The Liberal government has promised to find meaningful work for dozens of employees with developmental disabilities after shutting down the national archives program that employs them.

On Tuesday, the minister in charge of the program vowed to find the 34 employees jobs within other federal departments; however, the organization representing the group remains skeptical.

“I look forward to offers of alternative employment from the federal government for them. To date, our experience has been that nothing has come forward,” said David Ferguson, Ottawa-Carlton Association of Persons with Developmental Disabilities.

For nearly four decades, the group has sorted and shredded papers for Library and Archives Canada. This is the second time in four years the program has been subject to cuts.

“I think that it’s a terrible thing to do to our program, and we don’t know why they’re picking on our program all the time,” employee Gladys Whincup told CTV Ottawa.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed concerns over cuts to the program during question period Tuesday, confirming that the existing contract between the government and the employees has been extended until 2020.

“People with disabilities remain underrepresented in the workforce, working with partners to address the challenges they face in securing gainful employment is important to us,” Trudeau said.

“That's why we're taking action to help people, regardless of their disability to fully participate and be included in society and in the Canadian economy.”

Minister of Accessibility Carla Qualtrough said the government will work to find the displaced employees work within a more suitable department.

“We know that Canadians with disabilities are the most underemployed in our country, so we don’t want to lose this group of very talented individuals from the workforce,” Qualtrough said.

“The work that they are currently doing is not needed anymore, and I do not want to be ever the minister responsible for giving someone meaningless work.”

However, for employees like Whincup who have spent decades working for the national archives program, the promise of new work isn’t good enough.

Several of the employees involved plan to protest the move on Parliament Hill in the coming weeks.