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button and type in Huronia
REGIONAL CENTRES FOR THE
DEVELOPMENTALLY DISABLED
Mr Michael Prue (Beaches-East York): My question is for the Minister of Community and Social Services.
In September, you announced the closure of the three remaining regional centres that house some of
this province's most vulnerable people. These are people who call those centres their home. These are
people who have lived in those centres, most of them, all of their lives. These individuals have severe
developmental, medical and psychological conditions. They need and deserve constant and
extraordinary care, care that is not available in almost every community living program.
Madam Minister, I'm asking you to talk to the families. I'm asking you if the change that you are
advocating can be tolerated by their families. I'm asking you if you have any plans -- because we have not
seen any and we do not believe there are any -- to manage the change. They demand to know where
their children will be sent, and you have not provided answers. My question is simple: Why are you
proceeding with the closures when you have no budgeted funds, no buildings to accommodate these
poor individuals, and no plans to care for them?
Hon Sandra Pupatello (Minister of Community and Social Services, minister responsible for women's
issues): I very much appreciate the question. The members of your own caucus will know the history of
these three remaining institutions across Ontario. All members of this House were here in the beginning,
in 1987, when the decision was made to close institutions in Ontario. What happened in the last five
years was that about 1,000 people moved from the institutions into the community. What we're doing is
maintaining that same flow from institutions into the community, no more, no less. The difference is that
we're down to the last 1,000 people in these institutions. I have had an opportunity to meet with people
in institutions, to speak with the staff there. I am planning to do much more in informing parents.
The difficulty is that we had to announce the closure and set the date so we can go about the plan, which
is a five-year plan. We were not prepared to be clandestine about going behind people's backs to plan a
closure and not have them be a part of this plan. Now that we've made the announcement, that is exactly
what we're engaging in: development of that plan.
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Mr Prue: It appears that the plan is, as you say, ongoing, but it has not been made. Everyone agrees that
community living is ideal for those individuals who can handle it. I commend what has happened in the
last 10 years for the majority of the individuals involved. But what has happened now is that we have
1,000 individuals who have severe problems. You haven't taken the time to date to talk to the families or
to the caregivers who look after these regional centre residents. You have dictated to them that the
families have five years to find alternatives, yet there is a seven-year waiting list for group home
placement into the other facilities. How can they make plans when in five years there won't even be a
space for their children?
Minister, I'm asking you to visit those centres, all three of them. I am asking you to meet with the families
and with the caregivers. I'm asking you -- and I know it's busy, so I'm asking to you do it when the House
is in recess -- will you agree to meet with these families in the period between December and February?
Will you come to the Huronia Centre, which is having a meeting on January 8? Will you stop your
ill-conceived plans, work with the staff and families and invest in a system that has proven over the
years that it works?
Hon Ms Pupatello: Actually, on the discussions I've had with the organizations of parents that represent
people: We spoke with them, I spoke to them individually, before we made our announcement so that
they wouldn't hear about it on the news. They heard it directly from me. We told them then that we will be
on-site, that we will bring parents with us whose children were also in institutions and moved into the
community. We are bringing parents with us who were extremely angry, frustrated and scared of that
move and who today realize it was the best thing that could have happened for their children. We
understand this fear. None of us can live and walk in those shoes. We are doing our absolute best to be
open about this process, to make sure they will be involved in a plan for their children.
There are varying degrees of needs with the people who live in institutions today, the 1,000 who are left
in Ontario. One individual who lives there actually works all day in the community and then comes to his
home in the evening. Another individual goes for five-mile walks on his own, every day, outside. So it is
extremely varying in terms of what their needs are.
There are also very high needs for people who live in this institution. It is our job to be certain, when
those plans are made, that there will be supports available, as they need them, in the community or they
will not be moved out. We are determined to do this well.
http://ontla.on.ca/hansard/house_debates/38_parl/Session1/L093.htm (Nov 2004)
One of the things that has had a large impact on my community was the decision made on September 9 by
the Minister of Community and Social Services, and that's the closing down of the Huronia Regional
Centre in Orillia. I see Mr Hoy over there today. I know his community is impacted, the same as the impact
that we may see from Mr Sterling's riding. There are about 1,000 residents of these three remaining
facilities. The government has made a decision to put some kind of plan together to house them in
different locations. I just want to say again that these people are very, very severely challenged. I have
recently made, I think, three separate tours of the facility up at Orillia, the Huronia Regional Centre, and I
look at the facility as being very successful. I don't know how, with the type of housing they have now,
we can improve upon that by spending millions of dollars in other areas. I think there is a demand for this
type of facility. There are only 1,000 clients left, or 1,000 residents left, in the province of Ontario, but I
think when you see the services they have at a centre like the Huronia Regional Centre in Orillia, we
have to accept the fact that it will take -- the government doesn't really have a plan. They just have a
planned date for closure.
I really want to put on the record that I think it's a big mistake. I'm working with Huronia Helpers, the
parents' organization, and family organizations that support the residents of the Huronia Regional Centre
staying in the facility and living out their lives with respect and dignity. We don't know what plan the
government really has right now, only that by 2009 the doors will be locked. I find that very difficult to
accept at this point, especially after having the opportunity to tour. I would encourage the minister -- I
know she's been asked by numerous organizations to go up and tour the facility. I would invite her, and
put it on the record, to come to Orillia, tour the facility and see the conditions at the Huronia Regional
Centre. I think she may have her mind changed by having that invitation.
I'm coming to the end of my time, and I know there are people from the New Democratic Party wanting to
speak. But I just want to say that we will not be supporting the bill; that's for sure. I think I have 22 other
members who would like to speak to this bill. We consider it a step backwards for the province of
Ontario. Again, I do appreciate the opportunity just to share some time today with the member from
Whitby-Ajax. Thank you very much