Lawmakers Increasingly Support Public Healthcare for Autism

[Guest guest]

I wish to share a press release put out regarding all the work being done on our

children's behalf at the Federal level. It's amazing the support that we are

getting in the House. The second portion of this e-mail provides stats on who

and where the petitions have been tabled from.

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Lawmakers Increasingly Support Public Healthcare for Autism

MPs table 53 petitions in Parliament to include children's autism treatment in

Medicare

Ottawa, ON - Canada's MPs have tabled an autism treatment petition fifty-three

times in Ottawa, with the goal of ending a human travesty: Canadian children

afflicted with autism are the only Canadians who are wholly excluded from

Medicare for their core health need (science-based autism treatment). To exclude

the only known, uniquely effective treatment for autism from Medicare is the

same as entirely excluding children with autism from Canada's health care

system. There is no getting around a painful truth: Canada's " Universal " health

care system really isn't universal at all until children with autism are

included in the program for their physician-prescribed, medically necessary

autism treatment.

Federal members of Parliament have now done what the Supreme Court of Canada's

November 2004 Auton ruling suggested they should do (and what an Ipsos-Reid poll

says 84% of Canadians want) -- have Parliament see that children afflicted with

the debilitating neurological disorder of autism are at long last allowed into

Canada's Medicare for necessary treatment, which is their right.

The 'Medicare-for-autism' petition tabled by Ottawa's lawmakers asks the federal

government to change health care rules so children with autism can receive

medically necessary autism treatment under Medicare for this most devastating of

childhood neurological disorders. As things are now, the delivery of effective

autism treatment in Canada is mostly an exclusive privilege of children of the

well-off -- parents who can afford to pay privately for best-practice autism

treatment. In other words, the two-tier, credit card type health care so decried

by the federal government, is very much the reality for parents struggling to

save their children from the ravages of autism in this country. Government's

systemic neglect of autism treatment strongly implies that they really couldn't

care less about the health and well-being of these seriously affected children.

The health-care hypocrisy must end.

Executive Director of 'Families for Early Autism Treatment of BC, ' Dr. S.K.

Freeman, says this on the autism treatment petition:

" It's very important to have so many MPs finally taking the need for autism

treatment seriously, and taking a stand in asking the government -- on behalf of

their constituents -- to take its head out the sand regarding the autism health

care crisis. The federal government must show strong, decisive leadership to end

the autism health-care vacuum. If government fails to include children with

autism in Medicare for their core health need, I'm sure history will look back

on this era, tally up the huge long-term social costs of doing nothing, and

conclude that government neglect of autism was the singularly disastrous social

policy option of the age. "

While parents of children with autism across Canada were profoundly disappointed

by the S.C.C.'s Auton decision, the community will continue the struggle for

justice to help this generation, and future generations, of disabled children

access healthcare rather than be left behind. The national petition campaign

will continue and parents and all those interested in helping the cause are

asked to visit www.canadaautism.com and download the petition, get as many

signatures as they can and provide it to their MPs. More petitions will be

tabled in every session of Parliament until its objectives are fulfilled.

Similarly, the parents of autistic children will continue to lobby the federal

government to develop a National Autism Strategy and encourage individual MPs to

table private member's bill that will help this profoundly important cause.

-30-

For more information on the autism health care petitions tabled in Parliament,

please contact:

Kavchak, Ottawa. Daytime telephone: (613) 954-306, Evening telephone:

(613) 731-7175

www.CanadaAutism.com | Ipsos-Reid autism treatment poll:

www.featbc.org/Ipsos_autism.pdf

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Hi all,

The House of Commons has now adjourned for the summer. Below are the latest

petition results.

Thanks.

Prov seats tabling mps % provincial

mps tabling % natnl

mps tabling % tabling

mps tabling times tabled

BC 36 15 41.67 4.87 40.54 28

AB 28 5 17.86 1.62 13.51 6

SK 14 3 21.43 0.97 8.11 3

MB 14 2 14.29 0.65 5.41 2

QC 75 1 1.33 0.32 2.70 1

ON 106 9 8.49 2.92 24.32 10

NB 10 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0

NS 11 2 18.18 0.65 5.41 3

NL 7 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0

PE 4 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0

YT 1 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0

NT 1 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0

NU 1 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0

Total: 308 37 12.01 100.00 53

Party seats tabling mps % party

mps tabling % natnl

mps tabling % tabling

mps tabling times tabled

Con 98 22 22.45 7.14 59.46 37

Lib 133 5 3.76 1.62 13.51 5

BQ 54 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0

NDP 19 9 47.37 2.92 24.32 10

Ind 4 1 25.00 0.32 2.70 1

Vac 0 0 0.00 0.00 0

Total: 308 37 12.01 100.00 53

LastName FirstName Constituency Tabled Petition Times Tabled Prov Party

MPEmail

Anders Rob Calgary West 2005-06-01 1 AB Con Anders.R@...

Jaffer Rahim Edmonton-Strathcona 2005-02-07

2005-03-23 2 AB Con Jaffer.R@...

Menzies Ted Macleod 2005-02-25 1 AB Con Menzies.T@...

Lee Calgary Centre 2005-06-01 1 AB Con .L@...

Myron Wild Rose 2005-02-11 1 AB Con .M@...

Cadman Chuck Surrey North 2004-11-17 1 BC Ind Cadman.C@...

Davies Libby Vancouver East 2005-05-04 1 BC NDP Davies.L@...

Day Stockwell Okanagan-Coquihalla 2005-06-16 1 BC Con Day.S@...

Grewal Gurmant Newton-North Delta 2005-05-19 1 BC Con Grewal.G@...

Grewal Nina Fleetwood-Port Kells 2005-05-18 1 BC Con Grewal.N@...

Hiebert Russ South Surrey-White Rock-Cloverdale 2004-11-25

2005-03-09 2 BC Con Hiebert.R@...

n Burnaby-New Westminster 2005-04-07 1 BC NDP

n.P@...

Kamp Randy Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge-Mission 2005-02-23

2005-03-09 2 BC Con Kamp.R@...

Lunney Nanaimo-Alberni 2004-12-03

2005-04-06

2005-06-23 3 BC Con Lunney.J@...

Reynolds West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country 2005-02-11

1 BC Con Reynolds.J@...

Schmidt Werner Kelowna-Lake Country 2005-03-21

2005-05-19 2 BC Con Schmidt.W@...

Siksay Bill Burnaby- 2005-03-10 1 BC NDP Siksay.B@...

Stinson Darrel Okanagan-Shuswap 2005-02-23 1 BC Con Stinson.D@...

Strahl Chuck Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon 2005-03-24 1 BC Con

Strahl.C@...

Warawa Mark Langley 2005-02-04

2005-02-16

2005-02-18

2005-02-21

2005-02-23

2005-02-25

2005-03-07

2005-04-18

2005-06-01 9 BC Con Warawa.M@...

Fletcher wood-St. -Assiniboia 2005-05-16 1 MB Con

Fletcher.S@...

Wasylycia-Leis Judy Winnipeg North 2005-06-09 1 MB NDP

Wasylycia-Leis.J@...

McDonough a Halifax 2005-06-20 1 NS NDP McDonough.A@...

Stoffer Sackville-Eastern Shore 2005-03-21

2005-06-08 2 NS NDP Stoffer.P@...

Angus Charlie Timmins- Bay 2005-06-27 1 ON NDP Angus.C@...

Bains Navdeep Mississauga-Brampton South 2005-05-18 1 ON Lib

Bains.N@...

Godbout Marc Ottawa-Orléans 2005-02-21 1 ON Lib Godbout.M@...

Tony Sault Ste. Marie 2004-12-09 1 ON NDP .T@...

Masse Windsor West 2005-06-27 1 ON NDP Masse.B@...

McGuinty Ottawa South 2005-02-11 1 ON Lib McGuinty.D@...

O'Connor Gordon Carleton-Mississippi Mills 2005-05-06 1 ON Con

OConnor.G@...

Reid Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington 2004-11-26

2005-02-11 2 ON Con Reid.S@...

Silva Davenport 2005-06-08 1 ON Lib Silva.M@...

Pacetti Massimo Saint-Léonard-Saint-Michel 2004-12-13 1 QC Lib

Pacetti.M@...

Fitzpatrick Prince Albert 2005-04-07 1 SK Con

Fitzpatrick.B@...

Komarnicki Ed Souris-Moose Mountain 2005-05-18 1 SK Con

Komarnicki.E@...

Skelton Carol Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar 2005-03-23 1 SK Con

Skelton.C@...