Kim Haynes
Persons with Disabilities Rep
Prairie Region Council February 2016
Prairie Region Persons with Disability Representative report of 2015.
2015 has been a very busy year – with attending most of the regions meetings for support of our Union and awareness of People with Disability. So I will not waste time listing all the events that I was a part of – only give you the highlights and out comes which are what I feel the most important.
There was a lot of work for the Garden program (Edmonton Women’s Committee) – one of our Sister locating an inner city school who allowed us to make a garden. And make a garden it was from “start to finish”. This is and will continue to be a very rewarding project as the feedback from this school was so heart-warming. Sisters, Brothers, families, and Staff from the Region assisted, so please remember we all do have a role to play in helping others – and this really only took one day.
“The Path of Light” for National Aboriginal Day – was another just awesome event that took place in my region and again I was able to contribute in a very small way but in a very rewarding event. And look really forward to the upcoming years “Path of Light”.
During the National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) Meeting in November (which was a very busy & productive meeting) I was not surprise to here that the primary focus would be on Mental Health. This illness/disability effects so many of us and because most know so little about it many employers find it easy just to ignore it and hope it goes away. Another great take away with meeting such as the NHRC is the networking you can get there. I was very fortunate to walk away with other policies and action plans for back to work programs, duty to accommodate & even Employment Equity.
Concluding my educational part of this year was the Women’s Forum on Domestic Violence at Work. I really wish most if not all PSAC member can have the ability to attend a conference as this. The Agenda was jammed packed with a panel of amazing speakers – maybe just maybe too much to take in all at once. The big take away for me was how Domestic Violence transcends over to the workplace. Another shocking fact was the percent of women who experience Domestic Violence and 1 out 5 of all Canadian women that live with a disability, 40% of them experienced some form of violence in their lives. And another study states that 60% of women with disabilities are likely to experience some form of violence in the course of their adult lives.
I very pleased to share with my Region I am on a committee for a “Return to Work” (RTW) program. This committee acknowledges that each case must be rationalised individually. And of course to go hand in hand with the RTW program is the “Duty to Accommodate”. I hope to have something shortly after summer to share with my cohorts across the Nation and then to you.
Wishing all the best for 2016.
Thank you.
Kim Haynes your Region’s Person with Disability Representative.