Coalition Meeting Minutes

BACI - 2702 Norland Avenue, Burnaby

February 23, 2005 - 2:00 pm

1. Introductions - people introduced themselves around the room.  A number of coalition members are currently meeting with the CLBC Board (at 1pm).
2. Co-Chairs for the next CLC Meeting:
   1. Need to review the idea of rotating chairs
   2. Need to have some people identified as the current spokesperson / letter signer for the coalition
   3. Discussed the option of identifying two people for the next six months and ensuring that it didn't become a burden for those two people.
      1. Working groups to prepare responses
      2. Many people are available to assist with chairing the meetings if either co-chair is not available.
   4. Arlene Schouten and Liz Barnett were nominated and accepted the six month term as permanent co-chairs.
3. Update on the Feb 10th CLBC Board Meeting:  CLBC called all prospective public attendees and informed them that the February 10 meeting would be an in-camera meeting for the entire meeting and that there would be no public meeting.  There were many human resource issues - the applicants for executive positions - on the agenda.  Most board meetings will continue to have a public meeting portion.
4. Update on CLBC actions:
   1. Rick Mowles hired as acting CEO for the next six months.
   2. Rick identified the service plan as a document that was causing some concern in the community. He will work with the board to bring forward a document clarifying the service delivery plan.
   3. Rick has pulled together a number of working groups on specific issues to get community re-invested in the process.
      1. Transformation Planning Group - 25 people from all stakeholder groups (MCFD staff, families, agencies, self-advocates).  There should be more information made public by CLBC on this group in the next few days.
   4. Devolution Date of July 1st, 2005 is the target for the transfer of responsibility for services to CLBC from government.
   5. Transformation targets need to be established before July 1st so that community can believe that this is not simply a devolution process.
      1. Timelines for the development of Community Living Centres
      2. Identification of policies that need to change or be developed 
      3. Timelines for these changes
   6. Plain Language documents need to be developed whenever CLBC makes public announcements.  They need to develop supports for the self-advocates who will participate on the Board and on the Transformation Planning Group.
5. Budget update (From Provincial Government release of Budget - Feb 15, 2005)
   1. $91 Million over three years
   2. Difficulty interpreting the numbers because of reallocation of funding from previous years.  Now they have three categories of funding:
      1. Adult Community Living - Increases of 26.6 Million, 8.5 Million and 11.5 Million over the next three years. (22, 28, 40 Million over three years overall was another set of numbers - difficult to get to 91 Million - not sure which numbers to include and exclude)
         1. Deficit in current year is $6 to 8 million - this will immediately reduce the amount of new funding available.
         2. 3.9% growth rate is predicted by MCFD for the increase in volume of services. 
         3. There isn't adequate funding in even year one to cover the crisis funding and growth rate.  Year two and Year three will create real problems for CLBC in terms of responding to community needs.
      2. Child & Family services.
      3. Early Childhood Development and Supported Childcare.
6. Feedback on Meeting with CLBC Board:
   1. Liz Barnett, Astrid Metheral & Terry Robertson arrived at 3:30pm from the meeting with the CLBC Board.
   2. Coalition members explained their families' experiences in the community.  Service providers explained the strategies and restructuring their agencies have been involved with over the past three years.
   3. Lois, CLBC Board Chair - explained that the Service Plan document released to the public in January was not properly developed for public presentation. They apologized for the confusion created in the community. The board will issue a clarification document that will address the issues that have been raised.
   4. $91 Million over three years will establish community living centres and assist with the implementation of Individualized Funding.
   5. Change Management Consultant hired.
   6. "We can't change it until we have it" a consistent message from the Board Members.  Devolution first, transformation next.
   7. Much focus from the Board on the work they had done with MCFD staff to get them on board with the CLBC transformation.
   8. Coalition members asked about support for the Community Living Restructuring Fund - CLBC Board members felt that this was not their issue.
   9. The CLBC Board Chair raised an issue of the coalition openness - she stated she had heard that the coalition had rejected the participation of an MCFD worker who is also a family member, and that we have a lot of work to do in terms of openness.  Coalition members objected to this characterization.  No one has been denied entry to a coalition meeting.  No one has been denied access to the coalition mailing list.  There has been healthy debate at many meetings - people have questioned the ability of the coalition to achieve its goals of community governance, family and self-advocate leadership, and individualized funding as an option, but no one has been rejected by the coalition... 
       
   10. The board suggested that the community's prime focus should be on appropriate funding for community services.  The structure issues will be addressed over time.
   11. Coalition will develop a response to the board on the issues that were reviewed at the meeting. 
       1. Thanks for their time to meet and share community's concerns.  Coalition has over 600 people on our mailing list.  We have representatives from around the Province.  Over the past four years, we have had input from around the Province and created a process of Community Facilitators who could share information from the coalition to their communities.  15 people from around the Province were brought down to Langley for a day of training and have been connected by email and discussion group so that communities around the Province have a person sharing information and answering questions for families.  In the coalition's recent response to the service plan document, there was feedback from around the province, and from all stakeholders, including a number of MCFD staff.
       2. Re-iterate the issues raised by families and service providers.
       3. Pleased to hear that the Board will be clarifying the Service Plan document.
       4. Attempting to make change always difficult - need to include all stakeholders
       5. Concern about the budget - there must be more clarity on what resources will be available, and after three years of cuts, there need to be resources available to people with disabilities and families.
       6. Communication as a priority - we reinforce the need to have more open communication on the transformation process.  In the absence of real information, rumors and innuendo take over.  Please communicate progress and process to the community.
7. Self-Advocate Support at Coalition Meetings:  Many times people have expressed the need for more plain language documents and a focus on ensuring self-advocates understand what is happening.  As well, people felt that a speaker's list needs to be managed more assertively by the chairs - to keep speakers speaking one at a time, keeping the discussion more orderly.  The coalition can model more effective support for self-advocates by ensuring meetings are paced appropriately, with time taken to clarify new issues.  Suggestion that the coalition appoint a third co-chair - a self-advocate who can also act as a monitor of plain language, pace and content.  Moved by Tim, seconded by Astrid that there be a third co-chair - a self-advocate - who could ensure that all three constituencies are well represented by the Coalition.  PASSED.  At the next meeting, we will approve a third co-chair.  All self-advocates should consider their interest in tackling this position and attend the next meeting.
8. Family Group meeting Liberal Caucus: This afternoon, families from PLAN, Vela and FSI will be meeting with the Liberal Caucus to raise the issues that families face when they have loved ones that need support.  New Caucus Chair is MLA Gordon Hogg.
9. Disability Benefits Increase:  Government announced a $70 per month increase to disability benefits.  Some people did not get the increase though.  This is due to the variety of ways that people with disabilities are paid their disability benefits. Gerry presented a letter he had written to MHR regarding this issue.  The coalition has already passed a motion on this issue (in December) and supports Gerry's efforts to get the increase for all people with disabilities.   Laney said that MHR and MCFD are meeting to address this issue.
10. Next CLBC Board Meeting: Thursday, March 10th.  Coalition representatives have been confirmed.
11. Next Meeting:   Wednesday, March 16th, 2005 - Noon to 2pm at BACI.