'We are a long way from Toronto,' families of people with autism tell provincial minister in Thunder Bay

There were many laughs and stories of summer vacations shared as parents, children and service providers filed into a "meet-and-greet" with Ontario's minister of children, community and social services in Thunder Bay to discuss promised changes to the province's autism program, but once Todd Smith entered the room, the conversation turned serious.

The families of people with autism as well as professionals in the field gathered at the Child and Community Resources building in the northwestern Ontario city on Aug. 7 to share their experiences dealing with the Ontario Autism Program, and to give input into what a reformed program needs to look like in order to provide the supports they need.

Some families drove all the way from Manitouwadge, Ont., located about 350 kilometres east of the Lakehead, to take part.

The provincial minister was in the city as part of his tour through northern Ontario communities to meet and hear from families and people with autism, as his ministry works in collaboration with the provincially-appointed autism advisory panel to reform the program.

The conversation was wide-ranging. At one point families were calling out how many years — three, four, seven — their children have been on provincial wait lists, hoping they would be the next ones to access support services like applied behavioural analysis and respite care.

At other times, parents and professionals offered solutions they said would improve provincially-funded supports, from incentive programs to attract and retain professionals in the region to mandatory training for educators. One thing attendees emphasized repeatedly to the minister was that the realities and needs in northwestern Ontario are very different from those in southern Ontario.

Smith listened to the vastly different experiences of all people in attendance.

Sharon Mulzer, whose youngest son has autism, said she was grateful that Smith came to meet with the families.

"I was very pleased that he took the time to come meet with us so early in his mandate," she said. "I do hear his heart wants to help our families; it's a big issue and he's been left with quite a mess with what's been created and the uncertainty that's gone ahead."

'We get very easily forgotten'

Speaking about the differences between support services in northern Ontario and the rest of the province, Mulzer added, "we are a long way from Toronto, so we get very easily forgotten. It's very important that our children have the services that they need in their home communities."

After an hour-and-a-half of conversation, Smith appeared to understand that a new autism strategy would have to take regional differences into consideration.

"Certainly, I heard it today in Thunder Bay," he said. "There is a concern that the [autism advisory] panel, which is made up of people mostly from southern Ontario, that the voice of [northwestern Ontario] won't be heard."

"That's part of the reason that I'm here as well, so I can take the voices that I've talked to over the last couple of days back to the panel so that we understand the unique needs in northwestern Ontario."

Smith added that there would be "an opportunity for those who are involved in the service-provider field in the northwest to phone in to the panel."

However, he stopped short of committing to add a member to the advisory panel specifically from the region; currently, Smith said there is only one member of the panel representing the north — from Sudbury.

Smith was scheduled to wrap up his tour of northern communities in Sudbury on Aug. 8.