial government, and that development and delivery of employment programming should be done through community partnerships; lifelong learning, and that needs to be supported by government; flexibility and adaptability in programs for communities; accountability to focus on outcomes; and cohesion and coordination between the various ministries at the provincial government level and at the federal government level.
Thank you.