More than one million Canadians have lost jobs since the pandemic began, and employment support centres are working on overdrive to keep vulnerable people who are facing job insecurity employed.

Studies show that Canada’s recent immigrants, Indigeneous populations, youth out of school, people living with disabilities or single older people are far more at risk of living in poverty, due to lower levels of education, poorer health, and higher stress levels.

Headquartered in Vancouver, EMBERS (Eastside Movement for Business and Economic Renewal Society) is a social enterprise creating employment opportunities for people living on low incomes. Every week, EMBERS provides sub-contracted employment for approximately 300 people through precarious work for the organization’s customers in construction, sanitation, and security. EMBERS pays its workers weekly, or offers cash advances, especially to those just entering or re-entering the workforce. 

There are a lot of vulnerable people, whether they’re refugees, are coming out of prison, are in alcohol or addiction recovery or are people with disabilities.

“The people who we [support] are people whose lives are in transition,” explains founder and CEO, Marcia Nozick. “There are a lot of vulnerable people, whether they’re refugees, are coming out of prison, are in alcohol or addiction recovery or are people with disabilities.”

In Ottawa, the non-profit Causeway Work Centre is a community economic development agency helping people with mental health issues and other challenges find rewarding work and live more independently. Causeway employs individuals through its three social enterprises: catering company Krackers Katering, bike shop Cycle Salvation, and landscape maintenance service, Good Nature Groundskeeping. 

“We really believe in community and that everyone has something to contribute to society,” says Rennatha Bernadin, Manager of Employment Services.

Both organizations are facing unprecedented challenges during the pandemic, from responding to higher rates of unemployment to the major operational challenges that physical distancing has brought. 

Increased demand for services 

The unemployment rate in Canada reached 7.8 percent in March 2020 — the largest monthly increase since data became available in 1976. During these challenging times, EMBERS has been receiving job applications from people who may not have required their services previously. 

Nozick mentions one person who owned their own insurance company before the pandemic, now reaching out to EMBERS for a job. “Even [for our] sanitation jobs, there are all kinds of people jumping in because the work provides more money than what the government is paying out if you’ve lost your income from another source. We’re getting new people from all walks of life looking for tail-end jobs for the time being.”

Before the pandemic, EMBERS’s workers would sign into the office every day, pick up their work equipment (like steel-toed boots), and be offered breakfast and a packed lunch before making their way to the work site. “Operationally, we’ve had to change things very much,” says Nozick. “We only let two people [into our office] at a time — and we have to get out 40, 50 people in the space of a half an hour.” This is a steep increase in workload, and a big change for an organization that previously opened its doors at 5:30am, and had a whole morning to process workers.

Causeway has also seen an increase in service demand, and for them, it’s virtual daily check-ins with clients. “We want to make sure that people’s basic needs are being met [and we are] doing mental health check-ins,” says Bernadin. “Our community support team is helping people get assistance with additional barriers or any housing issues, medical counseling — whatever they need.” 

Work anxiety 

Bernadin noted some clients feeling concerned around the uncertainties of COVID-19. “We’re seeing a number of people who are fearful of working at this time,” she says. “A lot of clients are experiencing increased anxiety; they’re reluctant to work or they’re concerned about what’s next. Our intake and community support program has increased the mental health phone calls, providing the correct, reliable information. Even suggesting going for a walk or listening to music has been really helpful to clients who’ve called in.”

Nozick has seen the same sort of anxieties with her workers. “We’ve had some workers who said, ‘I’m not comfortable coming to work. I want to stay home, can you write me a layoff notice?’ We really can’t write a layoff notice, because [EMBERS has] jobs — so that person can’t technically get EI.” She adds that the federal government stimulus packages “don’t seem to help people who are choosing to stay at home. If we close our offices, I imagine that’s a different story, [but] I think a lot of people will fall through the cracks.” 

Pivoting business models 

Both EMBERS and Causeway have pivoted their models toward pandemic response and recovery. 

EMBERS is currently servicing around 80 construction companies, many of whom are looking for additional staff. “Their own staff are getting sick, so they need both the ongoing labour and fill-ins,” Nozick says. “We have very, very strict rules on how that happens. Everybody has to sign a document stating their state of health. We have masks for people, and we make sure they’re being [physically] distant, of course.”

Construction is a huge economic generator for Vancouver, accounting for 8.6 percent of the British Columbia’s GDP. As a result of new safety guidelines during COVID-19, EMBERS has been able to create a new job position: social distancing officers. “We’re working with a very large company on multiple sites, and we have 12 to 15 social distancing officers. They have to have their first aid, plus construction safety officer training and certification.” 

“There are opportunities now for different kinds of work, so we’re not shutting down anytime soon,” says Nozick. “There are jobs in sanitation. A lot of people won’t want to do those jobs, sanitizing the single room occupancy hotels where people are sick… The other area we’re looking at is security services. There are so many businesses that have shut down, and they’re vulnerable to looting in the neighbourhood.”

For its three social enterprises, Causeway has had to pivot its business models. While Cycle Salvation is still open for occasional tune-ups, Krackers Katering, which relied on a kitchen, has completely shut down. However, the business partnered with a local food centre to deliver food to the community. “Our drivers help with delivery,” says Bernadin. “We were able to expand the catchment area [of a local food centre] to support clients who would have normally come to the centre to pick up their food. We’ve been able to help out three times a week, providing those [drivers] with work.”

Looking ahead

For Nozick, the pandemic has shed a light on the lives of people in Vancouver’s downtown eastside. She sits on a collaborative committee with the inner city community to discuss the most prevalent issues. “We’re really working hard together to try to find solutions for the major challenges in this neighborhood, where you’ve got a lot of homeless people, a lot of people who are drug addicted, and places that provided food have shut down. The sanitation is terrible, people are dying from overdoses, garbage is not being properly collected. Now [the government] realizes how bad it really is. They’re providing a safe supply of drugs to people so people can stay in their homes. It’s just shed a huge light on these issues.”

Looking ahead, Nozick feels hopeful that the issues won’t be pushed aside after the pandemic. “The community has come together to solve some of these issues, and I don’t think people can just close the door on it.”

Bernadin echoes the same sentiments. She says she hopes the current government support for vulnerable populations like those Causeway works with “is something that will continue.”

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