London program offering clerical training to Ontario Works recipients gets cut back

Dianne Dickson collected social assistance for years before she found Pathways Employment Help Centre, a London-based agency that connects people with jobs. 

"It was basically life-changing for me," said Dickson, who used the skills she learned in the Administrative and Clerical Training program to find a job. "Once you're on Ontario Works, they make it so hard to get off but this program, they cover everything you need. It's a big help." 

Funding for the program that came from Ontario Works has been cancelled as the province reorganizes employment services models toward skilled trades. Now, organizers say their program will be greatly reduced.  

"A lot of the people who take the program are women, a lot are single moms whose kids are now in school and they're trying to get that college certificate," said Marci Allen-Easton, who has taught the program for seven years.

"We also have people who are disabled but can work office jobs and newcomers who have worked in business or offices in their home countries, but they need something Canadian on their resumes." 

Those who took the 12-week program learned everything from Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint to how to create email signatures, use Zoom and accounting software such as Quickbooks. 

They also learned business communication, office etiquette, first aid and got their WHMIS certification — along with being provided with a laptop and access to donated office attire. During the last two weeks, they got on-the-job experience in a real workplace. 

New focus on skilled trades

"When the students leave us, the goal is to make sure they know as much as they need to succeed in the average workplace," Easton said who said a cohort graduated earlier this month. 

The province has put a new focus on skilled trades training and there are new programs to train those who want to work in manufacturing, but those don't appeal to everyone, Easton said.

"The majority of grants now are for trades, and that will help a chunk of our folks out, but not everyone. Some young women can't do the trades, they have kids to deal with, they might have an office background. There are all kinds of reasons." 

The work done at Pathways keeps people from falling deeper into poverty or ending up homeless, said Paul Hubert, the organization's executive director and a former city councillor. 

"We're 30 seconds upstream from homelessness," he said. "The work that we do in terms of skills training, life stabilization, in terms of working with people who are on Ontario Works, it's important." 

For participants such as Dickson, the training program has been transformative. The two-week office placement she did at the end of her training program has developed into a job that has helped her transition off social assistance.  

"I was having a really hard time. It was a struggle every month and I definitely wanted back into the workforce," she said. "I wanted to work in an office but my skills were rusty and Pathways was my way out."