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May 18, 2005. 02:41 PM
Relocation plan puts disabled at risk: Critic
Developmentally disabled people in Ontario will see their care threatened and their lives placed at risk
under a provincial government plan to integrate them into the community, social services critics warned
today.
Community and Social Services Minister Sandra Pupatello announced the $41-million plan this morning to
make up for the closure of Ontario’s three remaining institutions that currently house 1,040 mentally
disabled people.
But Lyz Sayer, whose sister is one of the 336 residents at the Huronia Regional Centre in Orillia, said the plan
threatens to alienate residents.
“No amount of money is going to change the fact that she is asking my sister, who’s lived with the same
people for 53 years, to move and to separate from those people,” said Sayer, president of Huronia Helpers,
an organization fighting to keep the Huronia institution open.
“They paint them as if they’re segregated out there. Our perspective is they’re going to be much more
segregated when they’re locked in a house in what they call a community.”
Sayer said the transfer to so-called community spaces — essentially homes that will be retrofitted to meet
the needs of the residents — will translate to longer waiting lists for care and other services.
“They’re going to go out of that house to get a doctor, out of that house to get a dentist.”
Pupatello said residents will have access to the services they already receive in their own homes —
services that will be tailored to their needs, such as physiotherapy.
“Because this is such an individualized area, there are no two people that will have exactly the same
needs,” she told a news conference.
“The services that are currently available in our institutions have long been in our communities.”
The homes will be built within several months, Pupatello said.
All three institutions — which include one in Smiths Falls near Ottawa and another in Chatham — are slated
to close their doors by 2009.
The 390 spaces will include 90 spots for individuals who need acute care, such as 24-hour supervision,
Pupatello said. There will also be 55 spaces in group homes and support for 245 developmentally disabled
individuals who live in their own home but still need care.
Sayer said she’s fearful because there will be no monitoring system set up to ensure the residents are
faring well after they leave.