I'm old enough to remember when I started in the employment training field. It was 1986. At that time, I worked in a program that saw me work directly with clients. We were able to help anyone who came through the door, and sometimes there was a breakdown in ages. There were certain programs to help people under the age of 24. Others helped women returning to the workforce. But people were able to come and seek assistance getting employment, regardless of their funding source.
Often, one of the biggest barriers that I found was kids who came from loving families. Their parents make it too easy to stay at home and not get out and get a job. Sometimes those are kids who need help finding out how to get a job.
In Victoria, we have a number of kids—I guess it's the case throughout British Columbia and, I hear, across Canada—who are on the streets and don't have any supports. We hear of that and it's heartbreaking.
There were often women who were returning to the workforce who had husbands and kids, yet those women are now no longer able to get assistance if they've been out of the workforce for more than five years.
There was an open door policy. If someone needed help getting assistance, they could come to our program and get help.