Inclusion Alberta

12/23/2025

✨ Give the gift of inclusion this holiday season!

This holiday season, we invite you to join the inclusion movement by supporting children and adults with intellectual disabilities and their families in your community. We would be honoured if you chose to give to Inclusion Alberta this holiday season. We are a registered charity and donations are tax-deductible.

Make a secure online donation to Inclusion Alberta at: https://wl.donorperfect.net/weblink/weblink.aspx?name=E920338QE&id=37

12/18/2025

Inclusion Alberta’s Rotary Employment Partnership is creating life-changing job opportunities for individuals with intellectual disabilities while providing an untapped labour market to Alberta’s business community. The partnership has created over 930 jobs to date in diverse fields such as trades, hospitality, manufacturing, childcare, culinary, the arts and office administration. Real work for real pay.

Angie is celebrating an incredible milestone this year: 18 years working as a Crew Member at McDonalds in High River!

In her career spanning nearly two decades, Angie’s dedication, reliability, and positive attitude have made her a valued team member at McDonalds. Dean, Market People Lead and Customer Relations for McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada says that Angie’s contributions have supported smoother operations, stronger teamwork, and a workplace culture where everyone can succeed.

“Whether she is at the front counter assisting with customers or your order taker in the Drive Thru, Angie always has a great smile a cheerful outlook and is always a great ambassador to the High River Community,” says Dean. “We are proud to have Angie working with McDonalds and we look forward to many years with her.”

This year, Angie was able to expand her responsibilities and hours to include working the Drive Thru. She has also taken a leadership role in ‘family nights’ once a week, where families are welcomed to enjoy free activities in the restaurant that are geared towards school aged children.

“I love that my bosses are inclusive and open minded,” says Angie. “They give me a chance to have other responsibilities and job titles.”

Thank you, McDonalds, for your commitment to inclusive employment and for recognizing the strengths and potential Angie brings to her role each day. Congratulations, Angie, on this milestone in your career!

Join inclusive businesses like McDonalds in High River to take action to open doors, build inclusive workforces, and tap into an often-overlooked talent pool. Learn more about how you can tap into a valuable labour market by becoming an inclusive employer through the Rotary Employment Partnership:

Inclusion Alberta’s Rotary Employment Partnership is creating life-changing job opportunities for individuals with intellectual disabilities while providing an untapped labour market to Alberta’s business community. The partnership has created over 930 jobs […]

12/18/2025

🌲Season's Greetings: In a world full of uncertainty, cultivate belonging.

Inclusion Alberta CEO Trish Bowman shares her thoughts and hopes for 2026.

"In a world full of turmoil and uncertainty, people tend toward the comfort and safety of turning inward, and those who live on the edges of society find themselves at greater risk. This is particularly true for children and adults with intellectual disabilities and their families. This year, I’d like to challenge each of us to intentionally turn outward, and to cultivate belonging for those who find themselves at greater risk in isolation."

Read more:

By Trish Bowman, Inclusion Alberta CEO “Safety is not the absence of threat; it is the presence of connection.” -Gabor Mate In a world full of turmoil and uncertainty, people tend toward the comfort […]

12/12/2025

✨ Inclusive employment job highlight

Inclusion Alberta’s Rotary Employment Partnership is creating life-changing job opportunities for individuals with intellectual disabilities while providing an untapped labour market to Alberta’s business community. The partnership has created over 930 jobs to date in diverse fields such as trades, hospitality, manufacturing, childcare, culinary, the arts and office administration. Real work for real pay.

Katie has been a valued team member at West Country Hearth in Villeneuve for over a year, contributing her skills and talents with responsibilities within both the kitchen and housekeeping departments. Katie supports the kitchen staff by setting the tables, serving food trays to residents, and cleaning up once meals are done. Katie also works alongside the housekeeping team to ensure a high level of sanitation and safety for residents. Katie says she is proud to be a part of the West Country Hearth team and loves both her job and her coworkers!

​Annette, Operations Manager at West Country Hearth, says that Katie has been a wonderful addition to the team and her dedication, consistency and positivity has had an impact on the organization.

“Katie has become an integral part of our housekeeping team, bringing not only reliability and consistency but also a unique spirit that uplifts the entire department,” says Annette. “Katie not only contributes to the success of our department but also fosters a sense of joy and positivity that impacts the entire community.”

Join inclusive businesses like West Country Hearth to take action to open doors, build inclusive workforces, and tap into an often-overlooked talent pool. Learn more about how you can tap into a valuable labour market by becoming an inclusive employer through the Rotary Employment Partnership: https://inclusionalberta.org/connections/rotary-employment-partnership-katie-at-west-country-hearth-villeneuve/

12/10/2025

*MEDIA RELEASE: Inclusion Alberta deeply dismayed by the passage of Bill 12*

Inclusion Alberta is deeply dismayed by the passage of Bill 12, legislation that will do what no one in the disability community asked for: dramatically change the Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) program and introduce the Alberta Disability Assistance Program (ADAP). At a time when living costs continue to rise steeply, Bill 12 threatens 79,000 Albertans currently on AISH and their families with a 10% cut to benefits and a 67% cut to fully exempt employment income. Striking out cost-of-living increases from legislation and restricting which decisions can be appealed makes Albertans with disabilities and their families even more vulnerable.

In passing this legislation, the Government of Alberta has ignored the frightened and anxious pleas of thousands of Albertans with disabilities and their families. They, along with former leaders and advisors in government’s own disability programs, organizations that represent and support people with disabilities, lawyers, economists, and the Alberta Medical Association, called for pausing the plan for ADAP and engaging in genuine consultation with the disability community on what changes could enhance disability assistance in our province.

“I’m terrified of the prospect of being labeled either ‘permanently unemployable’ or ‘somewhat employable’, and having my already meagre monthly income reduced,” says Ashton Kennedy, an Inclusion Alberta board member who receives AISH. "I don't know what this means for my future and if I will still be able to make ends meet."

Learn more about what Bill 12, and the changes being made to AISH/ADAP does for Albertans with disabilities: https://inclusionalberta.org/adap-facts-and-take-action/

“These are changes that no AISH recipient asked for: lower monthly benefits for an already marginalized population or being labelled permanently unemployable,” says Trish Bowman, Inclusion Alberta’s CEO. “Pushing Albertans with disabilities into deeper poverty betrays Alberta’s enduring tradition of moral decency and caring for members of our communities. It is indefensible that efforts to address fiscal challenges fall on the shoulders of those already confronting financial insecurity and multiple barriers on a daily basis. The fear and despair experienced by the individuals and family members who have been reaching out to us is palpable.”

Inclusion Alberta calls on the Government of Alberta to pause its plan to dramatically change AISH and introduce ADAP, and to engage in meaningful consultation on how to make AISH work better with those who will be most affected: Albertans with disabilities.

https://inclusionalberta.org/connections/media-release-inclusion-alberta-deeply-dismayed-by-the-passage-of-bill-12/

12/05/2025

The Alberta Medical Association is speaking up about the harms recent Alberta government policies are causing Albertans with disabilities.

“Albertans living with disabilities deserve better than this,” notes Dr. Sarah Bates, a Calgary family physician and president of the AMA’s Section of Family Medicine. “The recent announcements regarding AISH, ADAP and the Canada Disability Benefit seem to ignore the human reality of persons living with disabilities and are sorely lacking in compassion. The proposed changes have caused, and will continue to cause, unnecessary complexity, anxiety and financial burden to those who might be least equipped to shoulder it. Physicians, and all Albertans, need to speak out and urge government to re-evaluate these ill-considered changes.”

We all deserve basic human decency

12/05/2025

"On Wednesday at high noon, the Legislature hosted its feel-good IDPD ceremony, but it rang hollow before it even began.
We cannot let this float into another year of polite silence.

Enough of that.

Next year, while MLAs sit indoors offering choreographed sympathy, people with disabilities can — and should — be outside in full force. Visible. Loud. Uncomfortable for the people who built this crisis."

Cam Tait offers another powerful piece today in his column, contrasting MLA's words of celebration for yesterday's International Day of Persons with Disabilities with their continued impoverishment of...persons with disabilities.

Check out the full column at: https://inclusionalberta.org/curated-news-content/

12/02/2025

Today is Giving Tuesday...give the gift of inclusion!

Over 1500 people have called Inclusion Alberta for support so far this year. It breaks our hearts but unfortunately we currently have a waitlist of children and adults with intellectual disabilities and their families waiting for our support. We do not have adequate resources to meet the demand.

Your Giving Tuesday donation goes a long way in allowing us to help more families in crisis. To donate, please visit: http://weblink.donorperfect.com/GivingTuesdayYearEnd2025

12/02/2025

Today is Giving Tuesday, a day to give back among all the hustle and bustle of holiday shopping. We would be honoured if you chose to give to Inclusion Alberta today.

It's been a disheartening year for Albertans with intellectual disabilities. Despite the times we live in, Inclusion Alberta continues to relentlessly pursue hope and possibility. This year, we have supported 120 students to pursue their dream of an inclusive post-secondary education. Employment outcomes for students who complete their studies are between 70-80%. It's absolutely life-changing, and we can't do it without your support.

To donate, please visit: http://weblink.donorperfect.com/GivingTuesdayYearEnd2025

12/01/2025

"This is the unbearable contradiction: after the Stollery lifts children toward their fullest promise, the provincial government’s cuts can drag those same families back into despair."

Columnist and disability advocate Cam Tait shares a powerful piece that contrasts the hope a new Stollery Children's Hospital building brings with the cuts to supports for children and adults with disabilities and their families once they exit the hospital doors. Check out the full column, and other news from the weekend, on our curated news page: https://inclusionalberta.org/curated-news-content/

11/28/2025

This Tuesday, December 2, is Giving Tuesday - and we would be honoured if you chose to give the gift of inclusion!

Know that by giving to Inclusion Alberta, you are creating real, positive change in the lives of individuals with intellectual disabilities and their families in your community.

We are a registered charity and donations are tax-deductible. To donate, please visit: http://weblink.donorperfect.com/GivingTuesdayYearEnd2025