Ontario Autism Program · as of May 13, 2026
71,263 children are registered without an active Core Funding Agreement, as of May 13, 2026.
Government FOI · as of 2026-05-13 · verified 2026-08-10 · MCCSS FOI via OAC · May 2026
The standard we hold parents to: fail to provide for your child, and you answer to the law (Criminal Code, s. 215). Ontario should answer too.
The queue, drawn to scale
Scroll to see how many of the registered children hold an active Core Funding Agreement, how many do not, and what the province's Public Accounts record spending on the program.
1 marker = 1,000 children. A remainder under 1,000 is printed, not drawn. The queue has 91 markers: 20 with an agreement and 71 without.
RecordRegistered
Everyone in the queue
Each marker is one thousand of the children registered with the program. Drawn as 91 markers (20 + 71), plus a remainder of 974 children, which is printed, not drawn.
Children and youth registered with the Ontario Autism Program.
RecordFunded
Holding an active agreement
The markers lit in teal stand for children with a signed, active Core Funding Agreement. That is 22.5% of registered children. Drawn as 20 markers, plus a remainder of 711 children, which is printed, not drawn.
Children and youth with a signed, active Core Funding Agreement.
RecordWaiting
Registered, without one
The markers lit in gold stand for the rest. This is a funding status; it does not confirm whether a child is receiving services. That is 77.5% of registered children. Drawn as 71 markers, plus a remainder of 263 children, which is printed, not drawn.
Registered children and youth without an active Core Funding Agreement (registered minus active agreements).
RecordSpending
What the province recorded
The vessel is filled to the latest Public Accounts actual. Its height is linear in dollars against the scale bar beside it.
A Public Accounts actual, not a budget, an estimate or a spending plan. The vessel is filled to this value against the scale bar beside it, from the floor to the top tick.
A narrated visual explanation of the investigation, with a transcript and source records.
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Ontario Autism Program · funding status
The program has 91,974 registered children in this snapshot.
| Measure | Children | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Registered children | 91,974 | 100% |
| Active Core Funding Agreement | 20,711 | 22.5% |
| No active Core Funding Agreement | 71,263 | 77.5% |
Direct answer
According to the same FOI release, registrations climbed from 89,799 on March 4, 2026 to 91,974 by May 13, 2026. According to CBC News, 88,175 children were registered and 20,666 held funding on January 7, 2026. End The Wait Ontario calculated a net gap of 907 unfunded children monthly across the January to May 2026 window. Registrations rose 918 children monthly while funding agreements rose only 11 over the same window.
The comparison measures published FOI columns and stands as history, not a projected future value. Families and reporters should treat every figure above as a documented program status, not a promised invitation.
| Measure | March 4, 2026 | May 13, 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registered with the OAP | 89,799 | 91,974 | +2,175 |
| Active Core Funding Agreement | 20,633 | 20,711 | +78 |
Source: MCCSS Ontario Autism Program figures, May 13, 2026, obtained by the Ontario Autism Coalition under Freedom of Information. Both columns come from the same MCCSS bi-weekly progress report series, so the difference is like for like.
Find your registration cohortLatest public record
Film · 2 min 35 s
In the Game: the recorded calls, on screen.
Rouhan Coutinho is a private citizen. Every voice is a continuous cut from the published recordings, and the limits of the evidence are on screen.
He said he wasn't saying he agreed with the game. I don't know which parents he spoke to, and I have no evidence the Premier or anyone in his government knew of or endorsed it.
Watch the 4 min 35 s cutThree calls recorded. Every quote has its audio.
I registered my son at eighteen months. His first appointment came four years, eleven months and eleven days later. Ontario’s written position is that he was never entitled to anything.
Concrete walls and no windows. In one family’s account, published in the Auditor General’s report, an eight-year-old diagnosed with autism spent about 80% of the school day in that room during the 2024/25 school year. The room in the film is a 3D illustration drawn to the report’s measurements; no real child is shown. The narration is a synthetic voice.
Read the full storyStudents are back without new agreements and scope disputes reported; coverage is not a table census tables are stalled at the Labour Board. All five central unions have member votes scheduled for November; none is a strike date. Your child’s right to accommodation does not pause. Get the continuity plan in writing now.
See the live statusmore than 255,000 teachers and education workers whose central agreements expired August 31, 2026. Reviewed twice weekly against named sources.
During my reporting on the Ontario Autism Program, someone approached me. I declined, and I preserved everything. This is what exists, and who can examine it.
Read Part TwoNames no one. Describes no one. The sealed record is available for legitimate examination.
About 907 more children join the unfunded backlog every month, measured across the January to May 2026 FOI window.
Ontario MCCSS OAP registration and funding data, released under freedom of information to the Ontario Autism Coalition · May 2026
FOI releases, FAO reports, Public Accounts, and peer-reviewed research. Open the drawer to inspect any number.
Government & FOI records
FOI
MCCSS Ontario Autism Program figures, May 13, 2026, obtained by the Ontario Autism Coalition under Freedom of Information
Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services (Ontario) · 2026
FAO
Financial Accountability Office — MCCSS Review 2023-24
Financial Accountability Office of Ontario · 2024
Government
Ontario Budget 2026-27 — Autism Services Allocation
Government of Ontario · 2026
Peer-reviewed & clinical
Peer-reviewed
Randomized, Controlled Trial of an Intervention for Toddlers With Autism: The Early Start Denver Model
Dawson G, Rogers S, Munson J, Smith M, Winter J, Greenson J, Donaldson A, Varley J · 2010
Peer-reviewed
Early Identification of Autism Spectrum Disorder: Recommendations for Practice and Research
Zwaigenbaum L, Bauman ML, Stone WL, Yirmiya N, Estes A, Hansen RL, et al. · 2015
Peer-reviewed
Early intensive behavioural intervention (EIBI) for young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD)
Reichow B, Hume K, Barton EE, Boyd BA · 2018
WHO
WHO Fact Sheet: Autism Spectrum Disorders (updated September 17, 2025)
World Health Organization · 2025
WHO
WHO Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013–2030 (updated 2021)
World Health Organization · 2021
Ontario has one provincial waitlist, but assessment, therapy, school, and provider options change by community. Explore the map, then open the guide for your area.
Provider directory
Assessment, therapy and school supports vary by community. Search by postal area, city, provider, or service; the map places providers using the directory’s recorded location precision.
The official list names individual professionals. The provider directory groups them into organizations, so its counts are lower. Both counts are set out on the provider directory page.
Ontario provider map
The map and provider details load as this section comes into view.
As of May 2026, 91,974 children are registered with the Ontario Autism Program. Of those, 71,263 (77.5%) are without an active Core Funding Agreement. The figure does not count children still waiting for an autism diagnosis, at least 6,113 more across five publicly-funded hubs (Trillium FOI, March 2024).
Ontario does not publish a province-wide average wait for funded core services. The Ontario Autism Coalition reports 5+ years for families registered in August 2021 (community-reported, Ontario Autism Coalition, July 2026). The WHO emphasizes timely access to evidence-based early intervention. Peer-reviewed research (Dawson et al., Pediatrics 2010) found significant developmental gains from intervention starting at 18-30 months.
The Ontario Autism Program is the provincial program that funds autism services for children under 18. $965M was allocated to the program in the 2026-27 fiscal year. An MCCSS spending breakdown obtained by The Trillium under FOI shows about 55 cents of every OAP dollar in 2023-24 did not reach core clinical therapy; $57.9M went to AccessOAP administration.
Registration has outpaced funded service every year since the 2019 OAP redesign. In 2020, the Financial Accountability Office estimated that $1.35B a year was needed. Today, the gap is $385M (FAO 2020 scenario of $1.35B at 2018-19 service levels, less the 2026-27 allocation), and 71,263 children are without an active agreement. The shortfall has compounded; funding has not kept pace.
One quick, effective action is sending an evidence-cited letter to your MPP; no single action guarantees a policy result. End The Wait Ontario provides a free letter tool that auto-drafts a constituent message using FOI data, legal frameworks (Charter s.15, Ontario Human Rights Code), and named sources. The 2016 OAP policy reversal followed sustained parent advocacy; constituent contact remains a documented way families have placed pressure on provincial policy.
Send a cited letter to your MPP. The tool pre-fills the verified data from this page and finds your representative in two minutes.
Check the author’s context, review method, and how to report an error.
