Madam Speaker, again it is a pleasure to rise on behalf of the New Democrats to lend our support to this important measure introduced by the Senate, Bill S-210, to enact world autism day from a Canadian perspective.
I want to go very briefly into my own personal history on this particular subject at hand. As few years ago, I was walking from my office into the Centre Block and I noticed a man by the Peace Tower flame and he had a sandwich board sign on him saying “Autism in medicare now”.
I will be honest that I was very ignorant about what he was trying to say so I asked him what his concern was. That then developed into a very nice friendship. That person's name is Mr. Andrew Cavachuk. Mr. Cavachuk has done yeoman's work in trying to raise the level of awareness, not just for his own son but for all children across the country who have autism spectrum disorder.
Autism comes in various forms and different ranges, from Asperger syndrome, to flight risks. to non-verbal and so on.
In my travels throughout my own riding, I found a fair number of people who have children who are autistic. One personal friend of mine in Vancouver has two children who are autistic. Anyone who has met children with autism find they are some of the most beautiful, kind, wonderful and the most loving children one could ever possibly meet. What their families require is support. They need support from the federal government.
This is why we moved our own national autism day. We presented a bill before the House of Commons which has not come up for debate in terms of enshrining that autism is in the medicare system. We do not want the federal government to tell the provinces what to do.We know that the delivery of health care is a provincial responsibility. However, what we have said over and over again is that there is no reason why the provinces need to reinvent the wheel.
That is why we have asked repeatedly for a national autism strategy in Canada. We know there is a patchwork quilt of efforts across the country. In Nova Scotia, a handful of children get assistance, whereas in Alberta I believe the family can receive assistance from the government for children up to 18 years of age.
No matter where someone lives in the country, children who have autism should be able to receive the care, treatment and support they need right across the country.
I am sure some members remember a few years ago the very emotional press conference in Toronto where a couple of people had to make the decision to leave Ontario, their birthplace and the place where they raised their children, because their child had autism and Alberta could provide better care than the province of Ontario.
As a society, no one should have to live through that. We are a much better society than that.
What we have asked the federal government to do is to coordinate a strategy--I know the Bloc does not like hearing this word--a national strategy. What we would like to do is bring the health ministers and the experts together, along with the federal government and devise a strategy so that every province, territory and first nations reserves can have the expertise and the information at their hands to develop the support systems to assist these families and their children.
Autism was first described to me by a young boy named Josh Bortolotti who is from Ottawa. For those of us who have known Josh for a long time, people should watch out for this young man because one day he could be the prime minister of this country. His sister has autism and he made it his personal life's crusade, when he was 12 years old, to fight and to stand up for his sister because she could not do it herself. Josh Bortolotti is a tremendously fine young man. Every year he asks us for pledges for his cause to raise funds for autism.
If young children like this can show us in the House of Commons the leadership that is required, then my hat is off to Josh Bortolotti, his family and especially his sister because I know one day she will get the help that she needs.
It is not just for the children. It is also for the parents. Many parents do not understand the concerns of autism. They do not understand what their children are going through until sometimes it is too late.
It was described to me that autism is like a puzzle. This is why applied behaviour analysis and IBI treatment are so very important, to get these children the minute that they are diagnosed and to work with them through repetition over and over again to develop their brains so that they can lead productive lives.
When we had press conferences a few years ago, we heard from specialists from Quebec that if a child is diagnosed at age two with autism, and that child and the family are worked with intensively for four years then that child can go to a regular school without any teaching assistance at all. That is the kind of investment in these children that we need. The unfortunate part is we do not believe that the provinces will ever have enough money to do this on their own. This is why we think it is imperative that the national government work with the provinces, territories and first nations reserves to ensure that we do not reinvent the wheel, to ensure that no matter where people live in this country, children and families with autism can get the help they deserve and most importantly, get the support they have.
At last count, I understand, there are close to 400,000 people in this country who have some form of autism and that number is rising rapidly. I will never forget the time Hillary Clinton, now a senator in the United States, offered a $200 million aid package for various research centres, for various states and various schools in this regard, because the national government of the United States understands that this is a very serious issue. It put a lot of federal money into this issue in order to assist families and to assist researchers in developing, hopefully one day, a complete understanding of what causes autism and to see how we can mitigate it in the future.
While we are working toward that, the people with autism in Canada need to know. I spoke to the hon. Minister of State for Democratic Reform who used to be the parliamentary secretary to the minister of health. We all worked together collaboratively a couple of years ago to bring a motion forward in the House which was adopted by all of us on that type of strategy. Unfortunately, over two years later we are still talking about it. We do not have a national strategy.
We are asking once again, with great respect to the government, because we know that government members have people in their constituencies who have this concern, and we know members of the government and the Conservative Party care about this issue as much as anyone on this side does. I ask if we can work in collaboration, if the House can really work together as it has done for other items over the years, such as the veterans' charter, to form and develop a national strategy for the development and treatment of autism, to help those children and their families. Then world autism day will be more than just a symbolic gesture or a date on the calendar. It will actually give these people hope, and hope is what they strive for. This is what keeps them going every day.
I have had the pleasure of meeting many children with autism. I have worked with organizations like FEAT of B.C. which is Families for Early Autism Treatment. I have worked with Mr. Cavachuk, Laurel Gibbons and people in my province of Nova Scotia who ask that autism be part of the national medicare package. But while we are working toward that goal, we need to make it loud and clear to these people that they have the full support of not only the Senate but also the House of Commons so that when world autism day becomes a reality, not only can we bring awareness of this issue to our country and the rest of the world, but maybe we could assist those researchers, those practitioners, and those families, and most importantly, give those people a hand up so they can lead productive lives.
If we do that, it will be a great day in the House of Commons and a great day for all Canadians. I say God bless to all the children with autism and to their families, and may the bill pass fairly quickly.