Good morning. I would like to thank the members of the committee for inviting us to present our views on employment for persons with disabilities in Canada.
SPHERE-Québec or Soutien à la personne handicapée en route vers l'emploi au Québec, is a non-profit organization whose mission is to foster the participation in economic and social life of a greater number of people with disabilities. Our mandate is to support the creation of quality adapted jobs by participating in meetings with experts in order to transfer knowledge and practices, and by cooperating with many partners in the development of initiatives that foster the emergence of new models for workplace integration.
Our board of directors is made up of representatives of employers, unions and leading organizations that care about our mission. SPHERE-Québec receives its primary funding from the Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities, a program run by the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada.
The clients supported by SPHERE-Québec are mainly people distanced from the workforce, meaning that they have little or no training and work experience. For instance, in 2011-2012, 85% of those clients had a secondary school diploma at most, and 55% had not worked for five years or more or they had never worked. Therefore, our clients are under-represented on the labour market.
Yet, since 1997, more than 5,000 people with disabilities distanced from the workforce have acquired significant work experience thanks to SPHERE-Québec's global intervention philosophy.
My colleague Lyne Vincent will now give you a few examples of concrete projects and the results achieved through our approach.