A new "Outreach Quarterly Operational Report" is being pilot tested and has serious implications for the future autonomy of Outreach projects. For example, many women's Outreach projects have developed employment counselling services based on the fact that people stay longer at jobs they find themselves than at those which are found for them (1). The emphasis has therefore been in providing information on the labour market and employers, supportive counselling, job hunting skills, confidence building, skills assessment, advocacy, and referral.

This approach has been heavily supported in the past by EIC, particularly through group counseling where, in a supportive environment, women can research employers themselves, make their own contacts, and follow-up their own job leads. In the pilot Quarterly Report, however, jobs found by women themselves will not be counted. Only face-to-face employer contacts and direct placement of clients with these employers will constitute valid proof of a project's effectiveness. The result of such evaluation is to dictate a single form of employment service that does not relate to all target groups.

Probably the biggest problem some Outreach projects have with EIC is that they are rarely consulted and more rarely listened to in how to provide services to their target group. This is likely a result of the uncomfortable relationship between big government and small community-based services: standardization vs innovation. Narrowly defining who can use the services, what EIC programs must be promoted, how many employers must be visited per month and what services are to be offered (with very specific target numbers) are efforts to enforce a rigid control which, unfortunately, never worked for the Canada Employment Centres and is contrary to the philosophy of community-based service.

To develop a rapport and understanding between EIC officials in Ottawa and Outreach projects, national consultations should be set up every other year with each target group. Apart from having a forum to sensitize government officials to the unique needs of each group, a consultation would provide an opportunity for projects in each target group from allover Canada to share information, strategies, and resources on employment related services.

In the meantime, criticisms of the pilot Quarterly Report should be solicited directly from the Outreach projects and taken seriously. If EIC insists on standardizing the uniqueness out of Outreach, then Outreach counselors should be hired at government wages with government benefits and become EIC counselors.

The critique of government's relationship to community needs can be extended to almost any level of government or its departments. While the government pays lip service to soliciting input from the grassroots level who know Canada's social problems intimately, it prefers to construct social policy based on the opinions of the privileged.

This article was contributed by a CCLOW member, and does not necessarily reflect Outreach projects in all provinces.

1. Bolles, Richard. What Color is Your Parachute?: A Practical Manual for Job Hunters and Career Changers. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 1986, pp. 27 &38.