Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  I'd just like to say that when it comes to addressing the federal government, Kathleen and I do it under CASDA. The other member of the leadership committee is Margaret Whelan, who is the executive director for the Geneva Centre for Autism. Outside of being here today, which I

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  We just all have to look and say, “What can I do?” At the federal level, CASDA has a position paper in French and English here. I'd like to suggest that these are things that the federal government can do. I guess everybody just has to do their part, right? I take about 20 calls

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  On behalf of the 38 organizations that CASDA represents, we've pointed them out to be surveillance; best practices; the facilitator role, which would be having ministerial conferences, etc.; looking after the health of the aboriginal community, because you are a health care provi

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  [Inaudible--Editor]...Autism Canada Foundation has three full-time equivalents. I don't know how big your group is now, Suzanne. I know you'd like information from us, but it's very difficult. We are answering the phones, and we have our mandate. Can we put some of this back

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  It's labour-intensive.

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  I just wanted to make you aware that there is a global autism alliance that has been initiated from the Autism Research Institute out in California. Autism Canada is a member of that, and I would guess that there are about 20 countries around the world. One of the mandates they

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  One thing that I am familiar with, having had a child diagnosed on the autism spectrum, is that there is a federal deduction for a child with severe disabilities. I believe it's to the tune of about $9,000, $10,000. I haven't done it for about six or seven years because my child

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  The next point we'd like to make is about best practices. The governing health bodies, including federal departments, have historically set the pace in identifying and monitoring best practices and disseminating this information across the country. We have seen this in the recomm

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  Another federal government mandate is research. A significant increase in ASD-specific research funding is urgently needed, with a focus on prevention and treatment. The Canadian Autism Intervention Research Network, which we know as CAIRN, released a report this year entitled

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  Madam Chair, we made it short so that we could present on behalf of the Canadian ASD Alliance.

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  Is that okay? Or do you want us to go at the end?

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  Yes. It's a group of 38 organizations—and growing—across Canada. We have a website and we have a position paper, and we'd just like to run through it.

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  I just want to recap the situation. It's our opinion that we have a real health problem surrounding ASDs in Canada. To date, we are not doing national surveillance, but there is at least one region in Quebec and in other countries that are. I just want to share two examples. I

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  While I'm the executive director for Autism Canada Foundation, Autism Canada is also a proud member of the Canadian Autism Spectrum Disorders Alliance. I'd like to make a very short presentation from Autism Canada Foundation, and then, together with Kathleen Provost, who is also