Disability and Work in Canada National Conference:
A Partnering Strategy for Moving Forward

Disability and Work in Canada 2018 was held at the Delta Hotels by Marriott Ottawa City Centre, December 4 and 5, 2018. The conference reviewed a proposed national strategy to improve the level of employment of persons with disabilities in Canada.

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 the national conference. You can find the draft here below. The objective is to foster broad consensus on the key elements of that strategy.

 

VIDEOS FROM THE CONFERENCE

Tuesday December 4th, morning

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

Overview of the draft strategy document and how it was developed (by DWC Steering Committee)

The address by Yazmine Laroche, Deputy Minister, Public Service Accessibility

Vignette: A personal story by Mandy Penney

Plenary Panel: Provincial Strategies on Disability and Work

Tuesday December 4th, afternoon

The address by Kate Young, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Accessibility

Panel discussion sessions I:

Employers Session

Lived Experience Session

Service Providers Session

Panel discussion sessions II:

Unions session

Federal-Provincial Interface Session

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

Speaker presentation: John Rae

The address by the Honourable Patricia A. Hajdu, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour

Wednesday December 5, morning

Monitoring and evaluation

Ideas for Measuring Progress and Evaluation (Emile Tompa)

Mental health and the workplace

Small business and disability

PRESENTATION SLIDES FROM THE CONFERENCE

Overview of the DWC Initiative, the Strategy and how it was developed (pdf)

Monitoring and Evaluation gaps and opportunities, by Emile Tompa (pdf)

The Role of Canadian Standards, by Candace Sellar, Program Manager, Standards, Worker & Public Safety CSA Group

Moving Forward Together; A Review of the Future of Disability & Work, by Jamie Burton

First results from the 2017 Canadian Survey on Disability: A demographic, employment and income profile of Canadians with disabilities aged 15 years and over. By Jeffrey Hughes, Laurent Brisebois & Gail Fawcett, Employment and Social Development Canada

Outline of plans to data options for developing indicators regarding disability and employment. Social Research Division, Employment and Social Development Canada

 

CONFERENCE MATERIALS

Conference agenda: Short version (Word); Short version (PDF)Expanded version (Word); expanded version (PDF).

Conference 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 version, DWC Draft Strategy Word version, DWC 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).