We certainly know that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a great impact on people with autism spectrum disorder, as well as on their families and caregivers, by limiting access to in-person supports, disrupting education and personal routines, and making it challenging to maintain social relationships with family and friends.
In order to address what we see as potentially a wider gap or wider data gap with respect to the health impacts of COVID-19, PHAC is investing $2 million specifically over three years to collect additional second-cycle data for the CHCSY, for data specific to that group—those living with autism.
As well, the Public Health Agency provided $75,000 to the Autism and Intellectual Disability Knowledge Exchange Network, or AIDE Canada, as it's called, to develop a COVID-19 resource hub to share up-to-date, trusted information related to COVID-19. It's specifically tailored to Canadians with autism spectrum disorder, as well as their families and caregivers.
In budget 2021, we provided $15.4 million, of which $7 million is new funding over two years, to start this year. We're working collaboratively with provinces and territories, families and stakeholders on the creation of a national autism strategy. We are looking forward to coming back and speaking more on this—