Canada Day Letter to MLAs & MPs

Happy Canada Day to all Manitoba MLAs and MPs.

Hope your days with family are wonderful summer celebrations. From Churchill to Buffalo Point the members of the Family Advocacy Network of Manitoba (FAN) thank you for your service.

During this pandemic, your constituents filled in many gaps in care. Some parents choose between their job and being there for their loved ones. They took shifts in residential homes and many home schooled out of necessity. Families are trying their best but for many their best is not much right now.

Each of you can change the possibility of constituent’s lives simply by being a good elected official and doing the right thing. We are all nervous “putting ourselves out there” but together making the effort to do something that will benefit our loved ones with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) is brave and an essential effort. Families often feel “left out of the loop” and that no one is communicating with them. They often express they are treated as having low status especially Indigenous families. All loved ones struggling with intellectual and adaptive functioning are constituents and governmental barriers contribute to all families feeling less welcome and intimidated. Talk to families who can give you a more accurate picture of addressing effective ways to make a difference.

Families, who are simply struggling just to get through the day, find out to late about details that are happening. There are loved ones, both adults and children, not being vaccinated. Loved ones with IDD have more mental and physical health problems and face many barriers to accessing health services and community supports like day services. As indicated in mandate letters your help is needed to change that reality for Manitobans.  FAN looks forward to meeting with you as together we strive to fulfill our duties supportively and responsibly and look forward to the pandemic ending.

FAN is – Hope, Unity, Grassroots, Support – HUGS.