c/o Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, 199 Bay Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5L 1A9, (647) 496–4688

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 17, 2024

Farewell Lisa MacLeod

The Autism Community Won’t Miss You

There was no wistful sentimentality in the Ontario Autism Coalition (OAC) or the autism community at large upon hearing the news of Lisa MacLeod’s intended departure from the Ontario legislature. In fact, it was a great relief.

MacLeod’s harmful record on the autism file led to her demotion within cabinet less than a year after becoming the minister responsible. In less than 12 months, she had done nearly irreparable damage to autism services in Ontario. It will take years to repair that damage, and the fallout will affect tens of thousands of children and their families for the rest of their lives.

MacLeod’s first blow was freezing intake to the existing program shortly after coming to power, which was the initial cause of the waitlist growing to historic proportions. The irony of her trumpeting the slogan “clear the waitlist” is breathtaking as the list began to triple in size from 23,500 children and youth to over 70,000 today.

Her next move was to replace needs-based funding for children who had a wide range of requirements with a one-size-fits all plan that ignored severity, and added arbitrary, unscientific age caps. Autism Spectrum Disorder spans a wide range of needs that do not suddenly change on a birthday. The initial change drastically cut funding for the most severely affected kids, but each time they blew out some candles the cuts got worse. This was Lisa MacLeod’s birthday present for children and youth with autism. The change was particularly perverse, given that her party had stood with the OAC in opposing age caps, prior to Doug Ford becoming MacLeod’s leader and premier.

Throughout this period, McLeod took great pains to demonize the autism parent community as being “professional protesters.” Her chief of staff demonstrated shocking intellectual laziness when he said that “it doesn’t matter what we do, you people will protest anyway.” As a mother, MacLeod should have understood that we were simply trying to get help for our autistic children, but that level of empathy was beyond her.

MacLeod’s disparagement of the OAC and the broader autism community continued even after leaving as minister. She described her demotion to minister of sport & tourism as moving from “the ministry of tears to the ministry of cheers.” This was her truth as she had done nothing to dry the tears of autism parents, who loudly cheered her departure. She has steadfastly refused to meet with parents of autistic kids anywhere, especially in her own riding, where she has a responsibility to listen to constituent concerns.

Her choice to avoid hearing parents’ complaints led MacLeod to call Ottawa police to break up a peaceful protest by parents, many of whom had their children with them, outside one of her political meetings. Her unhinged complaint to her audience indoors was that the people outside were somehow “taking away my voice.” Our parents would like to have heard MacLeod’s voice on the autism issue, but she chose to ignore theirs instead.

In the four years since leaving a swath of pain and despair behind her, MacLeod has frequently spoken out about mental health. It is galling for autism parents to hear these comments, given that MacLeod has never once apologized for causing crushing anxiety and depression for tens of thousands across the province.

The autism community is relieved to see MacLeod go. We will never miss her, or forgive her, and it will be impossible to forget her, no matter how hard we may try.

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For Further Information Contact:
Alina Cameron, President, Ontario Autism Coalition, (647) 496-4688
alina.cameron@ontarioautismcoalition.com
Bruce McIntosh, Founding President, (416) 451-8315 bruce.mcintosh@ontarioautismcoalition.com