Marie-Pascale Poku is an Investigator/Analyst at the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development, responsible for interpreting legislation, policies, and guidelines to assess applications for the Ontario Immigration Nominee Program. Prior to this, she was a Special Agreements Officer at the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, responsible for interpreting legislation, directives and guidelines to administer funds to families with children with severe disabilities.
She also recently completed the Master of Public Policy, Administration, and Law Program (MPPAL) at York University in order to improve her understanding of policymaking in the Canadian context. During this time, she also enhanced her research, analysis, communication, consultation, and collaboration skills. She worked on several projects related to social assistance, affordable housing, transportation, health, and human resources. Her major research paper sought to examine the extent to which a Universal Basic Income (UBI) and its variants could improve the economic and social well-being of working-age adults with disabilities in Ontario. She presented recommendations encouraging the inclusion of people with disabilities in primary research. Specifically, she appealed to academics and policymakers, on the necessity of developing research that is centered on collecting primary data on the experiences of people with disabilities within Ontario’s Basic Income pilot experiment, prior to making conclusions about the potential benefits of the UBI on this demographic.
As a member of the PAAC, Marie-Pascale aims to support SCAGO’s work around improving standards of care for individuals living with Sickle Cell Disease
