Human Resources Committee on Feb. 26th, 2013

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Komarnicki]

Good morning everyone. We will start our meeting. I see Mr. Cuzner is not here, but we'll commence notwithstanding and he'll probably arrive in due course.

We have with us Department of Human Resources and Skills Development officials, and we're dealing with the study of exploring employment opportunities for persons with disabilities. We certainly look forward to hearing from you. We have with us Yves Gingras, senior director, economic policy directorate; Monika Bertrand, director, youth and labour market programs for persons with disabilities; and Sylvie Dubé, policy director, office for disability issues.

I'm sure you'll take us through some very essential elements of what this study may entail.

Go ahead, Yves.

[Yves Gingras, Senior Director, Economic Policy Directorate, Department of Human Resources and Skills Development]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you for inviting Human Resources and Skills Development Canada to today's hearings. We are very pleased to be here this morning to discuss employment opportunities for persons with disabilities.

I will begin by speaking to the current situation of persons with disabilities and the current labour market conditions in Canada. Then, I will provide an overview of HRSDC's programs.

It is estimated that currently more than three million working-age Canadians have a disability. Disability is much more common among older Canadians. As Canada's population ages, we can expect the number of people in the workplace who are confronting disabilities to grow. Canada's labour force growth will continue to slow down in the next years as a result of demographic changes. Therefore, further efforts to assist persons with disabilities in finding and keeping jobs will help address skill shortages and support economic growth.

At present, about one-third of employers report problems finding workers with the right skills, and shortages in some regions and sectors already exist. There are more than 240,000 job vacancies in Canada as of November 2012. Vacancies have been an ongoing upward trend in the last year, with close to 10,000 more vacancies reported by employers in November 2012 compared to a year earlier. Not surprisingly, growth in jobs that go unfilled was strongest in the prairie provinces.

People with disabilities represent an untapped pool of qualified labour and, while their situation has improved over time, their employment rate remains low compared to that of other Canadians. For example, in 2010 it was about 51%, compared to 75% for persons without disabilities. There are approximately 800,000 individuals with disabilities in Canada who are not currently employed yet are capable of working. Almost half of them have some post-secondary education.

Moreover, the average total income for persons with a disability is about $27,000, compared to nearly $38,000 for those without a disability. Women with disabilities earn even less, an average of about $22,000, compared to $31,000 for men with disabilities.

Education has a huge impact on levelling the playing field for persons with disabilities, and while it has been on the rise, it still lags behind those without disabilities. An estimated 14% of working-age adults with disabilities have a university degree, compared to 24% for those without disabilities.

Improving labour market outcomes for persons with disabilities is a priority for the government. However, the federal government is only one of many partners that have an impact on their labour market outcomes. Employers in the private sector have an important role to play in employing Canadians with disabilities.

The recent report of the Panel on Labour Market Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities showed that, while there are several private sector successes in Canada in the employment of persons with disabilities, many businesses still have misconceptions about how to hire persons with disabilities and what it costs to accommodate them in the workplace.

The panel found a proven business case for hiring persons with disabilities. Often, accommodation costs are low and returns on these small investments can be very high. The report calls for employer leadership and employer-driven approaches to improve labour market outcomes for persons with disabilities.

Our department also supports the inclusion of people with disabilities in the economy through several targeted programs.

Labour market agreements for persons with disabilities make up the government's single largest source of support to help persons with disabilities enter and stay in the labour market. Through these agreements, the government transfers $218 million annually to the provinces, delivering close to 300,000 interventions.

The opportunities fund for persons with disabilities provides $30 million each year to assist individuals who have little or no labour force attachment to prepare for, obtain, and keep employment, or become self-employed. In 2011-12 approximately 5,400 clients were served, 1,400 found employment, 300 returned to school, and 3,300 enhanced their employability.

Economic action plan 2012 invested an additional $30 million over three years in the fund to help more persons with disabilities get work experience with small and medium-sized businesses and ensure that employers are aware of the invaluable contribution people with disabilities can make.

In addition to these targeted programs, we also help persons with disabilities enter the labour market through the labour market agreements and the youth employment strategy.

Through the labour market agreements, the government transfers $500 million annually to provinces and territories, providing approximately 400,000 interventions in 2009-10. The interventions assist Canadians who are under-represented in the labour force in enhancing employability and skills. This includes persons with disabilities.

The youth employment strategy provides over $300 million annually, which in 2011-12 supported about 60,000 young Canadians, including those with disabilities. In particular, the skills link component is targeted to youth facing barriers to employment, including youth with disabilities.

The Canada pension plan disability program, which is the largest federal income security program for working-age people with disabilities, supports labour market re-entry by providing beneficiaries support in their efforts to re-engage in paid employment through a variety of program and policy measures.

The government has also moved on a number of other fronts. In 2010, it ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It provides Canada Student Grants and related supports to students with permanent disabilities. It provides funding to the Mental Health Commission of Canada to develop Canada's first National Standard for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace. The government also funds stakeholder efforts to improve inclusion of Canadians with disabilities through the Social Development Partnerships Program. It funds improvements to the built environment through the Enabling Accessibility Fund, with over 800 projects funded so far.

In conclusion, people with disabilities represent a valuable source of potential labour, and we want to give them every opportunity to get the development and training they need to join the workforce. HRSDC continues to be mindful of the critical need to address labour market challenges of persons with disabilities. We look forward to seeing the results of your work and any recommendations for future policy directions.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Komarnicki]

Thank you.

If no one else is making a presentation, we'll go to Madame Perreault.

Welcome back to the committee. It's good to see you here again.

[Manon Perreault, NDP, Montcalm, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I am delighted to have the officials from the department here, and I am very glad to be a part of this discussion.

Before coming here, I read a lot about all the various studies that had been done. I couldn't tell whether there had been any follow-up as far as those studies go. But it is still evident that things have improved slightly. I sincerely hope that what we do here will lead to a big step forward.

Earlier, you mentioned the Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities, a fund designed to help employers and organizations create projects that will help people with disabilities enter the labour market.

Is there any follow-up with those who have participated in these projects? The goal of the projects is to help people with disabilities. But is there any kind of follow-up once the projects are complete?

[Monika Bertrand, Director, Youth and Labour Market Programs for Persons with Disabilities, Department of Human Resources and Skills Development]

Thank you for your question.

For the opportunities fund, yes, there is certainly a follow-up that is being done on persons with disabilities to do a regular reporting on the data that Yves just presented in terms of how many found employment and how many returned to school. For 2011-12 there is a follow-up shortly after the intervention with service providers and individuals, but really the big follow-up is the evaluation. Every five years our programs are evaluated. The last evaluation that we had was from 2008. We're currently in the process of launching a new evaluation. That really gives a good sense of what the outcomes are of the people who followed the various interventions.

So, yes, they are being followed, and we do learn from that.

[Manon Perreault, NDP, Montcalm, QC]

Are those performance indicators available?

[Monika Bertrand]

Yes, they are public.

[Manon Perreault, NDP, Montcalm, QC]

Okay.

I have been told that people with episodic illnesses have trouble accessing the fund, because they don't have a permanent disability.

Should the fund requirements be more flexible in those cases? People with multiple sclerosis come to mind, for instance.

[Monika Bertrand]

The opportunities fund is a very specific fund. The clientele of the opportunities fund is persons with disabilities who have very little or next to no labour market attachment. When we are talking about episodic disabilities, absolutely they are part of the group of clientele of persons with disabilities who require certain interventions to get them into the labour market. They are considered just as other persons with disabilities in terms of the clientele. I don't see any difference between a person with a physical disability, a mental disability, or a learning disability. It's all about a person identifying himself or herself as having a disability. That's really what the eligibility requirement is.

[Manon Perreault, NDP, Montcalm, QC]

Very well.

I gather, then, the idea is also to educate employers and give them more support. Am I wrong?

[Monika Bertrand]

No, you're not wrong. The opportunities fund does have an employer awareness component in it. We actually added that after the 2008 evaluation. One of the shortcomings that came out was that, first of all, the awareness of the program wasn't great, but then also the awareness of the abilities of persons with disabilities wasn't well known, so there was an employer awareness component added to the terms and conditions of the program just because of that fact.

[Manon Perreault, NDP, Montcalm, QC]

For the opportunities fund to work well, you need the participation of employers and organizations. In the case of people with disabilities, it is often said that workplace accommodations are also necessary.

Since the opportunities fund is for employers, does it enable them to obtain financial assistance?

[Monika Bertrand]

To obtain what? Sorry, but I'm having trouble hearing you.

[Manon Perreault, NDP, Montcalm, QC]

The opportunities fund is for employers, so does it give them access to financial support to introduce the necessary workplace accommodations?

[Monika Bertrand]

Yes, absolutely.

[Manon Perreault, NDP, Montcalm, QC]

And that's through the opportunities fund?

[Monika Bertrand]

Exactly.

Eligible expenses are included under the opportunities fund. First of all there's wage subsidy, for example. Wage subsidy is always important to give an individual a chance to show their abilities to an employer, so we provide wage subsidies. We provide workplace accommodation funding, so if somebody needs special computer software or if somebody needs the work station adapted, that is all part of the opportunities fund's eligible expenses. We also provide support for job coaching, for example.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Komarnicki]

Madame Perreault, your time is up.

We'll move now to Mr. McColeman.

[Phil McColeman, Conservative, Brant, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses for being here today.

It's a rather exciting day for me personally because, as you may know, yesterday for private member's business I submitted my motion which deals with this very subject because of the importance not only to the community of persons with disabilities, but also to communities in general.

This is an area where I think there's much going on, as you've put forward today. I really think, too, that it can be a non-partisan effort to up the game, especially in the area of the private sector, to help companies realize the great asset that persons with disabilities can provide to their business. The business case was made, as you know, in the report that was just tabled. For those of us who've taken a look at that report, there are some shining examples in the country. So I preface my questions with that.

In terms of upping that game, and for all members of Parliament to be able to get on the same page, what are some of the innovations you've noticed in the time you've been working on this file? What has actually been happening in terms of the private sector? There has been some progress, as mentioned in your opening remarks, but can you give us some first-hand examples?

[Monika Bertrand]

I can start from the program policy perspective in terms of the importance of employers. I was mentioning that employer awareness activities are very important. It came out in 2008, and was confirmed again by the panel, that employer awareness is very important. In budget 2012, additional funding was provided to the opportunities fund. It has that hook that it also include work experience in small and medium-sized enterprises, but also an employer awareness component has to be part of a project. We thought it was very important to demystify employing a person with disabilities.

So, we have started. With the 2008 evaluation, we have worked more and more on employer awareness. We launched a national call for proposals a couple of years ago with priority given to employer awareness activities. In budget 2012 there is very clearly a focus on work experience with SMEs, which is a big part of raising employer awareness of the capabilities of persons with disabilities, coupled with awareness activities, sharing of best practices, etc.

[Yves Gingras]

I could complement this by adding that through our work, and also the work of the recent panel, we are aware, and we heard from employers, about new technologies that lower the cost of accommodation and the openness in the workplace to accommodate existing employees. This is something that came out strongly in the last consultations with the panel. Employers, once they have someone who's in the workplace, even if they don't have explicit policies, will often find ways to accommodate someone having difficulty. It could be episodic; it could be all sorts of disabilities. This accommodation, whether it's formal or informal, is done, and now there are all sorts of ways to do it. Technology lowers the cost, as well, of accommodation. This is new. What we heard, though, is that when it comes to engaging a conversation from someone from outside, to bring them in the labour market, this seems to be the area where there remains more barriers.

[Phil McColeman, Conservative, Brant, ON]

From that I take it there has been government funding for new initiatives to move this awareness forward in the eyes of Canadians in general, but especially among Canadians who have their own business, and not only small and medium-sized businesses, but large businesses across the country as well.

It struck me that there are some champions out there nationally who are leading the way, so to speak, right now. On that corporate leadership example, the examples that exist out there, I want to ask you about the potential that you see. I'm overusing it perhaps by saying “upping the game” here, but that's what my motion strikes to do, not only make the government very aware that there are more steps to be taken and prescriptive things to be done, but also, more so even, the private sector needs to step up to the plate here. What are your thoughts in terms of the potential for that?

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Komarnicki]

Mr. McColeman's time will be up in a few moments, but go ahead and answer his question.

[Monika Bertrand]

I see great potential. Again, I'm talking from the program policy area. We're sort of the thinkers. We always look ahead in terms of how we can make our programs better and more efficient and more effective. Certainly, everything we've heard now confirms the idea that we need to get employers a lot more engaged. And yes, there are champions out there.

As I said, in December we did the call for proposals for the additional budget 2012 funding. It will be interesting to see who the service providers partnered with. There was mandatory partnering for employee awareness, and we know there are champions out there that are very eager to work with service providers. There is great potential. I cannot give you any concrete examples of what kinds of ideas we're developing, but it's certainly front and centre in the policy work.

[Yves Gingras]

I'd like to add here that as I said in the introduction, there are more and more jobs that go vacant. Employers are looking to grow their businesses, and that's going to continue as the economy recovers from the last recession. Put that together with the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of persons with disabilities that have a post-secondary education and are trained to take the skilled jobs that are available for them and you see the great potential for employers. We know about good practices. If the word is spread about the business case to hire persons with disabilities who are well educated, there's a huge potential for employers and for the economy to grow.