WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY JANUARY 26, 1983, PAGE 5 Government hasn't done its-homework: Liberals The Ontario govern ment's plan to close si: institutions for the men tally retarded is a poor ly planned scheme con cocted without consuit ing those most affected the Ontario Liberal par ty charged last week. Liberal social ser vices critic Dor Boudria, who toured the Durham Centre for the Developmentally Han. dicapped last Wednes. day, says the govern- ment hasn't bothered to gather even the most basic facts about the closing and relocation of residents into the com- munity. "We asked the minister (Frank Drea) how many residents are currently on waiting lists to get into commu- nity group homes," Boudria said. "And he couldn't give us a figure...he doesn't know." Boudria said the gov- ernment did not consult local associations for the mentally retarded, staff, parents and public service unions before deciding to close the six institutions. Boudria and Liberal MPP Jack Riddell (Huron Middlesex) are conducting a tour of the six institutions to gather information for use in parliamentary debates on the plan to relocate the institutionalized residents in community group homes. "If the government doesn't even know how many are on the waiting lists before they go ahead and close the in- stitutions, how can people believe they- know what they are doing?" Boudria asked. The Liberals contact- ed 12 of Ontario's 132 associations for the mentally retarded and found that in those 12 alone, more than 500 residents are awaiting placement in group homes. "What kind of service are these people going to get?" asked Boudria. "Not everyone in an in- stitution can be moved into the community even if there were enough group homes." Like many opponents of the plan, the Liberals say the closings are a cost-cutting measure that ignores the plight of the retarded who will Liberal MPP's Don Boudria (left) and Jack Riddell discuss the implica- tions of closing the Durham Centre for the Developmentally Handicapped. The two men visited the centre last week as part of a tour of six institutions slated to close by 1987. Free Press Staff Photo most likely be sent to large, impersonal insti- tutions instead of com- munity homes. Boudria and Riddéll say they believe that most residents will en dup in the larger insti- tutions, defeating the stated purpose of the plan to "integrate" the retarded into the com- munity. "Two things are going to happen," Riddell said. "We'll see an en- largement of the already too large insti- tutions, and the other is that we'll see some who end up on the street with no place to go." What the Liberals want, say Boudria and Riddell, is a promise from the government that residents will get as good or better care when the institutions close as they are pre- sently getting. "If he (Drea) is pre- pared to assure the people that there will be support services in the community that are as good or better than what they're getting now, that's fine," Riddell said. "But he's not doing, that...he simply will not meet with anyone." In a Toronto Star ar- ticle last week, Drea was quoted as saying he wouldn't close any insti- tutions until a place for the residents had been found. "I'm cautiously opti- mistic that we may be able to change this policy," Riddell said. "I really think he (Drea) has made a mistake." Çoncerned citizens in Durham Region met in Ajax Monday night to discuss the impact of the centre's closing, slated for some time in 1987. The open forum, facilitated by the Ajax- Pickering-Whitby Asso- ciation for the Mentally Retarded, focused on the need to establish adequate housing for residents once the cen- tre has been closed. Riddell said last week he believes other alter- natives should be con- sidered before the cen- tres are closed. "The first step should be to phase out the larg- er institutions such as Huronia (in Orillia) and put the residents in the smaller institutions," Riddell said. "I happen to believe there is room for the smaller institutions as an interim step before they go into the commu- nity," Riddell said. "We're trying to show that they are people of dignity and worth," he said. "By throwing them out into the com- munity before they are ready, we may be jeo- pardizing that." 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