Accerta's federal lobbying record.

Registration history

The October 2024 amendment

AccertaClaim Servicorp Inc. holds an active federal lobbying registration (Reg. № 940838-371818), filed through the consulting firm Stosic & Associates, with consultant lobbyist Derrick Araneda named on the file. The registration has been active since May 1, 2022.

The registration was originally focused on the federal dental care program. In version 4, dated October 7, 2024, the subject-matter description was updated to add language on the National Autism Strategy:

“Accerta would also like to stay up-to-date on the government’s National Autism Strategy.”

In version 5, dated October 23, 2024, the description of Accerta’s program-administration capability was broadened from “administering such programs” to “administering health and social government programs”— a categorical expansion beyond dental care.

Subsequent versions 6, 7, and 8 followed in September 2025, October 2025, and April 2026 respectively. Subject-matter additions during this period included Government Procurement, with stated intent to seek federal Requests for Proposals.

The entities

Corporate identity

AccertaClaim Servicorp Inc.

Federal corp № 3866378. Parent entity. Holds the active federal lobbying registration.

Accerta Services Inc.

Federal corp № 13426769. Incorporated October 14, 2021. Operates AccessOAP.

Registered address

777 Bay Street, Suite 2801, Toronto.

President & CEO

Peter Owsiany (per AccessOAP corporate disclosures and the federal Registry of Lobbyists).

Accerta describes itself in its own corporate materials as a Canadian-owned and operated government-technology firm, “dedicated exclusively to supporting public sector programs,” with a stated focus on managing dental, vision, drug, and healthcare benefits programs for government and social-services agencies.

Provincial role

Role in the Ontario Autism Program

Accerta Services Inc. operates AccessOAP, the program’s independent intake organization, in partnership with Autism Ontario, McMaster University (Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis [CHEPA] and the Offord Centre for Child Studies), and Serefin (formerly HealthCare 365 Inc.).

The consortium receives approximately $57.9 million annually in administration funding from the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services (MCCSS), per documents obtained by The Trillium via FOI in July 2024.

The 2026 budget allocated $965M to the Ontario Autism Program. The Financial Accountability Office (FAO) estimated annual need at $1.35B for ~40,700 children at 2018-19 service levels. Applied proportionally to the current cohort of 88,175, projected need is $2.9B–$3.5B.

The administrative infrastructure receives its funding on a continuous basis. The children waiting for therapy do not.

The federal pivot

What changed federally on September 26, 2024

Bill S-203 (the Federal Framework on Autism Spectrum Disorder Act) received Royal Assent on March 30, 2023. The legislation required the Minister of Health to develop a federal framework, including consideration of financial-support mechanisms.

On September 26, 2024, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) tabled the Framework for Autism in Canada in Parliament and launched Canada’s Autism Strategy — the operational architecture required by Bill S-203. PHAC established the National Autism Strategy Secretariat (NASS) to coordinate implementation and issued a competitive Request for Proposal for the National Autism Network, which was subsequently awarded to the Autism Alliance of Canada and the Sinneave Family Foundation.

11 days laterAccertaClaim amended its lobbying registration to add the National Autism Strategy.

Sixteen days after that, on October 23, 2024, the same registration (version 5) was broadened from “administering such programs” to “administering health and social government programs.”

Bill S-203 requires the Minister of Health to table a progress report in Parliament within five years of publishing the framework — by September 2029. Any federal autism funding mechanism developed in that window would require an administrator. The September 2024 Strategy as launched does not yet specify a financial-benefit mechanism comparable to the Canada Disability Benefit or the Canadian Dental Care Plan.

Federal precedent

How the Canadian Dental Care Plan is administered

The Government of Canada has already built one federal social-benefit program on the model that any federal autism funding mechanism would require. The Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP), launched in phases beginning in 2023, is a federal benefit administered by Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada as the Benefits Administrator. Sun Life processes claims, manages pre-authorization, runs claims verification, and recovers overpayments. Health Canada handles appeals at the policy level.

Accerta participates in the CDCP infrastructure as a coordination-of-benefits (COB) carrier under CDAnet carrier ID 311140— meaning Accerta’s claims systems interoperate with the federal program when Accerta-administered coverage acts as primary or secondary to CDCP.

Whether the National Autism Strategy adopts a comparable administrative model is not yet publicly determined. It remains a public-policy decision that has not yet been made.

The network

A research and administration network already in place

The relationships between provincial OAP administration and federal Autism Strategy development are documented on the partners’ own websites.

• Accerta Services Inc.

  Listed as a non-academic institutional partner of the Offord Centre for Child Studies at McMaster University.

• Offord Centre / MacART

  The Offord Centre’s McMaster Autism Research Team (MacART) lists the Autism Alliance of Canada among its long-standing collaborators on the development of the National Autism Strategy, including, in the Offord Centre’s own description, joint applications “for developing a national data hub and a national Autism waitlist initiative.”

• Autism Alliance of Canada

  Selected by PHAC in 2024, alongside the Sinneave Family Foundation, through a competitive Request for Proposal, to lead the National Autism Network, the federal body advising PHAC on Strategy implementation.

• McMaster (CHEPA + Offord)

  One of the four partners in the AccessOAP consortium that administers the Ontario Autism Program, alongside Accerta Services Inc., Autism Ontario, and Serefin (formerly HealthCare 365 Inc.).

Each of these relationships is documented in public materials on the partners’ own websites. Taken together, they describe a research and administration network that operates across the provincial program now and the federal program under development.

Synthesis

Provincial administration to federal positioning

1. 01

   The provincial template. Accerta is part of the consortium administering the Ontario Autism Program, Canada’s largest provincial autism program, with 88,175 children registered and 67,509 (76.6%) without active funding as of January 2026. Administrative infrastructure receives ~$57.9M annually. Cumulative Ontario payments to Accerta entities reached ~$2.5B (2017–2025); payments to Accerta Services Inc. grew ~5,747% (2021–2025).

2. 02

   The federal architecture is operational. As of September 26, 2024, the Framework for Autism in Canada and Canada’s Autism Strategy are launched, with PHAC’s National Autism Strategy Secretariat coordinating implementation and a 2029 statutory reporting deadline.

3. 03

   A federal benefit-administration template already exists. The Canadian Dental Care Plan, administered by Sun Life with Accerta integrated as a COB carrier, demonstrates the federal government’s willingness to deliver social benefits through private claims administrators.

4. 04

   Accerta has positioned itself. Within 11 days of the federal Strategy’s launch, Accerta amended its lobbying registration to add the National Autism Strategy. Within 16 more days, it broadened its capability description to “health and social government programs.” Subsequent versions added Government Procurement and a stated intent to seek federal RFPs.

5. 05

   In 2025, Accerta met with DPOHs at Finance Canada (Aug 15) and Veterans Affairs Canada (Sept 10). Both meetings recorded the National Autism Strategy as a subject matter.

6. 06

   A research and administration network is in place. Accerta’s partner on AccessOAP, McMaster University’s MacART, collaborates directly with Autism Alliance of Canada (the federal Strategy’s network co-lead) on National Autism Strategy work.

7. 07

   The federal funding mechanism is not yet specified. Bill S-203 requires program development; it does not specify the administrative structure. That structure remains a public-policy decision yet to be made, and currently the subject of registered lobbying activity.

Each fact above is independently documented in public records. Taken together, they describe the largest provincial autism program administrator positioning itself for the federal program at the precise moment the federal program enters its development window.

Financial relationship

Combined Ontario payments to Accerta entities

Ontario Public Accounts data show approximately $2.5 billion in combined payments to Accerta entities across ministries (2017–2025). Payments to Accerta Services Inc. grew approximately 5,747% from 2021 to 2025. Year-over-year aggregation is published in the methodology appendix.

Analysis — labelled as such

What this means for families on the OAP waitlist

There are 88,175 children registered in the Ontario Autism Program. The administrative infrastructure is funded continuously. The majority of the children it serves are not — 76.6% remain without active funding.

The families on the waitlist did not choose Accerta. They are not party to the lobbying registrations. They experience the system as a wait with no published end date.

The Ontario program is not an abstraction. It is a working description of what families experience when government policy is delivered through a private claims administrator paid continuously while the children it serves are not. As of January 2026, 67,509Ontario children are registered, diagnosed, and unfunded. The administrative apparatus has received continuous payments throughout. There is no published end date for any individual child’s wait.

If a federal autism funding mechanism is developed under the National Autism Strategy, the question that follows is structural, not personal: will it use the model that has produced the Ontario outcome, or a different one?That is a public-policy question. Families on provincial waitlists across the country — not only in Ontario — have a direct interest in how it is answered.

Families affected by the OAP — and Canadians whose taxes will fund whatever federal architecture follows the National Autism Strategy — are entitled to know how the existing network is structured. That is why we are reporting it.

How this article was reported

Methodology

This article reports publicly filed lobbying registrations under the Lobbying Act, cross-referenced with Corporations Canada records, Ontario Public Accounts, FOI-verified MCCSS data, federal legislation, federal program documentation, and the partnership disclosures of the named parties. Published under principles of responsible communication on matters of public interest (Grant v. Torstar Corp., 2009 SCC 61).

This article does not allege that any person or entity has acted improperly. Any named party is invited to provide context or corrections through the right of reply.

The cumulative payment figures in §4 and §10 are calculated from the Ontario Public Accounts Detailed Schedule of Payments dataset, fiscal years 2017-18 through 2024-25, as published at data.ontario.ca/dataset/public-accounts-detailed-schedule-of-payments. Detailed year-by-year aggregation is published in the methodology appendix.