Press release – Is Walmart the only culprit?

Press Release

In the case of employees with intellectual disabilities
Is Walmart the only culprit?

Montreal, Tuesday, April 3, 2018 – Last Thursday, we learned that the company was laying off a good number of employees in its 26 branches in Quebec. For Trois-Rivières, this represented great sadness for 19 people, some of whom had up to 16 years of seniority.

Quebec was indignant. Public figures have taken a stand and called for a boycott of the big-box giant. Certainly, it didn’t leave anyone indifferent.

Then, several people close to the dismissed workers, notably one of their worker, told us how much they were paid. Attention, sensitive hearts refrain from reading the following:

“Their monthly income solidarity check + $ 5 per day worked. And in some cases, their bus pass paid … ”

The following day, at the Première Chaîne de Radio-Canada, Anne Hébert, director general of the Office des personnes handicapped du Québec (OPHQ), was interviewed. Ms. Hébert deplored this situation, as had also deplored Ms. Lucie Charlebois, Minister responsible for rehabilitation and public health, which by default makes her the minister responsible for people with disabilities.

And what about the Centers for Rehabilitation in Intellectual Disabilities (IDRC), have they taken a stand? We may search on their website, but we can find nothing …

Same silenceradio on the side of the Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission (CDPDJ). However, it seems to me that this is their responsibility?

When you think about it, you wonder if we’re the ones who take this too seriously?

Worse yet, we can’t help but ask the following question:

“Is Walmart the only culprit?”

 

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For info :

Linda Gauthier
Spokesperson (RAPLIQ)
(514) 656-1664

About RAPLIQ :

“RAPLIQ is an organization dedicated to defending and promoting the rights of people with disabilities and aiming to eradicate the discrimination often made against them. “