Thank you.
Good morning to the chair and to all committee members.
My name is Karen Moores. I'm a blonde woman. I'm 42. I'm appearing virtually. There's a bookcase with some family photos, books and magazines behind me.
Today I represent my colleagues at Easter Seals Canada. Our community includes 150,000 Canadians living with a disability in all parts of Canada.
I would just like to note that we're a truly national family as a charity. I work remotely and live in St. John's in Newfoundland and Labrador, and many of my colleagues in different parts of the organization are around the country, which is one of the beautiful parts of Easter Seals.
We are a charity that turned 100 two years ago. The centennial for Easter Seals was in 2022. For 102 years, Easter Seals Canada has very proudly provided programs and services that improve accessibility and inclusion and improve the quality of life for people with disabilities. Our organization provides programs and services for all disabilities for all ages, with many programs anywhere in Canada, an example being the Access 2 card program. Anyone in Canada can get an Access 2 card.
For the record, I would like to note that Easter Sales Canada is a federated model. While I represent our national organization today before your committee, we have nationwide in various Canadian communities an incredible network of provincial, and one territorial, Easter Seals organizations that do their own exceptional work as their own independent entities but are still part of the Easter Seals family.
Our provincial members—and a shout-out to them today—are the leaders of the exceptional camp program that you might hear about in your home constituencies. This camp program is just one example of a barrier-free Canada in action. It's accessible camping and recreation where memories are made, leadership skills are gained, and sports, healthy living and leisure join together. I encourage everyone here today to take the time to learn about the success story that is the Easter Seals Canada camp program. If there's an Easter Seals camp near you, I suggest that you visit.
As your committee explores what a barrier-free Canada may look like by 2040, I want to share today that we at Easter Seals believe that a barrier-free country involves short-term changes. We're very much of the mindset of what we can do right now and what we can change today. To echo another witness, there never will be perfection; we can strive for it, but let's make some incremental change today. Alongside those intergenerational investments for the longer term, what can we all look back at in 20, 30 or 40 years that we've put in motion today to change?
We would like to echo my colleague Amanda at March of Dimes. We agree with her comments on the Canada disability benefit and echo them. I won't touch on that. I think it's been well said by other witnesses; however, Easter Seals Canada of course supports that position.
I will today touch on employment. We talk a lot about employment at Easter Seals Canada. In a world of changing job markets, skill development needs and technology, and as artificial intelligence really changes our world, we need to ensure that we as a nation are world leaders and innovators in how we make our job market truly inclusive. That's for every person and for every disability.
Employment accessibility also means equalizing opportunities for persons in rural and remote parts of Canada just as much as in urban Canada.
As I said, I'm from St. John's. I'm particularly passionate in making sure that every part of our country has equal access to a truly inclusive country. While we've made progress, I think that in our changing world, we all need to do more to ensure that our economy is truly inclusive for workforces in every industry and community Canada-wide, at boardroom tables, in our skilled trades, in our tech sector and in our emerging and traditional economies. The 6.2 million Canadians living with a disability are under-represented in our economy, and we all need to change this.
The second point I'll touch on is transportation.
When we imagine a barrier-free Canada, particularly for employment and jobs, we know that enhanced, accessible and affordable transportation must be a part of this. The ability to travel for work safely and with dignity must be a part of the push to achieve a barrier-free country and a truly inclusive economy.
We want to be a part of those innovative policy solutions, and I believe we already are, but we want safe, accessible, affordable transportation and transit for persons with disabilities and their families, and again, in rural and remote areas, on airlines, on ferries and on rail.