PAGE 4, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16, 198S. WIIITBY FREE PRESS Published every Wednesday MICHAEL KNELL by I.>t.M. Publishing Community Editor and Photography Inc. Mo11Phone 668-6111 VALERIE COWEN Advertising Manager iyjThe Free Press Building, o e13 Brock Street North, Second Class Mail oown Michael an Burgess, Publisher- Managing Editor P.O. Box 206, Whitby, Ont. Registration No. 5351 The only Whitby newspaper independently owned and operated by Whitby residents for Whitby residents. Ce This newspape record as opposi Centre for the Dev are not the only I plan. Whitby Towi residents of the f the plan. Last week, Durh officials of the Mi Employment a MacDonald admit so far spent a go ployment side of1 At a time when a n out of work, few Donald's priorities But neither we, can long ignore t Wealthy country management, we larger share of the we do at the mon almost static. Althi And before going ahead, the government should try to get it ntre closure lacks public support r has previously gone on the Services appeared before the Social Planning The question now before the government is a ng the closing of the Durham Council of Oshawa-Whitby to defend the closure. simple one: should It continue Implementing the velopmentally Handicapped. We Quite frankly, we do not think they convinced plan in the face of this opposition? According to ocal organization to oppose the anyone that the plan was adequate to meet the our MPP, who is also a member of cabinet as n Council and the parents of the needs of the developrmentally handicapped in this minister of government services, the closure of acility have also been critical of area. Durham Centre will proceed on schedule. This· newspaper believes that most people, In our opinion, this might not be the most am West MPP George Ashe and professionals, volunteers, social service agencies prudent thing to do. Perhaps the time has come nistry of Community and Social and parents whole heartedly embrace the concept for a full evaluation and critique of the plan to of deinstitutionalization. People who live at date. The government, and our own member, facilities such as Durham Centre are human might instill greater confidence in the plan by beings and have the right to live full and usefull members of the public if such a review was lives as members of the community. No one is carried out. This newspaper also believes that disputing that. considering the official closure of Durham Centre diuWhat concerns us at this point in time is the will take place in 14 months, that public announ- fact that the public and familles of the develop- cements concerning the fate of the resident mentally handicapped people affected by the should be made soon. government's plan are currently being subjected In an effort, once again, to instill confidence in to conflicting information. the plan, the government should start the For example, the National Institute on Mental development of group homes and the other Retardation had the following to say about the necessary support services immediately. If the implementation of the.government's plan to close community is going to have to accept respon- Durham Centre and nine other similiar institutions sibility for these people, then the community across the province: "It is no longer possible to must start preparing to receive them. We must be 05OGLAO3*NEWB disguise the ministry's lack of preparation and ready to meet their needs the day they leave consequent inability to manage the development Durham Centre. nd immigration Minister Flora of community service systems. There is a lot of apprehension in the community ted in an Interview that she has "Reliance on charity has become a way of life about the closure of Durham Centre and before od deal more time on the em- for the ministry. It now has little option but to ap- the government reaches the point of no return, an her portfolio than immigration. peal to, and in some cases manipulate, com- effort should be made to earn the support of the million and a half Canadians are munity charities to fill the gap. Neither the exper- community. It is not enough for government of- would argue with Miss Mac- tise nor the resources to fill the gap are available ficials to say that the plan has been accepted and . within the ministry." Is working in other areas of the province. The nor the Mulroney government, After studying the closures and its effect the government has to demonstrate that the plan will he fact that this is a huge and institute now believes that the plan "is essentially work in this area. y, and that with proper about less money for more people." Bringing the developmentally handicapped into ought to be able to support a Other organizations, most notably the Ontario the community is not an idea that anyone Is going world's struggling masses then Association for the Mentally Retarded which to argue with. We all support it. But before thé ment. Our population growth is initially supported the government's plan, have government Implements the plan it must gain the ough we are currently admitting come to simillar conclusions. support of the community. about 85 thousand Immigrants each year, between 60 and 75 thousand people are leaving the country annually. That fact, and our dropping fertility rate, means our population growth is one of the slowest in the world. While wrestling with a cold recently, I picked up Arthur Lowers history of Canada, called "Colony to Nation." This isn't the first time that the curve of population growth in this country has flattened. During the twenty year period between 1881 and 1901, the Increase was slim. We went from a population of just over four million in 1881 to just over five million twenty years later. But if we had retained all the people born in the country during that period, or who came to it as immigrants, the population by 1901 would have been more like seven or elght million. There had been a "leakage" as Professor Lower put it, of over two million people, mostly to the United States. One reason was that the older, more settled provinces were filling up. The eldest son got the farm, and the other sons had to look elsewhere. Canada's older urban centres weren't ready for an Influx from the country, and neither was the Canadian West. The machinery for large scale grain farming wasn't yet available, and neitherwas a wheat which would grow well in our cruel nor- thern climate. The blunt truth, as Professor Lower put it, was that the Canadian West had to wait until the American West was filled up, and that didn't occur until the 1890's. So two million Canadians simply went to the States. As a country, we were marking time, and it wasn't until the first World War that the march began again. History may be about to repeat itself.