Putting the Public into Early Learning and Child Care

This symposium highlighted how early learning and child care are delivered within schools can increase access, reduce uneven quality, improve the working conditions and professionalism of educators, allow for early detection and intervention, and provide a continuum of learning to benefit young children.

The Federal government’s $27 billion investment through the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) agreements raised the profile of early learning and child care in Canada. Parents are benefiting from reduced fees although availability is limited. Funding is limited to licensed child care, preventing schools from accessing new funding to expand services. Provinces and territories are left to implement the agreements with the pandemic-weakened, low-waged licensed child care sector. 

Forging a coherent social program out of a disjointed mix of commercial, charitable, religious, and non-profit providers operating under 13 different provincial and territorial agreements is no small task. There are lessons to be learned from across Canada on how education and child care could and should be integrated.