Disability community holds rally at Legislature
EDMONTON – People with developmental disabilities, their friends, caregivers and family members will hold a noon-hour rally at the Legislature today to call for sufficient funding to support the requirements of adults with developmental disabilities and their families.
Social services groups from throughout the province that serve the disabled have said they will be forced to cut programs after the provincially funded PDD agency told them they would have to cut their budgets or hold the line.
Representatives of Calgary PDD support groups will ride buses to Edmonton this morning to join the noon-hour rally.
Speakers from all political parties have been invited to address the rally, organizers said, and members of AUPE who work in the area are invited to attend.
In the most recent provincial budget, the Alberta Provincial Board for Persons with Developmental Disabilities, the provincial Crown agency that funds regional community boards to provide a range of supports, received an overall budget increase of two per cent.
But because of the way the funds were allocated, many service providers in Alberta including those in Edmonton and Calgary have been asked to cut their budgets.
Photo: AUPE Vice-President Brad Smith participated in a noon-hour rally at the Alberta Legislature April 25 to call on the government to sufficiently fund the requirements of adults with developmental disabilities and their families.