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CLC Meeting Minutes
June 3, 2004
10:00 am to 1:00 pm
BCACL Office - 300 - 30 East 6th Avenue, Vancouver, BC
1. Introductions: People introduced themselves around the room.
2. Update on Interim Authority Issues: (Brian Salisbury)
Brian gave a brief
overview of 3 issues – legislation, budget and Individualized funding – this was
followed by a general discussion with Coalition members.
 | Legislation Introduced: Legislation falls somewhat short of Coalition hopes on a
number of items:
 | 50% plus one of family and self-advocates is not clearly defined |
| Inclusion of self-advocates not guaranteed on board |
| Definition of Independent planning not in legislation |
| Definition of Individualized Funding not in legislation |
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| Further discussion over the summer months may lead to improvements or
changes in the fall when the legislation is given second reading and committee
review. |
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Budget Issues: There
is discussion again in the Ministry of a
plan to
develop a range of more sustainable community supports in an effort to find
savings due to a shortage of funds for health and safety issues. The plan
will be introduced in the next couple of weeks. The plan will be implemented
consistently across the Province. |
| IF Phase One: There are still struggles on a number of fronts:
| No final ruling from Canada Revenue on how IF will be dealt with if it
is paid to families. |
| No update from MCFD on how the 60 children will access the IF Phase
One. |
| No approval of the IF Policy Framework that Interim Authority presented
to MCFD in October. |
| No approved payment process for IF funds to individuals or families. |
| MCFD has reviewed the first set of plans submitted by individuals and
families, but the lack of clarity on tax status and payment processes and
unbundling, have left those plans in limbo.
Also, the unbundling process which is part of the IF initiative, has not
been implemented yet to determine its effectiveness. |
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| There needs to be more communication from MCFD on what the status of the
program and individual applications is. |
| Backfill for the facilitators has been an ongoing issue. The
facilitators have left caseworker positions and their positions have been
filled temporarily. The backfill for June was approved on May 28th, so
workers are in a state of uncertainty as to what will happen in July. There is hope that the Ministry
and Interim Authority will reach a permanent agreement in June. |
| Regarding Budget Issues: According to Laney, savings would be used to address Health and
Safety issues - Crisis issues that don't have adequate budgeted funds this
year. In a good year, the MCFD requires between $12 Million and $15
Million per year for health and safety issues, and they only have $3 Million
this year.
There was a target of $2 Million in savings from the IF Phase One program, but
those savings have not been realized. |
| Boyd Report: Readiness Report suggested that the transition could happen
as late as September 2005. The Interim Authority still hopes that the transition
could happen sooner based on the key Readiness criteria being achieved:
| Stable Executive Leadership |
| Budget Stability |
| Clarity on provision of services to children |
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3. Ways for the Coalition to influence the Interim Authority in the
future?
| The new board needs to know where the community wants to go with community
governance. They spend so much time with bureaucracy that we need to
find ways to keep them connected to our vision. |
| Coalition, BCACL and old IA Board would like to meet with new Board and
review three questions:
| The respective starting positions in each of the three issue areas.
 | The Program - what we want to do |
| Governance - How we make decisions and who does what |
| Finance / Budget - How much money is committed to CLS |
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| Where we are now |
| How we will move forward |
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| Program - improve ability of people to self-direct services |
| Governance - community based board vs. Corporate board
| Regional/provincial advisory structures - the Commission |
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| Budgets were reduced due to government need to reduce costs
| Community participation was based on hope for improved programs and
governance in the future |
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| Issue worksheets need to be developed on these three issues:
| Starting position |
| Current board position |
| Current Government position |
| Any proposed resolution |
| Relevant facts |
| Action to be taken |
| By what date |
| by what agent |
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| Action Plan will be developed to build an accountability tracking
mechanism for the coalition to track progress on specific issues. |
| Meeting scheduled with IA Board later in June. |
| Also need education for new board on why the old system needed to change -
how families and individuals need new tools to direct their services.
The Roeher report has just been completed on the community advisory process
from Core Review to the creation of the Interim Authority. Once it has
been given final approval, it would be a good tool for providing background.
It provides a good discussion of the issues that brought the community and
government to look at a new system. It was also an external report so it
should provide some independent validation of the issues and the tensions that
have existed in through the process. The coalition is eager to see this
report and will request that it be released publicly. |
| The coalition members brainstormed some starting points on the three major
issues:
| Governance
| Self-Advocate position on the Board |
| Size of the board |
| 50% plus one for families and self-advocates plus aboriginal
representative |
| (Rationale: technical, corporate skills are available in our
community) |
| Regional representation - 5 regions |
| Community Board vs. Corporate board |
| Commission - parallel authority, independence, regional/community
governance |
| Link to Treasury Board / Ministry level |
| CEO - Separation between Authority & Commission |
| Innovation Office |
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| Programs
| Choice, Flexibility and Portability for families & Individuals |
| option of Individualized Funding |
| Independent Planning |
| Proactive supports |
| Lifelong access to supports |
| higher accountability to consumers |
| Improved Crisis response - tertiary services |
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| Budget
| No reductions during transition |
| Reducing cost of services to address waitlists and underserved
individuals and families |
| Reduced bureaucracy / Increased services to individuals and families |
| Direct Funding to Individuals and Families |
| reduce indirect costs/ streamline processes |
| no changes / moves without individual and family consent |
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| Motion: The coalition moves that a working group be struck to refine this
progress report and create an action plan to guide future coalition advocacy.
This will include a meeting with the new Interim Authority board. Moved
by Cathy, seconded by Karen CARRIED |
| Working Group to develop Action Plan: Laney, Linda, Mike, David Driscoll, Neil Bellanger |
4. Meeting with the Minister of Children and Family Development - Christie
Clark: Meeting on May 28th 2004 was postponed. New meeting date
scheduled for July 5, 2004 at 10:00 am. The issues that we are planning to
discuss with the Minister:
| Children's services - clarity of programs and finances - Boyd report
doesn't clarify adequately. |
| Eligibility criteria for children must not include IQ |
| Board Composition: Self-Advocate position, Definition of families,
Corporate skills available |
| CEO hiring - essential to have a person with community grounding |
| Budget Issues - Health & Safety funding, Extreme pressure on community
capacity |
| October - Community Living Month - opportunities for celebration - good
legislation, budget resolution |
5. Hiring of CEO - The hiring is a joint decision between the Interim
Authority Board and the Deputy Minister of MCFD. The coalition will write
a letter to the Chair of the Interim Authority - Lois Hollstedt - offering our
input on critical hiring criteria for the CEO position. We feel that the
CEO must be a person with grounding in community - a person willing to work
collaboratively with families and community groups...
6. Joanne from the Representation Agreement Resource Centre thanked the
coalition for their support in the campaign to protect Representation
Agreements. In May, the Attorney General cancelled plans to introduce
legislation that would have reduced the effectiveness of Representation
Agreements. There will be a party on June 24th to celebrate - 4pm to 6pm
at 2750 Heather Street, Vancouver. RSVP at 604-408-7414 or
info@rarc.ca .
7. The coalition expressed condolences to Jo Dickey on the passing of her son
last month.
8. Federal Election: Reminder that the budget pressures in the community are
a result of the Liberal cuts to Federal Transfer payments in health and social
services. Paul Martin is now expressing strong support for health care and
supports to people with disabilities. It is important for people to attend
all-candidates meetings and ask for candidates' positions on community supports.
Some agencies are communicating the issues with their young staff to build
awareness of the risks and benefits to different party platforms.
9. Tertiary Care / Crisis Response: 14 people at Willow who were long-term
residents now have community plans. One person has moved.
10. Next Meeting Date: July 12th - 16th - whichever day is available at
Burnaby Association.
UPDATE: Next Meeting Confirmed for Friday July 16, 2004 - 10am to 1pm
- Burnaby Association - 2702 Norland Avenue, Burnaby, BC
11. Meeting adjourned at 12:15pm.
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