What the public registers show
These are listings, not capacity. Ontario publishes no northern wait time or provider ratio, so none is given here.
Counts from the public register of the College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario, searched by city on October 1, 2026. A registrant appears under every city where they list a practice location, so rows are not added together and are not a count of people who live or work in one place. Populations are 2021 Census counts from Statistics Canada.| City | Population, 2021 | Registered Behaviour Analysts listing a practice location there |
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| Thunder Bay | 108,843 | 11 |
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| Greater Sudbury | 166,004 | 23 |
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| Sault Ste. Marie | 72,051 | 7 |
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| North Bay | 52,662 | 10 |
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| Timmins | 41,145 | 6 |
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| Kenora | 14,967 | 2 |
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| Kapuskasing | 8,057 | 0 |
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| Hearst | 4,794 | 0 |
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Ontario's foundational family services list (updated April 2, 2026) says families can use any listed provider wherever they live. Listed providers with a northern address: Thunder Bay, Creative Therapy Associates, George Jeffrey Children’s Centre, Ignite Positive Behaviour, Superior Life Skills; Sault Ste. Marie, THRIVE Child Development Centre; North Bay, Hands TheFamilyHelpNetwork.ca, One Kids Place Children’s Treatment Centre, Breakthrough Speech & Language Therapy; Timmins, Bright Spot Therapy Service Ltd.; Kenora, FIREFLY. The OAP provider list is voluntary, so it cannot show every qualified clinician in the North.
By road, Thunder Bay is 1,375 km from Toronto and Red Lake is 555 km from Thunder Bay (Ontario Ministry of Transportation road map, rounded to the nearest 5 km). The 2021 Census counted 2.0 people per square kilometre in the Northeast economic region and 0.5 in the Northwest. OAP also lets families spend part of their allocation on travel, at $0.40 per km driven under 100 km and $0.41 per km over 100 km; the grant above is a separate program. Ontario's capacity action plan lists 3 funded Northern capacity-building pilots; this page does not rate whether they are enough. FedNor's evaluation of the Northern Ontario Development Program says the region's small, widely dispersed population contributes to a lack of access to high-speed Internet, which matters for virtual care. Province-wide rules are in rural and remote autism services in Ontario.