For
Immediate Release
November 4, 2004
MPP
Reads Distressing Letter From Family Member
Reading a letter written by the brother of a Rideau Regional Centre (RRC) resident in the provincial legislature today, Lanark-Carleton MPP Norm Sterling demanded that the McGuinty government reverse a decision to close the Smiths Falls facility in 2009.
The letter describes a brother’s grave concern for the well being of his 57-year-old brother. The brother, who Sterling called “Jean”, has been a resident of Rideau Regional for more than 50 years. He suffers from severe spina bifida, is mentally challenged, has no use of his legs, and can’t speak.
“To suggest that many of the residents of these facilities such as my brother can be moved to community-based residential settings is an indication of complete ignorance of the condition of these people,” Sterling read from the letter, as Premier Dalton McGuinty and Community and Social Services Minister Sandra Pupatello looked on.
“I am convinced that moving my brother from his current environment is the equivalent of a death sentence for him,” the letter goes on to say.
“Jean’s” brother also describes how a previous attempt to move him into a nursing home ended in failure. Within weeks, he had to be transferred back to the Rideau Regional Centre due to a resulting deterioration of his condition partly due to his refusal to accept food in a strange environment. “Jean’s” condition immediately improved on his return to RRC.
“Minister, Jean’s friends, the people he trusts and loves, are all at the Rideau Regional Centre,” Sterling told Minister Pupatello during Question Period at Queen’s Park. “Why would you separate these most vulnerable people in our society from the only security they have – or will ever have?”
In her response, the Minister failed to recognize it was her government that made the decision to close the Rideau Regional Centre in 2009. She would not reverse the decision.
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