Evidence of meeting #130 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was disabilities.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Executive Director, Realize
I'm trying to remember. In the disability and work conference I recently attended, a representative shared that.
Maureen, do you remember?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work
No.
Executive Director, Realize
No? Okay.
A representative shared information with respect to this particular change in their funding model, if I'm not mistaken, and that model allows people to work when they can and therefore not work when there are unpredictable flare-ups.
With respect to increasing the EI premium, it's not necessarily a matter of increasing the EI premium but of almost shifting the flexibility of the EI period.
As it stands, rather than having this set number of weeks, it could be a number of units for the year.
Liberal
Wayne Long Liberal Saint John—Rothesay, NB
That's right. I'm going to touch on that in a second. Thank you for that.
Mr. Tompa and Ms. Gignac, would you comment?
Senior Scientist, Institute for Work and Health
I think the thing you're mentioning, if I'm not mistaken, is that in their social assistance program they used to have a monthly deduction and now it's a yearly one, so it allows a lot more flexibility on the week-to-week and month-to-month earnings—
Senior Scientist, Institute for Work and Health
—without being penalized.
I think the flexibility that Tammy Yates mentions is really critical. One of the key things is the inability to take up work or the fear of taking up work because you're going to lose your supports. If there's a lot more flexibility in leaving and entering, that would obviously really help people take the opportunities when they arise and when they're able to work.
I think most people want to be engaged in society. Work is an important role that people get meaning out of; it's more than just income. I think that if people are able to participate and are given the supports to participate, they are very excited about being part of society in that way. It's about people having the flexibility, when they can and want to work, to do so, and allowing them to not lose their supports automatically because they take up that opportunity.
Associate Scientific Director and Senior Scientist, Institute for Work and Health
With episodic conditions, what we hear a lot is that obviously work is a protected activity. Usually what people do is give up everything in their personal life to protect work, so that by the time they have a flare-up or a crisis, that's it—they have to go.
One of the issues around the income security is that once people do go on these programs, they're afraid to return to work, because if they are at work for three weeks and have to go off, the system is so onerous to get back into. That's a problem.
Associate Scientific Director and Senior Scientist, Institute for Work and Health
I think this would be something to really work on, so that you don't lose your place in line and there's a recognition that you don't have to start all over again if you go back to work and it doesn't work out.
Liberal
Wayne Long Liberal Saint John—Rothesay, NB
Thank you very much.
Ms. Haan, I want to jump in and say thank you so much for the work you do with the CCRW. In my riding of Saint John—Rothesay, Jo-Anne Mowry and Misti Denton of CCRW do amazing work for people with disabilities in helping them obtain employment.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work
Thank you.
Liberal
Wayne Long Liberal Saint John—Rothesay, NB
Can I get your ideas as to how we would structure and fund that?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work
Absolutely, and thanks very much, Wayne.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work
It's wonderful to work with you.
I don't want to echo what my colleagues have already said and what I know Adele is probably going to say, because I can read her mind a bit.
I sit on the round table for the review of the CPPD. In that structure, we've really been talking a lot about return to work and the vocational rehabilitation program and the rapid reinstatement program of that program.
Again, I don't know if it's about increasing premiums, but it is about increasing the flexibility, because what we've recognized at CPPD—
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work
Yes, the demographics have changed. CPPD as it was set up in the first place really focused on physical, prolonged and severe disabilities. The definition remains, but the demographics of the people who are on CPPD now have changed. Going back to Emile's point, they want to work.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work
They want to work. We've really been drilling down on that quite a bit as well.
Liberal
President and Chief Executive Officer, Adele Furrie Consulting Inc., As an Individual
I'm not convinced that the existing support programs that are in place now reflect the population with disabilities. I would recommend that there be a review done of those existing programs to see how they fit into the definition that is currently embedded in the proposed accessible Canada act, not just to ensure that it covers access to employment and being able to return to employment, but also all of the other things that go along with a disability.
An example is the need for perhaps more opportunity to have massages—I heard that so often from the 953 people who answered—and those kinds of supports that they need.