DWC 2018 conference

National Conference

DISABILITY AND WORK IN CANADA

A Partnering Strategy for Moving Forward

Delta Hotels Ottawa City Centre – December 4-5, 2018

 

PLANNING COMMITTEE

 

Since the November 2017 conference, efforts have been underway to develop a vision and strategy for the future, focused on key initiatives to increase the employment of persons with a disability. A draft strategy was distributed in the Fall of 2018, prior to this second Disability & Work in Canada conference. The objective of this conference was to review the strategy and to foster broad consensus on its key elements.

 

MATERIALS

 

Agenda: Short version (Word)Short version (PDF)Expanded version (Word)expanded version (PDF).

Program: Conference program (pdf)conference program (txt).

Moving Forward Together: A Canadian Strategy for Disability and Work. DRAFT for discussion at the Disability and Work in Canada conference, December 4-5, 2018 in Ottawa, Canada. DWC Draft Strategy PDF versionDWC Draft Strategy Word versionDWC Draft Strategy text version.

Policy Roundtable on Disability and Work in Canada Developing a Vision and Strategy for the Future. Summary of the Roundtable held June 26th, 2018. Policy Roundtable summary (PDF version)Policy Roundtable summary (Word version).

 

SPEAKER PRESENTATIONS: CLICK THE LINKS BELOW TO OPEN PRESENTATION VIDEOS

 

December 4: Morning Sessions

 

Watch Indigenous prayer by Albert Dumont, and goals of the DWC Initiative by Ron Saunders

Albert Dumont

Indigenous Prayer
by Albert Dumont

Ron Saunders

Goal of the DWC initiative
by Ron Saunders

 

 

 

Plenary panel: provincial strategies on disability and work

Watch the video of the plenary panel: Part 1

Watch the video of the plenary panel: Part 2

Mary Reid

Chair: Mary Reid
recently retired as the Director for the Disability Policy Office, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador

Jennifer Clark

Jennifer Clark
Director, Program Effectiveness, Disability Programs, Government of Saskatchewan

Anne MacRae

Anne MacRae
Manager of Employment Supports, Persons with Disabilities, Department of Community Services, Province of Nova Scotia

Henry Kielley, Director, Disability Policy Office, Department of Children, Seniors, & Social Development, Government of Newfoundland Labrador

Brian Saunders, Senior Policy Advisor, New Brunswick Premier’s Council on Disabilities

Ian Ross, Executive Director, Policy and Program Development, Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, Government of BC

 

December 4: Lunchtime Speakers

 

Vignette: A personal story [video is coming soon]

Kate Young

Welcome by Guest Speaker Kate Young
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Accessibility

December 4: Afternoon Sessions

 

Parallel discussion sessions I: Lived Experience Session

Watch the video of Lived Experience Session Part 1

Watch the video of Lived Experience Session Part 2

Steve Mantis

Chair: Steve Mantis
Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups

Janet Paterson

Janet Paterson
Canadian Injured Workers Alliance

Tim Rose

Tim Rose
CIBC

Steven Estey

Steven Estey
Council of Canadians with Disabilities

Dana Howse

Dana Howse
Safety Net Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Research, Memorial University, Newfoundland and Labrador

Rapporteur: Bill Adair, Spinal Cord Injury Canada. Click here to read the report from Lived Experience Session

Parallel discussion sessions I: Employers Session

Watch the video of Employers Session

Maureen Haan

Chair: Maureen Haan
Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work (CCRW)

Ellen Austin

Ellen Austin
Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC)

Anna-Karina Tabuñar

Anna-Karina Tabuñar
Sodexo Canada

Jennifer Popkey

Jennifer Popkey
TD Bank

Eizabeth Kwan

Eizabeth Kwan
Canadian Labour Congress

Marcia Rioux

Marcia Rioux
York University

Rapporteur: Meghan Kelly, Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work (CCRW). Click here to read the report from Employers Session

Parallel discussion sessions I: Service Providers Session

Watch the video of Service Providers Session

Kathy Hawkins

Chair: Kathy Hawkins
InclusionNL

Elisabeth Smith

Elisabeth Smith
Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work (CCRW)

Sean McEwen

Sean McEwen
Calgary Alternative Employment Services

Jen Soucy

Jen Soucy
LiveWorkPlay

Tammy Yates

Tammy Yates
Realize

Joseph Giulione

Joseph Giulione
L’Arrimage

Arif Jetha

Arif Jetha
Institute for Work & Health

Rapporteur: Mary Reid, recently from the Disability Policy Office, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. Click here to read the report from Service Providers Session

Parallel discussion sessions II: Unions Session

Watch the video of the unions session

Robert Blakely

Chair: Robert Blakely
Canada’s Building Trades Unions

Joe Dowdall

Joe Dowdall
International Union of Operating Engineers Local 793

Debbie Colson, International Union of Operating Engineers Local 793

Niki Lundquist

Niki Lundquist
Unifor

Theresa Minnett

Theresa Minnett
Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour

Dana Howse

Dana Howse
SafetyNet, Memorial University

Meghan Kelly

Meghan Kelly
Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work (CCRW)

Rapporteur: Nina Hansen, British Columbia Federation of Labour. Click here to read the report from Unions Session

Parallel discussion sessions II: Federal-Provincial Interface Session

Watch the video of the Federal-Provincial Interface Session

Aisling Gogan

Chair: Aisling Gogan
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador

Eppo Maertens

Eppo Maertens
Employment and Social Development Canada

Ian Ross, Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, Province of BC

Terry Copes

Terry Copes
Sudbury Legal Clinic

Pam Lahey

Pam Lahey
McMaster University

John Stapleton

John Stapleton
Open Policy

Rapporteur: Mary Reid, recently from the Disability Policy Office, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. Click here to read the report from Federal-Provincial Interface Session

Brief reports from sessions (employers session, lived experience session, service providers session, unions session, and federal-provincial interface session)

 

December 4: Evening Reception

 

Speaker presentation: John Rae

Tapestry from Day 1 of the conference, created by Jennifer Shepherd, Living Tapestries

December 5: Morning Sessions

 

Monitoring and Evaluation

Emile Tompa

Presentation: Ideas for measuring progress and evaluation
Presenter: Emile Tompa, Co-Director, Centre for Research on Work Disability Policy)

Presentation slides: Ideas for measuring progress and evaluation

Presentation: Overview of initiatives of Labour-Market Information Council [Video is coming soon]
Presenter: Steven Tobin, Executive Director, Labour Market Information Council

 

Watch the commentary by Michael Prince,
Lansdowne Professor of Social Policy, University of Victoria

Mental Health and the Workplace

Watch the video of Mental Health and the Workplace session

Nitika Rewari

Nitika Rewari
Manager, Research, Evaluation & Knowledge Translation, Prevention and Promotion – Workplace, MHCC

Don Palmer

Don Palmer
Executive Director, Causeway

Rebecca Gewurtz

Rebecca Gewurtz
Associate Professor, McMaster University

Small business and disability

Watch the video of Small Business and Disability session

Eppo Maertens

Eppo Maertens
Policy Director, Employment and Social Development Canada

Todd Peters

Todd Peters
Owner/Operator, River City Remanufacturing

Keegan Colville

Keegan Colville
Owner/President, Service Master Clean Saint John

Jamie Burton

Jamie Burton
Vice President, Dolphin Digital

Moving Forward Together: A Review of the Future of Disability & Work, by Jaime Burton (pdf)

Michael Zacks

Michael Zacks
Director and General Counsel, Office of the Employer Adviser, Ontario

Vignette: A personal story [video is coming soon]

 

December 5: Afternoon and Closing of the Conference

Next steps and closing remarks (by DWC Steering Committee)

Tapestry from Day 2 of the conference, created by Jennifer Shepherd, Living Tapestries

Photos from the conference (Day 1 and Day 2) (.zip) - 762 mb. Conference photographers: Scott White, Arif Jetha, and Kathy Padkapayeva

 

 

Thank you:

Financial support to the conference was provided by the Centre for Research on Work Disability Policy (CRWDP) which is a 7-year research partnership funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), by the Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work (CCRW) and by the Government of Canada. Our platinum sponsor is Unifor. Our gold sponsor is International Union of Operating Engineers Local 793. Our bronze sponsors are Canadian Standards Association (CSA Group), and Canadian Labour Congress. Gratefully sponsoring people with lived experience to attend: Prevention Link (Disability Prevention at Work), Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB Ontario), and Work Safe BC.