The month of May has been officially declared Community Living Month in Timmins. Mayor Steve Black read a proclamation and raised the Community Living Timmins flag at City Hall yesterday to mark the occasion.

Community Living Timmins Intégration Communautaire is an association that supports the needs of over 150 individuals with an intellectual disability in Timmins. The association provides services and support to individuals and their families including Supported Independent Living, five group homes that strive to accommodate the individual needs of the people who live there, Supported Employment Services and Integrated Day Care. There is also a Foundations Program for Transitional Aged Youth, which supports individuals’ transition from school to meaningful adult life in the community, and a Children Services Program, which is focused on inclusion.

Johanne Rondeau-Bernier, the Executive Director for Community Living Timmins, says this month is about celebrating their own community of individuals and bringing their community into the spotlight.

“It’s a month where we celebrate, not solely as a community, but we like to bring our community out into the world,” Rondeau-Bernier says. “We like our individuals to have inclusion as much as possible.”

Part of the celebration at City Hall was for Francoise Denis, the recipient of the 2017 Harold Beatty Award. The award is given annually to a person with an intellectual disability who has made, during the year, an outstanding contribution to friends and the community and exemplifies the Community Living Timmins Mission Statement, which is: that all persons live in a state of dignity, share in all elements of living in the community and have opportunity to participate effectively.

“That’s what we do and that’s what we’re all about,” says Rondeau-Bernier. “It’s all about the individual and what they want. For their life and their future.”