Liberal MPP apologizes for calling cops on mom protesting autism therapy cut
MPP Bob Delaney 'profoundly sorry' for confrontation with mother of autistic child
A Liberal MPP claims he did not call the police on the mother of an autistic child who threatened to protest at his constituency office last week but apologized to her Tuesday.
In a statement posted on his website, Mississauga-Streetsville MPP Bob Delaney wrote that Melanie Palaypayon had called his office "often on a daily basis and frequently multiple times in a day" in April and May, and that he called police to get advice on how to handle the situation.
Not long after contacting them, two officers visited Palaypyon at her home.
"Being a parent of an autistic child is stressful enough," Delaney wrote. "Regardless of the set of circumstances that caused the encounter, I am profoundly sorry that the confrontation occurred."
Palaypayon is one of many parents upset about the provincial government's decision to defund Intensive Behavioural Intervention (IBI) for autistic children aged five and older. Under the new policy, families with kids five and older on the IBI wait list will get $8,000 to pay for treatment as they are cut off the wait list.
Palaypayon's son Xavier is six years old and had been on the wait list for IBI for three years, only to be removed this spring.
"He's waiting for half of his life for this life-changing therapy, the IBI, and for all those changes that they mad I felt like we've been thrown in the garbage," Palaypayon told Canadian Press.
She said she told Delaney's staff that if she didn't get a meeting with him she would "squat" outside and hand out flyers protesting the government's policy to everyone who visits the office.
"I know my voice was strong, I know I'm aggressive, I know I was really persistent because I think that was the only way that I could be heard," she said.
In his statement, Delaney said his office "never instructed or asked the officers to take any action at all." He said two officers visited his office Friday morning and spoke with his staff members while he was away. They later visited Palaypayon "and thus the very confrontation we wanted most to avoid had happened on Mrs. Palaypayon's doorstep."
"It's very important to me that all of the MPPs in my government interact with the families who come to their offices. Interacting with people who are dealing with these challenges every single day is the way we learn and make sure that our plan is the right plan for every family in the province," Wynne said.
Palaypayon recently started a part-time nursing job and said now that her family has that secondary income, perhaps she can pay for some private therapy.
"I will try to do more jobs...maybe we can sell the house in order for Xavier to have this therapy," she said, weeping. "If (there's) only even one per cent or 0.5 per cent that my son has a chance to help him to reach his full potential I will do everything."
With files from The Canadian Press