Ontario ABA – 2025 Chapter Update – Inside Behavior Analysis

By Jaime Santana

This year has started with a lot of work for our chapter. In July 2024, Behaviour Analysts in Ontario were regulated as an independent profession through the renamed College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario. This change brought many challenges, including changes in practice requirements, expectations, and of course, the announcement by the BACB to remove themselves from Ontario completely as of June 30, 2026. As an association we have continued to explore options to maintain BACB credentialing in Ontario and are working with the appropriate decision makers to gauge our options and next steps.

In order to ensure that our membership was prepared for regulation and the expectations that come with it, we established a Regulation Resource Task Force that developed and released various resources, including FAQs, Title Protection Clarification, and webinars throughout the year. We received some great feedback from our membership on these and are continuing to look at how we can meet the needs of our members through these changes.

We have continued to advocate for the appropriate funding for services that behaviour analysts deliver, including, but not limited to, services to individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. This has been an ongoing advocacy goal for ONTABA over the years.

We have seen our membership increase over the last 12 months, remaining consistently over 1700 members for the last six months. This is a record for ONTABA, and we are proud to continue to grow as an association. We have been able to deliver to our members multiple events, including our annual conference, which is always well attended. For this year, we have multiple events planned, including:

An Evening for Behaviour Analysis, where our members can enjoy a meal, earn CEUs, and socialize
Student Conference, where students in our province can practice and build their capacity as effective disseminators of our science
ONTABAcon2025, where our members can enjoy two days of CEUs, learning, and socializing

We have also partnered with other provincial organizations to develop materials and sessions for parents and caregivers to support them through regulation as well.

Looking ahead into 2025, ONTABA aims to continue to build and grow, in order to establish a stronger ABA presence in Ontario, and in Canada through collaborative work with other Canadian associations. The future of ABA in Ontario is bright, and we are excited to be the ones leading the charge!

Jaime Satana, M.ADS, BCBA, R.B.A.(Ont.)

President

Ontario Association for Behaviour Analysis^TM