Human Resources Committee on April 23rd, 2013

[Linda Soulliere]

I think the most important aspect is to open up communication with individual employers. We work with large and small employers, but I think we also provide some training around accommodation in the AODA, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, and what they have to do to comply. I think the more you can actually have the resources to reach out to employers and to educate them, the better it's going to be for everybody.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Komarnicki]

Thank you.

Maybe we'll leave it at that and move to Mr. Cuzner to conclude.

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I would like to thank all three witnesses for being here today.

Certainly I agree with your comments on a focus on those with disabilities who are just graduating from school and making sure they have an opportunity for an initial job experience. It's an age of influence and a window of opportunity, and if it's lost then it gets even tougher the further out you go.

There are two things on which I would like you to elaborate a little more. I would think those virtual centres that you had would have been a really neat developmental opportunity and a learning ground. Could you give me an overview of the funding template and when that funding dried up? Could you give me two minutes on that? Then I want to ask a question on mobility.

[Linda Soulliere]

On the funding template, we had three staff through Employment Ontario. We had an IT person who would help those who had a background in graphic design, marketing, and IT. We had somebody to help with customer service. We had accounting positions. It was a virtual banking situation.

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

For the most part was it a provincial program?

[Linda Soulliere]

It was a provincial program. It's funded throughout other provinces in Canada. There are still several operating, including in Quebec.

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

There was no federal revenue support there?

[Linda Soulliere]

No.

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Okay.

[Linda Soulliere]

It's a really valuable concept. When they decided not to fund, we had to close our doors.

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

That's really unfortunate, because I can absolutely see the merit.

[Linda Soulliere]

They are so valuable especially for our clients who don't have those hard skills. It gave them an opportunity.

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Absolutely.

I want to talk about mobility. This was asked by a couple of my colleagues earlier. It's about your suggestion about assistance or some kind of a credit with adapting a vehicle. My brother lived with cerebral palsy, and when he reached the age that he could get a licence, my folks helped him with a vehicle and got it adapted. He just blossomed. He was always pretty independent, but he just blossomed at that time, as somebody who wants to contribute to the community and the economy and all that kind of stuff. It does unlock it. So I really appreciate your suggestion.

Let's look at the other side of this. I know there are some people who are almost more comfortable and certainly function best at home. My case worker had two young kids nine months apart so she would work from home on Tuesdays, and she got more done on Tuesday rather than if she bundled the kids up and went out. Is there any way to identify those at home? Today's technology breaks down a lot of barriers. Is there some formal way of identifying opportunities where people can work at home and trying to align those opportunities with workers?

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Komarnicki]

We'll conclude with those responses, as there is another committee starting here shortly.

Please go ahead.

[Meenu Sikand]

I think there are new opportunities. Telecommuting is becoming especially popular even for traditional jobs.

My point about accessible transportation, and your brother is an example of that too, is that people also need good employment and to pursue social activities. I'm pretty sure your young brother would want to have a girlfriend, stay late in the bar, etc., and this tackles a lot of those avenues too, because you also know that people with disabilities can be very isolated in their own homes and in their own community. That leads to mental health issues, and the number is staggering throughout Canada.

So yes, technology and telecommuting are new opportunities, and I think we all leverage them. I also work two days a week from home, but at the same time the reality is that we need to be mobile, to get out of our own homes and to go and interact with the rest of the community, regardless of whether we have a disability.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Komarnicki]

Thank you for that intervention.

Does anyone else have a quick comment?

Linda, could you make it a short comment.

[Linda Soulliere]

There are also a lot of stigmas around disabilities where communication is affected, and people with communication that's affected are often thought of as less intelligent than people who are not affected that way.

I think we need to change our way of thinking and our philosophy around disabilities. We're not going to fit everybody into the same mould. If you keep putting unreasonable targets on services and make the outcomes what you think they should be, it's not going to work well, so just work with us on it.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Komarnicki]

Thank you very much for that comment. We appreciate that.

With that, the meeting is adjourned.