PRINCIPLES

Ministers agree that the following principles underlie the new initiative.

Governments agree that:

1. Persons with disabilities should be fully included in Canada’s social and economic mainstream, a key element of which is successful participation in the labour market. Fostering greater self-reliance through obtaining and maintaining meaningful employment will help persons with disabilities achieve inclusion;

2. A diverse set of approaches is required to support both persons with disabilities and employers in order to improve the employment situation of persons with disabilities;

3. Persons with disabilities should have access to mainstream and targeted employment programming to ensure their successful participation in the labour market;

4. Employment-related and workplace supports are critical to the success of persons with disabilities in the labour market;

5. Supports and services should be individualized, holistic, linked to other needed support systems, easy to access, portable across life transitions, timely and inclusive;

6. Co-operation and partnership between governments, persons with disabilities, community-based organizations, business, labour, Aboriginal, Métis and Inuit peoples and other stakeholders is key to the success of a comprehensive labour market strategy;

7. Accountability and reporting to citizens in order to demonstrate results and inform program/policy development is a foundation of this framework.