Disibility Supports

Why is the Campbell government turning to charities to assist people with disabilities overcome barriers to employment? Human Resources Minister Murry Coell used the April staged cabinet meeting to announce a $20 million endowment to the Vancouver Foundation, the income from which will fund annual grants.

The annual income from the fund is expected to be $1 million. According to the Ministry's background document "Applicants to the fund will be B.C.-based charitable organizations that demonstrate an ability to provide employment supports for individuals with disabilities who are not eligible to obtain such supports from other sources." The government's news release says that "The disability supports for employment fund will provide employment supports, including aids for hearing, seeing, mobility or agility; adaptations to computer hardware and software; and vehicle or structural modifications."

There is no question that disability supports are needed, but why distribute them through charities, and why limit the amount to the investment income from the endowment fund? Section 54 of the regulations for the Employment and Assistance for Persons with Disabilities (EAPWD) Act authorize ministry staff to provide a grant of up to $1,000 to a disabled person with a confirmed job for "transportation, clothing, tools or other employment-related items in order to commence the employment". With the stroke of a pen on a cabinet order, that regulation could be modified so as to allow ministry staff to provide the kinds of "disability supports" government is asking charities to administer.

When charities apply to the Vancouver Foundation for a grant from the fund, their eligibility will be determined by the Minister's Council on Employment for Persons with Disabilities. The Council met for the first time in January 2003. It has 20 high profile members who probably have better things to do than screen grant applications. The Council's role is to advise the Minister of strategies "for increasing the employment, employability and independence of persons with disabilities." That's what they should be doing, not processing grant applications.

Coell's speech to the staged cabinet meeting doesn't answer any questions about why high powered members of the Minister's Council will be processing grant applications, and as usual, no useful questions were asked by any other member of cabinet. The government that pretends to be fiscally responsible authorized a $20 million payment without any questions about alternatives or expected results. An alternative to the dispersal of "disability supports" through a charity network is to simply amend the regulations for the Act and allow line workers in the Ministry to make decisions with respect to their clients. Some would see it as a difference between dignified entitlements as opposed to begging. Others would simply say that the Campbell government has created a bureaucracy to handle what should be a simple administrative decision for line workers. Coell's approach may have more to do with political networking than it does with helping people with disabilities.