CLO wants inquest into centre deaths.

TORONTO -- Community Living Ontario again issued a call for an inquest into deaths of residents of Oaklands Regional Centre after the second death within a year of a resident of the institution. The OCL claims that an inquest "would shed light on the higher risk people face when they are housed in congregate-care facilities that segregate them from life in the community."

Randy Mogridge died earlier in October, and Josef Naylor died a year ago. Both were residents of Oaklands Regional Centre.

"There is no doubt that people are at a much greater risk when they are housed in institutions and thus separated from the natural community," says Community Living Ontario Executive Director Keith Powell. OCL An inquest, he said, would help to identify the unwarranted risks that face people when community-based supports are not available to them.

The position of the OCL is that people with disabilities are more vulnerable in segregated institutions that they are in a supportive community.

In September, the provincial government announced its intention to close the remaining three large, government-run institutions housing more than 1,000 people who have an intellectual disability. While commending this move, Community Living Ontario supports a complete shift away from segregated facilities, including those that may be smaller in size but still present the same institutional barriers to natural support and inclusion.

Over the past years 13 large institutions, and a number of smaller ones have closed and several thousand people have been relocated in communities.

Powell added "There is ample proof that people with similar disabilities are well supported in the community--and, as a result, are at less risk because they have a community around them."