Employment services for people with disabilities

Who we are

Who we are

L’ÉTAPE is a nonprofit organization with offices in Montreal and Laval. We offer free employability support services for people with disabilities.

Mission

L’ÉTAPE has for mission to help the integration and retention in the workplace for people with disabilities.

Team

The Board of Directors

  • Michel Nadeau

    President

  • François Lamarre

    Vice-president

  • Robert Hattem

    Treasurer

  • François Huard

    Secretary

  • Lyne Renaud

    Administrator

  • Marie-Claire Lassonde

    Administrator

TO COMMUNICATE WITH ONE OF THEM:

By email :
labourgadeinc@letape.org

By mail:

La Bourgade inc.
1001, boul. de Maisonneuve East, Suite
527
Montréal, Qc H2L 4P9

L’Étape – Montreal

L’Étape Laval

OUr philosophy of intervention

Our objective is to help people with disabilities develop their full potential
and apply their skills to a job that is best suited for them.

  • Services

    Our professional integration services encompass the whole process of employability of people with disabilities to ultimately help them find employment.

  • Method

    Our job counsellors offer services that are essentially focused on the individual needs of people with disabilities, in a context of job search.

    We first conduct a thorough evaluation of the employability of the person with a disability. To do so, we take into consideration the disability production process, functional capabilities, education level, work and paraprofessional experience, and financial situation of the person. This evaluation process ensures that our counsellors have all the information needed to effectively help people in their job search. In summary, L’ÉTAPE offers full professional integration services to assist people with disabilities in their job search.

  • Objective

    The objective of this employability process is to bring workers with disabilities to reach their full potential by focusing on their strengths and skills while taking their aspirations into account.

    In fact, professional integration allows people with disabilities to develop their individual autonomy and optimize their strengths.

    Our goal is to ensure the person is fully involved in the job search process. In fact people benefit on the long-term from such an involvement for the success of their professional integration depends on it for a great part.

Values

Respect: we respect all individuals, regardless of their capacities and physical or intellectual disabilities, their beliefs, medical condition, etc.

Autonomy: we believe that every individual has the potential to achieve his/her objectives

Cooperation: in our decision-making, our work with our participants, and with our partners

Adaptability: of our services and ability of being solution-focused according to the disability and needs of each individual

Integrity: in all our interventions, we ensure that our approach is honest and keeping with the values we have set for our organization. We will also ensure that all information mentioned during the meetings will remain confidential.

STATISTICS

We have been helping people with disabilities for 40 years.

Every year, close to 750 people with disabilities benefit from the assistance and coaching of the counsellors from L’ÉTAPE Montréal and Laval.

In 2015-2016, close to 75% of the persons we helped found employment. We have also contributed in increasing employability and integration of people with disabilities in the workplace.

83% of people with disabilities that benefited from the services provided by L’ÉTAPE are still employed after three months.

Did you know that 770 000 people, which corresponds to 10.67% of the population of Quebec, live with a hearing disability? (Source: http://www.cqda.org)

OUR HISTORY, SOME IMPORTANT DATES

1977

Mr. De Césaré, a man with a disability, completes his bachelor’s degree in mathematics and computer sciences and starts looking for employment. In job interviews, despite his academic qualifications, employment recruiters were not enquiring about his professional skills and abilities. They were all asking him what accommodations in the workplace would be necessary considering his disability.

Mr. De Césaré and a group of dynamic people decided to join forces to help people who were facing the same situation. They created L’ÉTAPE to offer specialized employment service to people with disabilities and help them find their place in the workplace.
After only one year, the results were beyond expectations. “To get a job, people with disabilities had to follow some STEPS (ÉTAPES in French, thus the name of the organization). Employers that wanted to hire a person with a disability also had to engage in a series of steps. The group concluded that if they join forces, everything was possible.

1983

La Bourgade inc., an organization fostering the creation of resources to help people living with a hearing disability decided to take over L’ÉTAPE, which allows the implementation of an employment integration service for people living with a hearing disability as well as offering coaching to people with physical disabilities.

2009

L’ÉTAPE continues its growth and opens a centre in Laval to offer specialized services for the employment integration and retention of people living with a physical, hearing or intellectual disability, or with an autism spectrum disorder.

2018

Since 2018, L’ÉTAPE-Montréal can also support people with autisme spectrum disorder and people with intellectual disabilities in their job search.