Former Lt.-Governor David Onley, who now advises the Ontario government on accessibility issues, shares a story of home ownership and marriage —about a man with Down syndrome who worked full time for a Tim Hortons restaurant in Scarborough.
“If he hadn't been given that chance where would he have gone?” Onley said. “Somebody in the system would have decided that he was not capable of working and he would have ended up in a sheltered workshop.”
Members of the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada are very disturbed by this unconscionable action. Why is the Minister of Community and Social Services moving to put an end to this effort which has been offering opportunities to persons in need. They want a tangible explanation for this sudden development. Ironically, the Ministry of Community and Social Services, which funds developmental services, does not have stats on the number of existing sheltered workshops or how many actual participants work in them. This tells us that action by the ministry is being taken without adequate information. Minister Jaczek and her team cannot provide any substance regarding what impact this new, harsh move would have on the province. A survey last year of the 370 organizations that support people with developmental delays had a response rate of less than half. Of the 170 agencies that reported, there were 3,463 individuals involved in 52 “simulated work settings, including training centres, day programs, vocational training and sheltered-workshop-like programs.”
In a letter to the Minister, NEPMCC President Thomas S. Saras brought to her attention that the announced closure of these workshops is causing undo stress to the families involved “You do not have the right to undermine the livelihoods of the least fortunate and vulnerable in our society without doing your due diligence and consulting with all the stakeholders,” Saras advised. The President who has been contacted by affected families within various ethnic communities warned the minister that he will fight, tooth and nail, until this decision is reversed. “The workshops, including their employees and the customers that supply work to these workshops will be devastated by this ill executed closing,” NEPMCC President told Minister Jaczek.
“Those with physical and mental disabilities depend on these workshops for their social well-being, and the financial bonuses they receive from their work is just that- a bonus,” he concluded.
Critics contend, the real number of individuals participating in these workshops are hidden because many sessions are disguised by new names like “co-op,” “employment training,” or “social enterprise.” Most sheltered workshops are run by non-profit groups which receive provincial government unding.
Toronto's Corbrook, a not-for-profit organization, straddles the old idea of the sheltered workshops and the more progressive idea of providing real training. Corbrook helps people with developmental delays get full and part-time jobs with companies like Starwood Hotels or Canlan Ice Sports. In 2014, 30 out of 255 people in employment training programs at Corbrook got paying jobs. But it also operates a busy sheltered workshop in a strip mall on Trethewey Rd. in Toronto's west end. The program is called Transition to Work. “It offers employment training,” executive director Deepak Soni said. But many of the trainees have been there for 15 years or longer. “They don't want to leave,” Soni said.
The decision to bring these workshops to an end is the strongest statement yet from the ministry following a Toronto Star series exposing the problem. Initially, the government announced there would be no new admissions to the workshops, typically located in industrial malls. Now the province plans to close them forever. We hope this is not another action by government to cut costs at the expense of those who are least able to afford the mere pleasures of life. The action falls very far from fairness and justice in a society which claims to be one that thrives on equitable practices. Madam Premier and Minister Zackzek, this is the time to demonstrate that you really care about our most vulnerable, in this Ontario society. We know you can do better. Reverse this senseless and unfair decision.