TORONTO – Endless waits, sometimes years, to access government-funded primary care. And families are left completely alone to manage what is already an odyssey in itself.
This is the situation of autistic children, who, according to data obtained and published by the Ontario Autism Coalition (OAC – here the full report: 2025-OAC-Community-Survey-Report), number more than 84,405 in Ontario and only 19,600 of them receive funding to access basic services. Which means 64,805 are waiting.
Moreover, according to a survey conducted by the OAC itself, the families who are starting to receive funding to pay for primary care—including applied behavior analysis, speech therapy, and occupational therapy—are people who enrolled in the program five years ago. A shameful time. Or scandalous – you choose the most appropriate adjective.
The president of the Ontario Autism Coalition, Alina Cameron, stated that the government autism program does not provide enough help to children who need it. “According to Statistics Canada’s 2021 census, there is at least 1 in 32 children with autism in Ontario” she recently said, as reported by The Canadian Press. “That’s not rare. That’s a population, and right now it’s a population being failed by this government. There’s a human cost. Families are paying the price. Our survey found that a staggering percentage of autistic children and youth, 44 per cent, have at least one parent or caregiver who cannot work because of the demands of care…” she said.
NDP critic Alexa Gilmour said the autism coalition’s survey is eye opening. “It is a damning picture that it paints of the Conservative government that is utterly failing our most vulnerable children and families” she said at a press conference.
Meanwhile, thousands of families continue to pay the exorbitant costs of therapy and care for their autistic children out of their own pockets, amidst the near-total indifference of those in government.
