Media, agencies, NDP contradict BC govt: confirm cuts, forced moves, intimidation

The Victoria Times Colonist is continuing to unravel the ugly details of BC's community living crisis, with two new investigative reports documenting the disturbing story that Premier Christy Clark and Minister Harry Bloy are desperately trying to keep under wraps. Earlier this week, columnist Paul Willcocks reported the shocking statistic that CLBC's funding per adult client will have been cut by almost 1/3 by 2013, based on recent trends and current budget projections. Today, reporter Lindsay Kines quoted families and agency leaders who confirmed the closure of group homes and forced relocations of residents, along with the intimidation of families and care providers as CLBC tries to muzzle public complaints.

This past week, the Developmental Disabilities Association, one of BC's largest agencies serving people with developmental disabilities, became the first CLBC-funded agency that has dared to step forward to publicly contradict the official claims that group homes are not being cut, in an update posted on the agency's website .

These reports provide more evidence that Premier Christy Clark, Minister for Community Living Harry Bloy, and the CLBC CEO Rick Mowles have all been lying to British Columbians with their repeated insistence that group homes and other services are not being cut.

Meanwhile, we continue to hear from more distraught families all around the province whose adult or minor children meet all eligibility criteria but either had existing services cut or are being denied desperately needed supports.  But while many continue to be intimidated and afraid that speaking out will cost them the few services they've managed to secure, too many are now speaking out for political leaders to pretend all is well.

Opposition MLAs have also been helping to highlight the concerns of families in their constituencies, both in the media, and during Question Period, with more questions posed directly to Premier Clark today ( scroll down to line 1410 ).

And this Channel A News report illustrates the absurd lengths to which the Minister is going to deny the cuts (Hmm - hands up everyone who thinks a cut is not really a cut when it's a "change").

Many other agencies have been telling us "off the record" of similar or far worse cuts than DDA's, with shocking accounts of thuggish tactics that senior CLBC staf have been using to enforce cuts and intimidate agency staff and families involved into keeping quiet about them.

Exhausted families are telling us that dealing with CLBC and other government officials in their efforts to maintain or access services has become the most stressful part of their roles in suporting an adult or child with complex special needs. How unfair is that - to pile more stress on families who are already stretched to the hilt when you're supposed to be helping them?

Premier Christy Clark returned to the BC Legislature this week, 7 years after she tabled the legislation to create CLBC, promising it would bring a better life to people with developmental disabilities and their families. But she wasted no time ramming through a decision to shut down the BC Legislature, to deny further opportunity for the Opposition to hold her and her government to account for its failed promises and her own empty commitment to put families first.

Seven years ago, MOMS and other family groups pointed out that all the experts were warning the BC Liberal government that CLBC would not be able to live up to the rosy promises being made unless govt resolved the budget challenges in community living before devolving governance to CLBC.

Those warnings have unquestionably been realized, but instead of offering change, Christy Clark is endorsing the appalling neglect, intimidation, harrassment and betrayal of the BC families appealing for her help.

Dawn & Cyndi, MOMS