Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
First, I want to thank our guests, who are testifying on a multi-dimensional subject. The first dimension I want to talk about is access to employment for marginalized groups, for example, immigrants, foreign workers—because some people come here to work for a specific time period without immigrating—aboriginals and the handicapped. It is my impression that, to date, this kind of access to employment has resulted in exploitation by employers and related organizations. In fact, we could have a charter on employment in which unions could agree to grant access, and so forth.
However, the labour shortages in some regions in Canada illustrate that we are ignoring a huge potential opportunity. I will talk about this subject, perhaps, with Mr. Hinton or Ms. Hicks, who talked about the handicapped, particularly those with spinal injuries. I know that the kinds of jobs that these individuals can do are obviously limited. Their employment profile is specific.
In order to ensure access to such jobs, do you believe that we should have positive discrimination policies for these people and other marginalized groups? Do you understand what I'm saying? There are often positive discrimination policies for individuals who are job-ready, but who are not handicapped.