[FEAT BC Admin]

In this topic area, discussion is about the fight to secure Government funding for your A.B.A. treatment program. It is also the place to talk about your thoughts and ideas about how to establish new Government programs specifically designed for autism treatment.

This is the place to hear input from parents who have fought for funding and won, as well as those who have fought for funding and would like to share their horror stories. There is a tendency to not share success stories once funding is secured. Please fight that tendency. By sharing our experience, we all become stronger.

 

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—-By FEAT BC (Freeman) on Saturday, January 3, 1998 – 03:16 pm:

-Hi everyone!

These are some things to think about in your dealings with government to help you to obtain support for your child’s Autism Treatment Program. These are my personal opinions and do not represent those of FEAT of BC or any other organization.

Many of these observations are based on my personal experiences (and I believe it poetic justice to help every parent avoid being systematically abused by their social worker the way I was).

Good luck to everyone! (Let’s all pull back the curtain on the Wizard of OZ).

Sabrina

 

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How To Fight for Funding for Autism Treatment and Appropriate School Placement

1. Establish a Paper Trail

Always take notes, documenting major points of all conversations with government and school officials.

This includes casual, in person conversations with social workers as well as ALL telephone conversations. All key points of discussion must be written down in your notes including the date and time of the discussion. This includes what was agreed upon, as well as what was not agreed upon.

Then the notes should be used to write a letter recapping the substance and content of the conversation. This letter must then be mailed or faxed to the person with whom you had the conversation. In addition, a copy must be kept in your file (see section on the icci game).

Why?

It is important to formalize the interaction between you and Government officials. In addition, everyone is put on notice that they must closely adhere to their responsibilities, regulations and laws., Furthermore, they must then consider the paper trail you have created. This lets everyone know that the interaction can become public and that any abuses of power and authority can be formally appealed and/or publicized.

In other words, they canit use discretion unfairly under the cloak of secrecy.

2. Submit all Requests in Writing

All your requests for your child must be submitted formally in writing with a copy included in your file and a copy, if necessary, sent to their immediate superiors.

3. Set Deadlines for Action

All formal requests for action must have a reasonable deadline set for that action. If no action or response is received by the deadline you have set (two weeks for example), then you will interpret the lack of response as a formal declination (a formal NO) of your requests.

Why Set Deadlines?

When bureaucrats do not want to do something, they will stall by ignoring you and your request. (As an aside, in the study of the bureaucracy, this is known as ithe power to do nothingi). They can string you along for years. When you have determined that the person you are interacting with is not inclined to help you or is not dealing in good faith, then you must take the initiative and formally label his/her behavior as obstructionist and de facto as a declination (a NO to your requests). This allows you to move to the next level of authority on your timetable to present your case. This takes the power to do nothing away from the bureaucrat with whom you are dealing. Simple stated, a bureaucrat who stalls and does nothing becomes irrelevant (use your invisible spray) and you move on to the next level of authority.

How to icci?

A cc. is a copy of your letter sent to someone other than the person you are writing. You put the cc. at the bottom left-hand corner of your letter followed by 2 spaces and the name of the person or people to whom you want to send a copy of the letter.

Who to icci to?

Sometimes it is best not to icci at all, especially in the early stages of the relationship (for example, your first letter to a social worker requesting assistance). This gives them the opportunity to do the right thing and does not present you as an overly combative person. When you start to run into problems, it is a good idea to send the icci to the 2 immediate superiors of the person you are having problems with. We do not recommend icciing all the way up the chain of command, since you want to give them a chance to solve the problem at the local level.

Why send a icci copy?

The reason for playing the icci game is that you want your interactions with the official to be known to his superior and possibly to other organizations so that 1) their action or inaction becomes a matter of record and 2) the individual knows he is being monitored. This helps minimize abuses of power and authority and helps encourage the official to meet their obligations and do the right thing.

What is the sequence of letters?

Find out the chain of command of the particular bureaucracy you are battling.

TOP

Minister
Deputy Minister
Children’s Ministry’s local region chain of command, all the way down to the District Supervisor
and Social Worker
Contacts can be found at the government directory: http://www.dir.gov.bc.ca/

BOTTOM

Start at the bottom and climb. At the Regional Operating Officer (ROO) level (once you have been declined) you have to decide whether to jump up to the top, threaten and then go to the media, or both. A word of wisdom: DO NOT BLUFF. If you are not willing to go all the way, they will ‘smell’ this. You must be prepared to take it right up to the Minister and beyond.

Documentation from Experts:

In your arsenal to fight for your child, it is wise to get his/her pediatrician and/or psychiatrist to write a letter on your childis behalf. In addition, any other experts who know your child and are sympathetic to what you are trying to do should become involved.

When to hire a lawyer?

If money is not an issue, you can hire a lawyer when you get to the area manager level. Make sure that you have a paper trail so the lawyer has something to work with. Also, have the lawyer give F.E.A.T. of B.C. a call, and we will send him/her information that will help.

If money is an issue (as it is for most of us running autism treatment programs), you might want to hire a lawyer once you have been turned down by the Minister.

How to hire a lawyer?

The type of lawyer needed is a litigator, or trial lawyer. S/he does not need to be an expert in autism, or special needs; s/he needs to be experienced in suing governments, and enjoys being in court. Word of mouth is a good way to find a lawyer.

Topic

[Andrew Kavchak]

Stoffer slams federal government for not providing autism funding in budget

Fri 23 Mar 2007

OTTAWA – NDP Leader Jack Layton and Peter Stoffer (Sackville-Eastern Shore) slammed the federal government today for not providing funding in the federal budget to help families with autistic children.

“Families with autistic children are in crying need of support,” said Layton. “They are very disappointed that the Conservative government has ignored their needs in the budget. Providing support for these families should be a bigger priority for the federal government than corporate tax cuts.”

“It is also hypocritical that the Harper government is ignoring the autism motion M-172 passed by the House of Commons last December,” said Stoffer. “When Harper was in Opposition, he constantly criticized the Liberal government because it did not respect the votes of the House of Commons. It is surprising how quickly the Conservatives have become just like the Liberals.”

M-172 requires the federal government to work in cooperation with the provinces and territories to establish national standards for treatment and delivery of services, study funding arrangements, create a national surveillance program, and provide more funding for health research on autism.

“The federal government must work with the provinces and territories to find a way to include autism therapy in the health care insurance plan of every region across this country,” said Stoffer. Stoffer introduced a private members bill (C-211) to this effect last fall.

Stoffer also expressed his profound disappointment with the federal government in failing to recognize the Veterans First Motion and ignoring the issue of Agent Orange and Agent Purple in the budget. The Veterans First motion was passed in November 2006 and suggested five key reforms that would deliver long overdue fairness and security for Canadian Forces veterans and their families.

“With a $14.2 billion dollar surplus, how can the federal government not provide more funding and services for families with autistic children and for veterans and their families? It is absolutely shameful. It is time for the federal government to be proactive in the lives of Canadian families living with autism.”

[Andrew Kavchak]

Dear Prime Minister and Members of the Standing Senate Committee looking into issue of Funding for the Treatment of Autism,

It is with great shock that many parents of disabled children in Canada who are getting nowhere near the kind of help they need from the provincial governments for their autistic children found out that the Canadian government is giving money away to support autism programs abroad. While this charitable move is certainly a noble gesture to be recognized, the fact is that there is no shortage of families in Canada with members who suffer from autism who are in great need of assistance. Even though the Conservative government supported and voted for Motion M-172 just a few months ago which was supposed to involve the creation of a National Autism Strategy, not one cent was assigned to any such strategy in the March 19, 2007 budget of two days ago. How is it possible? Similarly, when Bill C-304 was being voted on just a few weeks ago to require the Minister of Health to actually do something on the autism crisis, the Tories and the Bloc voted against it, with no alternative proposal.

Please give Canadians who suffer from autism and their families a fair deal. We need a National Autism Strategy in this country.

Otherwise, could you please advise which country should we be moving to in order to receive our taxpayer dollars in the form of autism assistance?

Thank you,
Andrew Kavchak
_________________________________________________

Autism Society celebrates grant from Canadian government

By Theodore May

Special to The Daily Star
Beirut, Lebanon

Thursday, March 22, 2007

BEIRUT: Members from the Lebanese Autism Society and the Canadian Embassy gathered at the Lycee Abdel Kader on Wednesday to celebrate continuing progress in the fight to provide full and proper education to autistic children. The group, which included Canadian Ambassador Louis de Lorimier, came together to commemorate the bestowal of a $21,000 grant given to the Lebanese Autism Society by the Canadian International Development Agency and implemented by the Canada Fund, the charitable branch of the Canadian Embassy.

This grant "was a great pleasure for us because we need the financial support because autistic children cost a lot of money to raise, especially since the [summer 2006] war," said Arwa al-Amine Halawi, president of the Lebanese Autism Society.

Founded by parents of children with autism in 1999, the society has grown dramatically both in numbers and in reach. Today, the society has 150 members and works to build on the integration program it began in 2000.

The partnership between the society and the Canada Fund began in late 2006, but the society previously had a similar relationship with Oxfam Quebec.

The latest grant from the Canada Fund accomplished a lot in the name of the 14 autistic children who attend special classes at the Lycee Abdel Kader. Part of the money went toward the installation of windows on what had previously been a dangerous open-air hallway. The rest of the funds went toward purchasing school material and helping to establish a new class to accommodate autistic students still on the waiting list.

The society hires professionals who are trained to work with autistic students and focuses on early diagnosis of autism, as well as the behavioral and cognitive development of those diagnosed with the condition. Through the society, students are also offered speech and psychomotor therapy as needed.

The Canadian Embassy plays a distinct and much-needed role in the country. Before the 2006 war, the budget of the Canada Fund shrunk dramatically in the face of what the Canadian government perceived were more pressing issues in Africa. After the war, however, the budget dramatically increased as embassy workers sought to help fund early recovery efforts.

Since then, however, managers of the Canada Fund decided that other at-risk groups not associated with the war should not be forgotten in the rush to help those hurt by the war. The fund therefore targeted "vulnerable categories of the population, including children, women, the disabled and refugees," said Nicole Machnouk, the Canada Fund coordinator.

"The idea is to support socio-economic and educational initiatives through small grants," said de Lorimier.

"We try to support these worthwhile causes.

[Andrew Kavchak]

"We see no money for autism."
____________________________
House of Commons
Hansard
Tuesday, March 20, 2007.

Ms. Judy Wasylycia-Leis:

Mr. Speaker, the parliamentary secretary brings a lot of commitment to this whole process.

Although we cannot support the budget, I do recognize that there are some aspects to it that are important and do make a difference, some of which we as New Democrats have fought for.

I want to mention that I raised in the House the fact that the credit for bus passes, which only applied to monthly users and unfairly discriminated against those who purchased weekly bus passes, had to be changed and the government did that.

I want to recognize that there is some money for education in this budget.

On the child care front, it is still dismally addressed in this budget with $1 billion cut before our eyes. The government did take the little bit of money it had set aside for business created day care, which was $250 million, and is giving it to the provinces so they can create spaces but that is a drop in the bucket.

What is important to say, which I said in my letter to the minister before his budget, is that we need more than tinkering. We need more than this usual small-minded tax cut for every ill. As I said in my letter:
After more than a decade of short-sighted tinkering around the edges, the time has come to again strategically leverage the competitive advantages that we have and to seize the opportunity to create new ones.

That is missing in the budget.

If we go through the budget we see nothing on housing. It has no housing strategy and no national transit strategy. It has nothing on employment insurance and does not establish a $10 minimum wage. It has no poverty reduction strategy. It has no plan to end student debt. We see no cancellation of the corporate tax cuts. It says nothing about pharmacare, home care, long term care or improved access to health care for aboriginals. It has nothing for coordinated training of medical professionals and it has nothing for catastrophic drugs for the Atlantic region.

The budget provides no significant new money for aboriginals. We see only one-quarter of the money we wanted for child care. We see no money for autism. We see no ban on bulk water exports. We see nothing for the pine beetle infestation. We see nothing for seniors and no increase in OAS. We see no action on veterans. We see nothing for forestry, FedNor, ACOA and western diversification.

All the rhetoric in the world will not cover up the fact that this budget is severely deficient when it comes to meeting the needs of average Canadians, working people, middle class families, ordinary folks, everyday men and women who have worked hard to make this country what it is.

We will vote against this budget unless the government comes to its senses.

[Andrew Kavchak]

Dear Senate Committee looking into Autism Funding,

Please see the press release posted on the US "Autism Speaks" organization website. It is an interesting contrast between the USA and Canada. Notwithstanding the government's support for Motion M-172 just a few months ago which involved the creation of a National Autism Strategy with several specific points, the budget of two days ago does not mention autism anywhere.

Yet, on the same day, March 20, the US Congress was introducing the "Expanding the Promise for Individuals with Autism Act of 2007" which would expand federal funding for life-long services for people with autism. US$350 million.

I can see a difference. Can you see a difference? Please eliminate the difference. Please recommend that the gap in what treatment and assistance that people with autism need and get in Canada versus the USA be eliminated. We need a serious National Autism Strategy and we need one now.

Thank you.

Andrew Kavchak

_________________________________________________

Autism Speaks Applauds Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Senator Wayne Allard for Introducing the Expanding the Promise for Individuals with Autism Act of 2007

Landmark Legislation Would Provide $350 Million in New Federal Funding for Services for Individuals with Autism Act of 2007

WASHINGTON, DC (March 20, 2007) – Autism Speaks, the nation's leading autism advocacy organization, today joined with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and Senator Wayne Allard (R-CO), as they announced the introduction of the Expanding the Promise for Individuals with Autism Act of 2007 (EPIAA), landmark legislation that would dramatically expand federal funding for life-long services for people with autism. The EPIAA would authorize approximately $350 million in new federal funding – above and beyond all existing federal dollars – for key programs related to treatments, interventions and services for both children and adults with autism.

Among the EPIAA's key elements are the authorization of a task force – which will include significant representation from the autism community – that will report to Congress and the Executive Branch on the state of evidence-based biomedical and behavioral treatments and services for both children and adults with autism, including identifying gaps in applied research on such treatments, interventions and services. It would also mandate a GAO study on service provision and financing.

EPIAA would also authorize a variety of grants: $20 million in annual demonstration grants for the coverage of treatments, interventions and services; $20 million in annual planning and demonstration grants for services for adults with autism; $10 million in grants in FY09 (growing to $20 million by FY12) for the expansion of access to immediate post-diagnosis care; $13.4 million annually in training grants for the University Centers of Excellence for Developmental Disabilities for training, technical assistance and additional services for individuals with autism and their families; and $6 million in annual grants to protection and advocacy systems to better meet the needs of families facing autism and other developmental disabilities, including legal representation.

"EPIAA represents a critical next step in establishing an appropriate federal response to the urgent national health crisis of autism," said Bob Wright, co-founder of Autism Speaks. "We thank Senators Clinton and Allard for their leadership in introducing this legislation, and for recognizing that the federal government must do much more to help people with autism get the comprehensive services they need and deserve."

"This is an important and compassionate piece of legislation for many reasons, but perhaps most of all because it remembers those who are most frequently forgotten and that is the adults, be they 22 or 72, who are struggling daily with the challenges of autism," added Jon Shestack, Autism Speaks board member and co-founder of Cure Autism Now (CAN). "The EPIAA will make dramatic and real change in the lives of thousands of Americans with autism and their families."

ABOUT AUTISM
Autism is a complex brain disorder that inhibits a person's ability to communicate and develop social relationships, and is often accompanied by extreme behavioral challenges. Autism Spectrum Disorders are diagnosed in one in 150 children in the United States, affecting four times as many boys as girls. The diagnosis of autism has increased tenfold in the last decade. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have called autism a national public health crisis whose cause and cure remain unknown.

ABOUT AUTISM SPEAKS
Autism Speaks is dedicated to increasing awareness of autism spectrum disorders, to funding research into the causes, prevention, treatments and cure for autism, and to advocating for the needs of affected families. It was founded in February 2005 by Suzanne and Bob Wright, the grandparents of a child with autism. Bob Wright is Chairman and CEO of NBC Universal and Vice Chairman, General Electric. Autism Speaks has merged with both the National Alliance for Autism Research (NAAR) and Cure Autism Now (CAN), bringing together the nation's three leading autism advocacy organizations. To learn more about Autism Speaks, please visit http://www.autismspeaks.org.

[Isaac]

Hello Everyone,

The 'Peach Arch News' (Vancouver area) has published a thoroughly outrageous — and exceedingly mediocre — editorial piece on recent political events in Ottawa, vis-à-vis Canada's ongoing autism wars at the federal level (Bill C-304).

We've known for a very, very long time that most of B.C.'s political class of journalists suffers from a SEVERE lack of intellectual rigor, particularly where provincial and federal autism health policy matters are concerned. In the Peach Arch News, we see only the latest example of this problem.

FEAT-BC's response to the Peach Arch News' tripe was printed in today's paper (March 14, 2007), mostly in it's entirety, with the exception of only the final phrase: "this is not a threat, it's a promise."

Isaac

———————————————————-

Peace Arch News Editorial: "Help Pleas"

Mar 06 2007

Politics can seem a blood sport at times, but it doesn't mean all the players would be wise to get dirty.

Take the most recent dispute over the Canada Health Act.

Parents of children with autism have been demanding for years that two types of treatment be funded – applied behavioral analysis and intensive behavioral intervention. They report that these treatments have proven successful in 40 per cent of autistic children, and therefore should be covered under the Canada Health Act.

A Feb. 21 vote in the House of Commons defeated a private member's bill, C-304, that was purportedly intended to include these procedures in the act. The bill failed 155-113, with parents raking over the coals the Conservative MPs who voted against it.

Some vowed retaliation at the polls. Others angrily called individual MPs derogatory names. Some question the integrity of anyone who does not support this particular bill.

The MPs who voted against, including Russ Hiebert (South Surrey-White Rock-Cloverdale), said the wording of the bill would undermine the Canada Health Act, as well as the provincial governments that are supposed to govern our health system. By naming autism as the only affliction or disease in the act, the bill is "flawed."

The parents' argument is sympathetic. They are the ones on the frontline, trying their best to deal with their child's disability and provide support.

And the Conservative argument, albeit legally sound, does little to help this distressful situation.

The parents, however, could also do more to advance their cause. No one should judge them for taking this issue personally. Nothing would be more personal than getting in between a parent and a child's well being.

But by wading into the political arena and throwing muck on politicians with name calling and aspersions, they risk putting off objective members of the public who might support the cause.

Gaining this support is integral to finding a solution. Perhaps a bill will come forward that guarantees the treatment of all citizens with any serious disability, without naming specific afflictions.

Or perhaps it will be decided that provincial representatives are at the only political level that can effect change.

The parents can help find the solution, but only if their pleas fall on sympathetic ears.

———————————————————-

F.E.A.T. of B.C's Response To The Editorial

March 10, 2007

Editor,
Peace Arch News.

Dear Sir:

Re: "Help Pleas"

Your March 6th editorial concerning the emerging political involvement of parents who have an autistic child or children indicates clearly that you simply don't "get it". You're stuck in an outmoded, and unhealthy, understanding of the relationship between those who would govern and those who are to be subject to such governance.

Canadian citizens have long ceased to be vassal-like supplicants, bowing their heads and tugging at their forelocks as their betters instruct them on what they might expect to receive by way of ex gratia beneficence from the all powerful State. It is not only the right but the duty of all Canadian citizens and, in particular, parents of disabled children to demand responsive performance from their elected representatives. If one or another bloviating politician fails to meet the expectations or betrays the trust of their electors, they deserve to be summarily consigned to the ash can of history. We have a moral obligation to rid the body politic of these less than useless individuals.

You claim the federal Conservative's position is "legally sound". Wrong again. The Supreme Court of Canada, in its 2004 Auton decision, told parents of autistic children that they must look to parliament for a solution to their demands. The operative statement of the relevant law, however, remains that of Justice Saunders, of the BC Court of Appeal, who stated, in Auton, that autism is a "socially constructed handicap". What a damning indictment of our politicians and their backroom or bureaucratic advisors.

You suggest that parents of autistic children who wade into the political area risk "putting off objective members of the public who might support the cause". Again, you're way off base. Shortly after the Supreme Court's watershed decision in Auton, an Ipsos-Reid poll found that fully 89% of Canadians supported Medicare coverage for the treatment of autism. It is only our myopic political class, superbly manipulated in "Yes, Minister" fashion by the blinkered bureaucracy, that opposes a fair and equitable solution to this pressing public policy issue.

Over the past decade, parents of autistic children have spent countless hours in futile meetings with elected representatives and senior bureaucrats, and have spent yet more time, and money, battling with one government or another before the courts. We are now doing what the Supreme Court of Canada has told us to do: we're getting political.

You claim that parents' pleas must fall on sympathetic ears in order for them to succeed in their quest for justice for their children. Wake up! This is 21st Century Canada. We're through with pleading to anyone, let alone people whose salaries we pay. Either existing MPs, regardless of partisan affiliation, respond to reasonable demands being made on behalf of our children or we will move Heaven and Earth to replace them with others who will do so. That's not a threat, it's a promise.

Yours sincerely,

Jean Lewis,
Founding Director, FEAT-BC

[J.Graham]

Yes, I will be 1 of 2 parents attending to represent GABA. We need to be a huge part of this to voice our ideas and concerns so that if this does take flight, it is done right.

Jen

[Super Dad]

I just received this from a Richmond support group mailing list:

*****
From: Linda Alblas <galblas@shaw.ca>

Claudia from Ministry of Education in Victoria has contacted us to ask 2 parents to attend a 25 parents meeting with the Ministry of Education for a Provincial Model School for Autism guideline discussion.

The meeting will be this Friday March 16th from 9:30am to 12 noon in Downtown Vancouver. They are looking for pre-school and elementary school parents. Please note there are 2 spots available. If you are interested to participate, please call me 604-271-7523 ASAP. We will submit the 2 names tomorrow so the Ministry can finalize the details Thursday.

Warmly
Pam
*****

Has anyone heard of this "Provincial Model School for Autism"?

[Andrew Kavchak]

Liberals take legal action over MPP's autism fight
Globe & Mail
Mar 14, 2007

By: KEITH LESLIE

TORONTO

The Liberal government has taken unprecedented legal action
against a member of the Ontario Legislature to conceal the legal
costs of its long-running court battle with the parents of autistic
children, the province's New Democrats charged yesterday.

New Democrat Shelley Martel started seeking the government information
in 2004, and eventually turned to the province's Freedom of
Information law to find out the cost of the lengthy court fight
with families who want the province to continue financing expensive
intensive behavioural intervention [IBI] therapy after their
autistic children reach age six.

A court ruled in 2005 that cutting children off from treatment
at age six violated their basic Charter rights, but the government
has appealed that decision.

Information and Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian ruled earlier
this year that the government should release its legal costs
by March 8, but the day before the deadline both Ms. Martel
and Ms. Cavoukian were named by the Attorney-General's ministry
in a request for a judicial review of Ms. Cavoukian's
order.
"This decision to take legal action against me and against the
Information and Privacy Commissioner is obscene, and it makes
me very angry," Ms. Martel told a Queen's Park news
conference.
"For three years, I've tried to get access to information which
I think should be in the public domain. After all, we are talking
about taxpayers' money. . . ."

Ms. Martel accused the Liberals of using "courtroom bullying"
in an attempt to muzzle her and stop her from uncovering the
government's true legal costs. She said that the money would
be better spent providing what the families have been asking
for — continued IBI therapy for their autistic children.

Ms. Martel's lawyer, Frank Addario, said it's obvious Ontario's
Freedom of Information law doesn't work when governments can
use it to block the release of data that should be made
public.
"It's a stonewalling bureaucrat's dream," Mr. Addario said.

Ms. Cavoukian does not comment on her office's orders, but a
spokesman for her office said it is not unusual for rulings
from the Information and Privacy Commissioner to be appealed
to the Divisional Court, although most are upheld. "We win the
vast majority of cases," spokesman Bob Spence said.

Conservative Leader John Tory said the government should stop
fighting Ms. Martel and the families of autistic children and
simply release an accounting of the legal costs of the court
battle.
"I fully support Shelley Martel's right to have this information,"
Mr. Tory said. "This is taxpayers' money, and only Dalton McGuinty
would spend even more money on lawyers instead of giving it
to the kids who need it."

The government said yesterday it is not suing Ms. Martel or
Ms. Cavoukian, and is appealing the order to make the information
public because it does not want to release legal costs when
a case is still before the courts.

Ms. Martel's complaints about the judicial review came one day
after a Superior Court judge rejected most of the claims of
a separate group of families with autistic children, who attempted
to launch a $1.25-billion lawsuit against the Ontario government
and seven school boards.

[Isaac]

Hello everyone,

Today, a prominent autism blog in New Brunswick ('Facing Autism in New Brunswick')
posted a message regarding Alberta MP Mike Lake’s opportunistic betrayal of our children, via his widely disseminated, written endorsement of the Conservative's vote to kill Bill C-304’s next step. This would have been to send the Bill to a parliamentary Committee for a detailed review of the need to establish a National Autism Strategy, and also the need to get medically necessary autism treatment under Medicare, to fill the huge healthcare gap.

The New Brunswick autism blog entry is at this address: http://tinyurl.com/348rex

Isaac

[Andrew Kavchak]

Hi Folks,
I received a letter from BC MP Randy Kamp yesterday in which he indicated that he supported the concept of a National Autism Strategy and included the now widely-distributed letter from Mike Lake, MP, about why he voted against Bill C-304. Below is the text of the letter that I mailed to Mr. Kamp in reply.
_______________________________

March 7, 2007.

Mr. Randy Kamp, M.P.
451-S Centre Block
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6

Dear Mr. Kamp,

Re: The Need for a National Autism Strategy

Thank you for your letter of February 28, 2007 in which you indicate your support for a National Autism Strategy (NAS). Thank you also for including the letter from Mike Lake which explains why the Tories voted against Bill C-304.

It was with profound sadness and disappointment beyond description that I learned that Bill C-304 was defeated and not referred to a House Committee for detailed examination. The Bill contained two parts, one of which involved the creation of a NAS. The death of this Bill at the hands of the Tories and the Bloc was a very dark moment in the history of autism in Canada.

I appreciate your stating that you support a NAS, but we still do not have one. Even though the provinces provide treatment for cancer, heart health, spinal cord rehabilitation, etc. your government has continuously been announcing the creation and expenditure of millions of dollars on such “National Strategies”. Is it really too much to ask the Minister to meet with his provincial counterparts and develop an autism plan pursuant to the process described in Bill C-304? I hope that you and your colleagues (who continue to state that you support a NAS) will continue to lobby the Health Minister and your caucus to demonstrate leadership on this file. The autism initiatives announced in November (e.g. creation of an autism webpage) were inadequate and negligible compared to the initiatives the federal government is supporting in its “National Strategies” for other diseases.

Regarding the Mike Lake letter, I have indeed received several copies from other MPs and other parents across the country who received it from their respective MPs. Mike Lake comes from the province of Alberta which provides autistic kids with more social services and educational support than any other province. When my colleague and I first met with him in Ottawa after the last election he told us that when his son was diagnosed he also received a $10,000 cheque from a professional hockey player to pay for treatment in the private sector.

For a parent in such circumstances to be part (along with his own autistic son) of government propaganda attempting to justify inaction when so many people across the country in much less fortunate circumstances than his own family’s are suffering leaves many in our community simply speechless. Many of them found his letter to be flawed and lacking the thoughtfulness that the issue necessitates. His letter trivializes the magnitude of the problem (e.g. suggesting it is merely a “wedge issue”) and reflects a disturbing dismissive abdication of leadership as well as missed opportunity. The voting that took place on February 21 was not to pass the Bill into law but to refer it to a Committee for review, which could have generated positive proposals for amendments if given a chance. Nothing will come of that now. Success? Hardly. Problem solved? No way.

In response to Mike Lake’s letter, Families for Early Autism Treatment (F.E.A.T.) of B.C. (http://www.featbc.org) issued the enclosed annotation on February 26. The document can be accessed at their website at:
https://featbc.org/downloads/FEATBC_release_02_26_07.pdf

You may find the passages in the FEAT document that refer to you to be of interest. Please distribute this to your caucus colleagues, particularly those who have been disseminating Mike Lake’s letter, as they should all be aware of the issues.

I am also enclosing a copy of a relevant letter that I had published in the March 5 issue of The Hill Times.

What is most disturbing to tens of thousands of members of the autism community across Canada, including myself, is that neither Mike Lake nor any other member of the Government appears to be proposing any meaningful alternative action plan. The Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs is expected to issue its report on “Funding for the Treatment of Autism” in May (or when Parliament resumes after the expected election). If the report contains meaningful recommendations (including possibly the creation of a NAS), please promote and work towards their timely implementation rather than sending out letters attempting to explain why nothing can be done for autistic kids.

Thank you.

Yours truly,

Andrew Kavchak

[Author]

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