IQALUIT
Making a correlation between high attendance rates and increased profits, the project director of a national organization says Nunavut companies should be in the business of hiring those with intellectual disabilities.

Don Gallant of the Canadian Association for Community Living announces a project to help those with intellectual disabilities find meaningful work in Nunavut Dec. 9. Iqaluit is one of 20 communities across Canada to share federal funding of $5 million per year to create jobs. - Casey Lessard/NNSL photo

"They make good employees," said Don Gallant of the Canadian Association for Community Living, launching a project under the watch of the Nunavummi Disabilities Makinnasuaqtiit Society (NDMS) Dec. 9. "Ninety-two per cent of employers who employ people with this label would hire people with such labels again. Many customers will return because such a company is seen as socially progressive."

The national association and the Nunavut society will work together on a three-year project – called Ready, Willing and Able – to make employment linkages between employers interested in hiring those with intellectual disabilities, and those needing jobs.

The priority is real work for real pay, something Gallant notes is more common for people with intellectual disabilities in Nunavut, rather than the make-work projects for little or no pay people with similar disabilities experience in the south.

"People always say disabilities, but they are able," said society treasurer Noah Papatsie, who is blind. "They are able to do something. They can work, they have their own way of doing things. I don't see myself as a disabled person. I can have a voice and help those people succeed on the next level."

Employing people with disabilities has worked with good success in other places.

"There's a good business case for it," Gallant said. "As employers are facing very acute labour shortages, they often don't think about as a potential employee someone with intellectual disabilities. We want to change that."

There are 20 sites across Canada, including major cities in every province and territory. In each city, the co-ordinator will work to identify businesses interested in making the connection. The co-ordinator will work then with local agencies, which will recommend people for the jobs.

The project provides funding to hire a co-ordinator in Iqaluit, Delma Autut, and for any accommodations needed to help a company hire a person with intellectual disabilities, including those with autism spectrum disorder. The project funding was announced in the May federal budget and Autut started work at the end of October.

"We've had some great opportunities recently to work toward our mission, which is to achieve independence, full citizenship, and self-determination of all Iqalungmiut and Nunavummiut living with disabilities," said NMDS executive director Wendy Ireland, who said employment is the way to make that happen. "We are very excited to have the continued dedication of the Canadian Association for Community Living in Nunavut. They have been involved in promoting equal rights for people with intellectual disabilities in Nunavut since 2000, since before our organization existed."

The project covers employment that is full-time, part-time, or seasonal, as well as self-employment and partnerships in which those with intellectual disabilities manage their own income-generating businesses.

Interested employers can contact the Nunavummi Disabilities Makinnasuaqtiit Society.

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