A meeting between Powell River-Sunshine Coast MLA Nicholas Simons and residents concerned over group home closures will be held from 7 to 9 pm on Wednesday, September 14 at the Cranberry Seniors Centre.
Ann Clements, whose daughter lives in a group home in Powell River, helped organize the meeting due to growing concerns over Community Living BC’s (CLBC) movement of people with developmental disabilities from group homes to other living situations.
In 2010 a group of family members helped to stop the closure of a group home on Joyce Avenue in Powell River. Other group homes in Powell River have been closed and Clements, in an email to the Peak, is worried that the services available in the community are still at risk, along with jobs related to providing those services.
Simons, who is the New Democratic Party’s critic for CLBC, has been involved with the debate over group home closures across the province. He said that CLBC isn’t working. The original idea behind the crown corporation was to provide care through a system that involved community input, but this isn’t happening, he said.
“We find ourselves in a situation where families are being once again forced into this conflictual role trying to advocate for their kids because nobody’s listening to them,” Simons said.
At the meeting Simons intends to listen to the families and decide how he can help them “be a strong voice for their kids.”
