Local AUPE holding informational picket today regarding provincial cuts to disability supports

By Medicine Hat News on January 29, 2025.

Local members of the AUPE will be outside the Provincial Building tomorrow afternoon to hold an informational picket about the crisis facing Albertans with disabilities.

“The government wants us to believe that the crisis in Family Support for Children with Disabilities and the Persons with Developmental Disabilities is over,” said Curtis Jackson, AUPE vice-president for the South Zone. “However, AUPE members working in PDD are reporting caseloads of up to 200 files, nearly double the recommended maximums, and in FSCD, caseloads are over the 130 files and climbing.”

AUPE members are holding an information picket to protest and spread awareness of the current staffing situation in the FSCD and PDD programs.

The picket will run from noon to 1p.m. at 346 Third St. SE.

“An estimated 12,000 Alberta families are waiting to gain access to these programs. Albertans need action now,” said Jackson.