DATE:
February 20, 2014 - 11:00 a.m.
LOCATION:
Great Hall of the Legislative Assembly, 4570-48 Street, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
SUBJECT:
Minister of Employment and Social Development and Minister for Multiculturalism Jason Kenney holds a news conference to make an important announcement that will help Northwest Territories residents with disabilities get jobs.
Hon. Jason Kenney: Good morning. And thank you very much for the warm welcome to the Northwest Territories. Thank you very much, Premier and Minister Lafferty and friend. I have to make a confession, first of all. This is my first-ever trip to the Northwest Territories. I don’t know why it took me so long, but it’s great, finally, to be here and with some very happy news as well.
And first, I want to say how very pleased I am with the great working relationship that the Government of Canada has with the Government of the Northwest Territories—and particularly, Premier, we’ve got a very constructive relationship, which I think has worked well for the Territories. I was just noting that since Prime Minister Harper’s government’s come to office, the federal transfers to the Territories between 2006 and this upcoming fiscal year have increased from $756 million to $1.2 billion, a per capita increase of $17,000 to $29,000 per person. So I think that just demonstrates that our government has placed a great priority on the social and economic development of the North in so many ways.
And it was great to see—coming in here—the signs of activity. I know that last year, because of commodity prices, was statistically a slow one in the NWT economy, but generally throughout the North we see tremendous new growth and opportunity, particularly with commodity mineral mining and related developments. All of these are developments happening right across Northern Canada particularly.
I started my current trip across the country in St. John’s, Newfoundland, where the number one challenge for the employers was a skills shortage. I went to northern B.C. where the number one challenge of employers is the skills shortage. I went to the Yukon, same issue. And I hear that all across the country. And I know that you’ve been benefiting from a certain degree of immigration here through the Provincial Nominee Program that we’ve helped to introduce with the Territories back in 2006—newcomers bringing new energy and their talent to this province.
But at the same time, the best way that we as Canadians can address this skills shortage is to ensure that all of our people have the training that they need to get the jobs that are available and will be in the future, to prepare Canadians for the jobs of the future and particularly those Canadians who have tended to be in groups that have particular challenges or who are under-represented in our workforce. And that’s what today’s announcement is about.
In order for us to seize the opportunity of what some are calling this new industrial revolution in the commodities and energy sectors throughout northern Canada in the years to come, we need the right skilled workforce. We need the talents of everyone who wants to work. And that includes, for example, our First Nations peoples, which is why our government is investing a great deal, some of it through the territorial governments, in skills development targeted to Aboriginal people. It’s why we have something called the targeted initiative for older workers, folks who have lost their jobs later in life and need retraining to begin a new career. It’s why we invest so much in supporting skills development for our youth. And it’s why we have agreements with the Territory, including the Labour Market Agreement and the Labour Market Development Agreement for folks for skills training, which we hope to more closely link to the job market. We want to ensure that the people who receive training are being trained for real jobs and not for jobs that don’t exist. I know that we agree with the Territory on that objective.
But there’s one group of folks who I think sometimes need particular assistance in overcoming barriers that exist to their participation in the workforce—and that is Canadians who live with disabilities.
The Panel on Labour Market Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities, appointed by our government two years ago, estimates that approximately 800,000 Canadians with disabilities, both physical and intellectual, are employable, but have yet to have a job. And many, many of these people want to work. Half of them have post-secondary education of some sort. And often what it takes to help them get into the workforce are modest efforts to accommodate them, modest accommodations. And we need them fully participating in our economy to the extent that they want to, including here in the Northwest Territories.
Right now, the Government of Canada has dedicated labour market agreements with the provinces to help Canadians with disabilities to get jobs. Through these agreements with provinces, we provide funds to support services like employment counselling, career planning, skill training and wage subsidies for Canadians with disabilities. But until now, we’ve only had these programs, this funding and these agreements with the 10 provincial governments, not with the three territories.
And today, I’m pleased to say that this will change. When we sign this agreement, we will begin, through our partnership with the NWT government, delivering job support programs for Territory residents with disabilities.
So I’m happy to announce the signing of our second Labour Market Agreement for Persons with Disabilities with a territorial government in just a moment. I signed the first one yesterday over in Whitehorse.
This agreement with the Government of NWT represents an investment of up to $2.5 million split between the federal and territorial governments each year. Together, we’re helping Canadians with disabilities gain the skills and experience that they need, and we know from our experience over the past few years elsewhere that these programs deliver real results. There are about 300,000 interventions each year through these programs, more than a hundred programs delivered by the provincial governments. These programs are making a difference in the lives of Canadians with disabilities, but we can do more to help connect them with available jobs.
And these agreements are not the only thing that we are doing to help this part of our community. We announced ongoing funding of $40 million to the Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities in the Economic Action Plan. This program will be reformed to provide more demand-driven training to make it more responsive to employer needs. Again, there’s no point in training folks, including people with disabilities, just for jobs in theory. We want to partner with employers to train them for real jobs.
Since 2006, the Opportunities Fund has helped more than 34,000 Canadians with disabilities. And the Enabling Accessibility Fund improves accessibility at workplaces and community gathering places. For the first time, this fund will have a stream dedicated to making workplaces more accessible, greatly increasing the opportunities for Canadians with disabilities.
The recent budget, Economic Action Plan 2014, also proposes to connect Canadians with developmental disabilities and intellectual disabilities with jobs through a $15 million investment to expand something called the Ready, Willing and Able initiative delivered by the Canadian Association for Community Living. And I think you have folks in the Territories associated with that good group, and perhaps we’ll be able to deliver that here as well.
We’ll also invest $11 million to support the expansion of vocational training for folks with autism. And I know that there are some territorial families whose kids have that challenge.
Programs like these are part of our government’s continuing efforts to create a stronger economy and help Canadians with disabilities realize their full potential.
You know, just yesterday when I made a similar agreement in Whitehorse, we were actually at the cafeteria in the legislature there called the Bridges Café at the Leg run by a group called Challenge Yukon, which works with the disabled. And in this case, we had folks with intellectual disabilities being trained through a government program like this to develop skills in the food service industry. You could see the smile on their faces and the sense of purpose and contribution that really helps to deepen their sense of dignity, and we are so proud of that when it happens.
So thank you again, Premier, for your government’s agreement to sign this. Thank you, Jackson. Thank you for being willing to deliver these good programs on our behalf so that together we can work together to create opportunity and to enhance the dignity of Territory residents with disabilities.
I apologize, I would just like to provide a brief summary in French and tell you that I am very pleased to announce today with the Government of the Northwest Territories a Labour Market Agreement for Persons with Disabilities. This is an opportunity to help these people who face a number of obstacles to developing the skills required to be a part of the labour force.
We need all Canadians to contribute to our prosperity, and that is why we are announcing today, in partnership with the territorial government, an annual investment of $2.5 million under this program to be delivered by the territories, as is already being done in the 10 provinces. So this is truly a historic thing, and we in the federal government are making many other investments in skills development for Canadians with disabilities. And so we are very pleased to be launching this partnership with the Territories.
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