The problems of employment services for people with intellectual disabilities

Despite significant budgets invested in supporting the employability of persons with disabilities, several Quebec government organizations and ministries consider the results to be insufficient.  

In 2020, the Auditor General of Quebec pointed out that the services offered were inadequate and failed to lead young adults with disabilities to employment (Auditor General of Quebec, 2020). For example, very few young adults were able to leave adapted businesses to join the labour market, even though these services were supposed to be temporary. The report also pointed out that young people with disabilities faced many barriers to employment and that services were inadequate. 

As for the Office des personnes handicapées du Québec, it concluded in 2021 that employability services were insufficient and did not meet needs (Office des personnes handicapées du Québec, 2021). 

More recently, the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse (CDPDJ) published a study on the employability of persons with disabilities. This study criticized the current model, noting that it does not work, does not produce the expected results and even leads to situations of exploitation. The study also highlights the presence of numerous prejudices in the workplace and proposes possible solutions to reduce the barriers faced by persons with disabilities. 

These reports echo what organisations in the field are observing, both in terms of the transition from school to working life and in terms of employability services. Services are fragmented, not always available, and often have waiting lists of several years. As a result, many people remain stuck in programs that are supposed to be temporary.  

It is therefore essential to review the organisation of services and draw inspiration from models that have proven successful elsewhere.

Possible solutions are presented in the “Solutions” section.  

In June 2025, the government published its new Strategy for the Integration and Retention of Persons with Disabilities in Employment (Stratégie pour l’intégration et le maintien en emploi des personnes handicapées (2025-2028)). However, no official assessment of the previous Strategy (2019-2024) has yet been made public. 

The available statistics and observations in the field indicate, however, that the 2019-2024 Strategy did not really achieve its objectives. Several planned solutions were not implemented, or were implemented in a limited or ineffective manner. Furthermore, even though it was supposed to be an “evolving” Strategy, few concrete changes were observed along the way.  

Furthermore, feedback from the field is critical:  

• Services do not sufficiently meet needs, particularly for people with intellectual disabilities or autistic individual. 
• Support to help people stay in employment is often insufficient, which limits employees’ autonomy in their tasks and limits the implementation of appropriate accommodations by employers.  
• There are not enough work integration contracts (CIT), and they are often confused with wage subsidies, when in fact they are intended to compensate for the non-competitive portion of a disabled worker’s wages.  
• Emerging and innovative services in the community sector are not funded or are insufficiently funded.  
• Waiting lists at specialized organisations for the employment of persons with disabilities are often long.  
• Many people remain in stages or sheltered work programs for long periods of time due to a lack of choice or alternatives.  
• Employers are not always aware of the importance of including people with intellectual disabilities. Lack of knowledge and misconceptions about their actual ability to hold down a job limit their access to many workplaces.  

These findings confirm the conclusions of government reports on the employment of persons with disabilities.  

SQDI and its partners have levelled several criticisms at the 2025-2028 Strategy. 

While the 2025-2028 Strategy incorporates some of the principles of the community sector, it does so only partially and often without concrete means. It lacks the ambition to transform employability models and neglects several essential levers identified by actors in the field. To make progress, the government should better recognize the role of community organisations and adopt structural measures to revise the current rules and models. 

In addition, the Strategy suffers from insufficient funding to implement the proposed actions. The $45.4 million allocated in the 2025-2026 budget for new measures is largely insufficient and represents a 68% decrease compared to previous annual budgets. Given that the government cut employability services in 2025, services that were already unable to meet demand, it is unlikely that these investments will be sufficient to meet demand or ease the burden on these services. 

In recent years, more and more voices have been raised to denounce problematic situations related to the hiring of people with intellectual disabilities.  

On the one hand, very long unpaid internships have been criticized. On the other hand, the UN and other organisations have denounced the exploitation that some people with intellectual disabilities may suffer in sheltered work programs.  

For example, the UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery has criticized Canada for its use of these sheltered workshops, where people with intellectual disabilities can remain for years without pay or benefits. In 2025, the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse also denounced this practice and called for all persons in work, stages or sheltered work programs to be remunerated.  

People with intellectual disabilities and their families themselves denounced the persistence of exploitation in sheltered work programs in the media and at the National Assembly.  

However, the Quebec government continues to fund, at great expense, perpetual stages and sheltered work programs. This situation hinders the integration of people with intellectual disabilities into the regular labour market. 

SQDI recognizes that sheltered work programs and stages can be useful as a transitional step towards the regular labour market. However, this step must have a clear beginning, end and training objectives. Currently, these programs lack any supervision whatsoever.  

Worse still, some organisations finance themselves through the unpaid labour of people with intellectual disabilities. This unacceptable situation shows that it is crucial to better regulate these practices and adequately fund community-based service providers so that they do not have to resort to such schemes to survive.  

People who are unable to enter the regular labour market after participating in sheltered work programs or stages should not continue to perform unpaid tasks. The government must fund more services, such as respite services or day centre activities, which offer real and stimulating alternatives to unpaid work. These services must support the development of the active social role of people with intellectual disabilities. 

n Quebec, last-resort financial assistance programs (social assistance and social solidarity) continue to discourage recipients who wish to work.

In fact, people receiving these benefits generally cannot earn more than a small amount per month without seeing their cheques reduced. As a result, when a person tries to work, whether part-time or full-time, to escape poverty, they are often penalised financially. They also risk losing their drug insurance, health insurance and other essential social benefits.  

These rules create real “poverty traps” that are very difficult, sometimes even impossible, to escape. After a few unsuccessful attempts, many people become discouraged and give up on returning to the labour market.  

In 2025, a person receiving social assistance or social solidarity benefits can work without being penalised only for the equivalent of $200 per month, plus 25% of each additional pound.  

In concrete terms, this means that a person working part-time at minimum wage ($16.10/hour) could work approximately 12 hours per month before their benefits are reduced or their hourly rate is reduced to $4/hour gross at minimum wage. 

With income equivalent to about $4 per hour once the monthly limit of $200 is exceeded, it is understandable that many people become discouraged and see no advantage in working.  

Unlike most other Canadian provinces, Quebec continues to penalize recipients’ efforts to re-enter the labour market. This situation has persisted for years, and the current rules do not allow people to escape poverty. Instead, they create a class of people stuck in a status of working poor or lifelong benefit recipients.  

It should be noted that the Basic Income Program applies different rules: it allows recipients to keep much higher earned income, which finally opens up the possibility of escaping poverty.