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[Mike & Jean]

You can now view the Ontario "Medicare for Autism Now!" campaign tour summary, complete with candid photos, on our blog:

http://www.medicareforautismnow.blogspot.com

[Mike & Jean]

“Medicare for Autism Now!” Ontario Tour – April 13th to 20th

We returned from our Ontario “Medicare for Autism Now!” campaign tour just over a week ago. I apologize for not providing this update sooner, but as all parents of children with autism know, family priorities must come first.

We made the trip to Ontario primarily for three reasons:

1. To continue building a national coalition, which includes Ontario parents/activists who are prepared to participate in our “Medicare for Autism Now!” political campaign in the next federal election to have autism treatment covered under Medicare.

2. To introduce our “Medicare for Autism Now!” non-partisan political campaign and establish relationships with Ontario parents, supporters, other voters, and local media in Parry Sound-Muskoka and other key target Ontario ridings.

3. To gain national “earned media” for our campaign.

I am pleased to report that we succeeded in meeting all three of our objectives! Following is a more detailed description of the week’s events.

David Marley, our political strategist and I arrived in Ottawa late in the evening of Apr. 13th.
Monday, Apr. 14th began with an interview with Canada AM which went extremely well. We were then joined by Stefan Marinoiu. As many of you know, Stefan lives in Toronto with his wife Bernadette and their three children, Lia who is 17, Simon who is 15 and severely autistic and Paul who just turned 6. Simon has never had the benefit of any intervention quite simply because the system failed him and his family. Last February, out of desparation, Stefan walked from Toronto to Ottawa (450 kms.) to raise awareness about the autism crisis in Canada. After 11 days of walking, he met with health minister Tony Clement for about 15 minutes, only to be told…. “this is a provincial issue”…no questions or concern for Simon, or Stefan, just more political indifference.
Thanks to the kind donations of many of you, Stefan got to fly to Ottawa this time! Stefan spent the rest of the week campaigning with us….so now…our Travels with Stefan.

Stefan, along with David, Senator Jim Munson, Senator Norman Atkins, MP Andy Scott, MP Shawn Murphy, MP Dawn Black and myself all spoke at our “Medicare for Autism Now!” press conference which was held in the Charles Lynch press room on Parliament Hill at 11:00 on Apr. 14th. The support for our campaign on Parliament Hill is growing as is the media attention. Our initiative is being taken seriously. When we had a press conference last May, one camera attended; there were 7 on Apr. 14th. including W5.

On Monday evening we drove up to the town of Huntsville which is in our federal health minister Tony Clement’s riding of Parry Sound- Muskoka We spent the next three days campaigning and “main-streeting” in Huntsville, Gravenhurst, Bracebridge, Parry Sound and Orillia. We met with all the editors of the local newspapers and their advertising managers. We did an extensive interview with the Bracebridge Examiner and the Parry Sound
North Star.
We distributed brochures and other hand-outs to hospitals, clinics, libraries, recreation centres, senior centres, community colleges, legions, coffee shops, and even paid a visit to Minister Clement’s constituency offices in Parry Sound and Huntsville. We really worked the room! It was a very interesting experience to say the least and we learned some very valuable lessons: Not one person, and I mean, not one person asked, “What is autism?”….sadly, it seems like everyone we spoke to knows someone who has it. And….everyone we spoke to without exception agreed autism treatment should be covered and supported our initiative to secure it. It is also abundantly clear that support generally for Mr. Clement is extremely weak. The support from the people who live in Parry Sound-Muskoka was no surprise to us. Why? Because Canadians are fair-minded people who expect our government to do the morally right and economically sensible thing by our children.
Throughout our Travels with Stefan, he shared stories of other fair-minded Canadians he met during his trek from Toronto to Ottawa. He told us of people who were “strangers” stopping their cars to ask if he needed help, gave him money, paid for meals, alerted restaurant owners to provide him with anything he wanted. These “strangers” paid for his hotel accomodation, in one case, opened their own home to him to provide food and shelter. A church congregation gave him all of their Sunday collection and bought him new boots and gloves. All of these “strangers” or fair-minded Canadians heard Stefan’s story, which is sadly the same story of countless other Canadian families dealing with autism, and responded with overwhelming support and encouragement to “keep on going – your cause is just!”

On Wednesday, the 16th while in Parry Sound, I did a phone-in talk show interview from the editor’s office in the Parry Sound North Star with the Ottawa radio station CFRA which aired from 1:20 to 1:40 p.m. I managed to do this after “calming the hystrionics and bad words” which filled the air after David locked the rental car keys in the trunk along with most of our materials….thank goodness for locksmiths! About our rental car – it was a black Charger with tinted windows and a spoiler….we looked like we came out of “Smoky and the Bandit.” Just before the “key incident” we happened to park the car beside a vacant store which had a poem about walking posted in the window….Based on Stefan’s walking experience, the wording seemed very poignant so I took a photo for you all to see.

On Thursday, the 17th. we drove to Toronto via Orillia and Barrie where we stopped in at the Orillia Packet and Times and the Barrie Examiner. We were joined that evening by Harold Doherty who is a dad and very effective advocate from Fredericton, New Brunswick. Check out Harold’s blog: “Facing Autism in New Brunswick” at http://www.autisminnb.blogspot.com We met Harold last May when we were in Halifax. He is going to co-ordinate our political initiative in the Maritimes. Harold flew from Fredericton to join us in Toronto to meet with media and speak at our “Medicare for Autism Now!” rally in Oakville. That evening David, Harold and I had dinner with Stefan and his family. Bernadette provided a lovely meal and warm hospitality. Meeting with Stefan and his family and particularly meeting Simon, who is 15 and has never had intervention was a shocking reminder to me personally of why we must have autism treatment universally accessible under Medicare! Our son is one year younger then Stefan’s son. He has benefited from 11 years of intervention solely because we had the means to provide it….that’s all! That this situation still exists in Canada where we have had Medicare for almost 40 years and a Charter of Rights and Freedoms for 25 years is no longer acceptable! The evening provided a sharp reminder that our expectations are reasonable because all our children, regardless of where they live, or how much money their families have are indeed worthy of treatment!

On Friday, the 18th we met with the producers of W5. They are producing a program about our political initiative which is scheduled to air on May 10th. After an extensive interview with Sandi Rinaldo we had lunch and further discussion with some CTV NEWS producers. They are extremely interested in our initiative and have expressed interest in covering it during the election campaign….national “earned media” – just what we need! Friday afternoon, we met with Bob Rae who is the Liberal party’s policy co-chair. We had a very frank and useful conversation with Bob who listened closely, asked lots of good questions and demonstrated a pretty good understanding of the issue and the “road-blocks” More on this in due course. Friday evening, we met with Deborah Coyne who lives in Toronto, is a mom, a constitutional lawyer, will be seeking elected office in the next federal election and is a supporter. Check out Deborah’s blog: http://www.canadianswithoutborders.blogspot.com We also met with Gordon Shreeve who is a seasoned campaign organizer. Gordon does not have a child with autism but he is committed to helping us organize some of the Ontario target ridings. He is a wonderful addition to our team!
On Saturday, the 19th we had our “Medicare for Autism Now!” rally in Oakville. About 40 people attended mainly from Burlington, Oakville, Mississauga and Toronto. Jennifer O’Brien was the local organizer and did a fabulous job! The speakers included: Stefan, Harold, Deborah Coyne, Barry Hudson who is a dad of a 4 year old from Mississauga, David and I. Norrah Whitney who is the director of FEAT Ontario also said a few words. Our message was well received! The turn-out was reminiscent of where we were one year ago in BC, but the people who attended were motivated and ready to go! W5 attended and filmed the whole two hours plus interviewed a number of people. One of the W5 producer’s wife who owns a pre-school and the W5 production manager also attended. Our day concluded with one more meeting…we met with another very talented political organizer, and former leader of the BC Green Party named Stuart Parker. Stuart is doing a PhD at the University of Toronto and is an associate of David Marley’s. He has committed to helping us with some of the Toronto ridings during the election. His skills and smarts will be tremendously helpful to us.

Whew – that’s it! We flew home on Sunday the 20th and have pretty much being playing catch-up!

We would like to thank all of you who so generously donated money to make this trip possible! In order to move forward with the next steps, we need to raise more money •••.a.p. We want to do an advertising campaign in Parry Sound-Muskoka which will run all summer. We are asking the papers for quotes right now. We need your help to make it happen. We also need to raise money to cover our next trip, which will be during the election campaign. Stay tuned for information about upcoming fund-raising events! In the meantime, please feel free to donate:

Cheques are payable to:

Medicare for Autism Now
C/o Suite 425 – 1489 Marine Drive,
West Vancouver, BC
V7T 1B8

Or email us at: mfanow@gmail.com

In the next week, we will be adding this narrative plus video of the Ottawa press conference, the Canada AM interview, the CFRA radio interview and many photos of the entire Ontario tour including the Oakville rally to our blog…check it out at:

http://www.medicareforautismnow.blogspot.com

Remember to tune into CTV’s W5 on Saturday, May 10th. Check your local listings for time and channel.

[Super Dad]

Hi Everyone,

Has any of you put an autistic child into Karate class? Would you please share your experience?

Tony

tony(dot)tamer(at)yahoo(dot)com

[David Chan]

Hi All,

I read this in my church bulletin today, and I think it applies to us FEAT'ers old and new.

"Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are anger and courage; anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are."

The two gals kinda go together

St. Augustine

Keep up the good fight folks

Dave
Mr. P's Dad

[Stella Li]

ASBC presents Dr James Mulick: Saturday April 19th 9:30-4:30 Executive Hotel, Lougheed Highway, Burnaby

I was reading Dr James Mulick's notes for tomorrow's conference. Can't help to type this although it's so late in the evening…

There are lots of wonderful information packed in this conference, not just ABA. You won't regret joining us but you will miss great info if you miss the conference.

So…if you have time to come but have not registered yet, we still have a few drop-in spots.

Registration starts at 8:45am. Conference starts at 9:30am. Hope to see you there.

Stella

[Louise Taylor]

"Medicare for Autism Now" goes to the Health Minister's Riding

Another interesting day……Our FEAT team drove to Parry Sound yesterday which is about 1 hour from Huntsville, where Jean Lewis had an extensive interview with the editor of the North Star newspaper. They also met with the advertising manager who looks after all or most of the Muskoka papers, to discuss an advertising campaign. The local businesses etc. were also "papered".

In Parry Sound, some FEAT campaign literature was delivered to Tony Clement's constituency office. Unfortunately (or fortunately for him, perhaps), Mr. Clement was away at the time!

Jean Lewis also had another successful radio interview at 1:15 – 1:35 on CFRA.
___________________________________________________________
Following is the invitation for our event in Oakville on April 19th. Please send it to any contacts you have in Ontario.

"Medicare for Autism Now!" Rally

Saturday, April 19th, 2008

2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Iroquois Ridge Community Center,

1051 Glenashton Drive,

Oakville, Ontario, L6H 6Z4

Why should you attend?

Despite a decade of lobbying, collaborating and litigating – autism treatment is still excluded from our universal health care system. Canadian families from BC to Newfoundland and everywhere in between are still bankrupting themselves in order to provide treatment for their disabled children.
The current and limited patchwork of funding and services provided through the provinces’ social services ministries could evaporate tomorrow with a change of government, or the stroke of a bureaucrat’s pen. No legislation or mandate exists within these social services ministries to deliver health care or to protect and enshrine our children’s medically necessary treatment.
In 30 years of "advocacy", the only two initiatives which have achieved ANY success in obtaining treatment funding in any province has been litigation, and more recently, focused political action. Both were brought by volunteer parent groups.
Autism is an epidemic of staggering proportions, it now afflicts one in every 150 children in North America, one in every 94 boys. Autism has become an election issue in the U.S. – Senators Clinton, Obama and McCain have all articulated extremely progressive positions. In 2006, the U.S. federal government unanimously passed the "Combating Autism Act" which allocated $945 million into research and treatment. The U.S. federal government recognizes their responsibility to intervene by acting to avoid a major health and social crisis.
It is time for our federal government to recognize their responsibility to act! This is not a left or right issue – it’s a right or wrong issue!
Today, all over Canada, parents of children with autism and growing numbers of fair-minded, but outraged Canadian voters expect our federal government to act. We are letting those who govern and those who wish to govern know they will be held accountable, regardless of party affiliation, at the ballot box in the next federal election.

Who should attend?

You – and every fair-minded Canadian you know!

In Canada, children with autism and their families suffer from political indifference. It will take the sustained energy and dedication of EVERY CANADIAN who desires a just society to correct this injustice. For our children’s sake, and the sake of future generations, we urge you to attend this rally. Please bring friends, family, kids, anyone and everyone you know who is appalled by the gross injustice done to our children every day by the governments of Canada and its provinces.

Come and find out how you can make your vote actually count!
Featured speakers will include:

Jean Lewis – Vancouver parent, B.C. Co-ordinator for "Medicare for Autism Now!" initiative

Harold Doherty – Fredericton parent, Maritime Co-ordinator for "Medicare for Autism Now!" initiative

David Marley – Vancouver supporter/advisor, B.C. Co-ordinator for "Medicare for Autism Now!" initiative

Stefan Marinoiu – Toronto parent, "Medicare for Autism Now!" supporter
Deborah Coyne – Toronto parent, "Medicare for Autism Now!" supporter

Please RSVP asap to: Jennifer O’Brien

Email: jobrien116@cogeco.ca

[Louise Taylor]

Medicare for Autism Now in Ontario

It's been an excellent day for our FEAT of BC representatives campaigning in Bracebridge, Ont. Jean Lewis has now met with one of the reporters from the Bracebridge Examiner – he will do a story which will reach all of the community newspapers in the riding.

FEAT's campaign information has been left at the Hospital,Library, Legion, the Medical Centre and even the local Conservative Party's Riding Association office.

Tomorrow they will meet with the Huntsville Forester and the Parry Sound North Star. They will also be "papering" Huntsville and Perry Sound with brochures, and will be paying a visit to Health Minister Tony Clement's constituency offices in Huntsviile and Perry Sound.

Jean Lewis will also be inerviewed by
Ron Corbett of CFRA radio in Ottawa at 1:30 Ontario time. It can be heard live over the internet.

[Louise Taylor]

Medicare for Autism Now Campaign in Ontario.

Today on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, the press conference was held to kick off this campagn. Senator Munson, Senator Atkins, MPs – Shawn Murphy, Andy Scott and Dawn Black all spoke in support of Medicare coverage. Stefan Marinoiu, David Marley and Jean Lewis' presentations focused on our national political initiative. The press conference was well covered by media – CTV, Global, etc. CTV National News will cover the story tongiht.

[Louise Taylor]

Medicare for Autism Now Campaign heads for Ontario today!

Jean Lewis and David Marley will be arrivng in Ottawa on Monday and will be meeting there with parent, Stephan Marinoiu.

Their first scheduled appearance is an interview on CTV's Canada AM at 805 AM.

At 11 AM, they will be holding a press conference on Parlaiment Hill to announce their tour of Ontario, including the Minister of Health, Tony Clement's riding in Perry Sound- Muskoka. In attendacne at the press conference will also be Sen. Jim Munson, Sen. Norman Atkins, MP Shawn Murphy, MP Andy Scott and MP Dawn Black.

(The press conference will again be covered by CTV national news and will air Monday night, so stay tuned).

Then at 130 PM local time (1030 AM in BC) they will also be appearing on CHUM radio station in Ottawa, which should be available on the internet.

Please check back daily on the FEAT website or the "Medicare for Autism Now" blog for daily updates on the progress of the Ontario tour.

[Mike & Jean]

NEWS RELEASE

April 9, 2008For Immediate Release

Medicare for Autism Now! campaign returns to Ontario

Vancouver, BC: Jean Lewis, chief spokesperson for FEAT-BC’s Medicare for Autism Now! campaign today announced that she and others, including Stefan Marinoiu, of Toronto, will be traveling through Ontario, organizing parents and supporters as part of a national initiative to obtain Medicare coverage for autism treatment. They will be holding a news conference on Parliament Hill, in the Charles Lynch Press Theatre, at 11:00am on Monday, April 14th.

The news conference will be followed by a three day campaign swing through federal Health Minister Tony Clement’s constituency of Parry Sound-Muskoka, various media interviews in Toronto, on Friday, April 18th, and a concluding parent/supporter rally at the Iroquois Recreation Centre, in Oakville, beginning at 2:00pm on Saturday, April 19th. Making your vote count in the next federal election will be the central message to be delivered by a variety of speakers.

FEAT-BC’s Medicare for Autism Now! campaign is building a coalition of parents, active supporters and other fair-minded Canadians across our country. "The epidemic of autism and the urgent need for effective and affordable treatment is a major issue in the US federal election campaign. We aim to make sure the same thing happens in Canada because our children deserve no less", said Mrs. Lewis.

-30-

For further information, contact: Jean Lewis at 604-290-5737 or via e-mail: jean.lewis@telus.net.

[Author]

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