Inclusion Matters: News from CACL

November 2016

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My Home My Community Initiative Informs National Housing Strategy

Over 100,000 Canadians with intellectual disabilities are not able to access affordable housing that meets their support needs, makes possible a home of their own, and offers social and economic inclusion in their communities. In partnership with People First of Canada (PFC) and our member organizations, CACL has developed a brief outlining a new proposed approach to enable access to affordable housing in safe and inclusive communities, as a part of a response to the Government of Canada's National Housing Strategy consultations.

My Home My Community (MHMC) helps deliver on shared priorities for increasing affordable housing, reducing poverty, improving access for Canadians with disabilities to needed community services and growing inclusive social infrastructure through innovative social and financial investments. This is because MHMC is about more than housing.

Ready, Willing & Able Quarterly Update and Employer Survey Results

A partnership between CACL and CASDA, the Ready, Willing & Able initiative has achieved another round of excellent results in the third quarter of 2016: 177 employment outcomes (including full-time and part-time jobs, self-employment opportunities, and post-secondary opportunities) have been reached in this three month period.

Since the program began in 2014, over 1160 employment opportunities have been filled by persons with intellectual disabilities and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), including many positions with national employers such as Costco, Home Depot, Purolator, Sodexo, and Value Village.

The RWA team, consisting of over 25 staff in communities across the country, has also received initial results from a comprehensive survey of RWA employers.

Featured Letter: Finding Support When You Least Expect It

The following is a recent letter to Inclusive Education Canada Director Dr. Gordon Porter from a long-time school advocate.

Dear Gordon, I wanted to tell you the story of how you helped me many years ago.

I was involved in school advocacy beginning in about 1988. I was a very young professional - newly graduated in 1984 with a B.A.Sc in Child Development from the University of Guelph.

It was not an easy time. The response the families and I received was often fiercely protective of the status quo - often incredibly personal and mean, and threatened professional and personal reputations.

Support for the Vulnerable Persons Standard Continues to Grow

Did You Know?: CACL acts as the Secretariat for the Vulnerable Persons Standard (VPS), a series of evidence-based safeguards intended to help ensure that Canadians requesting medical assistance in dying can do so without jeopardizing the lives of vulnerable persons who may be subject to coercion and abuse. The VPS is supported by over 50 national and provincial-territorial organizations, representing disability, palliative care, faith, medicine, and law communities.

The number of VPS Advisors and Supporting Organizations continues to grow, and partners have contributed to developing an action plan for the next phase of ensuring robust safeguards in the system for medical assistance in dying.

For more information or to sign up as a supporting organization please contact [email protected] .

CACL in Action!

Highlights of our recent national and international work.

Joy Bacon, CACL President, and Michael Bach, CACL EVP, were in Orlando, FL for the Inclusion International General Assembly and Shaping the Future national congress and international forum.

Gordon Porter, Director of Inclusive Education Canada held three workshops on inclusive education advocacy in Fort Frances, Kenora, and Dryden (ON) in partnership with Community Living Ontario and ARCH Disability Law Centre.
Don Gallant, Ready, Willing & Able National Director, presented on Canada's Ready, Willing & Able initiative at the Inclusion International national congress and international forum in Florida.

IRIS held the second working group meeting for the Toronto - A Place to Call Our Own: Empowering Women to Take Action for Affordable Housing initiative that seeks to develop a strategy that addresses the lack of access to, and the number of affordable housing options for women in the city of Toronto.

Gordon Porter, Director of Inclusive Education Canada consulted with the Government of Northwest Territories in developing guidelines on inclusive education. The guidelines draw on standards of practice developed by educational leaders in NWT, as well as guidelines developed with Dr. Porter in New Brunswick.

Free IMPACTAbility Webinars on Social Innovation

Plan Institute is hosting a free webinar series with Al Etmanski and Vickie Cammack, based on Al's bestselling book IMPACT: Six Patterns to Spread Your Social Innovation.

This seven-part webinar series discusses the ways people who live with disabilities and their families have a distinct talent for continuously inventing and creating ways out of adversity to achieve impact.

The fourth webinar titled, "IMPACT: Mobilize your Economic Power" will be hosted by Liz Mulholland, CEO if Prosper Canada, on Tuesday, November 29 at 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. EST. This webinar will tell listeners how social enterprise is being used to address poverty, social isolation, addiction, employment and a host of other social and environmental challenges.

Re:Action4Inclusion Conference Encourages Youth to Promote Inclusion

Re:Action4Inclusion is hosting its annual youth leadership conference for high school students! This year's conference, "I Have An Idea", is taking place November 18th - 20th in Orillia, ON.

The conference focuses on the power that youth and ideas can have in advancing inclusion in our communities, and features exceptional speakers such as Luke Anderson, Founder of StopGap Foundation, and Tail Osborne, TED Talk motivational speaker.

Re:Action4Inclusion is a province-wide, youth-focused social justice initiative empowering high school students with and without disabilities to use their experiences and their voice to take a stand. Collectively with adult allies, youth continue to shift the culture of our society and build more inclusive spaces in education and community.