HUMA Committee Report

LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS

1.  The Sub-Committee on Children and Youth at Risk and the Sub-Committee on the Status of Persons with Disabilities jointly recommend that the Standing Orders of the House of Commons be amended so that both Sub-Committees:

a.         be constituted as a matter of course at the beginning of each session of Parliament.

b.         have the ability to set their own budgets, establish their own meeting schedule without restrictions, and report to the House of Commons.

2.      The Sub-Committee on Children and Youth at Risk and the Status of Persons with Disabilities jointly recommend that each of them be given the task of reviewing and approving the estimates for the horizontal issues within their individual mandates by the appropriate federal and parliamentary authorities.

3.      The Sub-Committee on the Status of Persons with Disabilities recommends that the Department of Human Resources Development explore practices to change the funding cycle for organizations receiving grants and contributions so that disability organizations can plan their activities appropriately.  The Department should consider multi-year funding (as is already in place in the Canadian International Development Agency).  It should also consider the desirability of providing funds to cover the core operating costs of national disability organizations.

4.   The Sub-Committee on the Status of Persons with Disabilities

recommends that the federal government fulfil its commitments in the Speech from the Throne for persons with disabilities as soon as possible.  Specifically, the Sub-Committee recommends that:

• funds be allocated as soon as possible for the investment in new technologies to assist persons with disabilities that was promised in the Speech from the Throne;
• the federal strategy paper on innovation and job skills include persons with disabilities in any comprehensive framework;
• a comprehensive labour market strategy for persons with disabilities should build on the existing activities of the organizations that assist people with disabilities gain employment while avoiding any duplication or overlap.

5.       The Sub-Committee on the Status of Persons with Disabilities recommends that Income Security Programs Branch of Human Resources Development Canada should create an expert panel including representatives of disability organizations to provide an ongoing forum for a dialogue over the ways and means of providing income to people with disabilities through the Canada Pensions Plan (Disability).

6.      The Sub-Committee on the Status of Persons with Disabilities recommends that the Government of Canada convene a taskforce of relevant departments and agencies as well as representatives from the disability community to study the harmonization of definitions of "disability" in place in federally-administered, disability programs and services.  This taskforce should provide this Sub-Committee with a progress report in June 2002 and the results of its work should be included in the Report on Plans and Priorities and in its Departmental Performance Report in 2002 and annually thereafter.

7.  The Sub-Committee on the Status of Persons with Disabilities and the Sub-Committee on Children and Youth at Risk jointly recommend that:

The Government of Canada should develop a strategy to address directly the need for supports and services for children with disabilities and their families.

8.       The Sub-Committee on the Status of Persons with Disabilities and the Sub-Committee on Children and Youth at Risk jointly recommend that the government consider ways to make qualification for Employment Insurance benefits more flexible to enable a broader number of parents to qualify for maternity and parental leave.  Some members suggest that the government consider negotiating with the provinces that wish to establish a parental insurance plan as an extension of their family policy because they believe that an insurance plan that is reserved strictly for parental leave would be much more accessible and much more generous.

9.      The Sub-Committee on the Status of Persons with Disabilities and the Sub-Committee on Children and Youth at Risk jointly recommend that the Government of Canada should report to the Sub-Committee on the Status of Persons with Disabilities and the Sub-Committee on Children and Youth at Risk to outline its progress in developing its family friendly workplace policy by 30 September 2001 and provide an implementation date to Parliament for its full family friendly workplace policy.  We also recommend that the government’s family friendly workplace policy include specific provisions for the needs of all families, including those with children with disabilities and those with elderly members in need of care.

10. The Sub-Committee on Children and Youth at Risk and the Sub-Committee on the Status of Persons with Disabilities jointly recommend that the government provide the Standing Committee on Human Resources Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities with a clear statement of how it intends to proceed with this review, what timeframe the Committee can expect the government to follow and what process this review will take.

11.  The Sub-Committee on Children and Youth at Risk and the Sub-Committee on the Status of Persons with Disabilities jointly recommend that the government support a review of the Social Union Framework Agreement by the Standing Committee on Human Resources Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities and our two Sub-Committees.