A National Autism Strategy — Will It Finally Happen?
Today I wanted to take a look back at what’s been done so far towards achieving a National Autism Strategy, and where we may be headed.
In 2007, Senator Jim Munson put forth a report to the Senate entitled – Pay Now or Pay Later : Autism Families in Crisis. The full text of the report can be found below.
Despite its importance, it unfortunately didn’t trigger any changes at the Federal level, and the autism community was left waiting. Here’s a piece written by Kathleen O’Grady in 2016 about the subject.
O’Grady makes reference to Autism on The Hill, an annual gathering outside Parliament Hill, created in 2013 by Suzanne Jacobson of Quickstart, bringing people together to advocate for a National Autism Strategy.
Here are some of the speeches from this year’s event, which I attended:
Every year there is collection of MPs that come out to show their apparent support, but as Mike Lake made reference to here in 2017, just being there is not enough:
The Canadian Autism Partnership he mentions was an initiative that began in 2015, brought before the House in 2017, where it was ultimately voted down nearly unanimously by the Liberals (MP John McKay was the sole Liberal to vote in favour).
Full voting results can be found here:
According to the former Health Minister Jane Philpott, it was voted down because the project didn’t have unanimous support from the autism community, including Autism Canada, who’s chair Dermot Cleary had concerns of what they saw as another “level of bureaucracy.” Further analysis of what went wrong can be found below:
Now here we are in 2019, and with recent (and ongoing) changes to the provincial landscape of autism support, a push for a National Autism Strategy has been reinvigorated.
On March 31st, just before the new Ontario Autism Program went live, a group of hundreds from across Ontario, spearheaded by co-organizers Sarah Evans and Kerry Monaghan, joined together to march 22 kms to deliver a symbolic Autism File from Lisa MacLeod’s constituency office (representing the Provincial government) to Parliament Hill in what was called Canada’s Next Step. We were received by Senator Jim Munson and MP Chandra Arya of Nepean. I don’t have video of his speech, but he pledged full support and endorsement for a National Autism Strategy. He spoke of how the Federal Government has put work into a National Seniors Strategy, a National Dementia Strategy, and it was time to take a similar step with Autism support.
Chandra Arya is my MP, and my wife and I had met with him prior to the march to ask for his support. He gladly accepted. Several days after the march he showed continued support by attending Autism on The Hill.
He is also the MP Sponsor for the E-petition initiated by Mark Chapeskie, outlining the ask for the National Autism Strategy:
1. Create a funded national autism and special needs strategy developed in partnership with provinces and territories, and needs-based, timely services delivered to Canadians in need, thus strengthening our commitment to human rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms;
2. Seek multi-partisan support;
3. Enshrine evidence-based therapies such as applied behaviour analysis, occupational therapy, speech therapy into the Canada Health Act;
4. Move eligibility assessments for the DTC from the CRA to Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC);
5. Modify the Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP) to permit withdrawals without penalty for post-secondary education;
6. Create an ombudsman to investigate when governments fail to honour the strategy;
7. Create programs for life transitions;
8. Expand the housing program for vulnerable groups;
9. Create a caregiver allowance for caregivers of high needs children; and
10. Regulate providers of autism therapy services.
The E-petition already has over 1600 signatures, and is growing every day. I would encourage everyone to sign:
CASDA (Canadian Autism Spectrum Disorders Alliance) also recently released their blueprint for a National Autism Strategy, which can be found here:
With the Federal election not too far away, there is the hope that the Federal Party Leaders will make a pledge for a National Autism Strategy to be part of their platform.
I would like to call out specifically the MPs who attended Autism On the Hill this year to ensure their presence of support on the Hill actually means something.
PC: Mike Lake, John Barlow, Scot Davidson, Karen Vecchio, Erin O’Toole
Liberal: Francecso Sorbara, Judy Sgro, Amarjeet Sohi, Faycal El-Khoury, Angelo Iacono, Chandra Arya
NDP: Matthew Dube
Greens: Elizabeth May
Autism is a non-partisan issue. If members of all 4 parties can come and stand together in support of a National Autism Strategy, let’s make sure they follow through and turn this support into something real.
I’ll leave you with this tweet from Mike Lake.
I really hope you’re right, Mike. It may just be a matter of time now.
