The wait for a new autism program continues.
It was announced in February, but NDP critic Teresa Armstrong says there are still a lot of unanswered questions.
“The pilot program, that has yet to determine its metrics for success, has no staff to run it, or families to pilot with, and will service a mere 600 kids when there are 42,000 on the wait list,” she says.
Armstrong says many more have aged out of the program, making them ineligible for any support.
Angela Brandt, president of the Ontario Autism Coalition, says wait lists for “life-changing” therapies continue to get longer.
“This government promised to reduce the wait list, but instead they doubled it,” she says.
Brandt says the Ford government promised to eliminate the wait list in 2019.
Alina Cameron, a parent of a child with autism in the Thunder Bay area, says the delay is hurting families in northern Ontario.
“There is no plan to help families and providers in northern, rural, and remote locations bridge the immense distances between them,” Cameron argues. “Those distances, barriers to care, have grown exponentially for many while we’ve been waiting for the Ford [Ontario Autism Program].”
