THUNDER BAY — The president of the Ontario Autism Coalition is welcoming the appointment of a new minister of Children, Community and Social Services.
Alina Cameron of Thunder Bay said she feels optimistic that Michael Parsa will do a better job for the autism community than his predecessor, Merrilee Fullerton.
Fullerton resigned abruptly from the legislature last week.
"The community is hopeful that perhaps the new minister will be more open than Fullerton was, because she did not meet with our community. She was not interested in the user-end experience of our community," Cameron said in an interview.
She cited the example of the recent "OAC Day" the group held at Queen's Park.
"We held a reception. We met with MPPs all afternoon. We met almost the entire opposition, and only one PC MPP met with us. Dr. Fullerton did not meet with our group at all that day."
Cameron also charged that the former minister refused to meet with families, did not respond to e-mails, and "did not want to hear what we had to say."
She alleged that this demonstrates a failure to respond to how government policies filter down to people who use the programs.
"We have over 19,000 members of the Ontario Autism Coalition now. The vast majority are self-advocates and families looking for answers. With four ministers in four years, and three iterations of the program and no one consistent source of information, a lot of families are really confused...the communication from the ministry is disjointed and it's patchwork."
Cameron said she hopes the appointment of Parsa provides an opportunity for open communication and more transparency.
"We'd really like the ministry to know what these systemic issues are, and see if they can fix them."
