Windsor West MPP, Lisa Gretzky held a virtual town hall over Saturday to discuss the More Than a Visitor Act.
Bill 203 passed a second reading at Queens Park with unanimous consent in September of last year, but it's been stuck at the committee stage.
The bill would allow residents in congregate care settings to choose an essential caregiver that is legally allowed access during a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Guidance has been issued for the congregate care sector since the bill was tabled, but the New Democrat says that isn't good enough.
"We are still hearing of different facilities, different organizations and agencies that are ignoring the guidance-because it is just that, it is guidance, it is not legislation, they do not legally have to follow it," says.
Dr. Amit Arya is an expert in palliative care and co-founder of Doctors for Long-Term Care Justice.
He says denying access was used as a blunt instrument when doctors were trying to figure out how COVID-19 spreads, but that's not the case anymore.
"People were left doubly-vulnerable, not just from understaffing, but from not having their essential family caregiver present," he says. "They didn't just die of COVID-19, but people died from hunger and thirst, lack of basic care. That's why we have called the long-term-care situation a humanitarian crisis."
Lisa Williams' son Shane is living in a group home with developmental disabilities and says she needs to be there to comfort, interpret and care for the 33-year-old.
"He's non-verbal, yet you can see him begging, begging every day to see me," she says. "We FaceTime everyday and he gives excuses non-verbally to ask me to come over whether it's because he has a headache or whether he just wants me to bring him a coffee."
She says Shane is medically compromised and she's been keeping an eye him when staff can't for years.
"I've been there with the support staff and I've let the support staff know when Shane's not feeling well," says Williams. "I'm an integral part of his life and I feel this bill is going to help me get back in there again."
Gretzky plans to bypass the committee process and push the province to pass the third reading of the bill with unanimous consent when the legislature resumes sitting on Tuesday.