'We're essential': Disability rights groups shocked by Alberta government funding cut

Jason Nixon, Alberta's community and social services minister, is seen during a news conference in Calgary, Alta., Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Todd Korol)

EDMONTON — EDMONTON — Three Alberta disability advocacy groups say they're shocked and saddened after learning the provincial government plans to back out of their funding contracts more than a year early.

"This hits deep," Leah Dormaar, the executive director of the Southern Alberta Individualized Planning Association in Lethbridge, Alta., told a news conference Wednesday.

"It's devastating."

Dormaar's organization, as well as the Self Advocacy Federation in Edmonton and the Disability Action Hall in Calgary, support Albertans with intellectual and physical disabilities by connecting them with peers and helping them develop skills to advocate for themselves.

Keri McEachern, a facilitator with the Self Advocacy Federation, said each organization has a three-year funding contract with the government to support their operational costs.

But she said that earlier this month, the government told them the funding would stop in April, more than a year before the contracts were set to expire.

Collectively, McEachern said, the organizations receive just under $425,000 per year from the government.

McEachern said the Self Advocacy Federation's Edmonton chapter, which also employs eight self advocates, relies entirely on this funding to cover costs and its future is uncertain without it.

Ashley Stevenson, the press secretary to Community and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon, said in an email Wednesday that the government wants resources to be used to connect those living with disabilities to front-line services, which she said these organizations don't provide.

"Alberta’s government is ensuring that resources are allocated directly to connecting individuals and families to supports and services as quickly as possible," Stevenson said.

"The contracts being concluded do not provide front-line services to persons with disabilities, and no front-line services are affected by this decision."

McEachern, and more than a dozen of self advocates who spoke to reporters, disagreed, saying these organizations provide essential supports in their communities.

"We know we're essential," said McEachern.

Mike Wing, a self advocate in Edmonton, told reporters the Self Advocacy Federation helps people learn to communicate.

"They help us learn how to talk about our needs and how to go to the right places and meet with the right people," said Wing.

"That's what we're losing with defunding disability advocacy."

Jennifer Stewart, a 25-year member of the Disability Action Hall in Calgary, said through tears that the government's decision was cruel.

"It's cutting off a lifeline for many, many people," she said.

Echoing Stewart was another Disability Action Hall member, Angie Brown, who said the group was helping her enrol at the University of Calgary.

"I'm halfway to being a student because these folks have ... helped me and supported me (and) still are supporting me with my dreams of being a weather person," Brown said.

"My dream is coming true because of these advocacy groups, and I think (the government) needs to understand that."

Stevenson said the government's Persons with Developmental Disabilities program, under which these contracts were awarded, had a budget of over $1.2 billion for the fiscal year ending this upcoming March.

Marie Renaud, the NDP's community services critic, said she doesn't think the United Conservative Party government understands what these organizations do.

"I think if the minister understood the value of $400,000 in three cities, he would put an immediate stop to this," Renaud said. "These (organizations help people with disabilities) create networks, learn how to be a self advocate, how to find jobs. So yes, they are very direct service.

"By cutting this, they're going to apply pressure in all kinds of other areas, and people are going to be harmed."

Stevenson said the ministry will still provide funds to advocacy organizations, namely the Office of the Advocate for Persons with Disabilities and the Premier’s Council on the Status of Persons with Disabilities.

"Our government is committed to supporting Albertans with disabilities," she said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 15, 2025.

Jack Farrell, The Canadian Press