Government fails to help disabled

Re: Employers counting on immigrants to fill jobs, by Dave Waddell, April 18.

This story is undoubtedly supposed to warm our hearts. Meanwhile, there are Canadians like myself who have suffered from our government’s failure to help its own citizens.

In 2010, I had a successful career in management, was earning $65,000 annually, had two young children at home and life was good. I then suffered an accident and was fired from my job as a direct result of becoming “disabled.”

Left with few viable options, I filed a human right’s complaint for having been unfairly dismissed. And, despite the fact that I was victorious in my complaint, I soon found out that I would have indeed been better off as a newcomer to Canada. I visited every and any office and department I could find, just looking for any type of work that I was physically able to do. I even visited the office of our MPP. I ended up at the Unemployed Help Centre, only to find that there were no suitable options. My disability is not developmental and because of that fact alone, my options were quickly narrowed down to applying for a disability pension.

It is a life of poverty, in essence, and it is impossible to raise my children on this program. And yet, over the years I read and witnessed a virtual multitude of programs to assist newcomers in establishing themselves here. My life as it is and my future are in essence locked in.

So if you feel as though a nice big pat on the back is in order, think again. And for goodness sake, don’t become disabled.

Jonathan Brown, Windsor