Human Resources Committee on Oct. 3rd, 2024

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

The representative did not pass the sound test.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Right, and I understand it's because they did not receive the headset in time from the House of Commons.

I just want to clarify that it's correct that they did not receive the headset in time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

You are correct.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Thank you. I just wanted to clarify that it's not because of the quality of the sound. It's because the House of Commons did not provide them their headset in time.

I'm going to start with a very quick question for Witness Moores, and then I want to turn to Witness Madho.

Witness Moores, you mentioned entrepreneurship. A couple of meetings ago, I asked a witness about whether there are federal entrepreneurial grants or loans specifically for persons with disabilities who are entrepreneurs. Can you say anything about that?

[Karen Moores]

That's a great question. I believe there were. I will check to confirm that there still are, as well as their status.

My response would also be that whatever we do, we need to do more of. I think we all know that we need more entrepreneurs in our country, and if there are ways that governments at all levels can help fund persons with disabilities to move through the entrepreneurship process, we gladly welcome them—

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

I'm sorry. I have to cut you off. I don't have much time. If you could supply us with what those grants are that you're aware of, that would be super.

I'll go back to Witness Madho to talk about communication, sign language and tactile signing certifications. It's my understanding there are only five schools across Canada. One is in Coquitlam, at Douglas College, and it did not receive adequate funding in 2022.

Could you share where the schools are, and if there needs to be more education and funding across Canada?

[Karen Madho]

Thank you for your question.

I can't speak to sign language schools, but I can speak to intervenor schools that provide training and education for intervenors.

In Ontario, there's one college that offers a very limited program in terms of the spots for students. There are maybe 15 a year, and that certainly doesn't support the number of intervenors we require across the intervenor services sector. There are a number of organizations that provide intervenor supports and receive funding to provide intervenor supports. Through our provincial funding, we need to do the training ourselves, using any existing funding we have.

Because an intervenor is such an important person and a support to a person who's deaf-blind, there needs to be a bond of trust. They need to be able to work with that person, establish that bond of trust and assess what their preferences are and what method or methods of communication they prefer.

Let's face it. Because there's a possibility of working with and using more than one method of communication, you're in that person's personal space, so that speaks to the bond of trust as well. That leaves that person very vulnerable, so you need someone who's highly trained and specialized to be able to work with someone who's deaf-blind and serve as a communication facilitator for them.

Again, we don't have a number of programs available. I can certainly speak to Ontario. My understanding is it's limited across Canada as well. An intervenor is a very specialized, specially trained professional, and it's up to the service providers to provide that training in-house.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Witness Madho, can you share how much it would cost and whether you believe there's a space here for the federal government to be supporting that kind of training?

[Karen Madho]

I can't speak to how much it costs, but considering that my recommendation was that there should be intervenor services across Canada.... We understand that the provinces pay for those services, but not every province provides them. There should be a national framework to ensure that there are intervenor services available. It doesn't matter where you live, or it shouldn't matter where you live—you should have access to them. That's really important.

Having the support of the federal government, maybe more on a policy or framework side of it, and establishing that this is something that's important and respects the human rights of people who are living with deaf-blindness.... They really should have the right to be able to communicate, express themselves and interact with their communities, and they're being held back because they live with a communication barrier.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Thank you.

Witness Madho, you introduced remote and urban differences. I'm very interested in hearing more about what the differences might be between remote and urban, in terms of accessible services.

Also, could you speak a bit about indigenous peoples and whether there are barriers you're seeing for indigenous communities?

[Karen Madho]

DeafBlind Ontario Services, as I mentioned off the top, provides supports and services through supported living locations. These tend to be in more urban settings.

We also work in partnership with other organizations to provide services to people living with another disability and receiving supports from another service provider. However, because they're also deaf-blind, it's looking at the person as a whole person to establish how all of their needs can be met holistically. We work in partnerships. Sometimes we have a few across Ontario. Many of them are in rural or more remote areas. We basically work to train their employees, who are not intervenors, so that they can communicate with the people they support, with the understanding that—

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

I'm going to run out of time.

Can I ask you how you're funded?

[Karen Madho]

We are funded through the Ontario Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Is that it?

Okay. Thank you, Madame Zarrillo.

We will now go to Mrs. Gray for five minutes.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to all of the witnesses for being here today.

My first questions are for Easter Seals Canada.

Thank you very much for your testimony a bit earlier today on the cost of living crisis affecting the individuals you serve and their families.

I want to ask you specifically how this affects your organization with respect to the cost of fuel, transportation and food. How have increasing costs affected your ability to operate, especially your summer camps?

[Karen Moores]

That's a great question.

I'd just like to state for the record that Easter Seals Canada, a national body, does not receive any government funding. Our provincial members, which are their own legal entities, may receive some, but not all. The Canada summer student job grant or other funding varies province by province. However, federally, we do not receive funding, but we do from the provinces do. Sometimes the provinces' grants or Canada summer student job grants, of course, help with camp.

Yes, our constituents and community have been deeply impacted by the cost of living crisis in the cost of medical equipment, transportation and housing.

Cost of living also impacts our camps. Our provincial members provide meals. They've worked through a post-COVID labour crisis. Our camp teams work very hard to provide that experience. While our camps are still doing well, it is increasingly hard work for our provincial members. You fund infrastructure and you hire the best people to be part of your camp community. It is a challenge.

We are fortunate to have great donors. However, at the same time, we also, in this economy, need all the support we can get, since the need for our services has never been greater.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Thank you very much for that.

Actually, that leads into my next question.

We conducted a study here recently called intergenerational volunteerism. We had a number of not-for-profits expressing how it is becoming more difficult for them to receive the donations they normally do. They've lost volunteers because seniors have had to go back to work.

From a volunteer or donation perspective, has that become more difficult for you during this cost of living crisis over the last few years?

[Karen Moores]

That is a great question.

I like to speak about numbers, but only if I have numbers in front of us. I know that recruiting staff for camps in a labour shortage has been a particular challenge. I will produce for you, from our national office, some feedback on year-over-year volunteer numbers and some perspective on giving.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

We would appreciate it very much if you could provide that to the committee.

We're at the end of this study that we've been doing over the last couple of weeks. I wanted to bring up that as part of this study, when this was first moved back in February of this year and when we all agreed to the schedule in June, we did call on the Minister of Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities to appear before this study. This is now the last day of the study, and the minister has not appeared. Because of that, I would like to move the following motion:

That the committee not consider its study on a Canada without Barriers by 2040 concluded until the Minister of Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities appears as invited for one hour to address the committee’s concern about the progress made towards the goal of a Canada without barriers by 2040 as agreed to on February 8, 2024, and that the committee allocate additional resources to fulfill this request.

I do have copies here to circulate, and we can also get it emailed. It is right on point for what the study is about, even though it was not put on notice earlier. It's specifically about the study. There is enough flexibility in the wording that we could have it scheduled. We don't want to take away time from other studies, so it's worded so that this will be an additional hour at some point within resources that are available.

Whether it's an additional hour somewhere or an hour that's tagged on to another meeting, there is lots of flexibility so that we can have the minister here.

Again, the minister has known about this for months, so this study is not a surprise. As part of fulfilling what was requested and agreed to within this study, we would like to have the minister here to speak to this study.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

I'm okay with allowing it to be discussed and dealt with.

On the motion, go ahead, Mrs. Falk.

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

Thanks, Mr. Chair.

I think this is great. We're not saying it has to be right now. We can still continue with our calendar as planned, and we are asking for additional resources if they are needed. We want to make this a priority and make sure that the minister can be here with regard to this specific study.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Is there any further discussion?

Go ahead, Ms. Zarrillo, on this motion.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair.

I would have liked to have had the opportunity to do the same thing on the financing of housing, the study that we did about how terrible the Liberal and Conservative governments were in saving housing and keeping people in homes. Since that happened with overtime, this is an opportunity for the Conservatives to extend the study, as we just heard in conversations from witnesses that we need action.

I can tell you from sitting on this committee that the minister has nothing to add. The minister has let down the disability community over and over again. This work needs to be done. We have that minister coming to committee at some time. We've already said that we're going to have all the ministers come to talk about their mandate letters. It's really unfair to slow down action on accessibility and disability folks, so I won't be supporting this motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Go ahead, Mrs. Falk.

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

This is, once again, an example of the NDP propping up the Liberals, saying that the minister has nothing to add. To continue to support the Liberal government is baffling to me. It's absolutely baffling. We have stakeholders watching this, and when MP Zarrillo says that the minister has nothing to add, it tells me that she doesn't have confidence in this government.

It's just disgusting that the NDP keeps voting confidence in the Liberal government.