Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

The 2010 PSAC National Access Conference will be held June 4,5,6 in Ottawa under the theme “Let’s focus on our abilities!”

The objectives of the 2010 PSAC National Access Conference are:

• To strategize on ways to promote more inclusive work environments that ensure barriers are removed for people with disabilities
• To empower and engage persons with disabilities to take action and move disabilities rights forward, including through lobbying
• To provide tools that educate and advocate for disability rights in our communities, our workplaces and our union
• To better connect and to include persons with disabilities in our communities, our workplaces and our union
• To defend quality public services for persons with disabilities

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PSAC Statement on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities � December 3, 2008

The 2008 theme of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities is “Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Dignity and justice for all of us.”

This has been a significant year for people with disabilities all around the world. In 2008, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities into force, after being ratified by 20 countries. This year also marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

According to the United Nation’s Secretariat for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, approximately 10 per cent of the world’s population, or 650 million people, live with disabilities. Eighty per cent � more than 400 million people � live in poor countries. There is a strong link between disability and poverty. In the Global South, 80 to 90 per cent of working-age people with disabilities of are unemployed and in the West, it is estimated to be between 50 and 70 per cent. Ninety per cent of children with disabilities in the Global South do not attend school. (more…)

This is a call out for interest with a deadline of midnight, Sunday, October 12th. Visit the CLC website for more information about the conference.

The PSAC Alliance Executive Committee has approved funding for one member per Region to attend this Conference. This opportunity is open to PSAC members who identify as a person with a disability.

The Conference will focus on doing more to build the voice of activists with disabilities and allies, on doing more to build the political agenda, and doing more to shatter the barriers which prevent persons with disabilities from getting employment, keeping it, and thriving at the workplace. Conference participants will discuss work strategies and access to information, transportation, and income and service supports. Participants will look at emerging issues and approaches at the workplace, share breakthroughs, and leave with a plan to shatter barriers and move forward.

The member selected must commit to:

• writing a report for an article on the Conference for distribution to PSAC members
• making a presentation to PSAC B.C. Human Rights Committees or other PSAC body
• organizing one follow-up activity involving PSAC disability rights activists

To be eligible to apply you should support disability and human rights issues, be a member of the PSAC, and self-identify as a person with a disability.

Please send your interest in attending the Conference to Kay Sinclair in the B.C. REVP’s office at sinclak@psac.com or by fax to (604) 430-0194 by midnight Sunday, October 12th with a paragraph of 400 words or less describing your perspectives with respect to disability and human rights, any involvement in PSAC disability/human rights activities, any involvement in community disability activities, and why you are interested in attending. Please also indicate whether you are a member of another equity group, i.e. woman; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender; aboriginal; or racially visible. (This is optional.)

Please provide your contact information and membership number.

In Solidarity, Kay Sinclair, Regional Executive Vice-President, BC

Saturday, June 14 @ 2 pm – starts outside Downtown Eastside Women Centre, 302 Columbia- corner Cordova, just west of Main.
 
Join women in the Downtown Eastside Women Centre Power of Women Group in the 2nd Annual March for Women’s Housing and March Against Poverty!
 
We are marching for:
 - Social Housing, Childcare, and Healthcare for all!
 - No more Evictions and No more Condos in the DTES!
 - People Before Olympic Profits!  No Olympics on Stolen Land!
 - Stop Criminalizing the Poor and Scrap Civil City!
 - End Global Hunger and Poverty!
 
The Power of Women Group is a group at the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre and we do education on social issues. We are a group of women from all walks of life who are either on social assistance, working poor, or homeless; but we are all living in extreme poverty. Many of us are single mothers or have had our children apprehended due to poverty; most of us have chronic physical or mental health issues for example HIV and Hepatitis C; many have drug or alcohol addictions; and a majority have experienced and survived sexual violence and mental, physical, spriritual, and emotional abuse. For indigenous women, we are affected by a legacy of the effects of residential schools and a history of colonization and racism.

For more information contact project@dewc.ca or call 604-681-8480 x 234

Cheers to BC Human Rights Committee member Rhonda Brain (UTE 20029) for forwarding us this four-page factsheet on mental disorders and addictions in the workpace (pdf). Included are some …

Ways Employers Can Help Reduce Workplace Stress:

• learn what causes workplace stress
• provide positive feedback and engage in twoway communication with employees
• offer flexible hours for juggling family responsibilities
• provide employee assistance programs to help people get counseling on personal, financial or other problems
• provide or help with cost of stress control programs
• offer on-site fitness facilities and access to nutritious food
• create an environment that offers fresh air, proper lighting, regular work breaks, and
• reduced noise
• permit someone recovering form a mental illness to work fewer hours rather than totally disconnecting them from the workplace

The full series of factsheets is available at heretohelp.bc.ca

The Public Service Alliance of Canada – BC Region would like to congratulate Craig Langston, PSAC-BC Regional Council Representative for Aboriginal Members. Brother Langston competed and won GOLD at Boccia Ball at the BC Disability Games that was held from July 11 – 15, 2007 in Powell River.

Congratulations Brother Langston!

More results can be found at bcgames.org.

“Transforming Our World: Moving Forward”

The 2007 PSAC National Access Conference will be held September 7 to 9, 2007 at the Westin Ottawa Hotel in Ottawa under the theme “Transforming Our World: Moving Forward”.

The objectives of the 2007 PSAC National Access Conference are:

• To defend quality public services for persons with disabilities
• To empower and engage persons with disabilities to take action and move the disability agenda forward
• To better connect and to include persons with disabilities in our communities, our workplaces and our union
• To lobby in order to transform and to advance the disability rights agenda
• To provide tools to advocate for disability rights in our communities, our workplaces and our union.

For more information and to apply online, visit the national website. Note that the registration deadline is May 10, 2007 and the resolutions submission deadline is May 24, 2007.

To: PSAC-BC self identified members with a disability,

Sent on behalf of Carol Pegura, B.C. Regional Council District Coordinator for Fraser Valley West and Floyd Knelsen, B.C. Regional Council Equity Coordinator for Members with Disabilities

On September 7, 2007 the 2007 PSAC National Access Conference will be held in Ottawa. Sister Carol Pegura has been fortunate to be chosen to sit on the steering committee for this important conference. The Access Conference provides an essential opportunity for members to meet, network and identify strategies and solutions for advancing human rights and equity issues. Clear conference objectives and a focused mandate are needed to insure this conference benefits participants and the Union as a whole. Workers with disabilities represent the best source of information on how to eradicate disabilities-based discrimination.

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forwarded by PSAC member, Anne-Marie Sleeman

VICTORIA – The Province is launching an enhanced WorkAble Solutions website that will directly connect British Columbians with disabilities who are looking for work to employers that have jobs available,Employment and Income Assistance Minister Claude Richmond announced today.

“Many people with disabilities find it difficult to secure employment that matches their skills and abilities. At the same time the demand for skilled workers is great,” said Richmond. “This site provides an excellent meeting place to bring together qualified job seekers with disabilities with employers who have positions that need to be filled.”

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Happy Holidays from the Todd Harding & the PSAC BC Human Rights Committee …

‘Twas the night before Christmas and the kennels were still,
With most dogs now asleep having eaten their fill.
The Labradors sprawled out, quite snug in their beds,
while visions of ANYTHING edible danced in their heads.

As the Goldens and Shepherds curled up on the floor,
some twitched in their sleep and some even did snore.
The dog food was stacked in the feed room with care,
in hopes that a trainer soon would be there.

On the window ledge, one of the kennel cats lay,
surveying the lawn at the end of this day.
Something was different, that little cat knew.
Tonight something would happen, it had to be true.

For that day as the workers had left to go home,
They’d wished Merry Christmas! before starting to roam.
The dogs had noticed it to during this past week’s walks,
the trainers seemed just that much happier and eager to talk.

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Public services better at ensuring accessibility

The Harper government has been delivering on its philosophy of smaller government and dominance of the “free” market in the past year. The Conservatives have made deeper cuts to government services and reduced federal revenues by introducing more tax cuts. Their policies have fast-tracked the conditions for rampant privatization and further cuts to social services and programs which in turn, will further marginalize equity groups, including people with disabilities.

The Tories announced program cuts in September that will reduce or eliminate funding to programs that benefited equity groups. There have been severe cuts to Status of Women, the Court Challenges Program and social development programs under the Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC). These cuts will roll back the gains made by persons with disabilities and will further affect their accessibility and full participation to our society’s economic, political and social life.

The PSAC’s recently adopted “Defending Quality Public Services” policy will focus our union’s efforts to fight against privatization and globalization with a goal, not only to support a strong economy, but also to ensure fairness and equality.

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Via BC Human Rights Committee

EndExclusion.ca is a Canada-wide initiative or project designed to celebrate successes of people with disabilities.

The goals of the initiative are to:

• talk with our politicians at the federal and provincial/territorial levels and all Canadians about how to expand on disability supports and address or ease poverty and exclusion of Canadians with disabilities;
• mobilize or pull together and expand collaboration or partnership within the disability community and beyond; and
• raise the profiles or get a better understanding about Canadians with disabilities and their families.

Help create an inclusive and accessible Canada so everyone can belong and participate: visit www.endexclusion.ca for more information.

Your are currently browsing the archives for items filed under the Human Rights category and it’s subsections – Racially Visible and Aboriginal issues, People With Disabilities, and Pride. You can find more information about the PSAC BC Human Rights Committee under the Get Involved! link on the main Human Rights Committee page. Older news and posts relating to Human Rights are archived in our old webspace.