ACE's Story
The Association of CSIL Employers (ACE) was founded in 2010 and formalized in 2018 by a group of CSIL Employers who saw that change comes faster when we speak with one voice across British Columbia.
What is CSIL?
Choice in Supports for Independent Living (CSIL) is publicly funded British Columbia program that gives eligible people with significant support needs more choice and control over their home support. Instead of having a health authority arrange and manage their support, CSIL provides funding directly to participants so they can hire, train, schedule, and manage their own support workers. This allows CSIL Employers to build support around their individual needs, routines, and goals, making it possible to live more independently at home and participate in their communities.
Choice
CSIL Employers can choose who enters their home and supports their daily lives, building relationships based on trust, consistency, and individual needs. Rather than having different workers assigned to them, CSIL Employers can build a support team that works for their lives.
Independence
CSIL gives Employers greater control over when and how they receive support, allowing support to fit their lives rather than their lives having to fit a rigid schedule. That flexibility can make it possible to work, study, spend time with family, and participate in the community. CSIL is about having the freedom to live independently, participate, and contribute.
Dignity
Instead of being treated as patients or clients who passively receive support or face institutionalization, CSIL puts people with disabilities in control. They become Employers, hiring and managing their own workers, contributing to the economy, and making decisions about their own lives. At its core, CSIL recognizes a fundamental principle: people with disabilities deserve choice, autonomy, and dignity.
We build power by bringing CSIL Employers together
ACE unites CSIL Employers across British Columbia so our shared voice shapes stronger public policy. Together, we turn individual experience into collective action and lasting independence.
Who is behind ACE?
ACE is led and shaped by CSIL Employers who know the program from the inside, supported by people who bring their skills and experience to the work. The lived experience of CSIL Employers remains at the heart of our advocacy and every conversation we have with government.
Co-founder & Executive Director
Paul Gauthier
Paul Gauthier is one of the founders of British Columbia’s Choice in Supports for Independent Living (CSIL) program and the founder of the Individualized Funding Resource Centre (IFRC). For decades, he has worked to advance individualized funding, independent living, and greater choice and control for people with disabilities. Through ACE, Paul continues this work by advocating for a strong and sustainable CSIL program that enables people with disabilities to direct their own support and participate fully in their communities.
Co-Founder & Executive Director
Tim Louis
Tim Louis is a lawyer and longtime disability rights and social justice advocate who has spent decades working to advance inclusion, accessibility, and community empowerment. His advocacy has helped shape important initiatives for people with disabilities in British Columbia, including the establishment of HandyDART, and he was a co-founder of the BC Coalition of the Disabled and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre. With experience as both a community advocate and elected official, Tim brings to ACE a deep commitment to ensuring that people with disabilities have greater choice, independence, and control over their lives.
ACE Advocacy Campaign Coordinator
Clara Betancourt
Clara connects the different parts of ACE’s work, helping coordinate the Committee, volunteer teams, community advocates, and external partnerships. She supports campaign planning, research, communication, and collaboration to help turn the CSIL Employers' priorities into collective action.
Advisory Committee
ACE Committee
The ACE Committee brings together 8 CSIL Employers who help guide ACE’s advocacy, campaign strategy, outreach, and priorities. Committee members bring their lived experience, knowledge, and perspectives to help ensure ACE’s work remains grounded in the needs and voices of the CSIL community.
Volunteer Team
Research Team
Our 5 Research Team volunteers strengthen ACE’s advocacy by building evidence on CSIL funding, assessment processes, policies, and other issues affecting CSIL Employers.
Volunteer Team
Communications Team
Our 3 Communications Team volunteers amplify the voices of CSIL Employers through storytelling, social media, videos, website content, and campaign communications.
But at the Heart of ACE Is You.
More than 65 community members are already involved, including CSIL Employers, family members, legal representatives, and allies. Every voice makes us stronger. There are many ways to get involved and help protect and strengthen CSIL for generations to come.
Stories from CSIL Employers across BC
My community is the reason why I am still contributing to society today and at the core of my community is my CSIL employees. They are my backbone of everything that I do.
Ben
CSIL Employer
I am able to live in my own home, enjoying my own yard. I do not have to comply with rigid facility timelines for care, and I can shower and experience optimum hygiene care as much or as little as I choose, rather than only one or two showers weekly, that most gov facilities offer.
Glen
CSIL Employer
Help us reach every 1500 CSIL Employer in BC
Volunteer with ACE and turn individual experiences into collective power. Your time helps shape policies that protect choice and independence across British Columbia.