Thank you.
I want to thank you for being here.
Ms. Lanthier, I want to say that I certainly didn't take it out of context; I didn't think you were trying to compare children with cancer to children with autism. I understood very clearly that if someone has a cancer that's more advanced than the other person, they have to be provided with a different type of service or wait time. I understood that. I also understand it's the same thing with respect to autism.
I have a friend who was trying to get her son diagnosed and to get him treatment. When they did finally diagnose him, they basically wrote him off and said that he wouldn't fare well. Fortunately for her she did have the dollars, and she believed in her child. That child is now a very functioning part of society; albeit, she still has a lot of struggles.
So I did understand what you were trying to say and I think we do have to look at the differences, when it comes to that.
I think there is so much with this specific condition. One out of every 110 children, and the fact that it is going up from year to year, is something we should consider to be a crisis.
I have some questions with respect to funding. Has the research funding decreased? If not, has it increased? If so, how much?
There used to be a time when hearing tests weren't being done, and now hearing tests are done regularly. Is it your opinion, especially you, Dr. Roberts, that a specific test should be done regularly with every child, to make sure they're not part of an ASD?
The other thing is how this is impacting people in rural and aboriginal communities with respect to access? My friend was in Elliot Lake, and I know the services were very limited. How many of these children are being placed with Children's Aid or in foster care because the parents can't continue to care for them? How many of them are being abused? Are there any statistics on that?
I know the NDP has certainly been pushing for a national strategy for quite some time. I don't think the baby steps we're doing are enough for where we need to go.
I'm going to leave you with that, and if we have more time I'll go through some more.