hild care is not a luxury, it’s a necessity. Yet too many families in Canada lack access to affordable, inclusive and high-quality child care. This is an economic issue as much as it is a social one. Without access to child care, parents—especially women—cannot fully participate in the economy and the global COVID-19 pandemic has brought these issues to the forefront.

“ Every child deserves the best possible start in life. Yet as a result of the pandemic, families have faced unique challenges, including having to choose between going back to work, or staying home to care for their children.  

I’m looking forward to working with the National Advisory Council on Early Learning and Child Care as we move forward with building a Canada-wide early learning and child care system to drive economic growth, increase women’s participation in the workforce, and ensure parents never have to make that impossible choice again.”
– Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development

• The Council will include 12 to 14 members, including two co-chairpersons, who reflect Canada’s geographic, cultural, linguistic and socio-economic diversity.

• Applicants must possess expert knowledge and experience relating to early learning and child care in one or more of the following streams:

  1. Caregiver stream (for example, parents, grandparents, guardians)
  2. Practitioner stream (for example, Early Childhood Educators, early learning and child care union representatives, licensed daycare operators)
  3. Academic and advocate stream (for example, professors, researchers, foundation leaders, , social actors)
  4. Co-chairperson

• The Government of Canada is working with provincial, territorial and Indigenous partners to build a Canada-wide, community-based child care system. The federal government will invest up to $30 billion over the next five years and, combined with previous investments, $9.2 billion per year ongoing to build a high-quality, affordable, flexible and inclusive early learning and child care system across Canada—because parents should not have to choose between working and taking care of their children.

• This investment will allow for an average fee of $10 a day by 2025–26 for all regulated child care spaces, starting with a 50% reduction in average fees for regulated early learning and child care spaces by the end of 2022. These investments will create new opportunities for Canadian families and will enable parents, particularly mothers, to access jobs.

• Investments in child care will benefit all Canadians. Studies show that for every dollar invested in early childhood education, the broader economy receives between $1.50 and $2.80 in return.

• As part of $30 billion in funding, and building on Canada’s Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care Framework co-developed in 2018, Budget 2021 proposes to invest up to $2.5 billion over the next five years:

  • $1.4 billion over five years, starting in 2021–22, to create up to 3,300 new high-quality early learning and child care spaces for Indigenous families;
  • $515 million over five years, starting in 2021–22, to support before- and after-school care for First Nations children on reserve;
  • $264 million over four years, starting in 2022–23, to repair and renovate existing Indigenous early learning and child care centres;
  • $420 million over three years, starting in 2023–24, to build and maintain new early learning and child care centres in additional communities.

• Budget 2021 also builds on the approximately 40,000 new spaces already created through previous federal investments.

• Budget 2021 committed to tabling federal early learning and child care legislation in fall 2021 to enshrine the principles of a Canada-wide child care system in law. 

• To make immediate progress for children with disabilities, Budget 2021 proposes to provide $29.2 million over two years, starting in 2021–22, to Employment and Social Development Canada through the Enabling Accessibility Fundto support child care centres as they improve their physical accessibility.

Related products

• National Advisory Council on Early Learning and Child Care
• Apply to become a member of the National Advisory Council on Early Learning and Child Care
• Federal Secretariat on Early Learning and Child Care
• Budget 2021: A Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Plan

For media enquiries, please contact:

Mikaela Harrison                                                                                                    Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Ahmed Hussen
mikaela.harrison@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca

Media Relations Office
Employment and Social Development Canada
819-994-5559
media@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca
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