By Canadian Press

Advocate criticizes B.C.’s lack of support for families needing Down syndrome care

Jan 14, 2025 | 11:30 AM

BURNABY, B.C. — The president of a Down syndrome advocacy group in British Columbia says more funding support is needed for parents and caretakers to avoid tragedies such as the starvation death of a woman in 2018.

Tamara Taggart told an inquest into Florence Girard’s death that parents and caretakers are under heavy financial pressure to provide services such as speech therapy, which can be life-altering for people with Down syndrome.

Taggart, whose organization was launched in 2021 in direct response to Girard’s death, says her family had to pay $12,000 a year for therapy to help her son learn how to eat solid food, and the province provides no support in her case or other similar situations.

She says her family is in a position of privilege to be able to pay and live in Vancouver to access that care, but other families are shut out from similar care for their loved ones because of the high cost and access.

The coroner’s inquest is looking into the death of Girard, who died while being cared for under a program for people with developmental disabilities.

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Caretaker Astrid Dahl, who is due to testify later today, was convicted in 2022 for failing to provide the necessities of life, and Girard’s sister told the inquest yesterday that she would have looked after her sister had she received some sort of funding support.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 14, 2025.

The Canadian Press