Insights into the accessibility, affordability, inclusivity, flexibility and quality of child care centres in Canada, 2024

In 2021, the Canadian federal government committed over $27.2 billion in funding through bilateral agreements with the provinces and territories toward building the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care system. Integral to these agreements were investments allocated by provinces and territories toward five foundational pillars of the Multilateral Early Learning and Child Care Framework: provision of accessible, affordable, inclusive, flexible and high-quality care. This study uses data from the 2024 Canadian Survey on the Provision of Child Care Services to examine the characteristics of child care centres in Canada during this period of policy reform, with an emphasis on elements of care reflective of the five pillars of the multilateral framework. Results suggest that the proportion of centres offering flexible or non-standard care options was limited, that 15% of centres had expanded their maximum capacity in the previous year to improve accessibility, that nearly three-quarters of centres had accommodations in place to improve inclusivity for children with long-term conditions or disabilities, and that the affordability of child care as indicated by child care fees varied considerably across child age category and jurisdiction. Further analysis contrasted centres that had received specific funding with those that had not. About 7 in 10 centres outside of Quebec reported that they had received funding from Federal-provincial/territorial agreements. These centres were more likely to be larger in terms of staffing and enrolment and were more likely to be not-for-profit.