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.