Supreme Court of Canada ABA: Important Request

[Guest guest]

Please forward this message to all autism contacts so that we reach as many in

Ontario as we can who may have any sort of litigations under way. This has been

posted to the MELIST, I will post to and Kinark . Please post to

any other lists you can think of.....

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Dear fellow parents and lawyers in the province of Ontario,

I write to you today in my capacity as Executive Director of FEAT of Ontario.

Many of you may know me simply as Norrah, Luke's mother, the woman who launched

a Human Rights Revolution in Ontario for Children with Autism. There are now

over 200 cases of Human Rights Violations involving children with Autism at the

Ontario Human Rights Commission, with at least 100 cases referred over to the

Tribunal offices for consideration of hearing based on the merits of evidence

against the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Family and Children's Services and

the Ministry of Education.

As many of you are aware the Ontario EIBI treatment program for children with

Autism was brought to fruition by the former Government of Ontario under Tory

led policy which is now found by a law enforcement agency to be

" discriminatory " . It is discriminatory under Ontario Law not to provide medical

treatment for one person's core health deficit and yet provide it for another,

such as diabetes, cancer, cystic fibrosis all which are core health deficits. So

too is Autism.

We in Ontario are fortunate to have new leadership, under the Liberal Party. I

understand people's confusion regarding the original Liberal Party Promises and

the reality we are in today. The Liberals did indicate that they would remove

discriminatory barriers to effective science based autism treatment and expand

the EIBI program for all children with Autism. This has not occurred.

However, termination of treatment is only one small problem with the Ontario

EIBI program and FEAT of Ontario is cognizant of the fact that there are members

who have never received treatment due to wait list issues and other significant

problems that have affected both families and the family member or members

affected by Autism. For this reason, FEAT sought consultation with the newly

formed Government and met with them just before Christmas. In my capacity as

Executive Director I provided two briefs to the Government. The first the CIAT

(Choices in Autism Treatment), which addresses the fundamental flaws in

structure of the EIBI and the consequences of the Tory program design. The

second, the FEAT education brief, which discusses how to move a child in home

based treatment (just like palliative care) into the education system, so that

children with autism who suffer from a medical condition may access public

education while having their medical needs met in a non-discriminatory and

responsible manner.

I believe the consultations have been very productive and that the newly formed

government does now indeed have the tools and information necessary to meet the

best interests of the CHILDREN while bringing Ontario into full compliance with

Federal and Provincial Law.

The New Government and myself were able to work together despite my personal

litigations and FEAT has now requested a place on the newly forming advisory

board within the Ministry. We are very excited to continue this positive

consultative position in the hopes of truly making the Ontario EIBI treatment

service the best in the world. FEAT is extremely grateful that both members of

FEAT and the New Government can work together towards solutions even though

there are provincial litigations. We fully expect that the Government will

continue to solicit our expertise and knowledge while looking for solutions that

meet the best interests of the children affected.

This brings me to the point of why FEAT has issued this letter.

As many may already know the original Auton case launched in British Columbia

for universal access to medically necessary effective science based Autism

treatment which is going before the Supreme Court of Canada sometime this year.

All but one Province in Canada has sought intervener status to the case. This

means that they make an application to the Supreme Court to join into the case

because they feel the case would directly impact them. This is what it means to

be an intervener. As an intervener you provide information and argument to the

Supreme Court of Canada mostly in the form of paper/writing. That information is

then considered by the Nine Supreme Court Justices, along with the original case

from in this case, British Columbia.

We now know that the Ontario Government is one of the Provinces who is

intervening and we understand why they are doing so.

FEAT of Ontario believes that because the Government is intervening with

Ontario's interest, that the Children of Ontario who suffer from Autism should

be represented as well, so we may all work together with our Governments to

ensure the welfare and protection of these vulnerable citizens.

For this reason FEAT of Ontario is applying for intervener status to the Supreme

Court of Ontario. We are being funded 100% for this action privately by

concerned citizens of Ontario that are not parents of children with Autism.

FEAT is aware of many Human Rights Cases and other litigations popping up all

over Ontario. FEAT would like to included your children in our Supreme Court of

Canada efforts.

If you are a parent who has filed a Human Rights Case with the Ontario Human

Rights Commission or if you are a parent who has a Civil litigation, including

injunctive relief, or if you are a parent looking for class action certification

for wait list issues (Welland?) or if you are a solicitor would you please

immediately contact (deadline February 17th) the FEAT of Ontario counsel at

venhole@...

please include your family name, child/children issue cut off or wait list and

if you have Human Rights or Civil Litigation or if you are filing within the

next two months.

Please include the Subject line Supreme Court of Canada FEAT and mark it with

high importance.

We would like to present to the Supreme Court what the reality is in Ontario

today and by those who are involved in legal challenges in Ontario would be able

to assist the Supreme Court in this manner.

All questions will be answered in private regarding further details of

procedure. I urge everyone to come forward at this time and make a difference in

the life of a child and for those children yet to come.

Your immediate attention to this urgent matter is greatly appreciated. I ask

that you forward this to all of your contacts so that we may be as thorough as

humanly possible to ensure the best interest of the children of Ontario.

Best Regards,

Norrah Whitney

Executive Director

Feat of Ontario

aba4u@...

fight4aba@...

Norrah Whitney