The mother of an 18-year-old man with autism is asking for help getting her son reinstated at his day centre in Mascouche after she says her son was expelled.
This latest development follows an incident that occurred in mid-November when her son, Brandon, was Tasered by police after running away from the local centre La Myriade, that serves people with special needs.
At the time, Marie Ismé described the incident as the worst nightmare for someone with autism, who is also non-verbal.
Now she is questioning whether her son is no longer welcome at the centre as some sort of reprisal against her for going public with the story.
"They're telling me the place is not safe enough for him but I'm pretty sure this is retaliation against me and my son because we dare to go public on Nov. 10," Ismé said.
Her son was known for running away from the centre in the past, something his mother had been complaining about for some time.
When that would happen, the centre's policy was not to stop him or go after him, but to immediately call police.
"So I don't see the difference now how it's not safe for him anymore," she said.
She also wondered why they can't have a person there on site who could intervene if Brandon tried to leave, as they do, she suggested, in some youth centres.
Ismé said her son was at the centre four days a week getting the services and social integration education he needed whereas now he is left to languish at home.
"They were there to help him to be able to go back to school, work with him so before he's 21 that he'd be able to go to school so now it's like the end," she said.
Being barred from the centre has been difficult for Brandon who enjoyed being at the centre and asks why his mother every day why he can't still go.
"I have no answer for him," she said. "Right now he's going backward instead of progressing."
CTV News contacted the centre and the health and education ministries to ask about the family's situation but has not yet received any responses.
In an email sent on Wednesday however, a spokesperson from the Lanaudière health authority, Pascale Lamy, confirmed they are in touch with the mother of this particular centre user but cannot comment further due to the confidentiality of the information.
SEEKING SOLUTIONS
The family, living in Terrebonne, waited many years for La Myriade to be built in Mascouche about a 30-minute drive away.
Health authorities had told Ismé "it was going to be a safe place for him and all of a sudden he can't go back," she said.
She is currently looking for another centre not too far away that could take Brandon but hasn't found one yet.
"I just hope the minister of education and health will hear my story and do something," she said.
After the Taser incident, being turned away from the centre only victimizes Brandon again, his mother said.
She is also struggling with fatigue and cannot go to work since Brandon is at home all day every day, she explained
