The Voice - Public Interest Alberta with Brad L

Join VAD Society as we learn about the projects and resources that Public Interest Alberta offers the disability community.  With some great information about the services that are offered and provided by PIA and hear from Brad LaFortune about the great organization they have become.

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Teresa Makarewich, VAD Program & Services Manager

Welcome to the Voice of Albertans with Disabilities podcast for March 2024. I'm Teresa Makarewich, your host and VAD’s program and service manager. Thanks for joining us today. Voice of Albertans with Disabilities gratefully acknowledges that what we call Alberta is the traditional and ancestral territories and gathering place for the diverse indigenous peoples whose histories, languages and cultures continue to influence our vibrant communities. We make this acknowledgement as an act of reconciliation and gratitude to the many First Nations Metis settlements and the six regions of the Metis nations of Alberta and Inuit who have lived in and cared for these lands for generations HY HY. 

VAD has been talking with local agencies to learn about the resources available to the disability community, and in today's podcast, I'll be talking to Brad from Public Interest Alberta. Public Interest Alberta is a nonprofit, nonpartisan province wide organization focused on education and advocacy on public interest  Issues. PIA exists to foster an understanding of the importance of public spaces, services and institutions in Albertans lives and to build a network of people and organizations committed to advancing the public interest. Thank you, Brad, for coming on the podcast to discuss resources that Public Interest Alberta provides -  together, we hold the power. 

Can you take a moment and please introduce yourself?

Bradley Lafortune, PIA Executive Director

Sure. Yeah. My name is Bradley Lafortune. I use he them pronouns. I live on treaty 6 territory in Amiskwaciy Waskahikan Edmonton, and I am the executive Director of Public Interest Alberta.

Teresa Makarewich, VAD Program & Services Manager

Perfect. Thank you. So can you tell us who public interest Alberta is as an organization, Brad?

Bradley Lafortune, PIA Executive Director

For sure. Yeah. So public interest Alberta is nonprofit organization. We are supported by individual Members from across the province and organizations like VAD. And what we do is we advocate mostly to the provincial government for public services and public spaces and public institutions to be strong. Strong to be strengthened and to make sure that everyone is included so that Alberta is a place for everybody. We have been around  For  20 years now, and it's it's an organization that provides a lot of resources to individuals, from trainings on how to lobby and talk to elected officials to How to develop campaigns for changes to public policy and we do a lot of activism as well and solidarity work with different organizations to push for positive changes to the provincial government.

Teresa Makarewich, VAD Program & Services Manager

That's wonderful. Can you give us some history about your organization?

Bradley Lafortune, PIA Executive Director

Yeah. So about 20 years ago, a group of individuals and organizations got together. It was a time when there were a lot of cuts to services and programs, especially at the provincial level, and there weren't a lot of voices from organizations that were talking about the impacts of those cuts to services and programs. So what  Those people did as they got together - They formed a society under the societies. And came up with public interest Alberta to sort of counter a lot of what was happening at the time during the Clinton years, there were a lot of cuts to healthcare and social services for folks, and there was a real need to provide that alternative voice and bring people together. One of the things that PIA does really well  I think is it brings diverse voices together and kind of a convening space, so there's lots of different opportunities to get involved at task forces and committees and on  Board, and really, what separates I guess us from other organizations that are lobbying for business interests and other private interests is that we don't have a profit profit motive at all. What we're focused on is public services and public institutions. And you know the types of programs and services that really support people and in Alberta. That's a much needed sort of perspective. And we've been getting, you know, larger and stronger over the years. We have several hundred members and we're really focused on providing that sort of alternative perspective based on good evidence that you know, it's good for people, it's good for society and it's good for the economy, too, to make sure that everyone is taking care of everybody. So that's really what we're all.

Teresa Makarewich, VAD Program & Services Manager

That's awesome. I noticed you hit on inclusion for all and diverse voices brought  Together, I really like that.

Bradley Lafortune, PIA Executive Director

Yeah, so important.

Teresa Makarewich, VAD Program & Services Manager

How does public interest Alberta help people in the community?

Bradley Lafortune, PIA Executive Director

Well, in many ways we try to help voices and community. I'd say like first and foremost part of our like philosophy or big idea is that advocacy only really works if you make sure. That people from impacted communities are engaged and not only involved and listened to you, but really given leadership roles and that, you know, we're following the lead of community. So for example, when you talk about like you know, folks living with disabilities who are engaged with VAD and you know the Self Advocacy Federation and other organizations. We have a task force. It's called the Human Services and Poverty Task Force that I'm really stoked about because you know more than half of the individuals who are part of PIA and part of that For us also have living experience and can really bring that experience to the table when it comes to, you know, long standing issues with accessibility and inclusion. You know on the subjects of housing, transportation, public transportation, all those kinds of issues. And So what I think that we offer is that space and those resources to have those meetings. And then we also have a lot of  You know, tools and tricks when it comes to developing our campaigns that we can support individuals with. So for example, we have a lot of online campaigns where we have, you know, the opportunity to send in letters, petitions to elected officials and we also provide like training as well. A lot of times what we run up to with our work is folks, you know, even myself thinking like oh, like  I don't know if you know that politician is going to give me the time of day or I don't know exactly how to be persuasive and, you know, have the right message. But just like that's, you know, that's their job is to listen to All of us. And so one of the things that we provide tangibly is training for people, you know, to just, like, develop their message and their argument and their story, to feel confident going and having those conversations with elected officials to hopefully get them to, you know, make better policies ultimately. So that's one thing that we do. 

We also provide an annual conference that folks who are listening Today and definitely join us for we're planning on doing one in the fall. So it's a two day conference that has a whole bunch of great speakers, good opportunities to develop skills for advocacy and activism, and lots of training. So that's one thing that we offer as well and then otherwise just day-to-day, we're trying to make sure that we're making space for voices  From different communities in social media and in the media to amplify those voices on the issues that really matter to our community.

Teresa Makarewich, VAD Program & Services Manager

OK. Just a quick question on that. If someone is looking for an advocate, can I send them your way or is it more advocacy training that you would help them with?

Bradley Lafortune, PIA Executive Director

No, we can definitely help people with individual advocacy needs as well for sure, yeah.

Teresa Makarewich, VAD Program & Services Manager

OK, good to know. What are some of the projects public interest Alberta has done in the community?

Bradley Lafortune, PIA Executive Director

Ohh yeah, we've been really busy the last couple of years, so I would say the biggest thing that we're focused on right now is affordable and accessible and adequate housing. That's our big campaign. So we're really proud to work with the City of Edmonton and Advocate for investments in new affordable housing in their last budget cycle, it was a four year budget cycle and the City of Edmonton. Historic levels of investment in affordable housing, and that was thanks to the work of like individual members at PIA who raised their voices and called for that we call our campaign housing for all And so that's really important for us. We're not just talking about, you know, you know, near market rent or non market rental suite. That's really important. That's the affordability piece, but also thinking about like how and where we develop new housing that is accessible and is like in the right place for people so they can get around when it. Comes to mobility Issues and accessibility as well. So we've been working on the housing campaign for the last couple of years and it's really tricky because you need all governments to gather the federal government, the provincial government. The municipal government, but one thing that I'm really really proud of is the amount of investment that's been made by the City of Edmonton and the City of Calgary as well in their last budgets. And we've really been focused on  And now we're really just trying to, like, raise the alarm, you know, like a lot of folks, whether they're, you know, living on income supports or working two or three jobs are really having, you know, challenges making ends meet and rent is just going up and up and up. 

So we worked really closely with MLA Janice Irwin, who I imagine is very familiar to everyone who's. Listening today to support and help develop a bill, a law for rent control. So that's gonna be debated here in the in the spring, in the legislature. You know, it might not pass because Janice is an opposition MLA and the UCP generally doesn't support PDP stuff, but just continuing to like  Work with, you know folks who will work with us to try to come up with solutions on the housing piece, because that's just such a challenge for so many folks right now. So that's one, you know, the other one that we're focused on is, you know, income supports and age as well. You know, like we're trying to make sure that, you know, when it comes to any tweaks to those, those Terms that you know people are, you know, who are using those programs are front and center with any changes like you think about. Obviously the big one is like the time that you know people receive AISH payments for example, right and how much stress that can cause even with just like a week or two change. And so we're advocating to the provincial government to make sure that you know any changes include the voices and actually listen to the people who are. You know, using those programs, that's a big one for us. So those are a couple  People, I would say, like generally speaking, what we're trying to focus on is that Alberta really needs a sustainable revenue system in order to strengthen public services. Our healthcare system is really strained right now, our education system is really strained right now and our income supports and social services are really strained right now, so. What we're seeing is these like slow and sometimes fast cuts to those services and it's really not  The right path. And so we're advocating the provincial government to make sure that, you know, we're getting off that oil roller coaster right when it comes to revenue going up and down and thinking about taxation as well and good taxation so that we can provide services for people who need them, you know.

Teresa Makarewich, VAD Program & Services Manager

Yeah, yeah, I agree. Good thoughts then. You've already touched on this a bit, but can you share your thoughts on how public interest Alberta contributes to the disability community to help better people's lives?

Bradley LaFortune, PIA Executive Director

Yeah.

For sure. Yeah. I mean that's a big one. I think that like first and foremost, it's so it's so frustrating to see that lots of governments and organizations almost forget about the disability community when they're developing policy or there's a bit of a sort of just a passing reference to the importance of accessibility and inclusion. Disability, when it comes to you know whether it's public transportation, housing, healthcare, education, you name it. And So what we try to do at Public Interest Alberta is make sure that we have like a lens on disabilities through everything that we develop. So we work really closely with VAD. Sam Mason,  shout out to Sam. She's on at least two of our committees, maybe more. She's everywhere, making sure that we're - We're -we're thinking about when we develop policies that we are recommending to the government that we have a strong disabilities lens on them. And so I think that's really important. Again, it kind of loops back to what I was talking about earlier. It's so fundamental to make sure that leadership within Public Interest Alberta comes from the communities. That have experience and know what it's  Like to live under policies that don't work for folks. So what we try to do is make sure that you know, we foreground those voices and we give a lot of space and hold space for when we develop policies to advocate that really relies on the true living experience of folks living in disabilities community. We also provide, you know, more tangibly  We try to provide like you know, like I said earlier, some training and advocacies like self advocacy training as well, right. So we do town halls and we do lobby days and we do campaigns, letter writing camps. Needs and just do that kind of skill sharing and skills, building with everyone who's a member of PIA. So that's something that like, if folks are interested, they can join PIA today and then check out, you know, kind of the offerings that. We have to Support people who might want to get a little bit more political. You know, we're not partisan. We're not with anyone party. But we do believe that  You know, advocacy is for everyone, right? And if we're going to change the world, we need to make sure that we're giving people the tools that might help support, you know, just strengthening the voices to decision makers to make sure that we're not  Being ignored and being left out of the conversation.

Speaker

OK.

Teresa Makarewich, VAD Program & Services Manager

Can you tell us how to get a hold of public interest, Alberta become involved and is there a cost to join?

Bradley Lafortune, PIA Executive Director

Absolutely. I can tell you about that. So we want to make sure that our organization is barrier free. So individual memberships are $50 per year. $20.00 for low income folks and that's self identifying. And then if there are any barriers to those individual costs of becoming a member, we do support people becoming members cost free as well. We, we make sure that cost is not a barrier to entry and to engagement. People can get involved by going to the website if you have. Access to the Internet it's PIAlberta.org - pialberta.org, and you'll see a tab right at the top that says join. You can check it Out there, the other thing that you can do is find us  You know, if you want to send a letter or a card like in person, you can find our our address. I can give it here too. It's 12323 Stony plain Rd. I can't remember that the postal code off the top of my head, but it's pretty easy to find there and you can do it that way. Otherwise you can call me on my work line anytime, Send me a text, My phone number at work is 780-901-1177 and we can talk about how people can get engaged.

Teresa Makarewich, VAD Program & Services Manager

Perfect. What is an interesting fact about public interest Alberta that everyone should know?

Bradley Lafortune, PIA Executive Director

Ohh that's such a good question. Ohh my gosh, there's so many things. OK top of mind. An interesting fact that people should know about public and Alberta Wow, let's see. Well, we have, I think it's interesting, we have successfully our most successful campaign that I'm really excited about. In the Six years is $10  Childcare for all worked on that really closely, with a lot of organizations, including VAD and Alberta  signed on to it, which was kind of surprising given that, you know, former Premier Jason Kenney really didn't want to do it. We're really focused on member engagement in this past year and so one thing that I'm really excited about, I think is really. Interesting is we have been to so many communities outside of Edmonton and Calgary in the last year. We've been to Drayton Valley with Tasco in Leduc, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Red deer, planning on getting up to Grand Prairie. I'm going to be in Wetaskiwin on the 27th of February and so we're just dotting the province, which is pretty exciting. And I think that that's really interesting as well because there's so many issues in rural and small towns in in Alberta that we really want to connect up with. So folks are out there outside of bigger cities, we definitely want to hear from you as well because we're planning on expanding and making sure we're in every corner of the province.

Teresa Makarewich, VAD Program & Services Manager

Perfect. Well, thank you for your time and energy today, Brad, your. Support of the. Community is of value to all. Is there anything else you want to say that I haven't asked you?

Bradley Lafortune, PIA Executive Director

Oh my gosh. Well, I want to say thank you. Thank you. Thank you for having me here today. And thank you for your energy and the great conversation. And I also wanna thank everyone out there in the community for everything they're doing to advocate for themselves and for other people in the province because it really does make a difference advocacy. It really is for Everyone and you know, I see it every single week when I'm working with folks who are on our committees from the community and it really makes a difference. And so I just want to say thank you to the community as well for everything they're doing to, you know, make Alberta a better place for the disabilities community and for everyone. So yeah, just keep up the good work.

Teresa Makarewich, VAD Program & Services Manager

Wonderful. Thank you again for joining us today. Voice of Albertans with disabilities is a cross disability nonprofit organization of and for people with disabilities. We are guided by the principles of accessibility, equity and inclusion. You can learn more about VAD services on our website at vadsociety.ca or call 780-488-9088 For more information . If you have a topic you would like to hear more about in the podcast, please e-mail myself at vad@vadsociety.ca with topic ideas, speaker suggestions, or your feedback. Thanks again Brad for your input today. Signing off together, we hold the power.