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Employment equity for persons with disabilities?

Daniel T'seleie
Northern News Services
Published Monday, March 14, 2011

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A recent motion passed in the Northwest Territories legislative assembly may help increase the rate of employment of persons with disabilities in the territorial public service.

"Basically, the (Government of the Northwest Territories) isn't doing enough to employ persons with disabilities," said Frame Lake MLA Wendy Bisaro, who introduced the motion on Feb. 28.

According to the motion, persons with disabilities account for 8.2 per cent of the NWT work force, but only 0.5 per cent of the territorial government's employees. The motion aims to increase that number to 5 per cent within the next five years.

The government uses an affirmative action policy that gives hiring preference to certain groups, such as aboriginal persons and long-term residents. Persons with disabilities are currently included in the policy, but Bisaro thinks they should be given a higher hiring priority than they currently are. She said this can be done without any changes to the policy.

"Nobody has any appetite to open the (affirmative action) policy," Bisaro said. Instead she proposes a change to the lists under the policy that specify the hiring priority of different groups.

Bisaro gives the hypothetical example of two aboriginal persons applying for a government position, one with a disability and one without. As long as both candidates have the same skills and experience they are considered equal for the position, the candidate with the disability is not given hiring priority, according to Bisaro.

In situations like these she would like to see hiring priority consistently given to the candidate with the disability.

During debate of the motion concerns were raised that it could affect on the hiring priority given to aboriginal persons.

More can be done to ensure persons with disabilities are employed in the public service, said Michelle Gillis, executive director of the NWT Disabilities Council, but there must be a balance between this goal and protecting the hiring priority of other under-represented groups.

"What's been proposed in the motion is acceptable," Gillis said, but added that, "at the end of the day I think first consideration (for hiring) should be given to aboriginal persons."

The motion also calls for better tools to gather information on the number of government employees with disabilities.

Currently, the government asks persons with disabilities to self-identify as such. Some people with disabilities do not disclose their disabilities to their employer, "for fear of being misjudged, fear of being targeted," Gillis said.

There exists a stigma of hiring persons with disabilities in society, Gillis said. Without a broad disabilities-awareness campaign to address this stigma, "no policy is worth anything."

As a member of the Government Advisory Committee on Employability, the NWT Disabilities Council will continue to work with the government on these issues.

"We work very closely with the Department of Human Resources and we appreciate the work they're doing," Gillis said.

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