A brief four sections, Bill 56 is the Act Respecting Home Support Services Provided to Persons in Self-Managed Care. This legislation clearly identifies people who have publicly funded home support as the employers of their own workers. The leader of Newfoundland and Labrador's NDPs and the head of the provincial Federation of Labour, however, have publicly criticized the Bill. These arguments raise two issues which must clearly be addressed here. Secondly, COD and the ILRC, among a host of other groups, do not categorize disabilities.
All people are different, and disabilities impact upon different people in different ways.
The individual also has the continued right to retain the services of a private agency. Instead, it clearly emphasizes their right to do so if they choose. Not only should this Act eliminate any question of who the legal employers of publicly funded home support workers are, it does not so in favour of maintaining the personal choice and self-empowerment of persons with disabilities. This Act should be applauded as setting itself apart from virtually all previous legislation of a similar nature. Rather than viewing persons with disabilities as a population in need of a particular kind of protection, it confers the power over the spending of public monies to individuals on the basis of their daily living requirements.