Canadian Association for Community Living

Association canadienne pour lintgration communautaire

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 20, 2011 Toronto, Ontario

Operational Review of Braemore Home Seriously Flawed The Nova Scotia Association for Community Living (NSACL) and the Canadian Association for Community Living (CACL) are both saddened by and disappointed in the report on Braemore Home Corporation recently released by the Government of Nova Scotia. Conducted by Deloitte at the request of the Department of Community Services, the review was in response to findings of abuse as related to a 21-year old resident living at Braemore Home. The report speaks to issues of conceptual frameworks, strategic and operational capabilities, and organizational culture but did not go far enough in addressing what we view as the fundamental and underlying cause of the abuse that is the continued use of an institutional model as a response to the needs of people with disabilities. The report, and the Nova Scotia government in its reaction, fails to acknowledge the real reason for incidents of abuse such as that within Braemore. Research in Canada and internationally during the past 30 years has consistently and unequivocally demonstrated that institutional environments such as Braemore cannot adequately or safely address the needs of people with intellectual disabilities. Even if all the recommendations of this report are fully and successfully implemented, Braemore will still be an institution. Perhaps a better run institution but an institution nonetheless says Bendina Miller, President of CACL. Yet we know that institutions cannot by their very nature be appropriate places for people with disabilities to live. We know that people who live in these facilities will always be at greater risk of abuse NSACL and CACL believe that the answer to addressing the issue of institutional abuse lies in developing a community based system that provides people with the necessary supports to live in the community. Supports that enable people to establish lives and friendships within the community, to have choice over where they live and with whom. The situation at Braemore is not an isolated one. Over the past several years other allegations of abuse have surfaced within other institutional facilites within Nova Scotia. The Government of Nova Scotia must recognize that its current institutional model is outdated and inapproproate, and that without major and intentional reform, people with disabiltiies will continue to be at risk of abuse. Changing Boards and introducing alternate models of governance will not disguise the fact that institutions are not in the best interests of people with disabliities.

Article 19 of the United Nations Convention of the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD) guarentees the right to live in community, says Dr. Michael Bach, Executive Vice President of CACL. Canada has signed and ratiifed the CRPD yet we see no mention of this within the report nor have we heard any comment from the government of Nova Scotia as to their intent to become compliant with the Convention. The continued placement of persons with disabiltiies in facilities such as Braemore is undeniably a violation of this international convention. We applaud the provincial government for releasing the full report to the public in a timely manner and for beng transparent about the abuse in the institution, said Lewis Crews, President of NSACL. We would hope that government will commit to development of transition plans for individuals to move to community. We would also ask that no further financial investment be made in expansion of the Braemore facility. Finally, we call on the Government of Nova Scotia to take action to ensure the immediate safety of all people living in facilities such as Braemore, but more importantly to immediately take real and substantive action to reform and modernize the residential services model in Nova Scotia. We call on the government to develop a model that is reflective of known best practices, compliant with the UN Convention and most importantly a model that meets the needs and equality rights of people with disabiltiies. Both NSACL and CACL would be most willing to be a part of that transformation.

- 30 The Canadian Association for Community Living is a national federation of 10 provincial and three territorial associations, comprising 420 local associations and over 40,000 members, working to advance the human rights and inclusion of persons of all ages who have an intellectual disability. The Nova Scotia Association for Community Living is a province-wide association of family members and others working for the benefit of persons of all ages who have an intellectual disability. For more information please contact: Michael Bach, Executive Vice President, CACL (416-209-7942) Jean Coleman, Executive Director, NSACL (902)469-1174