[Michael McLellan is the Co-Founder and President of the BC Self Advocate Leadership Network (BCSALN). He recently completed his term as the first leader labelled with a developmental disability to serve on the B.C. Government’s Provincial Accessibility Committee.]
The BC Self Advocate Leadership Network (BCSALN) was co-founded in 2019 by Alex Magnusson and myself. It is a way for self-advocacy groups to be part of a bigger network of leaders across the province. We became a non-profit society in 2022. It feels really good to me that we are now coming up to our five-year anniversary of becoming a non-profit society.
We have many different projects with partners. We have partnered with BC People First, a self-advocacy group led by people with developmental disabilities, to host their annual conference. We’ve also partnered with Inclusion BC, a provincial organization that works to advance inclusion and full participation for people with disabilities, on their annual conference in Nanaimo a few years ago. We also supported the Northern Gathering of leaders in Prince George focusing on shared priorities and how we can support self-advocacy in the North.
Michael McLellan, President and Co-Founder of BCSALN (right), and Alex Magnussen, BCSALN member (left).
Michael McLellan, President and Co-Founder of BCSALN (right), and Alex Magnussen, BCSALN member (left). We wrote three plain language reports called “Words Matter” to share what words feel respectful and what words continue to talk down to and dehumanize people labelled with developmental disabilities. Those are a big win and were a good start to many things we’ve done. Recently, we had the chance to talk with people in Scotland, who are just like People First Canada, to share what is going on in other countries around self-advocacy.
Last April we met with B.C. Premier David Eby and other MLAs with the support of the Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction Sheila Malcolmson. We were the first delegation of self-advocacy leaders to meet with the Premier. For the future I want to see more mentorship so people can build their leadership skills. I want to see some of our members mentoring people. For example, if you are on a Board, you may want to be mentored on how to be, say, the Board Vice President.
BC SALN now has different working groups. One of our groups came out with an advocacy tip sheet. Another group is going to have a mentoring handbook. Another piece of that is that we brought in a person to do a presentation on marketing.
I’m pretty proud that BC SALN has had several practicum students from UBC Okanagan through the Canadian Institute for Inclusion and Citizenship. I supervise the BC SALN part. They have done research on policy. They see the policies we have and have helped us create policy. That is a big win for us.
I just came off BC’s Provincial Accessibility Committee, a group advising the government on matters related to accessibility in B.C. I felt I could make good contributions. My ultimate hope is to see somebody with developmental disabilities sitting on the Boards of BC Hydro, BC Ferry Corporation, ICBC and other bodies. That would be my dream for the government.