MOOSE JAW — October was Disability Employment Awareness Month (DEAM), and to honour the occasion, Mayor Clive Tolley proclaimed that the City of Moose Jaw recognized the month-long observation during the recent SaskAbilities luncheon at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
“There shouldn’t be anybody out there that doesn’t feel they can contribute and work in our community. Everybody has value and has something to contribute,” Mayor Tolley announced.
“I’m proud to say that the City of Moose Jaw is participating and trying our best to create opportunities for people and do the things that are necessary to get them employed so they can contribute and feel like they’re part of the community.”
DEAM was first proclaimed in 2010 by the province of Manitoba with Saskatchewan being the second province to recognize the month in 2011. Since then, employment service providers, employers, and community organizations across Canada have maintained an ongoing awareness campaign.
In Saskatchewan, SaskAbilities helps promote DEAM through its Partners in Employment and MentorAbility Saskatchewan programs. As an example of its success, 248 individuals who identified as living with a disability in Moose Jaw and Regina have found new employment during the 2023 — 2024 contract year alone.
Mayor Tolley said that he worked in social services before moving on to mediation and arbitration work and ultimately being elected mayor.
“I spent about 20 years working in social services,” he said. “My whole career, basically, was all about trying to create employment opportunities for people — all kinds of people. We all have abilities and we all have disabilities.
The key is to match each individual with meaningful work based on their skills and abilities. The ability to earn an income for yourself and make purchasing decisions, he said, goes “hand in hand with making a person feel accomplished, human, successful, and a part of our community.”
Mayor Tolley then made the following proclamation:
“Whereas persons with disabilities are valued members of our city and deserve the opportunity to live and work in our community, where they are respected and rewarded for their efforts, skills, and accomplishments, and
“Whereas there is a rich network of nonprofit agencies, practitioners, consumer organizations, school divisions and their families committed to promoting and strengthening employment opportunities for persons with disabilities in the city of Moose Jaw, and
“Whereas Moose Jaw’s employers… can benefit further from the positive outcomes of hiring persons with disabilities, and
“Whereas proclaiming October as Disability Employment Awareness Month will help raise awareness about disability employment issues and will serve to celebrate the contributions of persons with disabilities,
“Now, therefore, I, Clive Tolley, Mayor of the City of Moose Jaw, do hereby proclaim the month of October 2024 as Disability Employment Awareness Month in the City of Moose Jaw.”
Mayor Tolley concluded with a few additional remarks.
“I would say that we want to emphasize ability rather than disability,” he said. “Everybody has ability. It’s (all about) finding what they can do or (learning) how to be productive and (to) feel like they’re part of the team.
“Everybody wants to be included, and this organization (SaskAbilities) has done a tremendous job…,” he said. “Teaching, training, subsidizing… mentoring — all those things are important tools that they’re using to get people with ability to work in our community, and I thank them for that.”
For more information about MentorAbility visit SupportedEmployment.ca/Initiatives/MentorAbility.
To learn more visit SaskAbilities.ca or call 1-833-444-4023 toll free. Moose Jaw’s SaskAbilities office is located at 8 Wood Lily Drive.
