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TOUCHING VISIT Minister of Community and Social Services Sandra Pupatello and Oakville MPP Kevin
Flynn visited Oaklands, Thursday, including the former room of Randy Mogridge.
Cabinet Minister tours Oaklands
Craig MacBride
Jan 14, 2005
A visit to the Oaklands Regional Centre on Thursday by Sandra Pupatello, Minister of Community and
Social Services, would not have been complete without a stop at Randy Mogridge's former room.
"It really brought home the tragedy, but it also showed how important these places are," Pupatello said.
"This wasn't temporary, this was his home."
Mogridge's disappearance and ultimate death in Sixteen Mile Creek in November sparked an
investigation of Oaklands, a residence and support centre for people with multiple development
disabilities.
The tragedy touched many people, including Pupatello.
She added that the tour, which included chats with staff and the board, raised her awareness of the
importance of the workers at these facilities.
It was the first time she had been at Oaklands in eight years, when she visited the facility as an
Opposition MPP.
Though it came only two days afterward, the tour had nothing to do with the announcement of the
coroner's investigation into 10 deaths at Oaklands, all of which happened since 2000.
Pupatello supports the investigation, saying it's perfectly reasonable to call in outside eyes to see if the
number of deaths, and the circumstances of the deaths, is extraordinary.
According to Oakville MPP Kevin Flynn, who accompanied Pupatello and who visits the site regularly,
everyone he has spoken to has been supportive of the coroner's investigation.
Pupatello's ministry is doing an investigation of their own. The investigation is complete, and she
expects to have the report next week.
That investigation focuses not on the circumstances of the deaths of residents, but on protocol and the
day-to-day operation of the facility.
Unlike a review done by the Province and released in Oct. 2003, this report will not be recommending the
closure of Oaklands.
"This is for us to have a serious look at the protocols," said Pupatello. "Were the protocols adequate,
were the protocols followed?"
The 2003 report stated that though there were a number of options open to Oaklands, "Ideally the option
that would be most in keeping with the current thinking and belief in the field would be to close the
residential program at Oaklands."
It went on to say that Oaklands, which currently houses 70 people with intellectual disabilities, should
instead focus on mobile crisis and support teams to train and support community-based organizations
and families that would be taking in the relocated residents.
The reasons for the recommendations were numerous.
The report read, "House Managers are so busy doing 'tasks' they do not have time to do standard
management tasks, such as planning, giving direction, supervising, monitoring results and performance
appraisals."
Also, "the majority of the residences are in poor condition and certainly not helping the morale of staff.
The plant continues to age and costs will continue to mount."
The review states "the transition period will be undertaken over a two-year period."
For that interim period, it was recommended that steps be taken to correct "problems with staff not
trusting managers, poor communication, and a resulting feeling of hopelessness with some."
Pupatello and Flynn insist those problems have been remedied since the study that the report was
based on was conducted.
A significant shift in services and more involvement with the community were touted as two such
remedies.
After another man walked off the grounds in late November, only a couple of weeks after Mogridge's
body was found in the nearby creek, the Province decided to take aggressive measures.
They appointed a manager to oversee operations, as well as a group that specializes in the security and
safety of vulnerable people.
Staff was trained in ways to safeguard against any more disappearances and a security agency did a
complete review of security features such as alarms.
New alarms have been put in the residences since then, with different sounds for the opening of
different doors in each house.
With their appointed manager and the security team doing their work at Oaklands, Pupatello said the
centre is becoming more effective.
"There's a good sense of cooperation with the Ministry and the staff here," she said.
Flynn added that people with family members in Oaklands have called to support the centre.
"There have been a significant number of people who have called us...extremely concerned (about the
future of Oaklands)," he said. "They're very happy to have their family here."