Northern Ontario autism advocates calling for more transparency over how provincial dollars are spent

The Ontario Autism Coalition says there needs to be more transparency from the Ford government over how funding to support children and their families is spent, 

In this year's budget, the provincial government is boosting funding for the Ontario Autism Program by $175 million, bringing the total annual allotment to $779 million.

Alina Cameron, president of the Ontario Autism Coalition, says the government has not been transparent about whether the funding is going directly to families either receiving core autism therapy services or those on the wait list, or whether it's being spent on administration costs.

"When we've seen similar increases in the past, it hasn't resulted in a large bump in numbers of children coming off the wait list for services," said Cameron.

"I'm afraid that it's going to be sucked into the administrative overhead of the program."

Cameron says families with autistic children rely on government funding  to access core clinical services such as occupational therapy, speech language therapy, behavioural therapies, and mental health services. Without the program, families are often left to pay out of pocket.

She says there are almost 80,000 children registered for the Ontario Autism Program, but only approximately 20,000 currently have access to services.

"Right now we're looking at anywhere from a five to six year wait for access to core clinical services," she said.

Cameron also argues that current funding models are not keeping up with inflation, meaning families are not receiving more money despite the rising cost of therapy.

"Let's provide data and transparency around how we're spending the funding, how the services are being accessed, what the wait times are when you're on the wait list…These are important things to the community and we've had no feedback on them from the ministry," said Cameron.

Cameron, who lives in Thunder Bay, said her 10-year-old daughter Fiona received her funding for therapy services two years ago, after being on the wait list for five years.

A 'broken' system

It was a similar situation for Sean Staddon. The Sudbury father has two children with autism: 10-year-old daughter June and 8-year-old son Charles. 

Staddon says his son finally started receiving his funding last year after waiting over five years. During that time, Staddon and his wife had to pay thousands of dollars out of pocket for therapy for both kids to fill the gap.

Even with the maximum $65,000 per year that Charles receives under the program, Staddon says is still not enough to cover his son's therapy expenses and the funding decreases as children get older.

"It's extremely frustrating," said Staddon.

"My son needs more hours in therapy and the rates keep going up and our budget from the government does not increase."

Staddon says the province is continuously trying to "throw" money into a system that is broken and it's leaving children with high special needs behind.

He says he doesn't know how the system will be "fixed," but he would like to see the government consult with families using the program to hear their experiences.

In a statement to CBC News, the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services said: "Approximately 22,000 children are actively enrolled in core clinical services as of April 2025, which has grown from 8,000 since 2022. With more children being invited every week, in the order that they registered for the OAP."

"All families registered in the OAP have access to foundational family services and urgent response services when required, as well as caregiver-mediated early years programs and the entry to school program for young children."