Dear Ernie Steeves, Minister of Finance, President of the Treasury Board
I am forwarding to your attention 2 pictures, one of you standing by my son Conor Doherty who was, at the time, wearing his NB NEEDS AN ADULT AUTISM CENTRE ... YESTERDAY!!! shirt, which is shown in a close up in the second photo. In your legislative career you showed considerable, and I believe genuine, interest in the need for an Adult Autism Centre in NB. Not an Autism Community Centre which is largely focused on entainment for autistic children and to some extent less severely challenged autistic adults. The Autism Community Centres do not provide training for staff of homes with adult autistic residents nor do they provide oversight of any of those general homes. The adult autism centre advocated for in the protest at the legislature was for the model described by Paul McDonnell in his 2010 CBC interview with Dan McArdie and in his 2015 paper on an Autism Village network with autism specific homes close to communities in NB and an Autism Centre based in Fredericton a centralized location close to the expertise at the Stan Cassidy Autism Team and to the UNB-CEL Autism program.
I know that you brought a motion forward while in opposition calling for improved adult autism services and as stated I believe your interest in adult autism issues is genuine. I am very disappointed though to see that the capital budget information released to date includes reducing funding for autism services generally and failure to providng any funding to advance adult autism services which would preclude an adult autism centre with a satellite model of connected autism specific homes in communities around NB.
Equally disconcerting is the information that funding WILL BE provided to the Youth Mental Health center which will be adjoined to the Restigouche Psychiatric Hospital Centre in Campbellton. The Mental Health Centre was approved for development by the previous Liberal government. It centre itself was the subject of much development but not for placement in Campbellton on NB's northern border. The placement of that centre in Campbellton was slammed by prominent NB Liberals Bernard Richard who actively pushed for development of the centre and Michael B. Murphy QC. It places youths with mental health issues many hours distant from the vast majority of NB population which is located in the centre/south of NB.
Locating youth with mental health care needs or adults with severe autism challenges in NB in a location about as far as possible away from the vast majority of families in NB is a clear violation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. (CRPD).
The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which has been ratified by Canada, states in Health article 25(b) and (c) that parties to the CPRD have agreed to:
b) Provide those health services needed by persons with disabilities specifically because of their disabilities, including early identification and intervention as appropriate, and services designed to minimize and prevent further disabilities, including among children and older persons;
c) Provide these health services as close as possible to people’s own communities, including in rural areas;
The Restigouche Psychiatric Hospital in Campbellton has been a destination for a number of adults with severe autism challenges usually accompanied by intellectual disability notwithstanding lack of expertise and distance from communities. Fredericton is both centrally located and has seen the development of autism expertise which has been praised by the Association for Science in Autism Treatment in the US and has extended UNB-CEL Fredericton autism training to Saskatchewan and more recently to France. The centre could provide treatment and permanent residential care for autistic adults in need and could provide training for, and oversight of, staff in autism specific care homes in communities around the PNB.
I do not believe you have abandoned your understanding and concern for NB adults with severe autism and autism related challenges. I know that party decisions are subject to many sources of influence. I know, however, that your cabinet colleague Dominic Cardy in a previous political party lifetime also showed genuine concern. I also know that another cabinet colleague, Jake Stewart, took decisive action in coming to the assistance of an autistic youth who was about to age out of his long time care residence upon reaching the age of adulthood in NB but was, because of Mr Stewart's intervention, permitted to remain.
I am writing you because I believe your interest in adult autism issues and your concern were and remain genuine and very positive. I also know there are some others in your party who share such concerns.
I ask you to counsel and persuade your government to take action to advance adult autism residential care and treatment facility which has been badly needed in NB for decades.
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