Highlights from the Calgary Service Provider Council Annual General Meeting Friday, June 14, 2019 Chair, Erin Waite, called the meeting to order at 1pm and welcomed all attendees, including our new Minister of Community and Social Services, Rajan Sawhney, who is also the MLA for Calgary Northeast, and Allan Govender, the head of service delivery for the Alberta Government’s Disability Services and Minister Sawhney’s Chief of Staff, Ryan Hastman. As the Chair for the Calgary Service Provider Council of Calgary, Erin mentioned that she feels honoured to support the membership of 33 agencies who provide crucial services to individuals and families throughout the community. The Business Meeting was conducted and included a report from the Chair that highlighted the feature event for the year being the PDD Review, to which agencies provided input and the Council, collectively, submitted feedback. Minister Rajan Sawhney spoke to the membership. She noted that she was aware of the current financial/budget concerns throughout the sector. She shared that she is committed to working together with PDD to ensure the essential resources for our clients and community remain in place. She is looking forward to learning more about our sector, and to working together with service providers. Minister Sawhney also briefly mentioned the work of the PDD Review Panel. She stated that she has read the report multiple times. She mentioned that it’s not just a matter of releasing the report. At this point, next steps and stakeholder engagement need to be considered. The Minister confirmed that she has been able to meet with members of the Panel, and through this process, was able to gain additional insight/information that will be shared in the near future. Elaine Yost presented her perspective on how we got to where we are today. Her remarks follow. Ryan Geake provided remarks about his experience on the PDD Review Panel. Ryan shared that, throughout the process, the learning for all panel members was that good public policy cannot be created without having all stakeholders involved. The community-driven approach felt like a new era for the greater disabilities community. He noted that over 1,100 Albertans from around the province came together to participate in sessions and talks with the panel members. Throughout the process, over 1,100 questionnaires were submitted.