Toronto – Ontario’s embattled program for autistic children was delivered another blow yesterday when lawyers filed a class-action lawsuit against the province on behalf of parents whose children languished on a waiting list for funding that never came.
Grant and Christie Hartley and their eight-year-old son, Mason, are the lead plaintiffs in the suit, which claims $225-million in damages for the province’s failure to provide funding for the intensive one-on-one therapy widely regarded as the most effective treatment for the neurological disorder.
The lawsuit was filed days after a damning report by Ontario’s acting provincial auditor on the $44-million Intensive Early Intervention program came to light, exposing millions in dubious spending.