WHITEWATER REGION — Adults with physical and mental disabilities who cannot operate at the same level as others who get paid minimum wage have been left out in the cold.
Bill 148, Ontario Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act came into effect on Nov. 22, 2017. Sections of the act are being phased in with a particular section coming in June 1, 2018. That section provides seven areas that must be met by employees, including completing mandatory training in CPR and WHIMIS; physically complete tasks in time required; complete task up to standards for minimum wage; time management; reading, writing and mathematics; organization skills; and communication.
There are people within the workforce who will be out of a job with the implementation of this section.
Linda Humphries is the mother of Mark who has Downs Syndrome. For close to 13 years, Mark, who is now 32, has worked in the Cobden community, not earning minimum wage, but gaining self-confidence, feeling pride in a job well done and having a reason to get up in the morning.
“They are in a grey area,” she said. “Many, like Mark, can’t produce at $14 an hour the same as an able body, able-minded person.”
Bill 148 has put stress on all businesses, which has forced some to cut hours of employees and their hours of operation, she said.
“This bill has had a huge impact on small businesses,” Ms. Humphries said.
This act is now putting up barriers for people who have development and physical disabilities, she said.
“Their quality of life is being affected,” she said. “It’s not about getting a pay cheque, it’s about pride in their work, getting out into the community.”
Ms. Humphries noted Bill 148 affects everyone throughout the province, not just in Whitewater Region or even Renfrew County. Many people have no idea this is happening because they are not involved with special needs families, she said.
“We all need a reason to get up in the morning, we all need something to look forward to,” she said. “It’s about going to a job where friends have been made, working with a team, being part of a team.
“You cannot put a money value on the relationships made through their small jobs.”
She said Mark walks down the street and people are always saying hi to him, calling him by name.
By working in the community, it’s teaching people it’s okay to be around special needs people because they make up part of the fabric of our communities, Ms. Humphries said.
Lisa Duggan agrees.
She, too, has a son who will lose his job as of today.
She agrees with Ms. Humphries – it’s not about the nominal pay they receive, it’s about the pride they take in their work.
“I found out the first week of May my son will lose his job on May 31,” Ms. Duggan said. “I would love for my child to make $14 an hour. He’s 29. But, there’s not going to be a miracle cure.”
She has been told that by asking for special rights for people with special needs, they will be segregating those people.
Ms. Duggan disagreed.
“I’m not putting them in a different box, it’s that they do not fit in your (government’s) box,” she stated.
How do you explain to someone with a developmental disability that they can’t go to work anymore? They don’t understand they aren’t making the same money as everyone else, or that they aren’t working up to the standards of other people, she said.
Charlene Riopelle is another parent upset with this section of Bill 148. In a letter, she wrote how she feels, and what this will mean to her son Travis.
“I write this letter with a very heavy heart,” she wrote. “My son Travis came home and told me he no longer would get his little pay cheque anymore and was very upset and sad because he could not understand why…you people crush their worlds as usual without really knowing what their world is all about….I just left a meeting where I was told that my son can no longer do the little jobs he had Community Living and get paid for it…Let’s get real here about physically and mentally challenged people. Two totally different people. Unless you have a special needs child of your own, you have no clue what you are talking about. Seriously, you are discriminating against my child now, because with your new law there is very few, if any employer, who would hire a mentally challenged person, physically challenged, maybe mentally. I think not….”
Rally on Saturday in Renfrew
Ms. Riopelle and Ms. Duggan want people to understand how this bill is affecting people within their communities.
They have organized a rally to occur at Low Square in Renfrew on Saturday, June 2 at 11 a.m. Letters will be read from people who have lost their jobs, who are losing their self worth, she said.
MPPs and political leaders have been invited to attend the rally and hear their concerns, Ms. Duggan said.
Whitewater Region council supports the exemption
Whitewater Region council supported a letter from Ms. Duggan and Ms. Riopelle they reviewed at last night’s council meeting. The letter is to support the women as they seek to exempt individuals with developmental disabilities in Ontario who want to work but cannot meet the requirements for Bill 148.
Councillor Dave Mackay agreed with the exemption.
“I had a handicapped brother,” he recalled. “He could work, but he wasn’t worth minimum wage.”
These women want to keep their children working, which is a good idea, he said.
“But, companies cannot afford to pay them minimum wage,” Coun. Mackay said. “I’d like to support them.”
Councillor Daryl McLaughlin said there’s also a petition going around to get exemption for people with special needs.
“These special needs people want to work,” he said. “I wouldn’t say they’re not worth it, but they can’t find employment if they have to be paid minimum wage.”
He wants a letter of support sent.
“It’s not right,” Coun. McLaughlin said. “These people, they want to be in the workforce, they want to be productive.
“This is telling them no, you can’t.”
Councillor Chris Olmstead, a small business owner himself, agreed with Coun. McLaughlin.
“These people want that self-worth, they want to be out in the community,” he said.
The current Bill 148 is very restricting and is keeping these people out of the workforce, Coun. Olmstead said.
Council voted in favour of a letter of support to be written and sent, not only to the women, but to political people and other municipalities in case they want to write a letter of support as well.
To quote the law of the Province I’d like to suggest that all applicants seeking public office meet or exceed this legislation.
Bill 148, Ontario Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act came into effect on Nov. 22, 2017. Sections of the act are being phased in with a particular section coming in June 1, 2018. That section provides seven areas that must be met by employees, including completing mandatory training in CPR and WHIMIS; physically complete tasks in time required; complete task up to standards for minimum wage; time management; reading, writing and mathematics; organization skills; and communication.
It’s quite evident that few if any would qualify certainly not in mathematics and in the communication skills, lying is completely unacceptable. It is time that we held our elected representative to a higher standard.
Since we are in the season of buying votes I’m surprised that Wynne has lacked the ingenuity to resolve this problem with an amendment to the Ontario Basic Income but then again she likely only needs the ridings of Hamilton, Brantford, Brant County, Lindsay and Thunder Bay and those with physical and mental disabilities are not a voting block.
For those who need to be reminded the party in power is the same one that has permanently enshrined the “heat of eat” class and builds trains and that geographically none of us will ever use.
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