Saskatchewan Update
September 10, 2007
The Deinstitutionalization Coalition of Saskatchewan was pleased to host a forum on deinstitutionalization, “Freedom, Reconciliation and Community Living for All" in Saskatoon on May 2, 2007. This national event was well attended and was a powerful, moving day. It gave us the opportunity to provide interested individuals with information about our efforts provincially as well as updates on what is happening across the country. Forum participants heard from speakers who are experienced in institutional closures across this country and heard first hand accounts of institutional living from survivors who are now successfully living full lives in the community. It also strengthened our collective commitment to moving deinstitutionalization forward.The day prior to our forum, SACL families and the Fusion Inclusion youth group were fortunate to participate in the People First of Saskatchewan rally at the legislative buildings in Regina. This event was well attended by media and brought public attention to the issue that people with intellectual disabilities are still living in institutions in Saskatchewan. People First led the crowd with chants of “Free our People!" After the rally, members of the DCS were invited to meet with then Minister Buckley Belanger to discuss our deinstitutionalization efforts. Minister Belanger once again stated that the government of Saskatchewan fully supports community living but that they had no plans for closure of Valley View Centre in Moose Jaw at that time.
SACL met with the newly appointed Minister of Community Resources, Kevin Yates, at the legislature in July. Minister Yates reiterated that the government has no immediate plan to close Valley View Centre, but acknowledged the lack of appropriate supports in the community and committed to making changes to address this gap.
This summer, SACL met with the Leader and Deputy Leader of the official opposition, Saskatchewan Party, Brad Wall and Ken Krawetz, and discussed deinstitutionalization as one of our key priorities. We were able to raise their awareness about the issue and answer questions that they had about the implications and realities of institutional closures. Recently, the Saskatchewan Party critic for Community Resources raised concerns in the media about the critical shortage of community supports due to chronic underfunding by the government and how people in crisis are too often dumped in inappropriate places.
At the end of June the Saskatchewan government released the Disability Inclusion Policy Framework. Although this framework was meant to forge a path to address all disability issues in the province there was no mention of the existence of institutions or the people who are in them. SACL responded to the framework and pointed out this omission. A Regina-based disability group and a provincial network of disability groups wrote to Premier Lorne Calvert outlining their disappointment with the framework and the issues they felt were missed, one of which was moving forward on deinstitutionalization. In August, some DCS members attended community meetings to discuss and respond to the ideas in the framework, identifying the need to prioritize deinstitutionalization and invest in community supports.
As we head into a provincial election this fall, the DCS plans to formally ask all candidates questions about their plans for deinstitutionalization and to update the Task Force about the responses we receive.
