Reducing Poverty and Promoting Social Participation?

Benefits and Limitations of Measures for the Activation of Employment and Occupational Integration Services for People with Disabilities in Québec 

by Léonie Archambault Directed by Lucie Dumais and Yves Vaillancourt
Cahier 11-05 – Février 2011 – 44 pages

As part of the pancanadian research alliance “Disabling Poverty and Enabling Citizenship”, our Québec team has chosen to investigate more purposefully measures that activate the social participation of disabled people rather than income security programmes alone. This approach coincides with a series of research papers LAREPPS produced over the past ten years in the field of disability policy and about the role of the third sector in designing social policies and providing social services. In this endeavour, our partners across Canada pressed us to examine critically the actual outcomes derived from the implementation of measures of activation and their impact on the living conditions and earnings of disabled populations.

The question underlying this research report runs as follows: can labour market integration both stimulate citizenship and enhance the earnings and living conditions of disabled people ? To answer that question we first embarked on a review of key policies and measures (both federal and provincial) for promoting the occupational insertion of people who are currently away from the labour market – focusing on measures dedicated to people with disabilities. Then, to better understand the concrete impact of these policies and programs, we conducted interviews with representatives of three SSMOs4 (nonprofit specialized employment services) in Montréal and we sketched out a series of scenarios which allowed an assessment of the benefits and limitations relating to income security and to employment. Finally, we delivered a series of analytical comments linking the collected data with certain elements of literature taking into account both the micro and macro social issues involved in disability policy in Québec.


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