The Canadian Association for Community Living (CACL) and IRIS – Institute for Research and Development on Inclusion and Society are pleased to announce the creation of a full-time Managing Director position at IRIS, the research and development arm of CACL.

The Institute was first launched by CACL in 1969 and has long served the CACL membership and broader disability rights community and governments in Canada and internationally. Highly respected for its expertise, the Institute has helped to advance the human rights and inclusion of persons with intellectual and other disabilities and their families through its research, information resources and leadership and social development.

“We are very pleased to announce that with some additional resources we are able to significantly grow our capacity to make progress on priorities and also grow our sustainability. The creation of a full-time Managing Director at IRIS means having more executive leadership to drive our agenda forward, to build needed partnerships, to engage and grow donors and supporters, to work with governments and to get our message to the public.” – Joy Bacon, CACL President.

Dr. Michael Bach, current Executive Vice-President of CACL, will be moving into the Managing Director role on a full-time basis so that he can devote his time more completely to the Institute’s renewal, and its research and development priorities. These include the right to legal capacity and supported decision making, safeguards to protect vulnerable persons in the emerging system for medically-assisted death, and accelerating the transformation of community services to enable more individualized, empowering and inclusive approaches to supporting people with intellectual disabilities and their families across Canada. Dr. Bach brings internationally-recognized expertise to these issues and has been in the role of Managing Director on a part-time basis for several years.

This change means Dr. Bach will leave his current role as Executive Vice-President of CACL, a position he has held for almost 15 years. His departure triggers a search for his replacement and CACL hopes to fill the position in the early fall of 2016. Until such time as a new Executive Vice-President is appointed, Dr. Bach will continue in the position as he prepares to make his transition to IRIS on a full-time basis. His contact information remains the same during this period.

CACL is grateful for Michael Bach’s leadership over the past number of years and will more formally recognize his contributions as the transition is finalized later in the fall.

Information on the search for a new Executive Vice-President for CACL is forthcoming soon. The formal announcement by the CACL, IRIS, and CACL Foundation Boards can be found here.