Report of the Director for Members with Disabilities, Anne Fagan-Wood, February 2012 - September 2012

Since my last report in February 2012, below are the activities and/or events that I was involved with:

• As President, I attended 3 Greater Moncton Area Council Meetings.
• We (the Moncton Area Council) had the privilege to have the Giant Squirrel Mascot come to the Atlanticfor a day in April. The Giant Squirrel took the streets of Monctondistributing flyers on the “3rd Choice Campaign” and we received some media coverage.
• Attended the Budget Watch on March 29th at the Press Club in Monctonand was the English Spokesperson for PSAC.
• Had the privilege to attend PSAC Atlantic School 2012 at the end of May for the first time. At the school, I took the new workshop “Duty to Accommodate” which was being given for the very first time and was able to learn a lot of very valuable information for members that require accommodation and may encounter resistance from their employers.

I would also recommend that every Local Executive approach Management to request this workshop through JLP (where available) as it has so much valuable information that both Union Activists and Management could learn to better serve members that require accommodation.

Having this knowledge isn’t enough for me, I need to be able to share it with all of the members; therefore, if anyone ever wants to contact me for more information on the “Duty to Accommodate” (or any other issue), it would be my pleasure to share all the knowledge that I have learned to ensure that members with disabilities are treated with dignity and respect regardless of their accommodation needs.

• The end of summer brings the end of vacation and the Greater Moncton Area Council is planning an event for September 15th to bring awareness to the public that “we are all affected”. We have a kiosk at the Bouctouche Farmers Market where we will bring awareness of all the cuts that are happening and more specifically, the closure of their own Experimental Farm and how it will adversely affect everyone in the community. During the event, we’ll be collecting non-perishable items for the local food bank and in return, will be giving free corn on the cob and face painting.

A more recent update will be provided at the October Council Meeting.

Respectfully submitted,

Anne Fagan-Wood
Director for members with Disabilities