Federal cuts mean 50 jobs for disabled adults at risk

Library and Archives Canada is getting out of the paper disposal business, which means the 50 jobs sorting paper are all going to be cut. Employees at the facility sort wastepaper from various federal departments and prepare them for disposal.

Dave Ferguson is the Executive Director of the group that oversees the program, the Ottawa-Carleton Association for Persons with Developmental Disabilities (OCAPDD). He says the people who work there are experiencing a full range of emotions - they're agitated, disappointed, sad and angry. Some have worked in the program for decades.

Ferguson says the most important part of the job was skills development.

“We’ve had a very successful track record with this program. It’s designed to be a stepping stone, it’s for individuals to gain employment skills with a view to then moving into the community, minimum wage or better. And we’ve had many, many individuals move on. We’ve had a few individuals who, although they left and got jobs in the community, chose to come back to the program because of their friends who were there.”

The program is operated under Library and Archives Canada with additional funding from the Ontario government and OCAPDD. It costs the federal government $124,600 per year, in addition to rent-free use of the sorting facility. That works out to an annual stipend of approximately $2,000 per worker.

For the past two years, staff at OCAPDD have been working with former MP John Baird’s office to seek a solution. Those efforts have been unsuccessful, though Ferguson says they had always hoped something would happen.

“Libraries and Archives informed us well over two years ago of their plan to cease and desist their operations where they collected, sorted and shredded paper for various ministries and departments within the federal government. They indicated it was a policy decision, and that each department within the ministries would become responsible for their own paper destruction,” says Ferguson.

It’s expected that individual departments paying to dispose of their own paper waste will cost much more than the $124,600 it currently costs to pay workers under the OCAPDD program.

This afternoon, Employment Minister Pierre Poilievre contacted Ferguson to let him know the program would be extended until May 1. The Minister also has his staff looking for a “long-lasting solution” with an “aim is to secure same or similar jobs.”

After two years of trying, OCAPDD may have finally prompted a solution.