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CLC Meeting Minutes
February 25, 2004
10:00 am to 1:30 pm
2702 Norland Avenue, Burnaby, BC
1. Introductions:
2. Handouts: Letter from the Coalition to
Minister Clark was circulated.
3. Interim Authority Update: Doug Woollard gave an update on current
activities of the Interim Authority:
 | The interim board appointments (November 14, 03 to February 2004) expired
last Thursday. An announcement is expected soon of a new board chair and
then board members who will also make up the board of the Permanent Authority
when it is established. |
| The Ministry is awaiting the appointment of the Board Chair before
selecting an Interim CEO. An advertisement for a permanent CEO will be
out soon. |
| The legislation to create Community Living British Columbia is in draft
form and is still planned for introduction to the Legislature this spring.
The legislation will include language around board composition, a description
of community living services, and a description of those people eligible for
community living services. Beyond legislation, there will be a set of
regulations developed. Regulations can only be created through a process
that ends with cabinet approval and can only be changed with cabinet approval.
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| Safeguards: There are limited safeguards in the current system to protect
people in services who don't have families. The Interim Authority has
done international research on best practices in safeguarding and will be
proposing new strategies to build safeguards for people.
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| Readiness Criteria: Interim Authority and MCFD have reached agreement on
the service delivery model and most children's services issues. There is
good progress on the accountability framework - the agreement that describes
the relationship between the Authority and the Ministry - who is responsible
for what - and how the two parties communicate and work together. It is
a delicate balance between autonomy /independence and responsibility for
outcomes. A barrier on the children's services issue is the transfer of
services for children with autism while there is still outstanding litigation
before the Supreme Court. The April 2002 agreement on Children's
Services includes Autism services being transferred to CLBC, but the
government is reluctant to transfer those services. The Ministry has
requested an opportunity to review with the Interim Authority the list of
services for children that will be transferred. Some people expressed
concerns about re-opening the April 2002 agreement. Others said that the
discussion would provide an opportunity to educate a new group of senior
ministry executives about the reasons for the April 2002 decision. |
| Individualized Funding Phase One - 150 people have been selected to
participate in Phase One of the Individualized Funding project. Letters
have been drafted to the successful applicants and the facilitators trained in
October have begun to contact the successful applicants. |
4. MCFD Budget Update:
| Health & Safety Budget - $8 Million to $15 Million each year expended to
meet the needs of individuals who have critical needs. If the Ministry
must plan for a similar amount in the coming year, they must find additional
savings. |
| Transition Budget for Interim Authority - need transitional operating
funding and one-time capital investment to create a more efficient
infrastructure to reduce the long-tem operating costs. |
| There is still a gap of $3.5 Million gap between budget objectives and
current savings plans. The 1.75% reduction has met its objectives in
savings, and collective bargaining has achieved its targetted savings, but
there is still a shortfall in bringing the funding level to the service cost
level. Community and Service Providers are still trying to work
collaboratively with the Ministry, but have been clearly telling the Ministry
that service providers have hit the wall. Most agencies have been working
with the people they serve, their staff and families to find ways to
restructure that don't affect the quality of services being provided, but are
clearly challenged by the final 1.75% cut that must be implemented by April 1,
2004. They cannot be presented with
another budget strategy to find another $3.5 Million. The Ministry needs
to be clear on where they have not achieved savings - some voluntary savings
plans have been implemented but contracts have not been cut. Have agencies
been kept to their commitments for voluntary savings? |
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5. Community Living Restructuring Fund:
| www.CLRestructuringFund.ca
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| There are still significant funds available to families, individuals and
agencies for plans that reduce long-term operating costs or provide
cost-avoidance - allowing a family member to stay in the family home, for
example. |
6. Meeting with the Ministry - Life long stream of service - bringing
together a group to address the issues of children's services transferring to
Community Living British Columbia. Bring a group together with Deputy
Minister to see if a consensus solution can be reached on moving forward on the
transition of services. People nominated to the group are Laney Bryenton,
Cathy Anthony, Lorraine Ward, Tim Stainton and Doug Woollard.
7. Begin planning for a roundtable discussion on having family groups come to
a common understanding of what families want: Laney, Cathy, Anita, Karen.
This group will develop
8. Date of next meeting: Monday, March 29th - 10am to 2pm - Location to
be announced...
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