Join us Monday, November 16th to hear from a Canadian farmer who is breaking barriers for people who have a disability to work in the agriculture sector.
In 2017, Canada’s agriculture sector was short 16,500 workers, a labour crunch that cost farmers $2.9 billion in lost revenue according to research the Canadian Human Resources Council. Chances are that as a farmer, you are very familiar with this fact.
Did you know that 22% of Canadians self-identify as having a disability? In Ontario that is 3.1 million people. This non-traditional workforce is ready to work but, stigma and misunderstanding from employers as to the abilities and skills they possess have created barriers to employment.
The Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) has joined a consortium of partners, led by the Ontario Disability Employment Network (ODEN), to connect the agriculture sector to job seekers who have a disability. As part of this partnership, OFA is sponsoring this awareness event!
About the format:
Two sessions will be available:
The session will start with a brief introduction of the Skills2Sector Project, highlight the benefits of hiring inclusively. Followed by an insightful presentation by Chris. A 10 minutes Q&A period will be facilitated by ODEN’s Diversity & Inclusion Specialists.
About Chris:
Born with a physical disability, Chris Koch is a farmer first and an international speaker second. He is the founder of “If I Can”, an organization created to combine his passion for travel and motivational speaking. Chris has shared his message of seeing ability, having high expectations and welcoming diversity in the farming and ranching industry with organizations such as John Deere, Farm Credit Canada, and Google. Now, Chris is bringing his message to the OFA and its membership on how to cultivate talent from the disability community. Take a sneak preview to Chris’s exceptional story by visiting this link: https://tinyurl.com/o7sfwmz
Request for Accommodations:
Please email Lesley Ellis at lellis@odentwork.com to request accommodations or adjustments to ensure your full accessibility of this presentation
The RingCentral Meeting link will be sent to registered participants the day before the event. Please note if you have not previously used RingCentral, please allow a few extra minutes to download prior to joining.
