The Québec Act to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion: How Does it Tackle the Situation of People with Disabilities?

Study Conducted for the Community-University Research Alliances "Disabling Poverty and Enabling Citizenship"

by François Aubry in collaboration with Christiane Plamondon

with a foreword by Lucie Dumais and Yves Vaillancourt

June 2010

Table of Contents

• Foreword
• Presentation
• Part One: Public Engagement for an Anti-Poverty Law
• Part Two: Main Features of Act 112
• Part Three: The First Action Plan
• A. Two Principles, Four Objectives and 47 Measures
• B. The Action Plan and People with Disabilities
• Conclusion Towards a Second Action Plan
• Bibliography

Foreword

For two years now, we have participated as researchers from Québec in CURA (Community-University Research Alliances) that is interested in policies regarding people with disabilities. This partnership research team is led by Yvonne Peters of the Council of Canadians with Disabilities and Michael Prince of the University of Victoria. The theoretical and practical perspectives that guide the team's work originate from two catchy expressions: Disabling Poverty and Enabling Citizenship.

Throughout the discussions that we had during our team meetings held in Winnipeg and Toronto with our colleagues from English Canada, we quickly discovered that the Québec Law to combat poverty and social exclusion, better known as Act 112, aroused a lot of interest. For instance, this legislation became our inspiration during the elaboration of the definition of poverty adopted by our research alliance. Moreover, we noticed that several Canadian organizations advocating for the rights of people with disabilities would like some characteristics of the Québec measure to be better known and called upon to stimulate the development of similar initiatives in other Canadian provinces.

Once we became aware of our Canadian colleagues' curiosity for Act 112, we decided to do a preliminary study of the origins, characteristics, and consequences of this law. We wanted the first text resulting from this research to be both very concise and descriptive, without excluding that an eventual second study may eventually favour a more evaluative and critical analysis. For this purpose, we turned to François Aubry, a retired economist from the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN, a national trade union confederation) who has assisted us at the LAREPPS (research laboratory on social practice and policies) for several research projects in recent years and who has gained our trust due to the quality of his various contributions and productions.

As we have anticipated, the new production delivered by François Aubry last May turned out to live up to our expectations. It consists of a text that is well documented and structured, written with conciseness and clarity and with the aspiration to highlight the implications of Act 112 for people with disabilities. While remaining factual, Aubry's text brings to light that the genesis of the law has been influenced by two features. On the one hand, this legislation was the result of a broad democratic debate that involved the participation of a variety of individuals and civil society organizations during the period between 1995 and 2002. On the other hand, it was unanimously adopted by all members of the three political parties sitting in the National Assembly in December 2002. This is probably one of the reasons why Act 112, notwithstanding the change of government that occurred in the spring of 2003, a few months after its adoption, was able to survive this change. To sum up, the fact that this law had been democratically co-constructed before its adoption, both in civil and political societies, has allowed it to acquire greater institutional strength and durability than if it had been the work of a single political party and had not been strongly rooted in civil society.

However, by stating that Act 112 constitutes a fine example of democratic co-construction in Québec, we do not want to suggest that it could always be implemented with equal fervour by all governments, regardless of their socio-economic orientations. To set the record straight, we can take as an example the public debates that were sparked off in early June 2010 following the announcement made by the Jean Charest's government of the second five-year plan (2010-2015) to combat poverty, based on the theme La solidarité et l'inclusion sociale (Solidarity and Social Inclusion). In this second plan, the government of the Québec Liberal Party announces investments of approximately $7 billion. However, several groups defending the rights of the poor and certain editorial writers (see Le Devoir and La Presse of June 7 to 11, 2010) criticized the fact that, of this amount, $5.7 billion will be spent for recurrent measures arising from the 2004-2009 first five-year plan. In addition, critics have pointed out that of the $1.3 billion to be spent on new measures over the next five years, a significant portion would be absorbed for the financing of the crédit d'impôt pour la solidarité (tax refund for solidarity), a measure introduced to compensate individuals and families with low income for incurred losses following the implementation of measures introduced by the March 2010 budget, notably the rise of electricity rates of the governmental corporation Hydro-Québec and of the Québec sales tax. Moreover, critical comments have highlighted the fact that in the second five-year plan, it was not clearly specified that the 3,000 new social housing units announced previously had to be implemented on an annual basis, so that it was likely to become a maximum of 3,000 new units within five years.

In mentioning these few examples emerging from the public debate that took place in June 2010, we want to draw the attention to the fact that Act 112 currently creates contrasting opinions from different parts of society. To go further in the assessment of this Act, it would be interesting to have an additional study which, while presenting diverse points of view from stakeholders, would provide an analysis of fundamental trends in anti-poverty policies as well as their effects on populations. Meanwhile, the fact remains that the document produced by François Aubry is, from a historical perspective, a very useful piece.

Lucie Dumais and Yves Vaillancourt
LAREPPS
University of Québec in Montréal (UQAM)
June 2010

Presentation

In Québec, the disabled form, with refugees, immigrants and the homeless, one of the segments of the population that are the most touched by poverty and social exclusion (CCLP, 2009). Several reasons are at the source of this phenomenon, including the particular challenges faced by these individuals when they integrate the labour market and the additional expenses they must disburse that result from their disability.

The purpose of this document is to examine the key measures that the Government of Québec has implemented to remove the many barriers that prevent these persons from improving their economic and social situation. We will address this task through the examination of measures that have been deployed as part of the Stratégie de lutte contre la pauvreté et l'exclusion sociale (strategy against poverty and social exclusion) endorsed by the Government of Québec and instituted as part of a major act unanimously adopted on December the 13th, 2002, which is the Act to combat poverty and social exclusion. This text is mainly descriptive and is in no way a critical analysis of the government measures and actions. Most of the information was drawn from Québec government official documents, whether it be from the Act itself, the first action plan resulting from the Act or the annual evaluations of the action plan.

This law, which made of the fight against poverty and social exclusion an explicit priority of the Government of Québec, is the first legislation of its kind in North America. It establishes a National Strategy Against Poverty and Social Exclusion, which includes a set of actions implemented by the Government, its socio-economic partners, regional and local communities, community organizations and other social stakeholders to counter poverty and facilitate social inclusion (Government of Québec, 2002: 1). The law projects the publication of a five-year action plan containing a series of concrete measures to achieve the law's purpose, which is to progressively make Québec a leader among the industrialized nations having the smallest proportion of their population living in poverty by 2013 (Article 4 of the law).

Since it makes of the fight against poverty and social exclusion an explicit and central political priority, Act 112 can be considered a major political innovation (Noël, 2002). Despite the fact that all the claims of groups that initiated the project have not been met (Labrie, 2005; The Collective for a Poverty-Free Québec, 2004; Dufour, 2004) this legislation truly results from a civic initiative and sustained popular rallying for several years.

The following text is divided into three parts. Given its success in having this major law unanimously adopted by all Québec political parties, we take a look back, in the first part, to the main stages of the public awareness and mobilization campaign, which had the objective to eliminate poverty completely in Québec. In the second part, we look into the main features of Act 112 by highlighting the elements that target the most vulnerable groups of the population, including those concerning more specifically people with disabilities. In the third part, we specify what are the key measures announced or implemented under the first five-year action plan with a special attention to measures designed for people with disabilities. In a short conclusion, we discuss the impacts of the first five-year action plan on poverty and approaches in order to develop the second five-year plan.

Part One: Public Engagement for an Anti-Poverty Law[1]

The Loi visant à lutter contre la pauvreté et l'exclusion sociale, named Act 112, has been preceded, or perhaps we should say was born from a grass-roots movement that spread over several years and which brought together community organizations, women's groups and citizens motivated by the desire to lay the foundation of a poverty-free Québec. Resulting from an exceptional participation and a well-structured consultation process, to which people in poverty have always been associated, this act made ample room for concerns brought by the Québec community groups for more than a decade.

Following is a brief chronology of salient facts on this mobilization up to the adoption of Bill 112 by the National Assembly of Québec.

1995

In 1995, hundreds of women walked to Québec City in order to defend their claims aiming at fighting poverty and violence against women. Organized by the Fédération des femmes du Québec (Québec women's federation), this march called Du pain et des roses (Bread and Roses March) can be considered as the history starting point of Bill 112: Loi visant à lutter contre la pauvreté et l'exclusion sociale.

1996

The Québec government organized the Sommet sur l'économie et l'emploi (economy and employment summit). For the very first time, social groups and community organizations are invited by the government to actively participate in an event of this importance, alongside employer and union organizations. The women's movement and community groups suggested the idea of establishing an appauvrissement zéro (zero impoverishment) policy in opposition to the déficit zéro (zero deficit) policy announced by the government on that occasion. They asked that the objective of rapidly eliminating the deficit does not worsen the situation of the poorest fifth of the population.

Fall 1997

The Carrefour de pastorale en monde ouvrier de Québec (CAPMO, Québec pastoral meeting point of working class) organized the Parlement de la rue, a street parliament which sat for one month in the Esplanade Park, opposite to the real parliament building. This memorable citizen mobilization took place in the context of a controversial welfare reform. It was also at this time that the CAPMO put forward the idea of a law aiming at eliminating poverty.

The CAPMO proposal quickly established itself. Indeed, it consisted in a constructive and ambitious project that solicits overstretched and small organizations to lobby to obtain modest gains, or at least preserving limited benefits. The project was also designed as an "open book", which meant it had to be collectively defined through a broad and inclusive process of public deliberation.

January 1998

A formal organization is established to promote the project: the Collectif pour une loi sur l'élimination de la pauvreté (Collective for a law on the elimination of poverty). The ten founding organizations of the Collective included CAMPO and other faith-based groups, the Fédération des femmes du Québec (Québec women's federation), the Front commun des personnes assistées sociales du Québec (FCPASQ, Québec coalition of people on welfare), the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN, a national trade union confederation), the Centrale de l'enseignement du Québec (Québec teaching central) and the Regroupement des ressources alternatives en santé mentale du Québec (RRASMQ, Québec group for mental health alternative resources). Subsequently, several other groups joined the Collective.

The Collective opted for a strategy based on citizenship and popular education (axée sur la citoyenneté et l'éducation populaire) to encourage the direct participation of citizens and to prevent the monopolization of the debate by pressure groups. The goal was to rally as many people as possible around the bill and, especially, to allow people in poverty situation to participate in its development. From the start, the focus was as much on the process as on the outcome.

Fall 1998 to Fall 2000

Over a period of two years, the Collective supervised an operation that took place across Québec, one of the largest mobilizations in Québec social action history. From the start, the Collective worked on two fronts.

On the one hand, members circulated a petition in favour of the adoption of a law on the elimination of poverty.

On the other hand, the Collective launched an ambitious project of collective actions and public deliberations. Using an animation kit, an extensive consultation was undertaken, allowing the gathering of more than 20,000 comments and 5,000 suggestions. These tools were used to produce a first version of the bill, which was then the object of some 200 sessions of the "people's parliament".

In spring 2000, the Collective adopted the proposal for a law on the elimination of poverty, written in the form of a conventional bill.

On November 22, 2000, the petition, which had collected 215,316 signatures, was submitted to the National Assembly by a member of each of the three sitting political parties.

End of 2000 to 2002

During this period, the Collective's network conducted an intense campaign to pass the proposed legislation, that included active counterstrokes against a governmental strategy, entitled Chacun sa part, that tried to elude the proposed bill.

In June 2002, the Government proposed Bill 112 – Loi visant à lutter contre la pauvreté et l'exclusion sociale to the National Assembly. This bill had a much smaller scope than the legislation suggested by the Collective, but it was still coherent with the proposed orientation. At this stage, the strategy of the Collective network was to consider that no other similar short term opportunities were possible and thus to work for the best possible amendments to this bill.

At the end of October 2002, when a major parliamentary committee worked on the bill, the Collective network organized the group Agora citoyenne. The event was held during one week, in front of the National Assembly building; it allowed the public to further deliberate on the poverty issue.

With some amendments to improve its scope, Bill 112 – Loi visant à lutter contre la pauvreté et l'exclusion sociale was finally passed unanimously by the National Assembly, December 13, 2002, an exceptional accomplishment.[2]

Part Two: Main Features of Act 112

Act 112 is a framework law which defines a number of general principles and obligations and gives the government the responsibility to specify its implementation. It aims to guide the government in selecting measures to be implemented in order to meet its objectives in the fight against poverty and exclusion (Institut national de la santé publique [National Institute of Public Health] – Québec, 2009: 1). Let us do a quick review of the main elements of the law, which is composed of a preamble and eight chapters.

The preamble establishes the major principles of the law by referring to the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. Poverty and Social Exclusion are herein described as « des contraintes pour la protection et le respect de la dignité humaine » (impedements to the protection and respect of human dignity). The preamble also states that:

• the effects of poverty and social exclusion impede the development of Québec society and threaten its cohesion and equilibrium;
• it is essential to promote the social, economic and cultural development of the whole community;
• the poor and excluded are the first to act to change their situation;
• it is necessary to assert the will of the whole society to mobilize and stand together in order to take concrete action against poverty and social exclusion.

Chapter I – Purpose and Definition of the Law

"The object of this Act is to guide the Government and Québec society as a whole towards a process of planning and implementing actions to combat poverty, prevent its causes, reduce its effects on individuals and families, counter social exclusion and strive towards a poverty-free Québec." (Government of Québec, 2002)

The definition of poverty is broad and inclusive, going far beyond the sole economic situation of an individual. It indeed states that poverty is "the condition of a human being who is deprived of the resources, means, choices and power necessary to acquire and maintain economic self-sufficiency or to facilitate integration and participation in society."

Chapter II – National Strategy Against Poverty and Social Exclusion

This section of the Act establishes a National Strategy Against Poverty and Social Exclusion by specifying its goals and orientations. The strategy goals are the following:

1. to promote respect for and protection of the dignity of persons living in poverty and combat prejudices in their regard;
2. to improve the economic and social situation of persons and families living in poverty and social exclusion;
3. to reduce the inequalities that may be detrimental to social cohesion;
4. to encourage persons and families living in poverty to participate in community life and social development;
5. to develop and reinforce the sense of solidarity throughout Québec so that society as a whole may participate in the fight against poverty and social exclusion.

These goals are organized around five main objectives:

1. preventing poverty and social exclusion, with a focus on developing the potential of individuals;
2. strengthening the social and economic safety net;
3. promoting access to employment and increasing the attractiveness of work;
4. promoting the involvement of society as a whole;
5. ensuring consistent and coherent intervention at all levels.

Finally, it is stated that in their conception and implementation, these actions must take into account specific needs of certain groups in society having particular difficulties, because of their age, ethnic origin or an impairment or disability.

Chapter III – Government Action Plan

To implement the national strategy to combat poverty and social exclusion, Act 112 specifies that, within 60 days following its entry into force, the Government must establish an action plan setting forth a set of activities the Government plans on carrying out to achieve the pursued goals, and make this plan public.[3]

Chapter III of the Act specifies, among other things, that:

• the Minister of Employment and Social Solidarity is by virtue of his or her office the advisor of the Government on all issues concerning the fight against poverty and social exclusion, and shall take part in the development of measures that could have a significant impact on persons and families (article 19);
• each department must assess the impacts of all new legislation and rules when they could have direct and significant impacts on the incomes of persons or families (article 20);
• The Minister of Employment and Social Solidarity shall annually present a report on the activities carried out within the scope of the Government action plan (article 21).

Followings Chapters

Chapters IV and V of the Act create two supporting organizations, namely the Comité consultatif de lutte contre la pauvreté et l'exclusion sociale (CCLP, advisory committee on fighting poverty and social exclusion) and the Centre d'étude sur la pauvreté et l'exclusion (CEPE, poverty and exclusion research center).[4]

The CCLP's main function is to advise the Minister on the planning, implementation and evaluation of actions taken within the scope of the national strategy to combat poverty and social exclusion (article 31). The CCPL is composed of 17 people coming from a dozen Québec regions and "representing all sectors of society,[5] including persons in poverty. "Equality, participation and confidence are three basic values that underpin its deliberations and actions" (CCPE, 2010: 3). In compliance with the Act, the committee's work began in March 2006. Five briefs have been published to date (see bibliography).

The CEPE's "purpose is to gather, integrate, compile, analyse and disseminate information, mainly of a statistical nature, on poverty and social exclusion".[6] It consists in "an observation, research and discussion centre entrusted with providing reliable and rigorous information, notably of a statistical nature, on poverty and social exclusion issues. It is managed in collaboration with a steering committee composed of members working in the academic research or governmental sectors, or working with people who are experiencing poverty or social exclusion."[7] The CEPE has been implemented in the spring of 2005 and has since published a brief and three studies (see bibliography).

Part Three: The First Action Plan

The goal of this third part is to briefly present the first five-year action plan (2005-2009) to fight against poverty and social exclusion, and the key actions that resulted from it, focusing on measures specifically related to the situation of people with disabilities.

In the first section, we present briefly the four objectives of the five-year action plan and a brief description of major accomplishments[8] for each of these objectives. In the second section, we outline the measures more specifically aimed at people with disabilities.

A. Two Principles, Four Objectives and 47 Measures

As we have seen in Part 1, Chapter III of the Act creates the obligation to submit and implement an action plan within 60 days following the entry into force of the relevant law articles.

The first action plan released on April 2, 2004, is based on two basic principles: employment is the first solution to ensure economic security and social inclusion, and better protection for people with significant employment limitations is required (MESS, 2004: 8).

The plan consists in four main objectives with a set of 47 measures representing investments of $2.5 billion from years 2004-2005 to 2009-2010 (MESS, 2004: 9). Most of these measures had been announced in the 2004-2005 Budget Speech, which was unveiled a few weeks before the action plan was released.

We briefly present here the measures proposed for each of the four objectives.

Objective 1: Improve the Well-Being of People Living in Poverty

As part of this objective, the action plan presents solutions for unemployed people and their families, and for people who are in a poverty situation despite the fact that they are working. In addition to these various measures that target specific groups, the action plan inserts other measures aiming at improving the access to affordable housing.

Here are briefly the main measures proposed:

• For persons whose employment earnings are insufficient to meet the totality of their basic needs: rise of the minimum wage, insertion of a work premium;
• For the unemployed: full indexation of last resort allowances, introduction of a low-income cutoff, access to accompaniment measures adapted to people's needs, tax credit to support return to work, more flexible asset account rules, supplement to the work bonus for long term beneficiaries;
• For low-income families: refundable tax credit for child support, partial exemption of child support payments in calculating the last resort assistance benefits;
• Access to affordable housing: increase of social, community and affordable housing, financial support for projects to fight homelessness, close support for community actions in public housing.

Objective 2: Preventing Poverty and Social Exclusion by Developing Each Person's Potential

The second objective of the action plan proposes preventive measures and is intended to target different groups in order to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty and give everyone the opportunity to attain better living conditions (MESS, 2009: 23). Here are its main components for each specific group:

1. Parents and young children: Québec Parental Insurance Plan, integrated support services for pregnancy and early childhood, access to educational childcare services for the underprivileged;
2. School children and students: support for special needs students of elementary and secondary schools, continuation of Famille, école et communauté (family, school and community) program missions: Réussir ensemble (succeed together), Programme d'aide à l'éveil à la lecture et à l'écriture (help for the encouragement of reading and writing) in underprivileged areas, homework assistance, Écoles en forme et en santé (healthy schools), Supporting Montréal Schools Program;
3. Young people under 25 years: implementation of Engagement jeunesse (youth commitment) intended to facilitate the transition from youth to adulthood in all administrative regions, program to promote the return to occupational training of 16 to 24 year-old persons, Qualification des jeunes (job training for adolescent) program, preparing their transition from youth centers to autonomous life and assuring their preparation to the labour market, implementation of IDEO 16-17 individualized coaching measure offered by the Réseau des Carrefours jeunesse-emploi to help youth experiencing difficulties to achieve a life project, Alternative jeunesse program offering to people under 25 years of age an alternative to last resort financial assistance programs;
4. Elderly people: Coeur à l'action program, aiming the creation of intergenerational ties, the support of caregivers and the reduction in the isolation of elderly people.

Objective 3: Involve Society as a Whole

The measures proposed for this third objective aim to support the development of solidarity with the disadvantaged communities and groups, to support local and regional actions and the collective efforts against poverty and social exclusion.

Objective 4: Ensure Consistent, Coherent Action

This last goal provides tools to coordinate the efforts of various concerned ministries and agencies, to involve citizens in the efforts in progress and to assess the impacts of laws and regulations on the situation of poor people and families.

The Advisory Committee on the prevention of poverty and social exclusion, which has been set up as part of the Act 112, aims to contribute to the "planning, implementation, and evaluation of the government actions introduced under the National Strategy to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion".[9]

An interdepartmental committee to combat poverty and social exclusion has also been established in June 2004. It consists in a place of dialogue and national coordination of the departments and agencies involved in the fight against poverty and social exclusion. These are all committed to the process leading to the development of the action plans to combat poverty and social exclusion.

It is important to note that organizations dedicated to the defence and well-being of disabled people are present in these two instances.[10]

B. The Action Plan and People with Disabilities

The purpose of this section is first of all to underline the special conditions of people with disabilities in regard to poverty, and to identify within the first action plan the elements which concern more specifically these individuals.

People with Disabilities and in Poverty

Some groups face particular difficulties and suffer from particularly high rates of poverty, for reasons relating to age or ethnicity, among others. But as noted by the OPHQ (Québec agency for handicapped persons) in its brief on Act112, "les personnes handicapées et leur famille continuent d'être surreprésentées parmi les groupes les plus durement confrontés à la pauvreté et l'exclusion sociale" (people with disabilities and their families continue to be overrepresented among those most severely afflicted by poverty and social exclusion). Let it be recalled that only 35% of the disabled people aged 15 to 64 years are employed, which represents half the proportion of the entire population (CCLP, 2009: 32).

According to data from the Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS) 2006:

• People with disabilities represent 16.5% of Canadians aged 15 and over, representing almost 4.2 million people;
• 31% of people with disabilities living alone are poor in comparison to 21.3% for their peers without disabilities;
• Over 50% of people with disabilities live with other unrelated people (e.g.: in co-tenancy, in boarding or common houses) live below the poverty line, compared to 36.3% of their peers without disabilities;
• 21.3% of the single parents with disabilities have an income under the low-income cut-off or poverty line compared to 18.4% of single parents without disabilities.[11]

As we have seen before, Act 112 identifies employment as an important strategy against poverty and social exclusion. Indeed, "promoting access to employment and increasing the attractiveness of work" constitutes one of five major guidelines for the actions to be undertaken within the strategy to combat poverty and exclusion. However, for those who have a disability or incapacity, the limited access to the labour market is a major issue.

In an opinion published in 2009, the advisory committee on the prevention of poverty and social exclusion has well identified the barriers that stand in the way of disabled people who would like to join the labour market:

"People with disabilities face many obstacles to enter the labour market: their often lower levels of education, their lack of experience, the seriousness of their disability and whether it affects the work or not. Intellectual, motor, language, and behavioural capacities can also have an impact. Apart from these personal factors, social factors also play a role, including the adaptation of the workplace, the attitudes of employers and fellow workers, social support, and the ability to get about.

Hiring criteria and workplace rigidity can make these obstacles to integration even more difficult to overcome." (CCLP, 2009: 32)

Act 112 addresses these concerns by specifying that one of the goals in terms of access to employment is to promote, in workplaces, the social and professional insertion of people who have particular difficulty in integrating employment, especially those with disabilities or incapacities (Article 10.3).

The first action plan includes measures that aim to support people with disabilities. Here are the main ones:

• Introducing the Réussir program, which concerns people with severe employment limitations to facilitate their access to high-school, professional and post-secondary education and to provide them with a stable financial support adapted to their needs;
• Increasing the number of work integration contracts, which aim to promote hiring and maintaining disabled people at work by paying a subsidy to employers to offset the cost of the required accommodation. The Pacte pour l'emploi plans the addition of 550 contracts per year, which will, after five years, enable 2750 more people with disabilities to have a job, meaning an increase of nearly 70% of this population compared with 2007-2008;
• Adding workstations in the adapted enterprises, which provide jobs for people with disabilities, by the improvement of the Programme de subvention aux enterprises adaptées (subsidy program for adapted enterprises). The Pacte pour l'emploi plans that this program will be increased gradually so as to support, after five years, 825 new permanent jobs for people with severe disabilities, meaning an increase of 25%;
• Establishing a new Adapted Work Premium for people with disabilities or severe constraints to employment in order to help them overcome particular obstacles to their integration into the labour market;
• Improving the Residential Adaptation Assistance Program, which finances the adaptation of residences occupied by people with disabilities. Changes to the administrative process have also helped to eliminate the long waiting lists;
• Raising the refundable tax credit for professional training in workplaces paid to the employers who hire immigrants or people with disabilities as student trainees. Thus, the maximum tax credit of $225 per week increases to $420 for people with disabilities, and from $225 to $300 for immigrants. The Pacte pour l'emploi also plans to double the hours of supervision provided to a disabled person.

Several of these measures have been enhanced as part of a new policy statement released in March 2008 and entitled the Pacte pour l'emploi (Contract for Employment) (MESS, 2008a). It is a collection of measures designed to meet employers' labour needs and to support all persons in their efforts to gradually integrate the labour market (« ensemble de mesures destinées à répondre aux besoins de main-d'œuvre des entreprises et à soutenir toutes les personnes dans leurs démarches visant à intégrer durablement le marché du travail ») (MESS, 2008a: 5). The Pacte pour l'emploi contains measures and means to help anyone who wants to work, support workers who wish to improve their skills (aider toute personne qui veut travailler, soutenir les travailleurs et travailleuses qui désirent hausser leurs competences) (MESS, 2008a: 7).[12]

It is also under the Pacte pour l'emploi that the Government of Québec has made public, in May 2008, the National Strategy for Labour Market Integration and Maintenance of Handicapped Persons (MESS, 2008b). This strategy targets a 50% reduction in the gap between the employment rate for people with handicaps and that people without handicaps in the year 2018, which, according to the estimate of the Department, represents the addition of 54,000 jobs for people with disabilities (MESS, 2008c; MESS, 2010).

The National Strategy for Labour Market Integration and Maintenance of Handicapped Persons proposes more than 60 measures (including those mentioned previously and which had been announced in the Pacte pour l'emploi) that will require an investment of 142.8 million dollars, from 2009 to 2013, in order to promote the employment and training of persons with disabilities in their workplace. The objectives are to support businesses in the hiring and development of skills of disabled people, to support and to accompany people with disabilities in their efforts to be employed and to educate the public and labour market stakeholders to the potential contribution of disabled persons as employees (MESS, 2010, National Strategy for Labour Market Integration and Maintenance of Handicapped Persons, Québec and press release).

The announced measures include:

• A supplement to earned income for long standing beneficiaries who find work;
• Measures implemented by the ministère de l'Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport (department of education, leisure and sport) to better monitor the academic achievement of disabled students, more adapted academic and vocational counselling and a better transition from school to labour market;
• Measures to improve the skills of workers with disabilities by supporting corporate training;
• Measures to raise awareness of citizens and labour market players on the situation of handicapped persons: public awareness campaign, regional awareness and mobilization activities, recognition of employers who have devoted special efforts to hiring, training and retaining handicapped employees.

In a recent report of progress of the National Strategy for Labour Market Integration and Maintenance of Handicapped Persons National Strategy, the department of employment and social solidarity asserted that the efforts displayed by the different labour market players were already bearing fruit. Of the 61 actions included in the National Strategy, 23 were completed, 28 are in progress, whereas for 10 of them, the implementation must be initiated during the next year (MESS, 2010b: 21).

Conclusion: Towards a Second Action Plan

Pursuant to the first action plan to combat poverty and social exclusion, a CEPE analysis showed that significant progress had been made in order to reduce Québec families insufficiency of incomes, particularly those with children, either single-parent or two-parent families (CEPE, 2008). However, we observe that the situation is quite different for households consisting of a single person and for groups of people facing problems of persistent poverty, namely people with disabilities, immigrants and recent refugees, as well as the homeless or people at risk of homelessness. The second action plan, to be rendered public in May 2010, will probably contain specific measures to support these two segments of the population.

Note that the CCLP has held a broad consultation during the year 2008 with organizations representing groups of people with problems of persistent poverty. Following these consultations, the CCLP, convinced of the emergency to act and to review methods employed, published, in April 2009, a notice on the persistent poverty prevention in which it makes 20 recommendations to the government (CCLP, 2009). Five of these recommendations concern people with disabilities, including tax measures to compensate for additional costs associated with functional limitations, the continuity of efforts deployed for school integration and the implementation of support measures for families and caregivers. It will be interesting to see how the second action plan to combat poverty and social exclusion will consider these recommendations.

Bibliography

• Centre d'étude sur la pauvreté et l'exclusion (CEPE) (2005) Inventaire des indicateurs de pauvreté et d'exclusion sociale, Québec, Gouvernement du Québec
• Centre d'étude sur la pauvreté et l'exclusion (CEPE) (2006) Recueil statistique sur la pauvreté et les inégalités socioéconomiques au Québec, Québec, Gouvernement du Québec
• Centre d'étude sur la pauvreté et l'exclusion (CEPE) (2008) Le faible revenu au Québec : un état de situation, Québec, Gouvernement du Québec
• Centre d'étude sur la pauvreté et l'exclusion (CEPE) (2009) Prendre la mesure de la pauvreté, Proposition d'indicateurs de pauvreté, d'inégalités et d'exclusion sociale afin de mesurer les progrès réalisés au Québec, Québec, Gouvernement du Québec
• Collectif pour un Québec sans pauvreté (2004) Le plan d'action gouvernemental de lutte contre la pauvreté – En avant, en arrière, de côté, 18 avril.
• Collectif pour un Québec sans pauvreté (2008) Bilan de la quatrième année du Plan d'action gouvernemental en matière de lutte contre la pauvreté et l'exclusion sociale. Éliminer la pauvreté : il faut faire plus… et mieux, Communiqué de presse, novembre
• Comité consultatif sur la pauvreté et l'exclusion sociale (CCLP) (2008), Les répercussions des hausses tarifaires sur les conditions de vie des personnes à faible revenu, Gouvernement du Québec
• Comité consultatif sur la pauvreté et l'exclusion sociale (CCLP) (2009), Avis sur la prévention de la pauvreté persistante : revoir nos façons de faire, un choix judicieux et humain, Gouvernement du Québec
• Comité consultatif sur la pauvreté et l'exclusion sociale (CCLP) (2009a), Le soutien à l'action locale de lutte contre la pauvreté et l'exclusion sociale, Gouvernement du Québec
• Comité consultatif sur la pauvreté et l'exclusion sociale (CCLP) (2009b), Les cibles d'amélioration du revenu des personnes et des familles, les meilleurs moyens de les atteindre ainsi que le soutien financier minimal, Gouvernement du Québec
• Comité consultatif sur la pauvreté et l'exclusion sociale (CCLP) (2010) Une cible à atteindre pour le bien de tous, une cible atteignable si l'on s'y met tous, Gouvernement du Québec
• Conseil des Canadiens avec déficience En faits : La pauvreté et les personnes handicapées au Canada ( http://www.ccdonline.ca/fr/socialpolicy/poverty-citizenship/poverty-disability-canada )
• Dufour, Pascale (2004) « L'adoption du projet de loi 112 au Québec : le produit d'une mobilisation ou une simple question de conjoncture politique? » in Politique et sociétés, vol. 23 numéro 2-3, pp. 159-182
• Gouvernement du Québec. L.R.Q., chapitre L-7: Loi visant à lutter contre la pauvreté et l'exclusion sociale. Québec : Éditeur official du Québec, 2002.
• Institut national de santé publique - Québec (2009) Loi visant à lutter contre la pauvreté et l'exclusion sociale : historique, Note documentaire no 1
• Institut national de santé publique - Québec (2009a) Loi visant à lutter contre la pauvreté et l'exclusion sociale : faits saillants et application de la loi, Note documentaire numéro 2
• Labrie, Vivianne (2005) La genèse de la Loi 112. L'horizon d'un Québec sans pauvreté versus la Loi visant à lutter contre la pauvreté et l'exclusion sociale : un processus et ses questions
• Ministère de l'Emploi et de la solidarité sociale (MESS) (2002), La volonté d'agir, la force de réussir : stratégie nationale de lutte contre la pauvreté et l'exclusion sociale. Énoncé de politique, Québec : Gouvernement du Québec.
• Ministère de l'Emploi et de la solidarité sociale (MESS) (2004) Plan d'action gouvernemental en matière de lutte contre la pauvreté et l'exclusion sociale, Québec : Gouvernement du Québec.
• Ministère de l'Emploi et de la solidarité sociale (MESS) (2004) Synthèse du Plan d'action gouvernemental en matière de lutte contre la pauvreté et l'exclusion sociale, Québec : Gouvernement du Québec.
• Ministère de l'Emploi et de la solidarité sociale (MESS) (2005) Plan d'action gouvernemental en matière de lutte contre la pauvreté et l'exclusion sociale 2004-2009. Bilan de la première année. Québec : Gouvernement du Québec.
• Ministère de l'Emploi et de la solidarité sociale (MESS) (2006) Plan d'action gouvernemental en matière de lutte contre la pauvreté et l'exclusion sociale 2004-2009. Bilan de la deuxième année. Québec : Gouvernement du Québec.
• Ministère de l'Emploi et de la solidarité sociale (MESS) (2007) Plan d'action gouvernemental en matière de lutte contre la pauvreté et l'exclusion sociale 2004-2009. Bilan de la troisième année. Québec : Gouvernement du Québec.
• Ministère de l'Emploi et de la solidarité sociale (MESS) (2007b) La lutte contre la pauvreté et l'exclusion sociale : une priorité au Québec. Québec, Gouvernement du Québec.
• Ministère de l'Emploi et de la solidarité sociale (MESS) (2008) Plan d'action gouvernemental en matière de lutte contre la pauvreté et l'exclusion sociale 2004-2009. Bilan de la quatrième première année. Québec : Gouvernement du Québec.
• Ministère de l'Emploi et de la solidarité sociale (MESS) (2008a) Le Pacte pour l'emploi, le Québec de toutes ses forces. Québec : Gouvernement du Québec.
• Ministère de l'Emploi et de la solidarité sociale (MESS) (2008b) Stratégie nationale pour l'intégration et le maintien en emploi des personnes handicapées, Québec : Gouvernement du Québec.
• Ministère de l'emploi et de la solidarité sociale ( MESS) (2008c) Communiqué de presse : Une initiative sans précédent, 25 mai.
• Ministère de l'Emploi et de la solidarité sociale (MESS) (2009) Plan d'action gouvernemental en matière de lutte contre la pauvreté et l'exclusion sociale 2004-2009. Bilan de la cinquième année. Québec : Gouvernement du Québec.
• Ministère de l'Emploi et de la solidarité sociale (MESS)(2010) Stratégie nationale pour l'intégration et le maintien en emploi des personnes handicapées, État de la mise en œuvre et premiers résultats, Québec : Gouvernement du Québec.
• Ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale MESS (2010a) Communiqué de presse,
• Stratégie nationale pour l'intégration et le maintien en emploi des personnes handicapées.
• Ninacs, William, avec la collaboration de Anne-Marie Béliveau and Francine Gareau (2003) Le collectif pour un Québec sans pauvreté : étude du cas, Caledon Institute of Social Policy
• Noël, Alain (2002) « Une loi contre la pauvreté : La nouvelle approche québécoise de lutte contre la pauvreté et l'exclusion sociale » in Lien social et politiques, 48, Automne pp. 103-114.

• [1] This section was written using information from Noël (2002), Ninacs (2003), Collectif pour un Québec sans pauvreté (Collective for a poverty-free Québec, 2004), Labrie (2005) and the Institut national de la santé publique (National Institute of Public Health, 2009).
• [2] Many amendments suggested by the Collectif pour un Québec sans pauvreté were included at least partially in the final version of the Act. For a comparison between the Collective's objectives and the Act's content, see Ninacs (2003).
• [3] The final version of the first plan of action, entitled Concilier liberté et justice sociale : un défi pour l'avenir, has been unveiled only on April 2, 2004.
• [4] Bill 112 planned the creation of a poverty and social exclusion observatory. The name was subsequently changed for Centre d'étude sur la pauvreté et l'exclusion (CEPE, research center on poverty and exclusion).
• [5] There are representatives of groups involved in the fight against poverty and social exclusion, people living in a poverty situation as well as people from employer, employee, community, and municipal groups, as well as other sectors of civil society (Institut national de santé publique – Québec, 2009).
• [6] CEPE website http://www.cepe.gouv.qc.ca/presentation/index_en.asp accessed April 15, 2010.
• [7] Ibid.
• [8] It is not possible within the framework of this text to account for all measures adopted under the first action plan. For more detailed information, we refer the reader to the annual reports of action plans mentioned in the bibliography.
• [9] Extract of the CCLP Mission (http://www.cclp.gouv.qc.ca/mission_en.asp)
• [10] The Advisory Committee is composed of 17 members, including the General Director of the Confédération des organismes de personnes handicapées du Québec (COPHAN, confederation of Québec organizations of persons with disabilities). The Interdepartmental Committee is composed of 11 departments and organizations: the ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale (department of employment and social solidarity), the ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux (department of health and social services), the ministère de l'Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport (department of education, leisure and sport), the ministère des Affaires municipales et des Régions (department of municipality affairs and regions), the ministère de l'Immigration et des Communautés culturelles (department of immigration and cultural communities), the ministère de la Famille et des Aînés (department of family and elderly people), the ministère du Travail (department of labour), the Société d'habitation du Québec (SHQ, Québec housing society), the Secrétariat à la jeunesse (youth secretariat) and the Office des personnes handicapées du Québec (OPHQ, Québec agency for disabled persons).
• [11] These data are based on the website of the Council of Canadians with Disabilities (see bibliography).
• [12] According to the department of Employment and Social Solidarity, "ces initiatives découlent de l'esprit même du Plan d'action de lutte contre la pauvreté et l'exclusion sociale et constituent des réponses adaptées aux besoins d'une main-d'œuvre potentielle pour qui l'accès au travail ne peut pas toujours être immédiat." (These initiatives stem from the very spirit of the action plan and constitute answers adapted to the needs of a potential workforce for whom access to employment cannot always be immediate). Fourth-Year Progress Report, p. 6.