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Mission, Vision and Principles

Four female participants of different ages sitting together at a CALS event.

Autism Alliance of Canada is a pan-Canadian network with a broad and diverse membership of Autistic people and their families and support persons, as well as clinicians, researchers, policy influencers, service providers and organizations from across Canada. 

We work together as a shared leadership movement to champion a National Autism Strategy that ensures Autistic people have equal rights and opportunities for full participation and acceptance in Canadian society. We harness the power of collective impact as an inclusive organization whose members, board of directors and staff reflect our commitment to Autistic participation in all aspects of our work.

The Hon. Minister Jean-Yves Duclos with Benjamin Lachapelle, Autistic Author and Artist

Our Vision

A Canada where Autistic people exercise their full rights and realize their full potential.

Our Mission

To inform policy and practice at a national level by bringing our members together, identifying priority issues, and developing meaningful ways to address them.

Our Principles

  • Respecting and learning from each other.
  • Sharing leadership and meaningfully including persons with lived experience.
  • Adding value to the neurodevelopmental and broader disability community.
  • Ensuring equity in representation across all stakeholder groups.
  • Encouraging diversity of thought and ongoing dialogue.

Our Process: Convene

Bring diverse stakeholders to form learning communities and be thought leaders.

Coordinate a community-driven evidence to policy pipeline.

Our Process: Catalyze

Enable action on emergent and complex issues through innovation and multisector solutions.

Build community capacity through knowledge exchange, education and skills development.

Our Process: Collaborate 

Leverage the collective to mobilize evidence to inform policy development, implementation and evaluation.

Partner to develop, spread and scale pragmatic solutions.

Grow through partnerships across disability, diagnosis and identity.

Dr. Jonathan Lai being photographed with Debbie Irish and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Our Strategic Priorities

At the heart of our strategic plan are four pillars that define how we will fulfill our mission and vision:

  1. Develop a Shared Policy Agenda
  2. Accelerate Systems and Policy Research
  3. Facilitate Collective Impact
  4. Advance Operational Excellence

What does Autism Alliance of Canada mean to me?

It is a light of autis-amazingness. It has and continues to keep me in the loop about what is going on in Canada’s Autistic and autism communities with its newsletters and Summits. It has been and also continues to be an incredible information source for ways to get involved in these same communities.

Headshot of Courtney Weaver

Courtney Weaver
Member, Autism Alliance of Canada

Join us

As a member of Autism Alliance of Canada, you will contribute to enhancing our impact through a strong, unified, collaborative voice.