New Democrats Demand Action at CLBC, Release of Program Reviews
VANCOUVER — While the Liberals continue to stall on measures that would improve the lives of nearly 14,000 of B.C.’s most vulnerable citizens, New Democrats are renewing the call for the release of two internal Community Living B.C. (CLBC) reviews the government promised last year.
“Despite assurances they would fix the crisis they created at CLBC, the Liberals continue to put the lives of families and individuals living with developmental disabilities on hold,” said New Democrat leader Adrian Dix. “The government needs to release the internal reviews of CLBC immediately and take swift action to alleviate the crisis.”
Following strong pressure from the public, advocacy groups and the New Democrat opposition over the ongoing community living crisis, the initial review, completed at the end of November, was to look into how CLBC supports and prioritizes the needs of individuals living with developmental disabilities. The second review, due at the end of December, promised to look into a number of areas related to service demand, performance and a cost analysis of CLBC.
New Democrat community living critic Nicholas Simons has written letters to Social Development Minister Stephanie Cadieux calling for the release of the reviews, with no response.
“The minister assured the public that she would review how people living with developmental disabilities could be better supported by government,” said Simons, the MLA for Powell River-Sunshine Coast. “Given the very clear crisis situation that still remains for thousands of families and individuals relying on services from CLBC, the timely release of these reviews is very important.”
“The crisis this government created within CLBC is apparent to the entire province,” said Simons. “Undoing the damage, and restoring public faith in the community living sector should be one of the top priorities of a government that promised to put families first.”
Adrian Dix and the New Democrats have joined families and advocates to call for an independent review of CLBC that would investigate the closure of group homes, oversight and monitoring of home shares, failures in transitioning young people to community living when they ‘age out’ of the children’s ministry, and chronic underfunding.