Council of Canadians with Disabilities: Archives – Disability Task Force

Disability Task Force, PEI, August 27, 1996

Canadians with Disabilities Act–A Significant Priority

One hundred people with disabilities and a number of observers from Human Resources Development Canada greeted the Task Force on Disability when it visited Charlottetown. The Task Force followed its workshop format for the PEI consultation. HRDC officials chaired the workshop sessions; however, this did not intimidate the people with disabilities who participated. Consumers were not sparing in their criticism of Canada’s new Employment Insurance legislation.

“The new Employment Insurance Act is repressive, because it limits access to labor market training for people who have never worked,” stated one consumer.

While the drafters of the EI legislation may not have intended to deny people with disabilities training, this is the impact it is having on people with disabilities who want CEC sponsored training.

“Jobs are a real priority for people with disabilities associated with the PEI Council,” said Pat Brown, a Council staffer.

Delegates with disabilities stressed the importance of meaningful consultation with the representative organizations of people with disabilities whenever the Federal Government undertakes legislative or program changes that will affect people with disabilities. The purpose of consultation is to eliminate unintended impacts and the creation of barriers that prevent the participation of people with disabilities.

“The consumers at the consultation stressed that the Federal Government has a responsibility to demonstrate that people with disabilities can be gainfully employed and that workplace accommodation must be a legislated right,” stated Jessie Campbell, who Chairs the PEI Council of the Disabled. In the area of employment, the PEI consultation recommended that 15 percent of publicly funded training spaces and jobs created via any job creation partnership be designated for people with disabilities and that 20 percent of expenditures be targeted for people with disabilities. Consumers recommended that the Canadian Human Rights Act be amended to include the duty to accommodate. Participants advocated an end to exclusionary criteria that screen out applicants from employment and training programs.

Jessie Campbell reports that the Council organized a preparatory session for consumers interested in attending the Task Force meeting. At the Council’s session, consumers had an opportunity to prepare the interventions that they wished to make in the formal consultation. As a result, each workshop session had participants who could present specific concerns and solutions rather than just speaking in generalities. As the Task Force has no budget for publicity, the PEI Council’s advance promotional work paid off in spades. “The Task Force was really surprised by how many people came out to the session,” said a PEI Council representative. “So many people wanted to attend the labor market integration workshop that the numbers had to be limited.”

Consumers also packed the income support workshop, where they levied strong criticism against disincentives to employment. “People with disabilities are living in poverty because the income security system has restrictive criteria that deny us the opportunity to work,” stated one consumer. Consumers urged the adoption of a Guaranteed Annual Income and for income security systems to recognize the extra costs that people with disabilities incur due to disability.

In PEI, the Task Force heard emphatically the call for a Canadians with Disabilities Act. Such an act would keep the barrier review and removal process firmly on track for people with disabilities.

The delegates supported justiciable pan-Canadian standards. “In PEI, we have seen Federal funds targeted for VRDP siphoned off into road construction, so we know all too well why Canada needs national standards. There has to be some mechanism to ensure accountability for the Federal dollars that go to the Provincial coffers,” stated one commentator. Another consumer explained, “For those of us from small provinces, standards are very important. The small provinces may have a commitment to us but they may not have the ability to pay for needed services. Yet we should have the same access to income security, training and other services as Canadians living in other parts of the country.” The desire to have safeguards and accountability for Federal dollars transferred to the Provinces has been a consistent theme in the consultations held throughout the country.

Revenue Canada’s on-going disqualification of past recipients of the Disability Tax Credit and new claimants for the Credit warranted some caustic criticism in PEI. “Revenue Canada has managed to convert thousands of formerly disabled people into ‘nondisabled’ people by denying them their status as disabled people and then denying them the Disability Tax Credit. If Revenue Canada keeps going at its present rate, there won’t be any disabled people left in Canada,” stated one participant in the taxation session. Participants recommended a refundable tax credit. “The Disability Tax Credit was definitely the hottest topic on the agenda,” stated Pat Brown of the PEI Council.

Consumers clearly indicated that the Federal Government must not abandon people with disabilities as they devolve programs to Provincial Governments. Participants in PEI called for a Secretary of State on disability issues with a cross departmental policy coordination approach, seeking solutions to disabled people’s concerns. “It sounded like the Task Force members are going to support our call for a strong Federal role,” stated one analyst.

“Consumers in PEI delivered the message that people with disabilities are expecting the Task Force to push for us,” said Jessie Campbell, of the PEI Council. Consumers were adamant that they did not want to see the Task Force’s report sitting on a shelf gathering dust like so many other reports written on disability issues in Canada.

More From NAPO
The National Anti Poverty Organization (NAPO) is encouraging groups to organize events on 17 October 1996, the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. They suggest that on 17 October 1996 groups urge governments to end poor-bashing and to legislate basic economic human rights with a Canada Social Security Act. NAPO is suggesting that groups consider undertaking some of the following activities:

* holding a public forum on Canada’s international commitments on poverty;
* publish a report on how Canada has lived up to its international commitments;
* work with human rights groups, teachers, social workers, unions, students on doing an activity for 17 October 1996 for the International Day.

We in the disability movement could put our own unique spin on the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. For example, we could reiterate our call for a refundable Disability Tax Credit, a Secretary of State on disability, a Canadians with Disabilities Act–all measures that have a role to play in ending the poverty faced by people with disabilities.

For more information on NAPO’s work contact them at #316-256 King Edward Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario. K1N 7M1. You can also phone NAPO at 1-800-810-1076.

For more information contact:
Council of Canadians with Disabilities,
926-294 Portage Ave.,
Winnipeg M
B. R3C 0B9.
Tel: 204-947-0303.