Photos of PM Justin Trudeau Above by Harold L Doherty, January 17, 2017
I tried with no luck to ask you Prime Minister Trudeau about the federal Liberal Party Autism Medicare Resolution at the "Town Hall" in Fredericton today. It was announced that you yourself would pick out persons from the large crowd who would be given the opportunity to ask you a question. I thought I was going to have that chance when you looked in my direction and Mr Forsythe, the person controlling the mikes in my area, passed me the microphone. As I reached for the mike though you waved me off and the mike was passed to a gentleman in close proximity to where I was sitting. I don't know what criteria you used to decide which faces you would pick from the crowd to ask questions but I obviously didn't meet those criteria. Nonetheless if you are not offended and if your assistants actually pass this message to you I would like to ask you a question or two about the National Liberal Party Autism Medicare Resolution passed at the National Convention in Winnipeg.
I wasn't planning to ramble on with a speech or long question or set of questions. I simply wanted to ask if your Liberal government would work to ensure that evidence based Applied Behaviour Analysis would be included in Medicare coverage for autism, either by specific inclusion in the Canada Health Act or by negotiation with the provinces as the current negotiations between your government and the provinces on health care seemed like a good opportunity for your government to ensure that autistic Canadians received the benefit of the autism medicare resolution passed in Winnipeg. In addition your party resolved to ensure federal funding of autism medicare in the provinces. I also wanted to ask if the autism resolution would apply to adults with autism who are typically ignored by the provinces, particularly here in NB, in provision of autism specific treatment and care.
For those who are not aware following is the autism medicare resolution passed resoundingly by the National Liberal Party at your convention in Winnipeg. Hopefully your government is serious about passing your party's excellent autism medicare resolution and ensuring that autistic adults are no
longer discriminated against and excluded from evidence based autism treatment and residential care, humane and decent autism treatment and residential care.
Moved by Liberal Party of Canada (British Columbia)
WHEREAS the rate of autism spectrum disorder (“ASD”) among Canadian children is 1 in 68 and rising;
WHEREAS Canada’s health care system currently excludes from coverage the recognized, science-based treatment for ASD called Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA), despite the incidence of this neurological condition and advocacy from numerous citizen groups;
WHEREAS the BC Supreme Court, in 2000, found ABA was “medically necessary treatment” and “there were no effective competing therapies” and their decision was upheld in the BC Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada;
WHEREAS funding for ABA for ASD is insufficient and varies between provinces;
WHEREAS the lifetime cost of an individual receiving inadequate treatment (or none) for ASD is reliably estimated between $2.4 and $3.2 million, excluding indirect costs to society;
WHEREAS the US Government requires all states to provide treatment for ASD as part of state-wide Medicaid programs and 43 out of 50 states require private health insurers to provide coverage for the ASD treatment;
BE IT RESOLVED that the Canada Health Act be amended to include Medicare coverage for Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or, alternatively, the Government of Canada work with all provincial and territorial governments to ensure inclusion of ABA for ASD within their respective Medical Services Plans
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Government of Canada provide funding to each province and territory to fully cover the costs associated with the provision of ABA treatment of ASD.
