Backgrounder: National Autism Strategy

October 2020

The Government of Canada is committed to helping Canadians with disabilities and their families, including those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The Public Health Agency of Canada is providing $1.46 million to the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS) to lead broad and inclusive consultations for the development of the National Autism Strategy.

The CAHS is a neutral, independent, not-for-profit organization that has a mandate to provide objective, evidence-based analyses of health challenges to inform both public and private sectors in decision-making about policy, practice and investment. Given its broad representation and expertise, the CAHS will lead the engagement process for the development of the national strategy by leveraging the participation of key national, local and grassroots organizations to support consultation on a wide range of issues including employment and housing, social inclusion, disability supports, and evidence-based intervention and therapies. CAHS will lead a broad-based, multi-disciplinary engagement ensuring that all voices and interests, including those with lived-experience, are heard and factored into recommendations about the actions that are needed to better support individuals with ASD, their families and caregivers.

The engagement process will take place over a 16-month period and include 3 distinct phases: scoping, consultation and reporting. The culmination of this work will be used to plan a national conference to discuss the findings from the engagement process and to confirm priorities for action.