Minister of Children, Community and Social Services Merrilee Fullerton acknowledged Thursday that the government was "a little slow" in announcing the organization that will oversee key parts of the province's autism program.

She also insisted at a press conference that the government is "on track" to get 8,000 children into "core services" by the fall despite advocate concerns over the pace at which the new autism program is being rolled out.

"I will acknowledge that we were a little slow getting out the Independent Intake Organization (IIO), but sometimes there's issues that you don't perceive and it takes a little longer, but we are putting the children and their families at the centre to create a world leading program," Fullerton said in response to a question from QP Briefing.

The IIO, which will be made up of several organizations including Accerta Services Inc., McMaster University, Autism Ontario and HealthCare 365, was announced in December, though it was expected the organization would be revealed much sooner. Included in its duties will be to manage registration for the Ontario Autism Program, the wait list for "core services" (applied behaviour analysis, occupational therapy, speech therapy and mental health services), funding for families and the hiring and training of care coordinators among other duties. The government has said it expects the organization will be able to "start supporting families" this spring.

Fullerton's comments come after her spokesperson said last week that 655 children were enrolled in "core services," up from 600 a few months ago. An advocacy group for people with autism and their families criticized the small increase, saying enrolment was moving at a "snail's pace."

Ontario Autism Coalition president Angela Brandt said Thursday she feels the autism community has been "forgotten about by this government," and that there's no excuse for the slow pace of enrolments.

Brandt pointed to the former Liberal government's quicker development of a revamped autism program following protests over a plan to implement an age five cut-off for autism services.

"Why is this government taking three years and still hasn't reached a target?" Brandt said.

Fullerton said she's aware people have been waiting "anxiously" to enrol in core services and said the province has been working to build service provider capacity.

"But obviously more work needs to be done to get these children into the core services, the 8,000 that we promised — and we're on track for that — we have always said that would be in the fall," she said. "A key part of that is the Independent Intake Organization that we've announced, it really is the key part to coordinating this with the care coordinators."

Despite the minister's assurances, however, Brandt doesn't think the government will meet its target by the fall.

Asked about whether she thinks her government's handling of the autism file could have an impact on the upcoming provincial election, Fullerton didn't directly answer the question.

"I think the most important part is to get the children and families their services," she said, adding that the government has doubled funding for the program.

"My main goal is to get the children and the families the services they need in a timely way — in an effective way. Has it taken time? Yes, because we did promise to consult," Fullerton said, noting the autism advisory panel and the implementation working group.

Brandt, who stressed that she would support any party that implements a good autism program, said it's hard to say whether people will remember "what this government did to the autism program."

"But as an advocate and an activist, we are going to make sure that Ontarians remember what this government did to children with autism, and it's not going to be a good look on the PCs," she said.

Fullerton acknowledges government was ‘a little slow’ in autism program rollout

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