Thank you.
When we look at the disability issues, definitely individuals with a disability face significant barriers to labour market participation and employment. Often, even if they are employed—although it really depends on the level or severity of their disability—in general, we see that they earn less and their labour force participation is less than others in terms of employment. They face higher unemployment rates.
When we talk about regional variation in terms of unemployment rates, the unemployment rate for different populations is also different. It would be similar in all regions, because all disabled people face barriers to employment. If we have one disabled person in Ontario—for example, in Toronto—and we have another one in a different region with high employment, they both face similar barriers to employment. It will be equally difficult for them to find employment. That's why, again, it's really good to mention that we need to also think about the barriers that different population groups are facing to find employment and how the EI program can support them if they lose their employment.
I have written about the role of social assistance and how it can help attach a disabled person to the labour market. For example, currently some of the social assistance programs we have don't provide great incentives for disabled people to look for employment and to tackle their barriers. Yes, of course, it's going to be difficult for some because the challenges they are facing are significant. It's not something like zero and one—if people can work or cannot. There is some sort of spectrum here. Some people are able to participate.
When we design an EI program, we need to think about those individuals—disabled people, women and women with young children. Different types of individuals may face different barriers to the labour market.