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The Honourable Sandra Pupatello,
Minister of Community and Social Services
6th Floor, Hepburn B lock
80 Grosvenor Street
Toronto, Ontario
M7A 1E9
Dear Mrs. Pupatello:
Closure of Huronia Regional Centre
We would like to express our shock and disappointment of the announcement on the closure of Huronia
Regional Centre. We totally disagree with this decision.
We are the parents of a 39 year old man who has been at HRC for many years and has finally settled in well.
He has multiple disabilities like many of his fellow residents at HRC, who require intensive care.
We have the following questions.
1. Why are you closing HRC? The system has been in place for many years and is finally working very well
as a small secure community.
2. Have you or the decision makers ever toured the apartments in this secure community of HRC and
seen how well it works? If not , we urge you to please go to HRC and tour this secure community and then
re-consider your decision about closing HRC.
3. What doctors in the communities are going to take people with severe multiple disabilities when there
already is a shortage of doctors in the community? HRC has an excellent medical facility for monitoring
health conditions of these fragile people, saving on hospital care.
HRC has programs like kinesiology, barber/hairdresser and good dental care on site making it very cost
effective. What community outside of HRC could provide all these services so conveniently? Many
residents are developing dementia and along with their other problems are becoming more difficult to
manage. How many homes in the communities are going to welcome such people? Where are the
specialized medical and therapeutic services in the communities going to come from?
4. How and where are you going to find trained, dedicated and caring staff like at HRC, to serve these
disabled people in the communities? Many volunteers interact with the residents of HRC, like churches,
etc. We heard that in some group homes in the communities there often is a constant turn over of staff,
making it very difficult for everybody.
5. Have you heard about group homes in the communities closing because they did not work?
6. Have you heard about residents of HRC being placed in group homes and then being returned to HRC
because it did not work out for them to be in a group home?
We have heard about this happening. Fortunately HRC was still there to take them back. The behaviour of
some of these fragile people will not change at this stage of their lives, making it very difficult for them to
fit into the communities.
7. Why spend $110 million for new homes in the communities when there are already excellent
apartments in a secure existing community at HRC?
8. Does some group or organization want the property that the centre now occupies?
After all, the remaining residents just occupy two buildings on the property of HRC.
9. Have the Community Living people convinced you that the centres, like HRC are inappropriate homes
for the developmentally disabled? Have they convinced you that they can provide better services for less
money?
10. Would it not be wise to include the relatives/family members of residents of HRC on deciding what is
best for these residents?
11. Why do you not open up more spaces for disabled people who are still living with their aging parents
at home, who are in desperate need for help (on CFRB this week a mother of disabled twins called in
saying she cannot look after them anymore because difficulty of care).
12. Does the government just want to shed the responsibility of looking after these vulnerable and fragile
people?
We do have more questions then the above mentioned but hopefully they will be answered when you
reply to this letter.
Since most of us parents are aging, it would be comforting to know what the future holds for our
sons/daughters at HRC.
Huronia Regional Centre as of today is a "COMMUNITY OF EXCELLENCE". Why not keep it open?
We would very much appreciate a PROMPT answer to the above questions.
Yours sincerely,
Christine & Dieter Bressel