Evidence of meeting #45 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 cost.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:25 p.m.
Conservative
12:25 p.m.
Liberal
Dan Ruimy Liberal Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC
Thank you, everybody, for coming today.
I'm going to start off with Mr. Gladstone. It's nice to see you. I'm a bit of a fan.
February 21st, 2017 / 12:25 p.m.
Liberal
Dan Ruimy Liberal Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC
I have a reason for being a fan. I have a younger brother who has developmental disabilities. He lives in Montreal. For the longest while they struggled, he and my mom, with no place to go, no jobs, and what have you, but then he hooked up with the Jewish community and they got him a job. It was something as simple as putting forks and napkins in a little plastic envelope, but he was working 35 to 40 hours a week. How he changed was a miracle for me.
When we look at people and we limit them, we do a disservice to them. It's not to say that my mom didn't raise him right or anything like that. Mom held him close, but by going to a different place where they had the resources, they were able to help him and give him a better quality of life. It's not for me to say what quality of life is. It's not for anybody in here to say what quality of life is. For him to be given that opportunity and to have that quality of life changed everything.
I'd like to know a little bit more. If you can, tell us about Reena and the services that you offer, not just in relation to finding a home but what types of services do you offer to help them improve their quality of life?
12:25 p.m.
Head of Stakeholder Relations, Reena
Thank you very much.
First, let me tell you that I believe it's Miriam house in Montreal that has been working with him and we would refer to them as a sister agency. They are very interested in the work we're doing.
Regarding what Reena does and the struggles you're mentioning vis-à-vis your mom and others, at the residence, the interesting part is to see people from the Ministry of Health working hand in hand with the Ministry of Community and Social Services. The MCSS is pushing people out into the community, “Do more, do more, do more”, and the Ministry of Health is saying, “Wait a minute, if you're doing too much you're going to get injured. There's going to be this problem and that problem.” However, we've been able to work it out wonderfully, so that people have, as you say, a much fuller life.
At Reena, the two major things we are currently working on are housing and employment. We have an incredible employment transition program. Again, I'll reiterate that those who are in a position to do so with the appropriate supports, let's make them taxpayers. Let's tax them. Regarding your brother, people's lives change when they have a reason to get up in the morning, when they are going somewhere where they are doing something useful. You mentioned cutlery. You know what? It may not be so vital, but for your brother, everything that he is doing is making a significant difference.
We have a large employment program whereby we offer supports. If we offer supports for the first year in employment, we have found that the people we serve will go on for years with the same employers. They are reliable. They are trustworthy. They are the best employees around. A number of MPs that we have spoken to have said that they have people with mental disabilities working in their constituency offices and their communities and they realize what a huge contribution they're making.
I hope that's helpful.
12:30 p.m.
Liberal
Dan Ruimy Liberal Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC
Thank you.
We have heard from many witnesses who spoke exactly to this. They spoke of the power of giving that cheque to one person. It doesn't matter how much it is. The power is incredible.
You mentioned there are 18,000 people on a waiting list.
12:30 p.m.
Liberal
Dan Ruimy Liberal Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC
Regarding your system and the money you're asking for, how much of that actually tackles that 18,000? What kind of dent would you be able to make?
12:30 p.m.
Head of Stakeholder Relations, Reena
That goes directly.... For instance, in the Reena community residence, it would have 84 people. We're looking at funding for 10 residences, so I'd say about 1,000 people.
12:30 p.m.
Head of Stakeholder Relations, Reena
We have to start somewhere and it is expensive. By working with my friends here, we'll be able to make it happen in a bigger way.
12:30 p.m.
Liberal
Dan Ruimy Liberal Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC
Great.
We've been talking about Reena house. It's not a faith-based program, is it?
12:30 p.m.
Head of Stakeholder Relations, Reena
No, not at all. Reena was started 44 years ago by the Jewish community, but we are open and accessible to all. We're firmly rooted, as we proudly state, in Jewish values, but absolutely, at the board level, the staff level, and among the people we serve, we're more than a regular United Nations.
12:30 p.m.
Liberal
Dan Ruimy Liberal Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC
Okay, this is my last question. You may know that the federal government is now working on a federal accessibility consultation process.
12:30 p.m.
Liberal
12:30 p.m.
Head of Stakeholder Relations, Reena
We need to make sure that everything is accessible, and accessibility means so many things to many different people. It's not just enough to have a wide door to get into a room. You need showers and baths that people can roll into to give people additional independence. In terms of buildings, it's better to have larger two- and three-bedroom units that can then house more people who need support to share the cost among them, which is not always possible. Municipal bylaws are sometimes not favourable. Where a three-bedroom affordable housing unit would be perfect for a number of people requiring supports to live with support, but because they're not married, they're not necessarily able to do so. I hope that answers a little.
12:30 p.m.
Liberal
12:30 p.m.
Conservative
Karen Vecchio Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON
Thank you very much.
Sally Guy, you mentioned the basic annual income, and there are different models. Please share with us in a very brief moment, what model you were looking at specifically.
12:30 p.m.
Director of Policy and Strategy, Canadian Association of Social Workers
We aren't economists and we don't want to comment on that.
12:30 p.m.
Conservative
Karen Vecchio Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON
Okay, the reason I asked is that I have seen many people advocate for it. When I ask if they can tell me precisely what we're looking at, no one has an answer.
I shouldn't say that. Last week there was one lady who answered where I was thinking that she actually knew it.
I'm just very concerned when people say we need the basic annual income but have never done a study on how it works or the implications of what we're going to come out with. That's been some of my concern because I want to look at whether you're talking stackable, whether you're talking based on income tax returns so it's slidable. I'm looking at those sorts of things. I have concerns when people say we have to do this but we don't know the cost.
12:35 p.m.
Director of Policy and Strategy, Canadian Association of Social Workers
We know what we don't want. What we probably would want would be negative income tax.
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
Karen Vecchio Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON
Okay. Thank you very much.
Kevin, thanks very much for coming, and I love the work you do with the home builders. Can you give me a briefing on what you think of the new mortgage regulations, and the impact it's had on first-time homebuyers?
12:35 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Home Builders' Association
We know it has had a really significant impact on first-time homebuyers. We know that was the intent. A lot of people have been knocked out of the market. The numbers vary from region to region. Of course it was also put in place not because we're trying to protect affordability or really address house prices but to address a bigger overall financial system stability problem.
Now we're seeing the effects are varied, depending on the region. The regions that could least afford to handle it—in other words, those with bigger economic problems and not with a housing problem—are finding more and more potential homeowners who have been knocked out of the market, so you have this potentially dangerous cycle of what that's doing to the national economy when in many communities the residential construction industry is the largest industry in the area.
How do we deal with that? It's tricky right now so that's why we're trying to find options that are risk-free from a stability perspective but still will enable first-time homebuyers to get into the market for their own financial futures as well as the benefit of the overall community.
