Provincial government seeks input on barriers in the workforce or accessing services
Minister Malcolmson says through the development of the standards they are narrowing down what might prevent someone from getting a job or doing well at the job. Photo: Lauryn Mackenzie / CHLY 101.7fm
Those who have found barriers due to their disability in the workforce or accessing services can now share their thoughts with the provincial government.
Starting today, May 31, the B.C. government is inviting people with disabilities to share the restrictions they may have faced from equal participation when in the workforce or accessing services.
This comes as the Provincial Accessibility Committee proposes accessibility standard recommendations for service delivery and employment. The accessibility standards are guidelines that support the removal of barriers for people with disabilities and can later be adopted into regulations.
For employment accessibility standards, they support employers in creating an inclusive workplace and aim to support businesses and organizations in removing barriers some may face when accessing their goods or services.
The province said these standards mark an important step in making B.C. an inclusive place for everyone.
CHLY attended the announcement on May 30 with MLA for Nanaimo and Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, Sheila Malcolmson, and Parliamentary Secretary for Accessibility, Susie Chant. The announcement took place at the opening of the Inclusion BC Conference in downtown Nanaimo.
Malcolmson, who will be attending the 3-day conference, said the provincial government learns a lot when the community comes together and voices their opinions about what barriers exist and how they can be removed.
Afterward, Chant came on the stage to announce to the crowd the public engagement on the accessibility standards.
“We are opening public engagement to learn about the standards, from the perspectives of people all around,” Chant said. “We've had a lot of wisdom in building those standards, now we want to hear from all of you on what they look like to you.”
The public engagement will take place from May 31 to July 31. Chant said people can participate through their online engagement website and virtual town halls that will happen throughout June. The virtual town hall for the Vancouver Island and Coastal Region will take place on June 11 starting at 9 a.m.
“We encourage all of you here in the room to provide your input and spread the word because every input matters,” Chant said. “If we can hit 10,000 I will be doing–not pirouettes– but a happy dance of some sort.”
Chant also said organizations can also host small community-led sessions to hear from people in their communities. To support this work, the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction is providing grants of up to $2,500 for organizations to host the sessions.
These types of organizations are listed on the Ministry’s website as Indigenous organizations and partners, community organizations, or organizations representing an equity group
After the announcement, in a media scrum, CHLY spoke with Malcolmson and Chant. Malcolmson said they will be using the input they receive to hear from lived experiences when implementing accessibility legislation.
“For the next two months, we want people from across British Columbia, that's employers, that's service providers, and of course, anybody that's experienced any kind of disability,” Malcolmson said. “Let us know whether our advisory committee hit the mark, and we'll build the standards, and then the regulation for how it is that we implement our accessibility legislation based on that public input.”
When asked about any concerns that had come up during the process, Chant said that accessibility is a spectrum.
“So we've got visible disabilities, and we've got invisible disabilities, and there had to be a lot of consideration made when we first started out,” Chant said. “Everybody brought their expertise to the table and was very vigilant to ensure that their disability was well represented at the table. Then as time progressed, we realized that there were certain principles that we needed to recognize and speak to.”
She said they were no longer focusing on specific disabilities, but are instead focusing on what work needed to be done to allow universal access for everyone in employment and service accessibility.
Minister Malcolmson said through the development of the standards they are narrowing down what might prevent someone from getting a job or doing well at the job.
“So an example we heard through the pre-consultation process was ‘[during] the training offered to me, my boss spoke too quickly, and I couldn't understand any instructions,’” Malcolmson said. “So by developing Employment Standards in this area, we're giving employers guidance–speak more slowly, find ways to accommodate that worker, written instructions.”
The Ministry said after the input stage between August and December of this year, the Provincial Accessibility Committee will review the feedback and produce a report from it. Next year the recommendations will then be submitted to to the Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, who will bring them to cabinet for consideration before regulations are developed
Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.