Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I appreciate the committee. For those of you who weren't here the other day, I subbed in on Tuesday and wound up presenting on Thursday. I was asked if I was ready, and after 15 years, yes, I'm ready.
It's kind of a metaphor, because I probably could have been more ready. I probably could have prepared more for two months before a committee hearing, but that's kind of the nature of where we're at with the national autism strategy, too. There's been a lot of conversation over years and years. We're never going to have unanimity on every single aspect of what would go into a national autism strategy. At some point you have to move forward with the knowledge that you have based on the shared wisdom that we have across the country. You move forward in a way that, hopefully, organic. We're learning more every day through the process and hearing from more people, and just getting better and better.
That's the spirit with which I come here.
I'll touch on the technical details of the bill quickly for a second. Largely, what I am looking forward to today is just a conversation that we can all have. I've had a couple of conversations on the side. I want people to feel comfortable just asking anything they want. I'm good with that. I'm not an expert. I'm not a scientist. I'm not autistic myself. There are folks who are scientists and folks who are autistic themselves who will share their stories over time. I would encourage you to reach out and have those conversations. But I am the parent of a 27-year-old son with autism who was 10 when I was first elected. I learn from him every single day.
I will talk about the technical details before I get into talking about Jaden, because I'll talk about my son a lot over the next 50 minutes or so.
Technically, this is a bill that's a federal framework. It's called “An Act respecting a federal framework on autism spectrum disorder”. Really the bill itself is about accountability and timelines. The bill doesn't lay out a national strategy; it is just putting forward some accountability.
We've been having this conversation about a national strategy for years and years. Senators Housakos and Boehm really got together in a non-partisan, cross-partisan way and put forward an idea to put a framework around a timeline for establishing a national strategy, some basics around how we could get there, and then also an accountability framework for how we could evaluate how that strategy is working once we have it. It charges the minister with some responsibility to meet the timelines.
The government at this point in time has signalled that we're going to have a national strategy within.... I believe and am hoping that by 2023 we'll have a national strategy in this country. Really this is pushing to build some accountability around that.
Lots of times people will ask this: What would be part of a strategy? Why has it taken so long? This will be probably a large part of the conversation as we move forward.
I think part of the challenge is finding that common ground. We've had this seemingly interminable conversation over all of the different aspects. You have some pretty strong opinions on some things. Where I've found the common ground in 15 years as we've gone around and had conversations—and really this is common almost around the world—is the need for diagnosis, an early diagnosis, and the need for early help. They call it “therapy treatment intervention”. There's always debate over terminology, and all the words seem to be subject to some debate. I like to think of it as just the “help” that's needed.
Then there's education, and what the education system looks like for autistic Canadians.
After their early education, as someone moves into adult years, what do their employment prospects look like? What does housing look like?
The sixth area that I always reference in finding common ground as family members when we're talking about autism is what happens when we're gone as parents? I guarantee you that we as family members are all seized with this. What happens when we're not there? Who is going to care for our loved one the way we cared for and supported our loved one?
I think a national strategy.... As we move forward we're trying to get to a point where we have a society that is loving and caring and helping in whatever way it can, in whatever way the evidence base shows to get us to where we need to be.
I have so many more notes here that I could reference. I'm a politician. Whatever you ask, I'm going to work what I want to say into the answers anyway.