Inclusion Alberta had the chance to talk inclusive hiring and local success with the Rotary Club of Lloydminster on Jan. 19, highlighting the Inclusion Alberta Rotary Employment Partnership.
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Representatives from Inclusion Alberta, Inclusion Lloydminster and rotary spoke to the partnership between the two groups.
The partnership works to create meaningful employment for people with intellectual disabilities in association with business owners, employers and municipalities. Rotarians use their local connections to help Inclusion Alberta find employment for these individuals.
The partnership has run now for more than two decades.
“This started 25 years ago with a single club in Edmonton,” said Brittany Williams, Inclusion Alberta rural team lead for the rotary employment partnership.
She says there’s substantial unemployment for those with intellectual disabilities.
“The purpose of the partnership was because we identified a need for folks with intellectual disabilities. There is currently about an 80 per cent unemployment rate within that population,” said Williams. “That does not mean 80 per cent of people that are in Alberta, who happen to have an intellectual disability, don’t want to work. They just need to be given a pathway in.”
According to Williams, as of December 2025, the program has created 944 jobs across the province, including successful placements in Lloydminster.
“In Lloydminster, we’ve had a total of 105 jobs created,” said Michalla Brillantes, Rotary employment partnership coordinator. “Currently in the city, I support 29 different jobs and we have 18 people employed. There’s (also) six active job seekers who aren’t employed at all.
“In the last two months, we’ve had an individual get hired at Environmental 360 Solutions as a shop hand full time. We’ve also had someone hired at Co-op as a grocery clerk part time.”
Williams says hiring someone with an intellectual disability has its benefits.
“There’s lots of reasons why hiring someone with an intellectual disability is a really great business choice,” said Williams. “For one, punctuality is rated, I think it’s 95 per cent better than the coworkers they have without disabilities. Absenteeism is much lower; safety ratings are actually much higher for folks with intellectual disabilities.”
On top of the benefits they bring to the job, Williams pointed out it also has a positive effect on overall business.
“People want to give their business to folks who are inclusive employers,” she said. “I think it’s about 86 per cent of people who are polled said they would prefer to give their business to someone who is an inclusive employer.”
Mike Gelech, Nelson Lumber general manager, spoke to his experience having hired someone with an intellectual disability.
“It started back in the spring of ’25 with Inclusion Alberta,” he said. “The process was really good. We had a niche; there was a need that we needed to fill.
“We had one of the employees, their son was in the homes division, was inquiring and seeing if there was a fit. It kind of just snowballed from there and we had our meetings and our talks and our interview process.”
He says the interview process was largely the same as it would be for any candidate.
“It really is no different than any other interview I’ve had to do,” said Gelech. “The potential employee comes and sits down. You kind of have a game plan already of what kind of role they’re going to be filling. But it’s more of, just get a feel of that person. Doesn’t matter who you are, personality is a big part of making sure that person’s the right fit.”
He says the individual they hired, Carter, has been an excellent fit for the organization.
“I never have to worry about Carter. He’s there, he’s on time,” said Gelech. “There’s never a bad day with Carter. He always brings a smile to his face every time he’s there.
“It’s been a good experience.”
He says the dialogue between himself and Inclusion Alberta has been ongoing throughout the whole process.
While Rotary highlighted some of the organization’s hiring successes, the time it takes to place someone in a position can vary widely.
“It really depends. There’s some folks who are able to find employment if they’re really using their networks, if we’re getting leads from rotary,” said Williams. “There’s (also) some folks who sometimes have to wait years.
“We really try to make sure we’re developing jobs as quickly as possible. It could be a couple of months to a few years.”
She says they get creative with some of the jobs.
“Sometimes we do get pretty creative with the job, in sort of identifying what tasks are falling off the side of your desk,” she said.
Adding to the difficulty of job seeking, Lloydminster’s provincial border plays its part in complicating the process. In total, 15 people in Lloydminster are seeking employment through Inclusion.
For inclusion Alberta, the employee has to reside on the west side of the border.
“The employee has to be on the Alberta side. The job can be on the Saskatchewan side,” said Brillantes.
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