EDMONTON—The Government of Alberta says it will not make changes to the programs vulnerable children, families, and people with developmental disabilities depend on, but change is exactly what is needed, says the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE).
In his Jan. 7 press conference, Seniors, Community and Social Services (SCSS) Minister Jason Nixon told Alberta families and persons with disabilities that the services they depend on would not suffer despite job cuts in the Family Support for Children with Disabilities (FSCD) and Persons with Developmental Disabilities (PDD) programs.
Nixon said the government is ‘not making changes to services for children with disabilities inside the department,’ which is exactly the opposite of what Albertans who need these programs want to hear.
“The FSCD and PDD programs are already in crisis and have been for a long time,” says AUPE Vice-President Sandra Azocar. “Albertans with disabilities are crying out for help and access to these programs; they desperately want changes to how these programs are accessed and maintained.”
An estimated 12,000 Alberta families are on the waitlist to access the FSCD program. With this current backlog, new applications are in limbo with no clear date for when they will be reviewed.
“The 30 or 40 temporary case workers the government is in the process of letting go were brought in as a band-aid solution,” says Azocar. “To make matters worse, Minister Nixon is enforcing a hiring freeze. The government has ripped off the band-aid with no long-term solution.”
According to AUPE members working on the front lines, these programs desperately need increased staffing and budgets to solve the access issue facing Albertans with disabilities.
AUPE members working for the Seniors, Community and Social Services department are hosting an information picket on Wednesday, January 15, 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m., at Park Plaza, 10611 – 98 Avenue, Edmonton to protest the Minister’s decision and spread awareness of the crisis.
AUPE is western Canada’s largest union, standing 98,000 members strong. Approximately 3,300 members belong to Local 006, which represents Government of Alberta employees in social services fields.
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AUPE Vice-President Sandra Azocar is available for media interviews.
Please contact Jon Olsen, AUPE communications officer, to arrange: j.olsen@aupe.org or 780-904-0876.