Thank you.
My name is Meenu Sikand, and I have 25 years of work experience which includes paid employment in the private, public, non-profit, and academic sectors. Currently I'm serving as the chair for the Independent Living Centre in Toronto, and I also work for the Region of Peel.
Today's remarks reflect both my lived experiences and my volunteer work with the independent living movement in Canada. This consultation also attests to the fact that Canadians with disabilities and their high unemployment rates are gaining visibility in the Canadian political and policy agenda. Through the chair, I applaud this initiative—it's long overdue—and thank the committee for the opportunity to share my pragmatic perspectives on how to improve the employment situation of Canadians with disabilities.
My experience and my opinion is that any employment agreement is a mutually agreed upon contract between an employer and an employee. I strongly believe that employers have a responsibility; they need to create a barrier and discrimination-free workplace, so people with disabilities can work. I also strongly believe that no employer can afford to hire an employee who cannot guarantee to show up to work each day on time, appropriately dressed, and provide the flexibility to stay late or arrive early if the employer needs them. This is the reality of today's business, so employees have a responsibility to get to the workplace, and I can tell you that most Canadians with disabilities cannot guarantee that simple, basic requirement to find a job.
Without the creation of more freedom of transportation mobility for Canadians with disabilities, they will continue to face high unemployment rates. Canadian employers experiencing labour shortages will be unable to utilize this untapped pool who are able and willing to work.
According to a recent study of the 800,000 Canadians with disabilities who are looking for work, 340,000 have a post-secondary degree or diploma. They are knowledgeable; they have qualifications. Unfortunately, many of them are still unemployed, so we know there is a problem.
You have heard from many witnesses, so I'm not going to talk about the problems.
Speaking as the chair of CILT, an organization run by and for people with disabilities, I'd like to make three recommendations today for your consideration. I believe that implementation of these recommendations will assist all adults who are aging with a disability, as well as those who are aging into a disability. That's another workforce issue which you need to pay attention to and deal with if you want to keep the Canadian economy going.
A key barrier is the inability of Canadians to access the disability support services they need.
The second key barrier is a lack of the accessible transportation they need to get to their employer's workplace. When I say accessible transportation I mean a transportation system that is reliable, flexible, affordable, and is available when it's needed spontaneously—because I talked to you about the employers' need of having a flexible workforce. Let's change the transportation system.
Adequate access to required disability support creates a level playing field for job seekers with a disability. That is a must requirement in order to be employed these days, and allows them to enter into an employment contract the employers are looking for.
My first recommendation is to enable job seekers with a disability to access all Canada-wide employment opportunities by providing direct funds to hire their personal attendant, or other disability services they need, and allow them to manage these support services as self-managers within any Canadian community of their choice. I'll give you some examples that will showcase to you that this is not the case right now.
For example, if a person is needing attendant care and is relying on accessible transportation services, they're pretty much tied to the local community where they live because accessible transportation is provided within a certain jurisdiction, so they cannot do the cross-boundary jobs. The boundaries for jurisdictions are very, very small. It's a small county, or in the case where I live, it's whether you can travel within Peel or whether you can travel within Toronto or York, so there are very, very limited opportunities. Then your disability services are also tied either to your residence or to the province where you live.
I am very lucky to be part of a program called direct funding. It's available in Ontario. That allows me to access funds so that I can hire employees who will allow me to get up in the morning, get to work, and stay late if it's needed. It's a very successful program, but again, it's available within the province of Ontario. Even though it's successful, only 700 people have access to this program. That tells you the limitation of even the successful programs. Given its limitation, it gives people control, portability, and flexibility over their attendant services.
What I'm proposing is to look at ways to make it a federal program or a program delivered consistently throughout the provinces so that people like me have access to all Canadian jobs, not just a job available in Peel, or worse, just in Toronto. We know economies keep changing from one province to another. Alberta is looking for employees. Ontarians are looking to find work, but we cannot move. My family cannot move because they're tied to me, who needs attendant services, and my funding is only within Ontario. Two years ago my husband was laid off, and as a family we were stuck in Ontario. He could not access opportunities available in Saskatchewan, Alberta, or other provinces where the economy is booming. There are a lot of disincentives and there are a lot of barriers that we're talking about.
My second recommendation is to remove financial disincentives or inequality for working Canadians with disabilities or those who wish to work, to provide a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for money that Canadians with disabilities spend on modifying a personal vehicle to make it accessible, or for the money spent on hiring an accessible vehicle for those who don't drive themselves.
Lack of accessible transportation is another significant employment disadvantage that persons with disabilities who are seeking to secure employment in a competitive job market face. To overcome this employment disadvantage and to remain gainfully employed, some individuals with disabilities may buy personal vehicles and make them accessible; however, it is often very expensive to convert a regular vehicle into an accessible vehicle. Basic modifications to adapt a van for a driver using a wheelchair can cost from $10,000 to $45,000, in addition to the purchase of the vehicle itself.
The government does not offer any financial grants to employed individuals with disabilities who are able to drive or be driven in an accessible personal vehicle, even though they may not have the resources to pay for modifications. For many people with disabilities, their net income after paying taxes and such expenditures really create inequality as well as a disincentive to work.
Again, you have to look at today's reality. Employers are not necessarily all in one downtown core. The employment situation is available all across different regions, different localities. If people with disabilities cannot walk to work, cannot go to work, or make the meetings, how do you expect them to be employed? No employer should be forced to hire that group, so you are creating a disincentive.
Some people who can be independent through accessible vehicles are doubly penalized. If the time permits, I can explain that to you later.
I'm also asking you to create a special stand-alone category to hire caregivers specifically trained to assist adults with disabilities through a foreign-trained caregiver worker category, because again, finding caregivers who can take directions for people with disabilities is very difficult in today's market.
As my one last comment I'm asking you as a federal government to take leadership in coordinating that interprovincial role where people with disabilities have access to direct funds and the ability to take funds with them where the employment is.
Thank you.