The numbers
All figures are FOI-verified or sourced from government documents.
Registered
89,799Children registered
Total in the Ontario Autism Program queue
MCCSS FOI · Mar 2026
Funded
20,633Have active funding
Only 23% of registered children
MCCSS FOI · Mar 2026
Waiting
69,166Still waiting
Registered. Diagnosed. Un-funded.
MCCSS FOI · Mar 2026
Verified , MCCSS FOI · Mar 2026
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Children registered | 89,799 |
| Have active funding | 20,633 |
| Still waiting | 69,166 |
CBC News obtained 18 months of OAP bi-weekly progress reports (late June 2024 through January 7, 2026) via Freedom of Information request. The data revealed 89,799 total registrations, 69,166 children waiting, and documented funding dips during periods of registration growth.
The FAO's independent review of MCCSS spending plans, including OAP funding allocations, service delivery projections, and cost-to-clear estimates. This report underpins the $1.9B–$2.5B gap calculations used throughout this site.
The Ontario Autism Coalition obtained historical OAP registration and waitlist data via Freedom of Information requests, providing the longitudinal baseline for understanding waitlist growth since the 2019 reform. This data informs the OAC's public advocacy and was used in FAO analyses.
The FAO's 2020 projection estimated that restoring OAP to 2018-19 service levels would require approximately $1.35B annually. This projection is the baseline for ongoing cost-to-clear calculations and predates the significant registration growth seen from 2021 onward.
At the time of the April 2019 OAP redesign, approximately 23,000 children were registered, a figure cited in FAO analyses and OAC historical tracking. This is the baseline against which subsequent growth is measured. Note: the government did not publish exact real-time registration counts at the time of reform.
Ontario Budget 2026-27 allocated $965M to the Ontario Autism Program. Budget documents are the primary government source for annual OAP funding figures and are used as the baseline for all budget gap calculations.
Written by Spencer Carroll
Founder & Autism Advocate
Evidence on this page
Key claims are paired with their source, evidence tier, and verification date so readers can inspect the public record directly.
89,799
children are registered in the Ontario Autism Program
23%
Only 20,633 children have active funding agreements — less than one in four
OAP registrations jumped 21% since mid-2024, with the number of funded children dipping in some periods despite hundreds more registering
$965M
Ontario allocated to the Ontario Autism Program in 2026-27
According to the FAO (2020 report), OAP funding covers less than one-third of estimated need at 2018-19 service levels
WHO recommends accessible, community-based early interventions for children with autism — timely evidence-based psychosocial interventions improve communication and social engagement