Honourable senators, every year for the past several years on this date, April 2, I rise in this chamber in recognition of World Autism Awareness Day. And every year the message, unfortunately, doesn’t change. That is — we need to do more for families struggling with autism. That’s key. It’s not just the individual on the spectrum who struggles as a result of lack of funding and programs, it is the entire family. And the costs aren’t merely financial.

The quality of Canadian expertise in autism care is not in question. It is with great pride that we can acknowledge a wide variety of organizations in our great nation that are working diligently to improve what is a complex situation.

However, as we identified in the Senate’s 2007 report, Pay Now or Pay Later, the startling reality is that we, as a government, continue to underfund the resources needed to help an ever-increasing number of Canadian families.

A good start came under former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, when the federal government allocated $11 million over four years to support training programs for autistic adults with the hope of assisting them into the workforce. But we need to do much more.

Last year Senators Munson, Bernard, Harder and I were able to meet with the Minister of Health, Ms. Petitpas Taylor, to have a fulsome discussion about what was needed from the federal government.

I’m happy to say Minister Petitpas Taylor followed through on her promises to us that day. She visited the Giant Steps Resource and Training Centre and the Transforming Autism Care Consortium in Montreal, to see first-hand the amazing work they’re doing. She secured funding in the budgets of 2018 and 2019 for autism programs. As a result, Giant Steps, Transforming Autism Care Consortium and other programs and facilities like them across Canada are able to apply for funding through the Public Health Agency of Canada ASD Strategic Fund.

I’d like to thank the minister and the government leader for making that possible.

The fund is designed to support innovative community-based projects that will provide Canadians living with autism, as well as their families and caregivers, tangible opportunities to gain knowledge, resources and skills that can help them address the challenges of living with autism.

But there is still so much more work to be done, colleagues. We must continue to work together as parliamentarians, regardless of our political stripe, to support Canadians living on the autism spectrum.

We must not waver or allow gaps to occur in what we are doing as a federal government. Whether focusing on research and early intervention, family support services or job training, the time has come to develop a government-led national strategy to deal with this ongoing crisis. I will rise in this chamber again next year on this date and every year until that becomes a reality. Thank you, colleagues.