The Goderich Signal-Star, 2009-01-21, Page 9Goderich Signal -Star, Wednesday, January 21, 2009 - Page A9
Parents demand action on childrens' mental health services
I listened carefully last week when par-
ents of children with mental illness held
a press conference at Queen's Park plead-
ing with the Ontario government ,to act on
providing more services for these children
and youth.
The parents who addressed those assem-
bled were from large urban centres like
London and St. Catharines. They shared
their own personal stories of frustration in
dealing with a system that does not seem
to communicate well with each other or
with parents looking for help.
London Parent Sean Quigley put it this
way; "The health system doesn't work
with the education system, which doesn't
work with the social services system,
which does not communicate with the jus-
tice system. And we parents, we navigate
these systems all the time."
The Huron —Perth Centre for Children
and Youth has been sounding its own the
alarm bells to alert the public and govern-
ment that the rural face of providing ser-
vices for Huron -Perth children with men-
tal illness is in crisis.
In an interview with Terri Sparling, the
chief executive of the Huron -Perth Cen-
tre for Children and Youth, she impressed
upon me that there is no in-patient psychi-
atric care for the most seriously affected
children in the four counties of Grey,
Bruce, Huron and Perth.
• When children in crisis are turned away
from hospitals the burden falls on the par-
ents to care for their children. This results
in stress as parents miss work and go in to
financial debt in order to help their child.
"We need beds! That's a priority, but we
also need to impress upon the public and
government that we are stretched to the
maximum.
As we are spending considerable time
dealing with the most severe cases that
Web site returns
teemed Crimea
signal -star staff
After a year on the back burner, the Com-
munity Development Partnership Committee
will be once again accepting requests for pro-
posals (RFP) for a new town Web site.
The change comes as part of the commit-
tee's Market Godetich initiative, and will also
involve RFPs for a strategic planning consul-
tant as per Communities in Transition (CTI')
funding guidelines.
Committee chair Myles Murdock said the
Ministry of Economic Development and Trade
strongly encourages the use of consultants for
the implementation of their grant money, and
will give direction to the CDP's projects.
"It helps you focus on where you're going
and what you want to do," ho said.
Though the provincial government has yet
to confirm the CTT funds for Goderich, Mur-
dock said the Web site and the Market Goder-
ich project will go through even if the commit-
tee has to foot the bill itself.
"We consider these two things important so
the CDP will fund them if we don't get money
for that," he said.
It is a time for reflection and review in mu-
nicipalities, as Goderich and the county are
reviewing their Official Plans and Sustainable
Hurn examines the well-being of residents.
should be in hospital
getting twenty-four hour
supervision and medica-
tion, those children with
less. severe conditions
are kept waiting," she
added.
The waiting list cur-
rently stands at an over-
whelming two hundred
and twenty.
At a time when Ontarians are paying
a premium to ensure services aren't just
provided but enhanced and co-ordinated,
is simply unacceptable.
One "luxury" rural communities have
over urban ones is that because the servic-
es looking out for children and youth are
few the coordination between us is easier.
"We celebrate a network of caring and de-
pendable local partners in Huron -Bruce,
and that provides us with some encour-
agement, but we need more than that," she
concluded.
It's clear that we have dedicated indi-
viduals working hard to identify children
at risk and intervene as early as possible
so that in order to help the kids improve
their quality of life.
That these same individuals should be
hampered in doing their job to help our
kids is disturbing.
The response to the parents and the folks
at the Huron -Perth facility from Children
and Youth Services Minister Deb Mat-
thews was that she has ordered a review
of children's mental-health services in
Ontario, and that the ministry is already
implementing coordination for mental
health services for children.
For its part, in 2007 the federal' gov-
ernment established the first ever Mental
Health Commission of Canada (MHCC).
The Children and Youth Advisory Com-
•
to town agenda
Murdock said the CDP is looking to retain
businesses as well as rethink the way jobs are
done while the community responds to the
aftermath of closures at Volvo and the slow
down in the manufacturing sector.
"These are the times," he said. "You can
look upon them as woe is me or you can say
this is the playing field now." .
But, he admitted, change may not be in-
stant.
"You just don't get that plant that wants to
come in and start with 150 people," he said. "It
could be a couple years before anything of that
magnitude happens."
Murdock said the committee has been any-
thing but idle, however, they do have to be
careful given the uncertain state of the econ-
omy.
"We're trying to plan for the future," he
said. "But we don't want to do it in a reckless
fashion.
To that end, the consultant RFP will be out
by the end of the month. Murdock said he
hopes to have that process completed before
summer, and to begin work soon after that..
In the meantime, the committee is chang-
ing their meeting tunes to every third Friday
of each month, with the exception of May —
which will be the fourth Friday because of the
long weekend.
mittee within the MHCC believes that
identifying you in crisis early is of para-
mount importance in order to improve
their life trajectories, their productivity as
Canadians, and reduce the prevalence of
mental health problems in adulthood.
In 2009, when the government can af-
ford money to support bans on pit -bulls,
junk -food, cell -
phones, and smok-
ing with an aim to
saving lives, it can
act quickly to re-
lieve the burdens
faced by parents
and those working
on the front -lines
helping Ontario's
children and fami-
lies coping with
mental illness.
Things need to
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change and change quickly. No promise
of reports or further study from govern-
ment is what's needed.
What we need here in Huron -Perth is
action to help our kids and relieve the
burden of families and those on the front -
lines.
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GODEtCH TOWN OF GODERICH
MUNICIPAL CLASS ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT
FOR THE EXTENSION OF PARSONS COURT
NOTICE OF COMPLETION
THE PROJECT:
The Town of Goderich is proposing to extend Parsons Court in order to service lands planned for industrial
development in the community's southeast end. At this time, the Town has selected a preferred strategy for
extending the roadway and for providing municipal servicing to the project site. The key components of
this servicing plan are outlined below and illustrated on the attached key plan.
Primary Components:
• Extension of Parsons Court southwards approximately 520m to the municipal boundary. Municipal
services would be installed within the new road allowance. The proposed road corridor also
incorporates alignment modifications to mitigate potential construction -related impacts.
• Construction of a sanitary sewer from the planned road extension to the Huckins Street trunk sewer.
In the vicinity of the adjacent woodlot (Maitland Woods), the sanitary sewer would be installed via
trenchless technology (e.g., directional drilling) to minimize the disturbance to natural features.
• Provision of stormwater management facilities near the western limits of the study area to regulate
the quality and quantity of stormwater being discharged from development sites into Maitland
Woods and the Huckins Street drainage system.
• Creation of a servicing easement between the proposed road extension and Huron Road. A
distribution watermain and a sewer would be constructed within this corridor to service adjacent
lands and to provide watermain looping.
THE'ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT PROCESS:
The planning for this project is following the environmental screening process set out for Schedule B
activities under the Municipal Class Environmental Assessment. The screening process has been
completed. There were no negative impacts identified with the proposed road project that could not be
mitigated. Subject to any comments received os a result of this Notice and the receipt of necessary
approvals, the Town of Goderich intends to proceed with this project.
PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT:
An Environmental Screening Report documenting the environmental assessment process to date hos been
prepared and is available for public review at the Goderich Town Hall (64 West Street) and the Goderich
Public Library (65 Montreal Street) during normal hours of operation. Further information on the project
moy be obtained from the Project Engineer: B.M. Ross and Associates, 62 North Street, Goderich,
Ontario, N7A 2T4. Telephone (519) 524-2641. Attention: Scott Allen, Planner (e-mail:
sallen@bmross.net).
If environmental concerns arise regarding this
project which cannot be resolved in discussion
with the Town of Goderich, a person or party
may request that the Minister of the Environment
make on order,for the project to comply with Part
II of the Environmental Assessment Act which
addresses individual environmental assessments.
Requests must be received by the Minister at the
address below within 30 calendar days of this
Notice. A copy of the request must also be sent
to the consulting engineers at the address above.
If there is no request received by February 20,
2009, the work will proceed as planned.
Minister of the Environment
135 St. Clair Avenue
10"Floor, Toronto, ON M4V 1P5
This Notice issued January 21, 2009
kEYPLAN
ewr,w
lorry J. McCabe, Clerk/Administrotor
Town of Goderich