As part of the Speech from the Throne, delivered on November 19, 2012, mention was made of the Province's intent to increase its workforce by 75,000 workers over the next 8 years. To accomplish this, there is to be a strong focus on graduating students, Aboriginal persons, and newcomers to Canada. There was no mention of people with disabilities. In 2013, a "Skills Summit" will be convened by the Premier's Economic Advisory Council. The intent of that Summit will be to offer advice on how the target of 75,000 new workers can be met. The themes of the Summit will include:

• Preparing young people for the jobs of tomorrow
• Apprenticeship and Training Programs
• First Nations and Métis labour force development
• Growing our immigration policy

People with disabilities were not mentioned. There are an estimated 20,000 Manitobans with disabilities who are not in the labour force but who, with adequate supports, would be able to work. They can't afford to be left out as Manitoba lays plans to significantly increase its workforce.

We alerted people in our network, our Partner organizations, and folks following us on Twitter and Facebook to this situation. We invited them to send emails to the government - encouraging it to not exclude people with disabilities from the deliberations at the Skills Summit. Just before we sent this same request to you, our Newsletter subscribers, the Premier's Economic Advisory Council (PEAC), issued this statement:

"We agree that our province would benefit from an even more inclusive and diverse workforce. For that reason, we would like to clarify that persons with disabilities were always intended as one of the key representative groups for integration into the Manitoba workforce by 2020. Workers with disabilities will be fully included in the 2013 Summit, as participants and will be represented on the steering committee. The steering committee will play a significant role in identifying issues particular to workers with disabilities which will then be the subject of discussion forums during the summit."

A representative of PEAC also called our office and convinced me that, regardless of the extent to which people with disabilities were originally included in their plans for the Summit, there will now definitely be an honest and proactive attempt to include people with disabilities in the Summit proceedings, and to explore better ways to tap into the labour pool that they represent.

Please consider sending a "thank you" and/or words of encouragement - for PEAC's commitment to explore ways for more Manitobans with disabilities to become productive members of the Province's workforce.

Emails can be sent to any or all of these recipients:

• Premier Greg Selinger: premier@leg.gov.mb.ca
• Hon. Jennifer Howard, Minister of Family Services and Labour: minfsl@leg.gov.mb.ca
• The Disabilities Issues Office: dio@gov.mb.ca

Borrowing a phrase from The Alliance for Full Participation, "Everyone Benefits When Everyone Works."  

Let's make a difference!   

Mark your calendar and plan to join us on Wednesday, October 23, 2013!

With the recent proclamation by our Provincial Government that October is Disability Employment Awareness Month in Manitoba, we are excited to announce that we have changed the date of the 2013 Expo, so everyone can be part of this great celebration.

Stay tuned for developments on the Expo and ideas you can use to engage in Disability Employment Awareness Month! 

We are pleased to announce that Ability Axis now has an RSS feed! It is yet another great way for you to stay connected and up to date on all the announcements about the Employment Expo and other events and news you might want to know about. Click on the image on the right to subscribe. 

We currently have two listings on our Job Board

• Library Shelver (part-time - until Dec 3/12) 
• Administrative Officer (until Dec 31/12) 

 Find all the details on our Job Board page.  

Have a job you want listed? Listings must be open to persons with disabilities. Send us an email.    

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Have you liked us on Facebook yet? Are you following us on Twitter? Did you subscribe to our RSS Feed? If not, what are you waiting for?

Make sure you don't miss any announcements we have, by getting involved with us on Social Networks. 

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Watch this space as we feature other products available through the Diversity World Store.

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If you have an event that will be of interest to people in Manitoba's Employment and Disability Community, email it to info@abilityaxis.com to be included in this newsletter and on the Ability Axis Calendar page.   

Dec 3, 2012 - UN International Day of Persons with Disabilities

Dec 3, 2012 - ILRC is looking for talent to perform at the ILRC Annual Talent Show, in celebration of the United Nations International Day for People with Disabilities. Do you want to attend the event? Contact the ILRC for more information.  

Jan 18, 2013 - MSEN Meeting from 10 AM to 12 noon at Community Living MB, 6-120 Maryland St. Teleconferencing will again be available   

Mar 12 & 13, 2013 - AIM 1st Annual National Conference Embracing Ability: Redefining a Diverse Workforce, Vancouver, BC

Jun 6 & 7, 2013 - 2nd Annual ASD Vocational Conference in Calgary, AB   

Jun 11 - 13, 2013 - CASE Conference - St John's Newfoundland.

Oct 2013  - Disability Employment Awareness Month in Manitoba  

Oct 8 & 9, 2013 -  Asperger Manitoba's Conference. Oct 9 has an employment focus. Details TBA

Oct 23, 2013 - Ability Axis Employment Expo   

View our Events Calendar page for these and many more events.

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