QUEEN’S PARK – Northern Ontario families joined others from across the province at Queen’s Park to protest the government’s handling of autism services on Tuesday. Inside the legislature, Thunder Bay-Atikokan MPP Judith Monteith-Farrell questioned the government on the file.
Monteith-Farell highlighted the story of Adrianna Atkins of Manitouadge, who has to drive 400km to Thunder Bay with her son for services. The Thunder Bay-based advocacy group, Northern Autism Families, of which Atkins is a part, says travel costs can consume the majority of funding families receive to cover autism services.
Sudbury MPP Jamie West said funding cuts led to the closure of a major autism therapy provider in his city.
Minister of Children, Community, and Social Services Todd Smith was heckled repeatedly as he responded. “For the last 30 years, governments of all stripes in this leg have not gotten the autism file right,” he said. But Smith maintained his government will change that.
The Ford government introduced a new funding model for autism services in February, which provided families a fixed amount based on the child’s age and family income. But they reversed course after major public backlash from autism groups, who said a needs-based model made more sense.
The government says that by April of 2020, a new policy based on recommendations from an expert panel will be in place. But the families at Queen’s Park say that’s not soon enough.
“Northern service providers and families have been raising the alarm to service capacity issues and proposing solutions to the Ministry for years, with little acknowledgment and zero action by the government,” the Northern Autism Families said in a release.
