The Long and Winding Road to Professional Regulation in Ontario Canada
Ontario’s 25-year march to licensure shows BCBAs can win regulation by talking like public protectors, not lobbyists.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Thomson et al. (2025) traced Ontario’s 25-year fight to license behavior analysts.
They mapped every bill, volunteer meeting, and slogan that finally made the province protect the public from unqualified providers.
The paper is a story, not an experiment, so it gives step-by-step lessons instead of data tables.
What they found
The winning message was “public protection,” not “help our profession.”
Volunteers kept the same core group for two decades and recycled old drafts when new bills popped up.
In 2024 Ontario passed the Safe Act; behavior analysts became a regulated health profession.
How this fits with other research
Malkin et al. (2025) asked Ontario BCBAs how much they would pay for a license and found demand drops after $625. Their survey adds a price tag to the roadmap Thomson shows.
Thompson et al. (1986) told analysts to hand lawmakers seven kinds of evidence. Ontario advocates did exactly that, proving the old playbook still works.
Evenhuis (1996) warned us to swap “punishment” for “consequence-based intervention.” Ontario’s campaign used public-friendly words like “safe services,” showing the translator role in action.
Why it matters
If you want licensure in your state, copy Ontario: keep the same volunteers, speak about public safety, and reuse old bill language. Pair this story with Malkin’s fee data to set dues the field will actually pay.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This article describes the long and winding road to regulation of behavior analysts in Ontario, Canada over the past 25 years. It is written from the perspective of some of the many volunteers of the professional association (Ontario Association for Behaviour Analysis) who have contributed to this goal. The information has been corroborated by historical records and publicly available information. The need for public protection and oversight of behavior analysis was noted in our field more than 50 years ago and continues to be relevant. With changes to international certification and concerns raised by some constituents about ABA practices, many jurisdictions continue to seek support for regulatory oversight. The goal of this article is to inspire behavior analysts in other jurisdictions to advocate for protection of the public and for recognition and oversight of the profession through policy reform. To this end, we have documented our collective efforts and experiences and suggested strategies that worked in our context that may generalize to other jurisdictions. In the end, efforts to promote ethical, effective, and socially valid ABA services will advance our field and enhance the benefits for those we support.
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2025 · doi:10.1007/s40617-023-00880-3