Parents in northwestern Ontario are expressing concern about funding changes to programs for children with autism.
They were part of a rally Thursday in front of Kenora-Rainy River MPP Greg Rickford’s constituency office in Dryden.
One issue is that parents won’t have access to a school-funded education assistant for their children unless they come up with the money.
Sharon Bak is one of the organizers and she says part of their message is that families need to start talking to one another.
Bak says “the more connected families are, the better supported they are, and these are challenging times ahead and we need to pull together.”
She notes “we tend to be a little bit more quiet and passive in the north but we really are very excited to see the number of people that are starting to speak up and share their voices and share their stories because we need to, we need to get that message across to government that we matter up her too.”
Erin Rice is with the Ontario Public Service Employees Union and she is worried that children won’t get the early intervention services they need.
Rice adds “there’s been no consultations up in the northwest. The government likes to say that they consulted in the north but they never stopped past Sudbury so there’s a whole other portion of use who aren’t getting their voices heard”.
Kenora-Rainy River MPP Greg Rickford says that parents of autistic children should expect sufficient resources and money to make good choices about what they think is best for their children.
