The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

"Give us a chance to grow, that's all we're asking for," said Jim Montagnes, director of residential services for the Toronto Association for the Mentally Retar- ded, making an appeal to Midlanders to let the Huronia Association go ahead with a proposed group home On Thursday night at the ARC workshop four members of the Toronto association met with members of the Huronia he Association for the Mentally Retarded as well as the public. The purpose of their visit was to explain what group homes for trainable mentally retarded people in Toronto are like and what they have ac- complished. A slide show was used to back them up "Group homes give people an opportunity with some support in which to grow. They are hard schools with hard learning experiences,"' Mr. Montagnes told the 25 people present. "The problems stem from a general lack of understanding from the public,' he added referring to hold-ups in getting a zoning change in Midland to allow a group home to locate at 438 Hugel Avenue The slides which Mr. Montagnes_ showed, illustrated the different types of group homes in Toronto. People doing day to day living ac- tivities were depicted as well as the schools which Council members absent Two members of Midland council and no members of Midland's Planning Board attended a slide show and talk on group homes put on by four members of Toronto Association for the Mentally Retarded last Thursday at the ARC workshop Deputy Reeve Bill Ogilvie and Alderman Richard Platt who represent council on the Planning Board and is a member of the Huronia Association for the Mentally Retarded showed up at the ARC building to hear the discussion In a letter dated April lg John Gignac a member of the HAMR invited all members of council and the Planning Board to the presentation For four months the Planning Board has been dealing with the problem of spot zoning 438 Hugel Avenue to allow a group home to locate there When they make their extensive recommend- ations on group homes, council have to review them and vote on the issue At Thursday's meeting, Mr. Gignac explained to the Toronto association that Midland's Planning Board is setting down a list of criteria under which homes that are being converted to group homes must fall. These criteria include lot size, square footage of floor space per resident, staffing, the number of allowable residents and parking Jim Montagnes, director of residential services for the Toronto Association, pointed out that the © provincial government has stringent regulations with the best interests of the residents at heart. All of the Toronto group homes meet these requirements "I don't know too many group homes with a large back yard," he said answering a question from Mr. Gignac on the size of the yards. One of the problems with 428 Hugel Avenue is that its lot size does not meet the criteria suggested by members of the Planning Board Mr. Montagnes said that many of the Toronto homes are semi-detached with no yard space and no parking. He said this has not been a problem since the residents attend school during the day and don't drive cars. He added that Toronto's group homes have from eight to 10 residents in them. One home which was built to ac- commodate 24 residents, he said, doesn't have much more yard than the home on Hugel Avenue."" Deputy Reeve Bill Ogilvie told the gathering that he was in favour of the group home on Hugel Avenue. He called some of the Planning Board's proposed criteria "ar- tificial roadblocks."' the residents attend. Some of the group homes were semi-deta- ched and all of them were in residential neigh- bourhoods. Mr. Montagnes said they have had more support than opposition to the group homes in Toronto. He said the fear that property values on homes near group homes would drop, is a misnomer. "We will keep our house as good or as bad as the rest of the homes in the neighbourhood", he said. In Midland there is already about 30 trainable mentally retarded people living in the community, ac- cording to Mr. Mon- tagnes. He said in Toronto the people in the homes come mainly from large Platt institutions like the Ontario Hospital in Orillia. Using the slides Mr. Montagnes pointed out that residents living in a home environment in a community with help and support, rapidly improve. He gave the example of an extremely retarded person who came from an institution home. When he arrived in the group RETAIL BUSIN ORILLIA N 18 miles Ww E MIDLAND Ss 26 miles ESS OPPORTUNITY mapa BAYFIELD MALL BARRIE Retail and professional space is available in units of 500sq. ft. to 5.000 sq. ft. at excellent terms. EXCELLENT LOCATIONS -- Highway 26/27 COLLINGWOOD > SUL BAYFIELD (ale Cie |= hte aM CITY OF FOR . Bayfield st. | Hardware Ladies Wear Optician TV and Appliances Furniture Candy Store BARRIE | Millinery Sporting Goods Medical-Dental Offices Stationery and Business Equipment 60 miles Join the team of successful retailers including Miracle Food Mart and the Canadian Tire Store in Central Ontario's largest mall. ENQUIRE TODAY! Barrie (705) 726-7632 For complete information, call: WILLIAM BUCKLEY, MANAGER Toronto (416) 270-0330 Montreal (514) 282-1155 home, trained, was self abusive couldn't sit up. Now he stands erect, walks and he goes to a training need access," Mr. centre. He is toilet trained Montagnes said and hasn't been self After the slide abusive since he came. On the average, ac- cording to Mr. Mon- Toronto Toronto group homes presentation one of the other members of the each of the homes in Toronto was also ex- plained in detail. explained a_ training program for a resident. Association The level of service in tagnes, the residents are only staying in the group home for six months. Slower residents might be there for a year. After the group home they move in to apartments with another ex-resident and Ogilvie begin life caring for themselves. A councillor watches over them to he wasn't toilel make sure they eat properly and are making out okay. 'Group homes are not uncontrolled. We welcome controls but we non verbal. He TIARA HAIRSTYLING would like to welcome to their staff ELAINE DESROCHES who lives in the Elmvale area and trained in Barrie PHONE 429-3261 FOR AN APPOINTMENT "Guide to Eati Ontario Sport Fish" NOW AVAILABLE Environment Ontario has prepared the 1978 "Guide To Eating Ontario Sport Fish" in three editions: Southern Ontario, Northern Ontario and the Great Lakes. Each booklet contains a summary of Ontario's unique fish-testing program. ¥H) SoM) pouGenue R.McCague Environment Beputy Minister Ontario TO OBTAIN YOUR COPY OF THESE FREE BOOKLETS Phone, write or drop in to any regional or district office of The Ontario Ministry of the Environment, The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources or The Ontario Ministry of Northern Affairs or complete and mail this coupon: INFORMATION SERVICES BRANCH ONTARIO MINISTRY OF THE ENVIRONMENT 135 ST. CLAIR AVENUE WEST, TORONTO, ONTARIO M4V1PS PLEASE SEND ME THE INDICATEO BOOKLET "GUIDE TO EATING ONTARIO SPORT FISH™ [J Northern Ontario [_] Southern Ontario [_] Great Lakes Seg laae SME SRE fe] eee eee | Og Nw (i a eS cs aS TL Pa eT ae in wee ea SS eel mid marco 2 EXAMPLES Print, Tweed, Commercial ) y uw, 9 x 12' Rugs 45° IDEAL FOR THE COTTAGE! CHARGEX VISA BARRIE ALL INSTALLATIONS GUARANTEED A8, Wednesday, May 10, 1978 INVENTORY PLUS NEW CARPET LINES HUNDREDS OF BALES THOUSANDS OF YARDS TO SELECT FROM! CLM sii, SALE GIRARD CARPET SALES LTD. OF STOUFFVILLE IS DISPOSING OF ALL NO REASONABLE OFFER WILL BE REFUSED! NEW STOCK FROM CORONET CASTLE HARBOUR sy. SALE STARTS TODAY! Mon., Tues., Wed., Sat. Thurs., Fri. 9 a.m.-9 p.m. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. GIRARD CARPET SALES IN BUSINESS FOR 32 YEARS GIRARD BROADLOOM The North Barrie Plaza North of the Georgian Mall sy. master charge 728-0899 WELCOME The Employees of K. Winter Sanitation Limited (Barrie) To Extended Health Care > These employees now have the added bene- fits of extra health protection for themselves and their families: a Blue Cross Extended Health Care Plan. EHC provides protection against health ser- vices not covered by the basic government health plan, coverage for such items as pre- scription drugs, private nursing and private room accommodation in hospital. In addition, EHC can be tailored to meet the needs of any employee group. ONTARIO je. "As your Ontario Blue Cross representative | am pleased to add my personal welcome, and look forward to serving you * along with the many others in this region already enjoying the protection of a variety of Blue Cross Plans." ai*te Graeme K. Hingston 659 King Street East. Suite 208. Kitchener, Ontario N2G 2M4 (519) 578-4700 BLUE CROSS A DIVISION OF THE ONTARIO HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION -- re: