Hon. Peter M. Boehm: Honourable senators, I rise to provide my support for this bill. I commend Senator Housakos for introducing it and for his work in the autism community, particularly in Montreal.

Colleagues, this is not a partisan issue. Autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, impacts families all across our country regardless of their location, ethnic background and how they may vote in elections.

For me, the appeal of the bill is that it is general, recognizing that there are jurisdictional issues and varying approaches in dealing with ASD across the country. Hence it is a framework within which a national autism strategy could be created.

It suggests general measures encompassing financial support for autistic persons, their families, appropriate tax benefits, a research network, a public awareness campaign, using online resources to highlight best practices and measures to ensure accountability.

It recommends consultations across the breadth of the federal government, but also with provincial jurisdictions; relevant stakeholders; experts; advocacy organizations, to which I would also add self-advocates, many of whom have been in touch with me; and, of course, important for us here and in the other place, a mechanism to report back to parliament.

As Senator Housakos has said, the idea for a national autism strategy is not new. However, while much has been talked about, very little has actually been done since the release of the 2007 report by the Senate’s Standing Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology entitled, Pay Now or Pay Later: Autism Families in Crisis. This is a well known and oft-cited report which our current colleague Senator Cordy had a hand in as a member of the committee at the time.

We need to recognize that the government has been preoccupied in the health sector for almost two years with a pandemic that is still not over as new COVID-19 variants emerge. This has engaged policy planners as well as federal and provincial government operational units full time, but, hopefully, this pandemic will soon become endemic. Work that may or may not have begun towards a national autism strategy could be encouraged by this bill. In fact, former Senator Munson and I had plans to meet with the previous Minister of Health to talk about a national autism strategy, and it was just at that point when the pandemic hit us with full force.

The intention is not to supplant any activity that may or may not be going on but to give it structure and, through the publicity for this bill, purpose.

A number of senators in this chamber have taken a great interest in ASD. Senator Housakos has mentioned a few, but I want to mention Senator Bernard, Senator Loffreda, Senator Harder, Senator Hartling, and my colleague and seatmate Senator Kutcher, who knows a lot about mental illness and mental health.

We cannot forget the great contributions made by our former colleague Senator Munson who championed the need for a national strategy, ensured the creation of an Autism on the Hill event and provided a voice for many advocacy organizations. In fact, Senator Munson was also a member of the committee in 2007 that produced the Pay Now or Pay Later report.

Work is not just happening here in the Senate. In the other place, Member of Parliament Mike Lake has been a tireless advocate in pushing the need for a strategy forward, not just in Canada, but also globally.

The Canadian Autism Spectrum Disorder Alliance has set out some clear precepts for a strategy. Senator Housakos has touched on them. I will add a little bit.

On research, we need to realize that there is only fragmented knowledge sharing across the country, without national standards on research. A national leadership framework and regular federal, provincial and territorial ministerial meetings could change that and create a national advisory group that could assess accessibility standards as well as intersectional elements to ensure racialized immigrants and newcomers, Indigenous peoples and those in remote and rural communities are not discriminated against.

Affordability and access to services are important elements to ensure autistic individuals can reach their full potential and live a fulfilling life. This aspect could also include review, renewal or improvement of federal tax measures, including reforming the Disability tax credit, comprehensive training programs to provide greater access to the job market and introducing a national autism waitlist reduction initiative. The waitlists for therapy, assessment, training and placement in special education or living in specialized group homes as adults are horrendous. In my own province of Ontario, the current and previous governments have failed to address this challenge head-on.

Active consideration of placing treatments for ASD under medicare is also a subject that has been discussed by numerous advocates and should be addressed.

It is important to make sure early development intervention services are available on the autism spectrum through what has been called an Enhanced 18-Month Well-Baby Visit so that children can get access to early developmental intervention services. There should be a universal, standardized approach across the country.

As Senator Housakos mentioned, nearly 80% of adult autistic Canadians are unemployed, and many of the remainder are underemployed. This is both a reflection of the breadth of the spectrum but also the lack of pre-employment training programs and funding. There is much to do here and a concerted effort could be made to attract the private sector, including with some federal sectoral incentives.

Regarding housing, there should be a disability supplement to the Canada Housing Benefit. Canada Mortgage and Housing could also be brought into the picture with respect to supply, and establishing contacts between housing developers and autism service agencies.

Finally, data. Data is being talked about in the context of the COVID pandemic. Data systems should be linked to ensure better information sharing. There should be a media campaign to improve the public perception of ASD, equity and inclusion, as in fact the bill before us suggests.

Colleagues, for me this is deeply personal. The third of our four children, Nikolas, is autistic. He was born on posting in San Jose, Costa Rica. We had to bring him back here to have him diagnosed. He was misdiagnosed here in Ottawa. We had to go through more diagnostic procedures. He is now 33 years old and remains non-verbal, but he understands three languages.

Dealing with diagnoses, treatments and navigating supports in a foreign service life that has taken my family from his birth in San Jose to Ottawa, to Washington, back to Ottawa, to Berlin and back to Ottawa during his lifetime has been arduous.

Dealing with his lifelong disability has, without a doubt, been the greatest of challenges, certainly for him, his siblings, my spouse and myself. We have and he has particularly scrambled and persevered. Others have not been as fortunate. Families and relationships have disintegrated. Services have not been offered, diagnoses missed, waitlists extended in perpetuity.

In our travels and in living in other countries, we have learned how other jurisdictions approach autism spectrum disorder. Much can be gleaned from practices abroad in other jurisdictions. Indeed, Nikolas lived in a group home for two years in the state of Brandenburg in Germany, about an hour-and-a-half from Berlin where we lived.

Ironically, Nikolas now lives about an hour and a half away from Ottawa in a small group home. He is doing well. He sometimes comes home. We also go to him, as was the case this past weekend. The pandemic has made meetings difficult, but we were able to go out with him to a restaurant last Saturday. Like many of us, he doesn’t like the mask thing. I think the Point of Order just touched on that. You don’t have to be verbal to indicate that.

Like other parents of autistic individuals, we worry about his future and who will advocate for him in that future. Colleagues, we have a long history in our great country of helping those who are disadvantaged. In fact, we have built ourselves on this. There are many with disabilities who require our support.

Autism needs to be addressed in a straightforward manner. In my opinion, a federal framework can set the parameters for what will surely be a very tough path that lies ahead. This bill will provide the impetus to do just that; I support it very strongly, and I thank Senator Housakos again for introducing it and recommend that we send it to the committee as soon as possible so it can be further enriched as required.

(On motion of Senator Loffreda, debate adjourned.)

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