Government is investing more than $630,000 to find new ways for refugees and immigrants to join British Columbia’s growing economy.

In honour of the United Nations' 24th International Day of Persons with Disabilities and the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Michelle Stilwell, Minister of Social Development and Social Innovation issued the following statement:

Two new Job Creation Partnerships with the Gabriola Arts Council will provide skills training and paid work experience to four Gabriola Island residents, resulting in a year’s worth of arts and culture programming and a renovated community cultural centre.

A government-funded skills training program is giving eight people real-world work experience and training in the public works sector to help them find full-time employment and join in on British Columbia’s growing economy.

A Community and Employer Partnerships program with a successful history of helping unemployed individuals find high-paying careers as retail automotive sales professionals is being funded again in the Lower Mainland.

A government-funded program is giving unemployed Aboriginal people paid training and hands-on work experience in the Thompson-Nichola region’s horticulture industry.

The B.C. government and Southern Interior Construction Association (SICA) are offering training for Aboriginal people to become heavy-equipment operators.

Individuals and families with low-to moderate-incomes and people with disabilities are benefiting from 71 new units of affordable rental housing at Chorus Apartments, which officially opened in Surrey.

A successful hospitality training project is being expanded to cover two more cities.

With new technologies such as 3D printers, 3D scanners and computer numeric control (CNC) machines beginning to hit the mainstream, it is easier than ever for businesses to benefit from their use.