'He's in our hearts': Family and friends still seek answers one year after Nathan Wise’s disappearance
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
As parents continue to navigate the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is growing frustration with the federal government for not living up to a promise made years ago on a national autism strategy.
The situation has now reached a point where some families are seeking solutions south of the border.
For one Saskatchewan family, the struggle to access support has taken years.
Sheri Radoux is the mother of three teenagers, two of which have autism. She says that her family used to live in the U.S. where they had better access to therapies and have decided to move back after what she described as a shameful and frustrating experience in Canada that’s left her family feeling hopeless.
"It’s so much more robust and structured," Radoux said of autism support in the U.S. "There’s checks and balances and accountability – all of that lacks in Canada."
Radoux said Massachusetts offers a wide range of autism therapies in school and added that some states have mandated health coverage that includes autism treatment.
While there are support programs and services in Canada, advocated believe the big difference is that the U.S. has federal oversight, which Canada still lacks.
The federal government committed in 2019 to developing a national autism strategy, but consultations have only just started.
Experts say it’s common for families to move and seek better health services when they feel like they aren’t getting the care they need.
"It is a really common story, and that’s a result of fragmented and inequitable service delivery," Deepa Singal, director of Scientific and Data Initiatives at the Canadian Autism Spectrum Disorder Alliance (CASDA), told CTV National News. "Moving to a province with better support could mean the difference of a nonverbal child saying, ‘mommy’ or ‘daddy’ one day."
CTV National News spoke with a Canadian family living in Buffalo, N.Y. Sarah Ruth said their 10-year-old son has been receiving nearly 30 hours a week of different therapies since he was two.
"Without those therapists coming into my house and showing me how to help him, he probably wouldn’t be potty trained," Ruth said, adding that she’ll never return to the country she once called home.
"My son is not welcome in Canada, they’ve made that painfully clear,” she said. “To come back would be a disservice to him because he would lose everything."
Ruth estimates that her son receives US$100,000 a year in support through the state of New York’s education system. In comparison, a child in a similar position would receive only $5,000 from the Ontario government.
Ruth said she hasn’t "paid a dime" for any of her son’s autism services.
Advocates believe there are supportive services in Canada -- they’re just scattered across the country and need more federal oversight.
“We are really failing to properly support autistic Canadians,” said Jill Farber, the executive director of Autism Speaks Canada. “Access to affordable programming needs to be equitable across Canada, no matter where you live, no matter what stage of life you’re at and no matter what language you speak.”
Advocates say that while services vary depending on the province, having a National Autism Strategy that works with the healthcare system would help align services across the country.
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
The fire burning near Fort McMurray grew from 25 hectares to 5,500 hectares over the weekend.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began a Cabinet shakeup on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defence minister as he begins his fifth term in office.
Police are searching for a male suspect after a man was “slashed in neck” on Sunday morning in downtown Toronto and died.
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Health Canada announced various product recalls this week, including electric adapters, armchairs, cannabis edibles and vehicle components.
English, history, entertainment, math and geography: high school trivia teams could be quizzed on any of it when they compete at the Reach for the Top Nationals in Ottawa in June.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.