Links
ADVOCACY RESOURCES
Don’t know who your MLA is or how to contact them? This is the best starting point. The listings here will get you information about their office in Edmonton as well as their constituency office, which may be in your town or neighborhood.
ADWA’s Advocacy Materials
If you are planning to visit your MLA or candidate to talk about the impact of compensation levels, educational opportunities (or lack of them) on your life and work, you are welcome to download and/or print out what our board and staff take into meetings to handle “numbers” questions accurately. We have included all of the sources for the numbers on the stats page. The 1-page Candidates handout has background facts without the sources and four key questions to ask candidates. The 3-page handout that you can leave with your MLA is designed with visual representations that we hope will be memorable. We will update these materials as new information becomes available so that you have the best support with your meetings that we can give. All you have to supply are the stories of your personal experiences.
Effective Meetings with MLAs
Here are a couple of recommended resources on planning for meetings with MLAs or other elected officials. The MLA Advocacy Guide was developed by Public Interest Alberta in 2017. How to Have a Good Meeting is part of an online workshop for self-advocates called How to Have a Say in Government developed a few years ago by the Disability Action Hall in Calgary.
GOVERNMENT RESOURCES
This is the rulebook that sets out principles, definitions, processes and guidelines for Disability Services government programs for adult services (i.e., Persons with Developmental Disabilities). If you are looking for how things are supposed to work, including application processes, whether to improve your understanding, to make sure your applications or appeals have everything that they are supposed to have, or in order to hold the system accountable, this is an extremely useful resource.
Alberta Government Staff Directory
If you are looking for the phone, fax, email address or the correct job title of someone working for the government in any department. You can search this directory by entering the person’s name or you can search by department and division. It is usually fairly up to date. It also provides a quick link to the MLAs and Ministers.
These are the government rules that outline how you are to be treated as an employee with respect to such things as payment of wages, leaves and vacation entitlements, hours of work and breaks.
Occupational Health and Safety
While much of the focus of OHS legislation is on industries that require hard hats and steel-toed boots, there are links in the OHS Resources section of relevance to social service, school and health care sectors, including eLearning and some fun self-tests.
NON-GOVERNMENT RESOURCES
Alberta Council of Disability Services
ACDS represents the interests of service provider organizations in our sector. It is the main accrediting body for PDD-funded services in Alberta, has led the development of the Workforce Classification System, is a leading source of professional development opportunities in our sector and much more.
Albertans Advocating for Change Together
AACT is a provincial network of regional self-advocacy groups that supports self-advocacy in the province by sharing what different groups are doing and providing information to support each other’s learning and advocacy activities.
This is a website developed by and for injured workers in Alberta who have navigated the Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) claims process. It gives a pretty good idea of things that can go wrong for claimants and strategies to minimize issues, as well as providing links to government information about available benefits and rights of people injured on the job and their dependents.survivors. This website has no affiliation with WCB.
ALIGN Association of Community Services
ALIGN was formerly called the Alberta Association of Services for Children and Families and is, effectively the children’s services equivalent of ACDS. They provide advocacy for the sector, information resources and training. Their annual conference is in January.
Canadian Down Syndrome Society
CDSS raises public awareness, develops resources and educational resources for individuals, families, teachers and those providing paid support to children and adults with Down syndrome. It is both a good source of information and a place to go for inspiration.
Healthy Workplaces for Helping Professions Project
An Alberta-based project aimed at improving the health of those working in the helping professions with research information, resources, training and support.
Inclusion Alberta (formerly Alberta Association for Community Living) is a family-based, non-profit federation that advocates on behalf of children and adults with developmental disabilities and their families. It has a resource centre for families who are providing direct management of services to their adult offspring through Family-Managed Service (FMS) arrangements with Disability Services. They provide strong government advocacy and their position papers are usually powerfully written and influential.
Ontario Association of Developmental Services Professionals
OADSP is the Ontario equivalent of ADWA. It is still in the development stages but has an ethics code and core competency standards, although they use different terms for these.
Voice of Albertans with Disabilities
Voice of Albertans with Disabilities is a pan-disability advocacy organization dedicated to supporting individuals, organizations, government representatives, schools, business personnel and employers to reduce the barriers and find solutions that prevent full participation.