A group of developmentally disabled adults may lose the only stable home they've ever known, and the group that runs the Burnaby, B.C. facility says the Campbell government is to blame.

Trudi Shaw, board president of L'Arche Greater Vancouver, tells Go Public reporter Kathy Tomlinson, right, that the Campbell government is failing B.C.'s most vulnerable citizens.
(CBC)

"There's something going on in this province that people need to be aware of and it concerns all of us, as taxpayers and citizens," said Trudi Shaw, board president of L'Arche Greater Vancouver. "This government seems to be overlooking some of its most vulnerable and marginalized citizens."

L'Arche, an internationally recognized organization, is unique because it not only houses developmentally disabled adults, but strives to give them meaningful roles in the community. Its woodworking shop in Burnaby was one example — a thriving workplace for the disabled that L'Arche recently had to shut down, partially due to its budget problems.

"Without exception everybody [who lives there] has said they want to stay in a L'Arche community — and we have been told that is not possible," Shaw said.

'Disaster' feared for residents

Barry Thomson, one of two dozen people who live in the faith-based Burnaby residential care facility, has severe autism, and has been there for 24 years. For people like him, it's highly unusual to find such long-term stability in one home.

Barry Thomson, who has severe autism, stands to lose the only stable home he's known for 24 years.
(CBC)

His brother Gordon says he has no idea how his family would cope if that suddenly changed.

"Oh, disaster," Gordon replied when asked what would happen if Barry had to move. "It would be an absolute disaster — unless there were some other place like L'Arche and I don't think there is."

L'Arche is a normally a media-shy organization, but the group decided to "go public" about its funding crisis because they feel they've exhausted all of their options.

L'Arche has gone without any budget increases for eight years, Shaw said, while its overhead, including salaries, has climbed. The group needs about a $1.5 million boost to their $2 million provincial allocation to make up for an historic shortfall. 

Gordon Thomson, Barry's brother, says moving him into foster care would be a disaster.
(CBC)

Without that funding, Shaw said, residents might be forced to move into adult foster care, where they move around frequently and sometimes don't get the love and support they need.

"We look at what is happening in the foster care system and we are really frightened," Shaw said. "I'm afraid that they will cease to have a sense of their own value and dignity. We're talking about people being isolated; we're talking about people ceasing to have a sense of value and purpose in their life."

Request for more money denied

A statement by Community Living B.C., the Crown corporation that provides L'Arche with provincial funding, read in part: "Our first commitment is to those individuals with developmental disabilities and the families that L'Arche serves. CLBC supports the model of service delivery that L'Arche has been providing for the past 25 years … L'Arche has asked for a 75 per cent increase to their contract to provide service differently to the same number of individuals. CLBC does not support that request."

CLBC CEO Rick Mowles was not available for an interview.

Thomson said he doesn't understand why the Crown corporation would shortchange a place such as L'Arche to save money. He figures L'Arche saves millions of tax dollars in the long run by keeping its residents out of already overcrowded hospital emergency rooms.

Laney Bryenton, of the B.C. Association for Community Living, says hundreds of organizations are starved for funding while hundreds of disadvantaged people remain on waiting lists.
(CBC)

"Barry had to go into the hospital about a month ago and the staff went down with him and stayed with him in the hospital," Thomson said of his autistic brother. "You wouldn't see staff from any other home doing that."

If Barry and the others had to move, Shaw said, they would not only lose their home, they would lose their second family.

"They've lived in this environment where they have been loved and where their gifts have been recognized and drawn out for years and years and years," Shaw said.

Similar shortfalls across the province

"[L'Arche] is very representative of organizations that have not had increases in their contracts," said Laney Bryenton, executive director of the B.C. Association for Community Living, an advocate for thousands of developmentally disabled people in B.C.

Each year, Bryenton said, the Campbell government fails to give CLBC the money it needs, so the Crown corporation has no choice but to shortchange hundreds of organizations such as L'Arche. In the latest budget for 2008-09, Bryenton said, the government gave CLBC $22.3 million for new services, when its service plan said it needed at least $35.5 million to shorten its waiting list.

Approximately 700 developmentally disabled adults are on currently on that waiting lists in B.C., unable to get various types of assistance, Bryenton said.

"We've got a lot of stories of families who have their 19-, 20-, 21-year-old [disabled child] simply sitting at home," Bryenton said. "We have stories of families who have had to quit work in order to look after their 19-year-old because when their child transitioned out of school, there was nothing for them."

When she hears Premier Gordon Campbell promise to make B.C. 'the best place on earth' for disadvantaged people, Bryenton said, she wants to see the proof: "We want them to make a substantive investment in those services. We want them to make good on that promise."

Tom Christensen, the minister responsible for funding CLBC, told CBC News the Crown corporation received a 6.5 per cent budget increase this year, and what it does with the money is not his decision.

"I have confidence that CLBC will work with different service providers to look at some of the challenges they face and insure that both the service provider and CLBC are focused on what they both should be focused on — and that is serving the clients that need their assistance," Christensen said.

He refused to comment on the future of the L'Arche residential care home.