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As of May 13, 2026, the Ontario Autism Program (OAP) has Tier 1 · Government / FOI“As of May 13, 2026, 91,974 children are registered with the Ontario Autism Program.”Releaseoap-foi-may-2026As of2026-05-13Verified2026-08-10→ MCCSS FOI via OAC · May 2026 children registered, of whom 71,263 (77.5%) are still without an active Core Funding Agreement. Only 20,711 children hold active funding agreements, representing 22.5% of registrations; this administrative status does not establish current service receipt.
An active funding agreement is not proof of therapy attendance. As of May 13, 2026, the Ontario Autism Program (OAP) snapshot contains 91,974 registered children, with 71,263 (77.5%) without an active Core Funding Agreement. Only 20,711 children (22.5%) hold active funding agreements. These administrative counts do not establish therapy attendance, clinical outcome, or a province-wide average wait.
Source: OAP progress-report column (May 13, 2026), published by the Ontario Autism Coalition from MCCSS FOI records. View full methodology and data.
Every statistic on this page represents an administrative program status; it does not imply that every child is waiting for, or receiving, a particular clinical service.
Registered
91,97491,974Children registered
Total in the Ontario Autism Program queue
MCCSS FOI via OAC · May 2026
Funded
20,71120,711Have active funding
Only 22.5% of registered children
MCCSS FOI via OAC · May 2026
Waiting
71,26371,263Still waiting
Registered. Diagnosed. Un-funded.
MCCSS FOI via OAC · May 2026
Verified , MCCSS FOI via OAC · May 2026
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Children registered | 91,974 |
| Have active funding | 20,711 |
| Still waiting | 71,263 |
Each dot represents ~230 children.
Each dot = ~230 childrenSource: CBC FOI Jan 2026 | Updated May 2026
As of May 13, 2026, 91,974 children are registered with the Ontario Autism Program (OAP). Of these, only 20,711 (22.5%) have active Core Funding Agreements, leaving 71,263 children (77.5%) waiting without funded services. This data comes from the OAP bi-weekly Core Clinical Services progress report obtained via Freedom of Information request by the Ontario Autism Coalition. CBC News reported related findings in its March 30, 2026 investigation using January 2026 data. The waitlist has grown approximately ~300% since the 2019 OAP redesign baseline of approximately 23,000 registrations.
Source: OAP bi-weekly Core Clinical Services progress report (May 13, 2026), obtained via Freedom of Information request by the Ontario Autism Coalition. Denominator for every percentage below is the 91,974 total registered figure.
| Metric | Count | % of Registered | Tier | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Registered | 91,974 | 100% | Observed | All OAP registrations |
| Without Active Funding | 71,263 | 77.5% | Calculated | Registered minus active agreements |
| Active Funding Agreements | 20,711 | 22.5% | Observed | Active agreement; not service attendance |
| Backlog Indicator | 71,263 | N/A | Calculated | Children still waiting for a funding agreement |
| Annual Funding Gap | $571M | N/A | Calculated | FAO 2020 estimate at 2018-19 service levels vs 2025-26 budget; current gap vs 2026-27 budget is $385M |
Reported counts remain distinct from End The Wait Ontario calculations. Every subtraction, percentage, ratio, and rate below can be reproduced from the named FOI, CBC, or FAO observations.
March 4, 2026 snapshot
January 7, 2026 snapshot
January 7 → March 4, 2026 comparison
February 29, 2024 FAO baseline
February 2024 → March 2026 comparison
CBC independent review (18 months)
2019 baseline comparison
Budget and administration
Derived formulas
Download the verified OAP access snapshot (CSV) or review the complete methodology and limitations.
Publicly available program data shows registrations increasing substantially over time. The May 13, 2026 count (Ontario Autism Coalition FOI) is source-attributed; the rows below are named published anchors. The 2019 row is explicitly approximate, and missing years are intentionally omitted rather than interpolated.
| Year | Registered | With Funding | Tier | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 (approximate baseline) | ~23,000 | N/A | Estimated | Approximate pre-reform baseline; exact government figure not published |
| 2023 (FAO reported) | 70,176 | N/A | Observed | FAO reported 70,176 registered in the 2023-24 fiscal-year context. Its 19,966 figure is an enrolled Core Clinical Services measure, not a comparable active funding-agreement count, so the other measures are left unavailable. |
| 2024 (mid-year FOI) | 72,871 | N/A | Observed | CBC reported 72,871 registered in a mid-2024 progress-report column. The release does not provide a comparable active-funding count for this row, so waiting, funded, budget, and average-wait cells remain unavailable. |
| May 2026(current) | 91,974 | 20,711 | Observed | Primary canonical data point (latest). MCCSS reported 91,974 registered, 20,711 with an active Core Funding Agreement (an administrative status, not proof of service receipt), and 71,263 waiting. The same release separately reports 24,417 enrolled in Core Clinical Services; this series tracks active agreements so the comparison remains consistent. No official average wait or budget is attached to this snapshot. |
* Historical rows come from the site's canonical trend dataset. Each tier and note reflects the confidence and source recorded for that point; the May 13, 2026 row comes from the current waitlist source of truth.
The Financial Accountability Office of Ontario estimated in 2020 that $1.35B was needed annually to serve all children at 2018-19 service levels. Ontario's 2026-27 budget allocates $965 million to the OAP, leaving a gap of approximately $385M. However, with 91,974 children now registered (more than double the approximately 40,700 children the FAO based its estimate on), the actual funding needed to clear the waitlist likely exceeds $1.35B.
Full FAO Report Analysis →As of May 13, 2026, 91,974 children are registered with the Ontario Autism Program (OAP). Of these, 20,711 (22.5%) have active funding agreements, which is not proof of therapy attendance. The remaining 71,263 children (77.5%) have no active agreement in the snapshot. This administrative status is not a measure of therapy attendance or outcome.
As of May 13, 2026, the OAP bi-weekly progress report (obtained via Ontario Autism Coalition FOI) reported 91,974 children registered in OAP and 71,263 still waiting for a funding agreement. Those counts support the conclusion that delays are substantial, but this page does not assign a single province-wide average wait in years.
OAP program materials describe funding and service streams with different amounts and eligibility pathways. FAO analysis has also discussed structural funding pressure in the program. This page avoids unsupported province-wide therapy-cost comparisons unless the source is directly cited on the page.
Publicly available program data shows registrations rising over time, with 91,974 children reported as registered as of May 13, 2026 (Ontario Autism Coalition FOI). This page avoids assigning a precise growth percentage unless the baseline used for that calculation is directly published in the same source chain.
The downloadable snapshot contains the current canonical measures. Historical anchor rows and their source notes are shown above; unsupported annual rows are not manufactured.
For full waitlist statistics and data:
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Families navigating autism services in Ontario face a documented multi-year wait. Here is the Ontario data — and a two-minute way to push back, when you are ready.
Related Resources
How long do families wait for Ontario autism services?
VerifiedOntario autism wait times for core clinical services now exceed 5+ years (Ontario Autism Coalition, July 2026). Funding invitations are currently reaching families who registered in August 2021 (Ontario Autism Coalition, July 2026 (reported from community intake)). This delay far exceeds the sensitive early intervention window recommended by developmental specialists.
Source: MCCSS FOI via OAC · Mar 2026, FAO Report 2024 · Verify Link
Evidence on this page
Key claims are paired with their source, evidence tier, and verification date so readers can inspect the public record directly.
91,974
children are registered in the Ontario Autism Program
22.5%
Only 20,711 children have active funding agreements (22.5%), less than one in four
$965M
Ontario allocated $965M to the Ontario Autism Program in 2026-27
WHO recommends accessible, community-based early interventions for children with autism. Timely evidence-based psychosocial interventions improve communication and social engagement
According to the FAO (2020 report), OAP funding covers less than one-third of estimated need at 2018-19 service levels