Canadians with Disabilities, Labour Market Challenges, and Employment Opportunities in the Social Economy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22230/cjnser.2014v5n1a161Keywords:
Disability movement, Harper government, Population aging, Public policy / Mouvement des personnes handicapées, Gouvernement Harper, Vieillissement de la population, Politiques publiquesAbstract
ABSTRACT
This article examines the labour force participation of working-age adults with disabilities, and proposes nonprofits and community agencies as sites for employing disabled Canadians. It documents employment trends over the last 15 years and how they compare to those for people without disabilities. The employment reform agenda of the Canadian disability movement is outlined as two broad approaches: distributional improvements and structural innovations. Inclusive and gainful employment is regarded as an essential part of economic and social citizenship. The challenges of labour force participation for adults with disabilities are then related to recent reports on Canada’s aging population and to Harper government policies on employment for Canadians with disabilities. Finally, it explores applying a disability inclusion lens to the operations of social economy organizations.
RÉSUMÉ
Cet article porte sur la participation active des adultes en âge de travailler ayant des incapacités et propose la possibilité d'organismes sans but lucratif et des organismes communautaires comme un site d'emploi pour les Canadiens handicapés. Il documente les tendances de l'emploi au cours des 15 dernières années et comment ils se comparent aux personnes non handicapées. Le programme de réformes du travail du mouvement des personnes handicapées est décrite et approches de la réforme sont dites de diviser en deux grandes catégories : des améliorations et innovations structurelles. Travail rémunéré et inclusif est considéré comme une partie essentielle de la citoyenneté économique et sociale avec le préposé aux droits et responsabilités. Les défis de la participation de la population active pour les adultes ayant une déficience sont ensuite liés aux rapports publics récents sur la population vieillissante du Canada et aux décisions prises par le gouvernement conservateur Harper sur l'emploi pour les Canadiens ayant une déficience. Apprentissage politique et connaissances transfert peut se produire en appliquant une lentille d'inclusion des personnes handicapées aux activités des organisations d'économie sociale.Downloads
References
References
Burge, P., H. Ouellette-Kuntz, and R. Lysaght. (2007). Public views on employment of people with intellectual disabilities. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation 26(1), 29–37.
Canada. (2013). Rethinking disability in the private sector: Report from the panel on labour market opportunities for persons with disabilities. Ottawa: Government of Canada.
Canadian Association for Community Living. (2012). Ready, willing, and able: A targeted initiative to increase labour force participation of persons with intellectual disabilities. Toronto: CACL.
Canadian Human Rights Commission. (2012). Report on Equality Rights of People with Disabilities. Ottawa: Minister of Public Works and Government Services. Cat. No. HR4- 20/2012E-PDF.
Chouinard, V., and V. A. Crooks. (2005). Because they have all the power and I have none: State restructuring of income and employment supports and disabled women. Disability and Society 20(1), 19–32.
Church, K., C. Frazee, M. Panitch, T. Luciani, and V. Bowman. (2007). Doing disability at the bank: Discovering the work of learning/teaching done by disabled bank employees. Toronto: RBC Foundation Institute for Disability Studies, Ryerson University.
Cohen, M., M. Goldberg, N. Istvanffy, T. Stainton, A. Wasik, and K-M. Woods. (2008). Removing barriers to work: Flexible employment options for people with disabilities in BC. Vancouver: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, BC Office.
Council of Canadians with Disabilities. (2013). Brief for Submission to the Standing Committee on Finance, People with Disabilities: Getting Beyond Being the Population in Waiting, April 5.
Crawford, C. (2012). Patterns in the Employment of Canadians with Disabilities. PowerPoint presentation to Human Resources and Skills Development Canada. Gatineau, January 12.
Finance Canada. (2012). Economic and fiscal implications of Canada’s aging population, (Ottawa: Government of Canada).
Friesen, A., A. Alasia, and R. Bollam. (2010). The social economy across the rural to urban gradient: Evidence from registered charities, 2004. Ottawa: Statistics Canada. Cat no. 21–601–M–92.
Furie, A. (2010). Towards a better understanding of the dynamics of disability and its impact on employment: Final Report. Ottawa: Adele Furrie Consulting Inc.
Galarneau, D., and M. Radulescu. (2009). Employment among the disabled. Perspectives on Labour and Income, 10 (5), 5-15.
Graefe, P., and M. Levesque. (2010). Accountability and funding impediments to social policy innovation: Lessons from the labour market agreements for persons with disabilities. Canadian Public Policy, 36(1), 45-62
Institute for Research and Development on Inclusion and Society. (2013). Increasing labour force participation of people with intellectual disabilities: Review of current promising practices in Canada and enabling conditions. Toronto: IRIS.
Lee, J. (2013). Enterprises put the ‘social’ into capitalism. The Vancouver Sun, Vancouver: March 28, p. D1.
Levesque, M. (2012). Assessing the ability of disability organizations: an interprovincial comparative perspective. Canadian Journal of Nonprofit ad Social Economy Research, 3(2), 82-103.
Lord, J., and P. Hutchison. (2007). Pathways to inclusion: Building a new story with people and communities. Concord, ON: Captus Press.
Macpherson, C.B. (1985). The rise and fall of economic justice and other essays, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Mader, K. F., and M. Conn (2003). Eastside coffee bar cooperative: A collection of learnings. Vancouver: Canadian Mental Health Association, Vancouver/Burnaby Branch.
McCreath, G. (2011). The politics of blindness: From charity to parity. Vancouver: Granville Island Publishing.
McDaniel, S. A. (1987). Demographic aging as a guiding paradigm in Canada’s welfare state. Canadian Public Policy, 13(3), 330-336.
Mook, L., J. Quarter, and S. Ryan. (2010). Researching the social economy. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Neufeldt, A. H. (2003). Disability in Canada: An historical perspective. In H. Enns and A. H. Neufeldt (Eds.), In pursuit of equal participation: Canada and disability at home and abroad (pp. 22-79). Concord: Captus Press.
Nova Scotia. (2008). Vocational and day program services for adults with disabilities in Nova Scotia. Halifax: Department of Community Services.
Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer. (2013). Comparing the federal fiscal sustainability analyses of PBO and Finance Canada, (Ottawa: Canada, January 23).
Prince, M. J. (2009). Absent citizens: Disability politics and policy in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Quarter, J. (1992). Canada’s social economy: Co-operatives, non-profits, and other community enterprises. Toronto: Lorimer.
Quarter, J., L. Mook, and A. Armstrong (2009). Understanding the social economy: A Canadian perspective. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Ramlo, A., and R. Berlin (2006). A perfect storm: Sustaining Canada’s economy during our next demographic transformation. Vancouver: Urban Futures Institute, Report 66.
Rice, J. J., and M. J. Prince (2013). Changing politics of Canadian social policy, Second edition. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Senate Report (2009). In from the margins: A call to action on poverty, housing, and homelessness. Ottawa: Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science, and Technology.
Spector, A. (2012). Labour market trends of people with disabilities in Canada (1999-2010). Policy Research Note, Strategic Policy and Research, Policy Research Directorate, Ottawa: Human Resources and Skills Development Canada.
Statistics Canada. (2008). Participation and Activity Limitation Survey 2006: Labour Force Experience of People with Disabilities in Canada. Statistics Canada, Cat. No. 89-628-X No. 007.
Stienstra, D., and A. Wight-Felske, Eds. (2003). Making equality: History of advocacy and persons with disabilities in Canada. Concord, ON: Captus Press.
Stienstra, D. (2012). About Canada: Disability rights. Halifax & Winnipeg: Fernwood.
United Nations (2007). UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
Vaillancourt, Y., and L. Tremblay, Eds., (2002). Social economy: Health and welfare in four Canadian provinces. Halifax: Fernwood Publishing.
Wilton, Robert D. (2006). Working at the margins: Disabled people and the growth of precarious employment. In D. Pothier and R. Devlin (Eds.), Critical disability theory: Essays in philosophy, politics, policy, and law (pp. 129-150). Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.
Withers, A.J. (2012). Disability politics and theory. Halifax & Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Submission of an original manuscript to the Canadian Journal of Nonprofit and Social Economy Research / Revue canadienne de recherche sur les OSBL et l'économie sociale [thereafter CJNSER] will be taken to mean that it represents original work not previously published, and that it is not being considered elsewhere for publication.
The journal takes the stance that the publication of scholarly research is meant to disseminate knowledge and, in a not-for-profit regime, benefits neither publisher nor author financially. It sees itself as having an obligation to its authors and to society to make content available online now that the technology allows for such a possibility. In keeping with this principle, the journal will publish all of its issues online.
Authors who publish in CJNSER agree to release their articles under the Creative Commons 4.0 International Licence (CC BY). This licence allows anyone to copy and distribute the article provided that appropriate attribution is given. For details of the rights an author grants users of their work, please see the licence summary and the full licence.
[Content published between 2010 and 2019-10 was licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada (CC BY-NC-ND 2.5 CA) License. Content published between 2019-10 to 2023-12 was licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) License. Content published after 2023-12 is licensed under the Creative Commons 4.0 International (CC BY) License.]
