Advocacy group for disabled loses provincial funding

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This article was published 12/12/2018 (1953 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba League of Persons with Disabilities, which was founded in 1974, says it may have to call it quits after the province denied its core funding for the year.

It’s a “devastating blow,” the league that advocates for Manitobans with disabilities said Thursday in an open letter to its members. The provincial non-profit organization promotes accessibility and inclusion for people of all abilities. Its executive council said it recently learned that the provincial government will not be providing core funding of $50,000 for the 2018-19 fiscal year.

“It’s extremely difficult for organizations to operate where there is a lack of core funding,” said disabilities advocate Carlos Sosa.

The league has been the voice of Manitobans with disabilities for more than 40 years, pushing for changes in attitudes toward people with disabilities, Sosa said. One of its biggest accomplishments is the creation of HandiTransit in Winnipeg, which has opened doors for thousands of people, he said.

In recent years, the league has been helping Manitoba businesses and organizations adapt to new legislation so they’re in compliance with the Accessibility for Manitobans Act (AMA).

The league created a social enterprise consulting service that works with businesses and organizations to help them make sure their workplaces and services are accessible and inclusive under the law. The consulting service has been active and well received but the league “has not been able to sustain the staff levels necessary to meet the demand,” the letter to its members said.

The league’s executive council said it sent three rounds of funding applications to the province, with an enhanced AMA program that was also refused. It says it has been able to diversify its funding over the last four years but each of the funders has a shorter-term outlook with a restriction on what can be funded.

“The result is that we spend a lot of our time researching new funders, reviewing funding applications and preparing the funding reports,” the league wrote to its members. “We have been unable to secure any other annual core funding, and the loss of the (provincial) funding means we are running out of options. We have applied for core funding from the province for the 2019-20 year starting in March 2019, the status of this funding is unknown at this time.”

A spokeswoman for Manitoba Families said the province’s funding agreement with the league ended at the end of the last fiscal year, 2017-18.

“It was not renewed and the organization was advised of the decision,” she said in an email. “Their request for funding in 2018-19 was submitted in June, after available funds for this year had already been allocated to other organizations and programs. Their application for 2019-20 remains under consideration,” the government spokeswoman said.

“I’m very hopeful that our application to government will be looked at favourably,” said the league’s past chairman, David Kron.

“The league has been the voice of folks with disabilities,” said Kron, executive director of the Cerebral Palsy Association of Manitoba. “We’ve been advocating to change how people with disabilities are perceived and helping educate people on the barriers they face – both seen and unseen – across the province and not just here in Winnipeg.”

Kron said the league has three part-time employees and is “run pretty lean.” The province, he said, still has a long way to go before the Accessibility for Manitobans Act is fully implemented.

The league told its members in Thursday’s letter that its future is “uncertain.”

“It is possible that we will need to consider winding down operations until we can secure new core funding.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca