Government of Canada provides more than $900,000 to support persons with disabilities

OTTAWA October 6, 2005—Ken Dryden, Minister of Social Development, today announced funding of $970,773 for a project with the National Network for Mental Health to help Canadians with disabilities gain employment.

"A mental disability can shut the employment door. Yet people with disabilities learn to adapt, to use what they can do, to do the job asked of them," said Minister Dryden. "A program like this gets them inside the employment door, giving them a chance, allowing employers to see all that they can do."

This project, Opening Doors: Building Employment Capacity for Mental Health Consumers/Survivors , gives people with disabilities a chance to gain skills through training, career counselling and work experience.

The Government of Canada supports this project through the Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities. The purpose of the Opportunities Fund is to help people with disabilities to prepare for, obtain, and keep employment or self-employment. It supports a broad array of employment projects for people with disabilities who are unemployed and who are not normally eligible for employment benefits under the Employment Insurance Act .

This funding is going towards the BUILT Network program operated by the National Network for Mental Health. BUILT provides ongoing programs in five cities across Canada to help people with a mental disability develop job skills in customer service and enter the workforce. The funding also supports online access to the program for Canadians who live in underserved and/or remote communities.

Funding for this initiative was in the February 2005 federal budget and is built into the existing fiscal framework. These projects have been reviewed to ensure compliance with the Department's administration of its grants and contributions program.

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This news release and backgrounder are available in alternative formats, on request.

For more information:

Sarah Bain
Press Secretary
Minister Dryden's Office
(613) 941-0766

Media Relations
Social Development Canada
(613) 941-1110
Website: www.sdc.gc.ca

BACKGROUNDER

Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities

The Government of Canada's $30 million Opportunities Fund helps people with disabilities to prepare for, obtain and keep employment or self-employment. The program is for people with disabilities who have had little or no labour force experience and who therefore do not normally qualify for assistance under Part II of the Employment Insurance Act.

The Opportunities Fund works in partnership with organizations for people with disabilities, including the private sector, to support an array of activities such as encouraging employers to hire workers with disabilities, increasing the employment skills of people with disabilities, providing work experience, and helping them start their own business.

For details, visit the Social Development Canada website at www.sdc.gc.ca or contact your local Service Canada Centre.

National Network for Mental Health

Opening Doors: Building Employment Capacity for Mental Health Consumers/Survivors nationally

$970,773

Through this national Opportunities Fund project, the National Network for Mental Health provides a seven week skills development program that is continually available to participants in four regions across Canada and provides participants with real employment placements.

It also provides an online interactive component of the BUILT Network program to increase the participation of people with mental health issues in remote and northern locations.

By the end of the project, it is expected that 280 people with mental health issues will have registered for employment programming and 192 will have found employment. The online component will serve 40 and secure employment for 15 of these participants. To date, 149 clients have been served through the BUILT project and, of these, 61 have found employment.

The National Network for Mental Health has more than13 years of experience in assisting people with mental health issues. Through this project, the network is providing knowledge and skills development opportunities and support to adults who are currently experiencing a mental illness, or have experienced a mental illness at some time during their life, and need to rebuild their skills and confidence.