Human Resources committee  And this brings us to the conclusion. In those examples, the results speak for themselves. To allow persons with disabilities to be part of the solution to the labour shortage problem, we would like to respectfully recommend that the committee maintain the Opportunities Fund for

Human Resources committee  Good morning. I would like to thank the members of the committee for inviting us to present our views on employment for persons with disabilities in Canada. SPHERE-Québec or Soutien à la personne handicapée en route vers l'emploi au Québec, is a non-profit organization whose mis

Status of Women committee  Our message is that the emphasis should be placed on employability programs. That's our niche, but it's also because we firmly believe that employability enhancement will enable women to become more financially self-sufficient. In that case, they'll be less dependent on governmen

Status of Women committee  In fact, in Quebec, we operate differently from the other provinces. Our model is based on expertise with partners. So it's very difficult to use comparative bases, since the offer of services is extremely different. The program we are working with is indeed the same, as a resul

Status of Women committee  I would find it hard to tell you about the administrative workings of income benefits for persons with disabilities in Quebec. However, we try to help our clientele emerge from insecurity, that is to lead people toward jobs that will pay more than their income security benefits.

Status of Women committee  In fact, the evaluation was to be completed in 2005, from what we were told. It still isn't completed, for all kinds of reasons, as a result of which the program has been extended as it is until March 2009, pending completion. That's in the normal wake of the program's evaluation

Status of Women committee  In rural areas, there are indeed transportation problems, but it's a holistic problem. In any case, people are far away from the labour market. So they often have a lot of needs. It's therefore difficult to target their reasons for dropping out. We have to do more exhaustive rese

Status of Women committee  Of course!

Status of Women committee  In fact, to avoid raising expectations that we can't meet, we try to promote our services based on the budget we receive. So, with more money, we could indeed do more promotion, seek more partners in order to set up more extensive projects. We can't turn on the machine if we don'

Status of Women committee  Our funding comes from the Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities, a program of Human Resources and Social Development Canada. On average, our annual budget is about $3.5 million or $4 million, for Quebec. We maximize that envelope in order to serve as many people as p

Status of Women committee  We have taken steps to get recurring funding. The program as such is permanent. However, our agreements with the department are annual. A short time ago, we submitted applications for longer term funding, but we haven't received any response.

Status of Women committee  Yes.

Status of Women committee  When we talk about additional funding, we're proposing that envelopes be dedicated to a specific clientele to avoid confusing them with a lot of people who have different needs. So if we added funding to a dedicated program such as the Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabil

Status of Women committee  As you can see from these concrete examples, we at SPHERE-Québec firmly believe that employability and development are the main lever for getting women with disabilities out of insecurity. Today, we would like to recommend that additional funding be allocated to the programs. As

Status of Women committee  Good afternoon, committee members. Thank you for having us. SPHERE-Québec, Soutien à la personne handicapée en route vers l'emploi au Québec, is a provincially-incorporated, non-profit organization created by its partners out of their concern for employment and training of perso