Mr. Speaker, I congratulate SAAAC, the South Asian Autism Awareness Centre, located in Scarborough for its work in the past 10 years helping hundreds of young people on the autism spectrum and their families.
One out of 66 children born in Canada is on the spectrum. However, services to support these children are inadequate. SAAAC started in the basement of the house of its executive director, Geetha Moorthy, and has developed into the state-of-the-art facility it is today. The new centre came together due to her visionary leadership and the enormous support of retiring Toronto city councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker. Last month, I was proud to join our Prime Minister in opening the centre.
As we celebrate National Autism Awareness Month and Thanksgiving this weekend, I just want to say how thankful I am to have SAAAC in our community, for all of its volunteers, its staff, champions and a group of incredible parents who advocate and support their children.
To the young people who are served by SAAAC, I want to affirm that we will continue to support their reaching their full potential. I thank them for inspiring us.