Edmonton MP Mike Lake, whom I have met (at IMFAR 2012 in Toronto) and communicated with a few times about autism in Canada, have different perspectives on the proper role for Canada's national government in addressing Canada's autism crisis.  The government of Stephen Harper, of which Mike Lake is a member,  is not a strong supporter of Canada's national medicare system generally and has done nothing to advance in a meaningful way the National Autism Strategy advocated for by former and present opposition MP's Andy Scott,  Peter Stoffer, Shawn Murphy and Glenn Thibeault and by Senator Jim Munson.   I know though that Mike Lake is a dedicated father and a strong advocate for his 17 year old autistic son Jaden, who appears to have many similarities to my own son with autism of the same age.  I enjoy seeing Jaden in television and video appearances and was pleased to read the Ottawa Citizen article about the Autism on the Hill Rally and the pictures featuring Jaden Lake.

Stefan Marinoiu is not a federal or provincial political figure, or an entertainment celebrity of any kind talking endlessly about raising autism awareness without taking any action to help the 1 in 88 Canadians who suffer from autism disorders.  Stefan is a real Canadian autism hero.  He has made courageous efforts to have our federal government address Canada's autism crisis. 

Stefan has raised autism awareness without the benefit of political or media connections. He has not done so in order to obtain free travel to Banff or the UN or to augment a political career, he has done it to help his son, Simon,  and  others with autism disorders.  He has done it by twice putting his life at risk with a mid winter walk :autism" trek from Toronto to Ottawa and with a  hunger strike.  I was very pleased to meet Stefan and his wonderful family in Toronto.  Stefan did not confine his efforts to simply raising the awareness as happens with so many much less challenging efforts. Stefan actually advocated for  our federal government to get involved in a meaningful serious way to address Canada's autism crisis.   

Unfortunately the Stephen Harper-Mike Lake government does not want to acknowledge or deal with Canada's autism crisis and there will be no federal progress in Canada as long as the Harper version of the Conservative government holds majority control. Not a single member of our Harper Conservative government, not even those with family members affected by autism, have bothered to push for meaningful federal efforts to address Canada's autism crisis. I doubt though that Stefan will give up.  I will try to follow Stefan's example and continue efforts to advocate for meaningful efforts by our federal government to address Canada's autism crisis.  

Those of us who believe that our federal government should offer meaningful assistance to the 1 in 88 Canadians with an autism disorder have to look past the Harper era and look to NDP and/or Liberal governments to address Canada's national autism crisis.  We can't  give up in the face of Harper's indifference, we must keep fighting and refuse to give up.

Canadians are waiting to see what Stephen Harper does with the very solid majority that Canadians voted to give him on Monday.  One thing they will not have to wait for during the Harper majority years is a Real National Autism Strategy.  I am not a fan of Stephen Harper and I do not trust him on important issues like health care.  What I do not question is his opposition to any serious role for the federal government in ensuring that autistic children and adults across Canada receive effective evidence based treatment for autism,  a real education or decent, autism specific residential care. 

Citing Constitutional grounds Harper's team led by Mike Lake, father of an autistic son,  have consistently refused to get involved in any meaningful effort to help autistic Canadians.  The recent declaration by prominent British Columbia Harper cabinet minister James Moore that autism is not a disability calls into question Mike Lake's autism awareness efforts within his own party but leaves no room for doubt.  There will be no help for autistic Canadians, no Medicare for Autism, no Real National Autism Strategy during a Harper administration.  Any efforts to bring about a Real National Autism Strategy must look to the future until after the Harper majority has run its course.

As I have twice indicated on this blog I was pleased to be invited to attend the Autism Speaks Canada national autism strategy discussion in Banff, Alberta.  Although unable to attend in person I did participate via teleconference and offered my two cents worth on some of the important issues which should be addressed in any national health care strategy.  I participated, however, knowing full well that under a Stephen Harper government no REAL National Autism Strategy would be permitted.  Stephen Harper has been an opponent  of Canada's public health care system long before becoming Prime Minister of Canada.  His views are the views of the current version of the federal Conservative Party and no exception will made to ensure a strong federal government effort to address Canada's Autism Crisis.

This week has seen questionable action taken by the Harper government to have a National Health Act review conducted ..... not by the elected House of Commons where the last such review was conducted and where the Harper Party is in a  minority .... but in the unelected Senate where the Harper Conservatives hold a majority. The move, as detailed by the National Union of Public and General Employees, is  part of an ongoing campaign to diminish and possibly destroy any federal government role in funding of health care in Canada.  Organizations which call for a stronger federal government role in health care have already been told they will not be permitted to appear at the Senate review:

The opposition by the governing federal Conservatives to a federal role in health care bodes ill for a real, successful National Autism Strategy. Such a strategy requires non-partisan political support in order to succeed.  An example of non-partisan support for autism strategy exists here in New Brunswick.  Our province  has been recognized as a leader in the provision of autism services as set out in the following letter from the web site of the Association for Science in Autism Treatment's David Celiberti:.

ASAT Responds to Canadian CBC's "N.B. Can Be a Leader in Autism Services


Saturday, October 23, 2010


I read with great interest your recent article about the state of services in New Brunswick (“N.B. Can Be a Leader in Autism Services," September 14, 2010). I do beg to differ about the title of the piece. New Brunswick is already a leader. To have amassed 800 trained agents of change in six years is nothing short of incredible and inspiring, particularly given the diversity of your province with respect to geography and language. Other Canadian provinces can look to New Brunswick for an exemplary model of how things could and should be for children with autism and their families.


There is a misconception that services in the United States are superior to that of our neighbors to the north. I can assure you that children with autism in rural areas and in economically depressed areas of the U.S. do not always access state of the art, science-based treatment such as those based on applied behavior analysis. In many cases throughout the US, children with autism receive poor quality behavior analytic services that may be lessened if providers were able to access more intensive training and networking opportunities similar to what is being offered in your province. Part of the Association for Science in Autism Treatment (ASAT)'s mission is to help close that gap through information dissemination, and we are keenly interested in the efforts of leaders like yourself developing, implementing, and evaluating systems.


And like other true leaders, you have looked critically at your accomplishments with an eye toward making every year of service delivery better than the previous year. We applaud your recognition that treatment parameters such as intensity need to be tailored to each child to maximize gains. When resources are scarce, this individualization can be an arduous task, but nonetheless critically important. Equally important is the need to communicate to government officials, tax payers and other stakeholders that immense financial savings are attached to doing right by our children when they are young.


It is unfortunate that funding for parent training is not more abundant. Optimal outcomes for children with autism are predicated on the support of educated, informed and skillful parents. Promoting carryover, ensuring consistency, and enhancing skill development across all environments are crucial roles for parents, but parents require support and training to assume these crucial roles. Your stated concerns and insights about the dearth of services for adults are much appreciated, and reflect the challenges that we have here in the U.S as well.


Families of children with autism in New Brunswick are blessed. Keep fighting the good fight.


David Celiberti, Ph.D., BCBA-D, President
Association for Science in Autism Treatment

Although much work remains to be done here in New Brunswick much has been accomplished. There are many reasons why this small relatively poor province has achieved some good results.  A strong parent advocacy movement has been critically important along with  the involvement of well informed, conscientious professionals.  At the end of the day though programs have been put in place by government and therein is one of the important elements in New Brunswick's autism success to date.  Our provincial autism strategy has been a non-partisan effort with both governing parties contributing significantly.

New Brunswick's dominant political parties, the Liberals and the Conservatives, have both been actively involved in improving autism services.  Many of our autism services began during the Conservative government of Premier Bernard Lord. They were improved upon during the Liberal government of Premier Shawn Graham.  Autism in New Brunswick was taken seriously by both of our governing parties over the last 10 years.

Federally however only the NDP and the Liberal party have shown an inclination to move toward a REAL National Autism Strategy.  The sovereignist Bloc Quebecois will not accept any federal role in setting national health care priorities. They are joined by the  Conservatives, currently our governing party, who are fundamentally opposed to our national medicare system.  I wish it were not so but the ideological opposition of the Harper Conservatives towards our national health care system  leaves absolutely no room  for a REAL National Autism Strategy.

Autism parent advocates have advocated for many years for a national autism strategy.  NDP and Liberal MP's and Senators including Peter Stoffer, Shawn Murphy, Andy Scott and  Jim Munson joined them in their efforts but no meaningful strategy has resulted in Parliament.  

Under Stephen Harper autism has been rejected as a concern by our federal government. A national autism symposium was cancelled and rescheduled after it became clear that serious autism advocates were slated to attend. The Harper government rescheduled  a sham national autism symposium to make sure that "local" representatives were put forth who would be  docile and not rock the boat by calling for federal funding across Canada of evidence based autism interventions.  

Medicare for Autism was not, and will not, happen under a Harper government.  Sure Mike Lake, a Conservative MP and father of a child with autism, will be happy to appear as a token autism parent/Conservative MP  at autism events to harvest PR for the Conservative Party but neither he, nor  Prime Minister Harper, will permit any serious discussion of a meaningful national autism strategy involving federal support of funding for evidence based autism intervention for all autistic Canadian children. Effective evidence based intervention for autistic Canadian children is just not up there with census forms in the Harper list of priorities

It comes as no surprise, given Harper's lack of concern about addressing Canada's national autism crisis,  that the same "not my problem", attitude of our PM is manifested in other non-action as seen in the following horror story from the Calgary Herald. A Canadian child visiting his stepfather in Oregon, who resided there for health reasons during the winter, was detained by state health authorities for riding a bike without a helmet.  He was in fact detained by the state for 2 years and placed in a succession of foster homes while his mother fought for his return to their home in Calgary.  Eventually he was returned and a lawsuit brought by the State of Oregon against his mother for child care expenses dropped after a group of lawyers stepped in to help.  The Canadian government under Stephen Harper remained on the sidelines as described in the Calgary Herald:

"I never expected to be sued for the cost of them essentially kidnapping my son," says Kirkman outside court."

Harper and his autism dad spokesperson Mike Lake have said that because health care is within primary provincial constitutional jurisdiction it can take no action to implement a serious national autism strategy. That position ignores decades of cooperative efforts between federal and provincial governments to address important issues using all available Canadian resource regardless of strict constitutional categories.  What is interesting in the Kirkman  case is that the protection of Canadians in foreign countries, especially Canadian children, is a matter squarely within federal constitutional jurisdiction but Prime Minister Stephen Harper did nothing to protect a Canadian child abroad.