In April, the Council wrote a greeting letter to Stephanie Cadieux, Canada’s first Chief Accessibility Officer.
On May 8th, 2024, seven Council members attended the annual Day at the Legislature and presented to Honourable Charmaine Williams and Minister Michael Parsa’s staff. They had a great conversation about the priority topics of abuse, poverty, and employment. The Council looks forward to meeting with the Minister again in the future.
On Friday, May 10th and Wednesday, May 15th, Community Living Ontario’s (CLO) Inclusion Initiatives department hosted two webinars entitled “Strengthening the Community Living Self-Advocacy Movement”. These online forums provided self-advocates, Community Living organizations and staff with the opportunity to learn about the results of CLO’s recent self-advocacy survey and share their feedback.
The Friday, May 10th session was led by the Council Advisor, Keith Dee, with the support of Nicole Flynn (Council President), Chris Beesley (Chief Executive Officer of CLO)), and Payal Khazanchi (Director of CLO’s Inclusion Initiatives department). The presenters shared the results of CLO’s recent self-advocacy survey with a 35-person audience comprised of Executive Directors, support staff, and volunteers from Community Living member organizations who support self-advocates at their agencies. View the webinar recording here.
The second webinar on Wednesday, May 15th was led by eight Council members who presented to a 27-person audience comprised of self-advocates and their allies. During this presentation, the Council learned about the work self-advocates are doing in their local communities and received feedback about their current advocacy efforts. View the webinar recording here.
Four Council members – Judy, Nicole, Hudson, and Robert – were featured for the #CLMonth2024 campaign on social media. View Judy Noonan’s post here and Nicole Flynn’s post here. View Robert and Hudson’s videos here.
On May 27th, Niko Pupella, Chris Beesley, Monique Taylor (Member of Provincial Parliament for Hamilton Mountain), and Susan Silma (from Community Living Toronto) were featured on TVO’s “The Agenda”. They discussed the #5ToSurvive campaign and why the province’s budget isn’t meeting the needs of the developmental services sector. View the interview here.
On May 29th, Nicole Flynn and Chris Beesley were featured on an episode of “CTV Your Morning” and hosted a press Conference at the CLO Office. Nicole shared details about her upcoming trip to the UN for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. She also discussed her trip to Trinidad and Tobago in March where she presented to the public, governments, and media about the abilities of people with Down Syndrome. View the CTV interview here.
On June 4th, four Council members – Nicole, Robert, Niko, and Amber – attended a virtual webinar where they presented to leaders of Developmental Service agencies from the Durham Region. The presenters shared their best practices for connecting with individuals and families, and discussed their needs as it relates to “Journey to Belonging”.
