The Canadian Press
Allison Jones
TORONTO—Ontario’s new minister in charge of the autism file says changes are in the works following the controversial revamp of the treatment program announced earlier this year.
Michael Coteau was brought in to put a fresh face on the Ministry of Children and Youth Services after his predecessor, Tracy MacCharles, was moved out of the portfolio—the only major demotion in the recent cabinet shuffle.
MacCharles and Premier Kathleen Wynne had hinted they were considering tweaking the transition to the new program, but Coteau is signalling that he’s looking even more broadly—to not just the transition plan but the program itself.
“I hope to be in a place quite shortly where we can come forward with several recommendations for changes,” he said in an interview.
“I think that there will be elements of both areas that I’d like to focus on.”
The Liberal government has announced, as part of a new Ontario Autism Program rolling out in 2018, that it will stop funding Intensive Behavioural Intervention (IBI) for kids five and older, instead transitioning them to “enhanced Applied Behavioural Analysis” (ABA) treatment.
In the meantime, families of the 835 children removed from the wait list were given $8,000 to pay for private treatment, but parents say that only will pay for, at most, a few months of intensive therapy.
The changes have angered parents, whose children spent years on the IBI waiting list only to be abruptly removed.
They have protested at the legislature four times in as many months, and have waged a relentless social media campaign.
Coteau already had hundreds of tweets directed at him by the end of the day he was named as minister.
“It’s their children . . . so they’re very passionate, very concerned,” he reasoned.
The parents’ main demand is for the government to reverse the age five cut-off.
