Human Resources Committee on May 7th, 2019

[Chantal Maheu]

Thank you. I've missed the beginning of your question. Which amount of money are you suggesting?

[Gordie Hogg, Liberal, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

The accessibility for the Canada disability savings bond.

[Chantal Maheu]

The eligibility to access the bond or the grant is tied to the eligibility for the DTC. The RDSP eligibility is tied to the eligibility for the DTC. As the minister explained, this is administered by the Canada Revenue Agency and is available for individuals who suffer from prolonged and severe disability, which might have an impact on their ability to work. Depending on the severity of the cases, some individuals might have access to it, but it's not necessarily a group of disabilities or a group of people who suffer from disabilities. It will be on an individual basis, depending on the severity of their situation.

[Gordie Hogg, Liberal, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

Do you know if we have any people with autism spectrum disorder who qualify for that at this stage?

[Chantal Maheu]

Actually, I don't, but I can follow up on that.

[Gordie Hogg, Liberal, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

I would be interested in knowing that.

On the other part, in terms of training and employment, where it's more broad-based, $864 million is being referenced, is there a plan for those with autism spectrum disorder to be able to qualify for some training within that allocation for those strategies? I'm aware of a number of programs that are running in British Columbia in particular, where they're working with people with autism spectrum disorder. They're working through programs that are looking at their moving towards employment. I'm wondering whether or not that's being focused. I know it's referenced in the wording, in the narrative, but I'm wondering whether any of that has been employed, and actually how it would be accessed.

[Chantal Maheu]

I have a few things. Under the opportunities fund there is specific funding that goes to organizations. We've talked earlier about Ready, Willing and Able as an initiative that is targeted to people who suffer from autism. There are other providers that get funding under that program that supports individuals who have intellectual disability or suffer from autism. There is funding through that program, for sure, that supports that population.

In terms of broader training available for persons with disabilities, which is managed by the provinces, supported by federal funding, it will depend on provincial eligibility and the design of their own programs.

[Gordie Hogg, Liberal, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

Well, I think I heard the minister reference the Canadian Association for Community Living, and being able to put some of the funding through that.

In British Columbia, Community Living B.C. does not deal with young people with autism. How would the applications be applied for British Columbia with respect to that? Is there another organization you would be approaching? How would the allocation actually flow? There are a number of approaches to autism and there is a division among a number of parents in terms of how to best focus on that. How would they become eligible for funding, or what process would they look at? I understand they have this concept, which I heard from the ministers. I'm hoping to get to some detail in terms of how that could actually be operationalized.

[Chantal Maheu]

I may be able to help you, to a point. The budget announced funding for the Ready, Willing and Able initiative. The funding will go through that organization, with the two organizations working together, and they will be responsible for how the funding is allocated. Under the opportunities fund, there are calls for different proposals. They would be open to any proposals from the country. At this point, there are no calls that are open. I could follow up to find out if there are specific initiatives in British Columbia that have been supported through that program.

[Gordie Hogg, Liberal, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

Yes. If you could check that out and let me know, that would be very much appreciated.

I'm happy to turn it over to my good friend Bob Morrissey.

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Thank you.

I want to continue on with my colleague's line of questions with regard to supporting employment for persons with intellectual disabilities. It's one of the issues that tug at you as a member of Parliament. Often I'll have a family member arrive in my office to talk about their desire to see their child find meaningful employment that can sustain them.

If you don't have this information now, then perhaps you could submit it to the committee. I'm wondering if you could briefly tell us about the areas in government or the supports that would either assist an individual with an intellectual disability find employment within the government—there was some reference made earlier, on the disability side, that we would have a designated number or an increase in the number of opportunities for youth—or the support programs that would assist an employer in hiring an individual with an intellectual disability.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Be very brief, please.

[Graham Flack]

In terms of federal hiring programs [Technical difficulty—Editor] program as well, many of the ones we've talked about, there have been efforts to improve the hiring of individuals with disabilities, but I don't believe we have the specifics of targets for individuals with intellectual disabilities. The numbers I'd be able to give you on the Canada summer jobs or student work-integrated learning programs would be around disability as a whole. I wouldn't be able to unbundle it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Thank you.

MP Falk, please.

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

I have some follow-up questions regarding the Canada summer jobs program. The Liberal government claims that they've removed the Liberals' values attestation from the front end of the application. It seems like it's been replaced with the values test on the back end of the application that is being administered by Service Canada.

I'm wondering if anybody could speak to that.

[Leslie MacLean]

I'd be happy to speak to the Canada summer jobs program for 2019, and specifically to the criteria that were applied. I think the last time we were at committee, we spoke extensively about the priorities that were established at the national and local levels, so I won't repeat that. I'll just speak to the results of the screening that's just been done for the many applications we received for the 2019 program. So far we have had more than 86,000 approved, as Minister Hajdu mentioned, and 1.1% of applications were not able to be found eligible for the program funding.

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Is that information being released to the applicants?

[Leslie MacLean]

I'll just come to the process, if I could. As the applications came in, there was a real focus this year on quality jobs. For example, they were open to all youth between the ages of 15 and 30, no longer just continuing students. The quality focus this year was very much around things like a workplace that was free of harassment and discrimination, that had a mentoring and supervision plan for employees, and where we knew there would be health and safety practices in place in the workplace. Indeed, of the 1.1% that were screened out, any time Service Canada had a question about whether the employer was meeting all the mandatory requirements and then the quality ones, all employers who applied would have received a follow-up as part of our due diligence.

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

I guess what's interesting with that answer is that the specific organization in my riding ranked really high on local and national priorities. They have policies; they're open to everything the government wanted—except now they're not receiving funding, without an answer. And it's not just my riding. Several other of my colleagues are experiencing the same thing. It happens to be summer camps.

[Leslie MacLean]

If I could speak to the national results—obviously, I can't speak to an individual employer—there were 438 applications deemed ineligible. Of those, the vast majority, 207, didn't demonstrate; when we went back and said, “Could you please demonstrate that you have measures in place to have a workplace that's free of harassment and discrimination?”, that was the largest contributor to applications not being found eligible.

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

What does that mean, though, that there's not a good enough policy, or what?

[Leslie MacLean]

It could be that they didn't come back and show us that they had policies around harassment and discrimination.

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

The timelines that Service Canada allows are quite tight, and it's quite interesting with the AG's report coming out today that even in call centres people are calling and not getting anybody. Millions of Canadians, when they call the ESDC, for example, aren't getting a person. They are just ringing and ringing, 50% of the calls.

How can they get back, timely, efficiently and effectively, information that is required of them?

[Leslie MacLean]

Mr. Chair, I'm happy to complete the answer if you wish.

The next largest reason for applications being deemed not eligible was that 0.3% of applicants, 116, didn't demonstrate that they had health and safety practices, and the next largest group was 84, or 0.2%, that didn't provide us a mentoring or supervision plan. Those were the three largest, most frequent reasons why we weren't able to find someone eligible.

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

It's just interesting to me because these are summer camps with counsellors, and you know this is an opportunity for kids. This is an opportunity for so many disadvantaged kids and youths.

I need to move on to my next question.

Regarding summer jobs, if they are being administered fairly, why is information on application decisions being withheld from members of Parliament and organizations? These decisions, the lists, were finalized a couple of weeks ago, I think, and this specific organization in my riding is still awaiting a response as to why they can't receive funding.