Ontario’s Early Years and Child Care Annual Report 2023

Introduction

A strong and accessible child care and early years system is a critical support for Ontario families. It plays a key role in children’s learning, development and well-being while parents and caregivers go to school or work to support their families and contribute to economic growth.

This report provides an annual snapshot and detailed year-over-year trends of, Ontario’s child care sector that will help to inform future plans and policy. In addition, the report supports Ontario's commitments to informing the public on progress made under the federal-provincial early learning and child care agreements. Most of the data presented in this report were collected between March 2022 and March 2023.

2022 was a milestone year for the early years and child care system in our province. Ontario and Canada signed the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) Agreement that will support Ontario to achieve average fees of $10 per day for children under the age of six. The agreement focuses on five priority areas, including lowering fees, increasing access, enhancing quality, supporting inclusion and strengthening data/reporting.

The ministry has worked with partners across the province and reached important achievements in implementing the CWELCC system:

• April 2022: The ministry released the CWELCC funding guidelines, referred to as the Addendum to Ontario Child Care and EarlyON Child and Family Centres Service Management and Funding Guideline (2022).
• May 2022: The first CWELCC payments were flowed to service system managers to support implementation.
• June/July 2022: Child care licensees began to enrol in the CWELCC system and provide parents with fee rebates up to 25% retroactive to April 1, 2022.
• July 2022: The ministry established a Minister’s Advisory Group of sector partners to engage in roundtable discussions on key priorities.
• November 2022: 92% of child care sites shared their intention to opt in to the CWELCC system.
• December 2022: The ministry released to service system managers the 2023 CWELCC funding allocations and guidelines, the draft Access and Inclusion Framework and initial space creation targets under the Directed Growth Plan, supporting Ontario’s commitment to create 86,000 new child care spaces, by December 31, 2026.
• December 2022: The ministry announced a $213 million start-up grant program for 2023-24 to support the creation of new, affordable child care spaces for children under age six in targeted locations and for populations most in need.
• December 2022: Parent fees for children under six in CWELCC programs were further reduced to an average of 50% from pre-agreement levels.
• Winter 2023: The ministry released the 2024 Funding Formula Discussion Paper, launched the Child Care Funding Formula mini-survey and conducted 19 virtual consultations with over 60 key stakeholder groups on workforce, access and inclusion priorities and quality initiatives.
• May 2023: Final space creation targets were released to service system managers under the Directed Growth Plan.
• June 2023: Updated CWELCC funding guidelines for 2023-24, including guidelines for the new start-up grant program and an updated Access and Inclusion Framework were released to the sector to support Directed Growth.
• June 2023: 92% of licensed child care spaces for children aged 0 to 5 were enrolled in the CWELCC system.
• November 2023: Announced a workforce strategy to support the recruitment and retention of qualified professionals working in licensed child care, including increased wages.

As of June 2023, all municipalities executed agreements with their licensees. 95.9% of not-for-profit sites and 75.6% of for-profit sites were enrolled in the CWELCC system, including a total of 301,853 licensed child care spaces in centres and homes for children aged 0 to 5 years.

The ministry released the 2024 funding guidelines to service system managers and is working to introduce a new funding formula and implement the new workforce strategy.

In addition to work on the CWELCC system, in 2022–23 the province continued to implement two existing federal-provincial early learning and child care agreements.

• The Canada-Ontario Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) Agreement allocated $195.4 million in federal funding in 2022–23 to support: 1) affordable, high-quality licensed child care; 2) no-cost, high-quality programming and services at EarlyON Child and Family Centres; and 3) training and professional learning for the early years and child care workforce.
• The Canada-Ontario Early Childhood Workforce Agreement (WFA) allocated $149.9 million in one-time federal funding to support the retention and recruitment of a high-quality child care and early years workforce through the following initiatives: 1) Professional Learning and Development Strategy; 2) Workforce Capacity and Innovation Fund; 3) RECE Qualifications Upgrade Program; and 4) Equity-based Communities of Practice. As per the terms of the agreement, Ontario was allowed to carry forward to 2023-24 up to 50% of any unspent federal funds remaining from 2022-23. Ontario spent $75 million in Early Childhood Workforce funding in 2021-22 and the remaining $75 million in 2022-23.

Ontario is committed to continuing to deliver high-quality, affordable child care and early years programs to families in every corner of the province. In 2023, the province and Canada invested $3.86 billion in early years and child care. This included:

• Provincial investments of $1.65 billion to support the ongoing delivery of early years and child care services and EarlyON supports. This includes a general allocation for core service delivery of early years and child care programs.
• Investments of $2.22 billion from the federal government to support Ontario’s commitments under the CWELCC, ELCC and WFA agreements that will support the reduction of parent fees to 50% of pre-agreement levels, increase the number of child care spaces and support RECE (Registered Early Childhood Educators) staff and supervisors with up to $1 per hour increase in wages.

Ontario’s licensed child care system continued to grow in 2022–23, supporting more children and families.

• The number of centres increased by 4.2% from 5,545 to 5,776.
• The number of spaces grew by 32,058 from  472,997 to 505,055, with an increase in all age groups, including 3.0% for infants, 3.9% for toddlers, 3.2% for preschool, 13.6% for kindergarten, 6.1% for school age and 9.5% for the family age group.^{footnote 1[1]}
• The number of home child care agencies increased by 2.1% from 145 to 148. There were 9,863 approved homes affiliated with these agencies, representing a 13.0% increase.

In summary, this report shows that Ontario’s early years and child care sector has showed strong growth and demonstrated significant achievements over the past year. These achievements could not be reached without the collaboration and leadership of our hardworking partners: our early years and child care workers, program operators, First Nation communities, Consolidated Municipal Service Managers and District Social Services Administration Boards and the federal government.

Part 1: Overview of the early years and child care system

The Ministry of Education sets overall policy, legislation, and regulations for the child care and early years sector, under the authority of the Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014, and licenses child care providers across the province. The ministry also conducts inspections and investigates complaints about licensed and unlicensed child care.

The ministry oversees and licenses two types of child care:

• child care centres
• home child care agencies that contract with home child care providers

The provincial government provides funding to 47 local service system managers, known as Consolidated Municipal Service Managers (CMSMs) and District Social Services Administration Boards (DSSABs), to support licensed child care and child and family programs in the province (see Figure 1). These service system managers have the authority to determine funding priorities within their local systems, provided they comply with provincial legislation, policies and guidelines.

As of March 31, 2023, the province was funding 96 First Nations to support child care or child and family programs on reserve, of which:

• 31 received funding for child care only
• 21 received funding for child and family programs only
• 44 received funding for child care and child and family programs

Figure 1: Consolidated Municipal Service Managers and District Social Services Administration Boards in Ontario

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Data sources: Ontario Ministry of Education and Statistics Canada.

In Ontario, various partners work together to deliver early years and child care, each taking important roles and responsibilities.

Part 2: Early years and child care key data and measures

Child care is foundational to supporting early childhood development and student success. It is also a key enabler of workforce participation, particularly for women, both as parents and providers. Over the years, Ontario has advanced many initiatives to strengthen its early years and child care system. This includes:

• Providing child care fee subsidies to support low-income families to access child care.
• Investing in operator subsidies to help offset costs that would otherwise result in higher child care fees. Support is provided for general operating costs, as well as wage enhancements for qualified staff.
• Establishing the College of Early Childhood Educators in 2008 as the self-regulatory body for the early childhood education profession in the province and the only regulatory college for early childhood educators in Canada.
• Rolling out universal kindergarten starting in 2010 to provide a full-day of free high-quality programming for all children aged 4 to 5 years in the publicly funded school system across the province.
• Conducting an annual data collection of child care program operations from licensed child care centres and home child care agencies since 2012 and reporting on the Early Development Instrument (EDI) indicators since 2003.
• Establishing modern legislative framework and quality standards, the Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014 (CCEYA), that governs child care in Ontario. The legislation requires that programming in licensed spaces is aligned with the provincial pedagogy, How does learning happen?, which sets out a vision, values, foundations and approaches to guide practice for high quality experiences in licensed child care and early years settings.
• Supporting recruitment and retention of early childhood educators in child care since 2015 through the Ontario wage enhancement grants.
• Introducing the Ontario Childcare Access and Relief from Expenses (CARE) tax credit in 2019. The tax credit helps an estimated 300,000 families each year with up to 75% of their eligible child care expenses.
• Funding EarlyON Child and Family Centres to provide a variety of supports to caregivers and children from birth to six years old across Ontario.

These initiatives continue to shape Ontario’s early years and child care system and benefit children and families in the province. A stable and accessible child care system will be crucial in supporting the province moving forward with the work on the CWELCC system.

Licensed child care

In Ontario, licensed child care is provided in centres and homes, and is delivered by a mix of not-for-profit and for-profit organizations, municipalities, school boards and First Nations. As of March 31, 2023, there were 5,776 licensed child care centres in Ontario.

The total number of spaces in licensed centres for children aged 0 to 12 was 505,055, which included:

• 37,972 spaces that provide services in French
• 7,648 spaces that provide bilingual services
• 3,397 spaces in First Nations communities

As of March 31, 2023, a total of 148 licensed home child care agencies were in operation in the province. These agencies were permitted to contract with a maximum of 9,863 approved homes.^{footnote 2[2]} This includes two home child care agencies operated by First Nations, with a maximum of 31 approved homes. As of December 31, 2022, the most recent year for which there are data available, a total of 3,524^{footnote 3[3]} homes were deemed to be “active homes”.^{footnote 4[4]}

Overall trends in licensed child care

Overall, Ontario’s licensed child care sector continued to grow. Since 2013–14:

• The number of licensed child care centres has increased by 13.9%, from 5,069 to 5,776. Licensed spaces in child care centres have increased by 58.9%, from 317,868 to 505,055.
• The number of spaces in centres for children aged 0 to 12 years has grown across all age groups, including kindergarten (135.8%), school age (58.3%), toddler (55.0%), infant (53.3%) and preschool (21.1%).
• The number of licensed home child care agencies has increased by 17.5%, from 126 to 148. The number of approved homes has increased by 71.1% from 5,765 to 9,863.

For more detailed data and changes over time, see Table 2 and Table 3.

Data source: Child Care Licensing System, Ontario Ministry of Education (as of March 31 each year).

Data source: Child Care Licensing System, Ontario Ministry of Education (as of March 31 each year).

Child care by type of auspice

As of March 31, 2023, 74.9% of licensed child care centres were not-for-profit (operated by not-for-profit organizations, municipalities and First Nations) and 25.1% were for-profit.^{footnote 6[6]} 78.9% of spaces for children aged 0 to 12 years were in not-for-profit centres and 21.1% in for-profit centres. For children aged 0 to 5 years, 70.2% of spaces were in not-for-profit centres and 29.8% in for-profit centres.

Since 2013–14, the number of not-for-profit centres increased by 12.5% and for-profit increased by 18.5%. The number of spaces for children aged 0 to 12 years in not-for-profit centres increased by 65.4% and those in for-profit increased by 38.6%. The number of spaces for children aged 0 to 5 years in not-for-profit centres increased by 64.2% and those in for-profit centre increased by 48.6%.

For more detailed data and a look at changes over time, see Table 4.

Data source: Child Care Licensing System, Ontario Ministry of Education (as of March 31 each year).

Licensed child care centres — openings and closures

Licensed child care centres open and close on a regular basis with more centres opening than closing in most years. Child care centres open for reasons such as the expansion of an existing program, a desire to provide a child care service in a community or local planning efforts by CMSMs and DSSABs to address an increase in the need for child care. Centres that close typically do so due to low enrolment.

As of 2022–23, there were 707 more child care centres in operation than in 2013–14, with an annual net increase of 73 centres per year (see Table 5). In 2022–23, 369 child care centres opened and 138 closed, a net increase of 231 centres, the highest annual increase seen since 2013–14.

Data source: Child Care Licensing System, Ontario Ministry of Education (as of March 31 each year).

Licensed child care in publicly funded schools and in communities

As of March 31, 2023, 55.2% of child care centres and 65.0% of child care spaces were in publicly funded schools. The remaining 44.8% of child care centres and 35.0% of child care spaces were located elsewhere in the community. The number of licensed child care centres located in publicly funded schools increased by 6.5% in 2022–23 compared to the previous year and spaces increased by 9.3% in the same period.

Since 2013–14, the number of child care centres located in publicly funded schools has increased by 26.2%, and spaces have increased by 98.2% (see Table 6).

Data source: Child Care Licensing System, Ontario Ministry of Education (as of March 31 for each year).

First Nations licensed child care

As of March 31, 2023, 75 licensed child care centres were operated by 58 First Nations or on First Nation reserves in Ontario. The number of First Nations licensed child care spaces has increased by 6.5% since 2013–14 (see Table 7).

Data source: Child Care Licensing System, Ontario Ministry of Education (as of March 31 each year).

French-language and bilingual licensed child care

Some licensed child care centres offer services in French or in both English and French (bilingual). In 2022–23, of the 5,776 licensed child care centres, 316 (5.5%) offered programs in French and 102 (1.8%) offered bilingual programs. Of the 505,055 licensed child care spaces, 37,972 (7.5%) were for programs in French and 7,648 (1.5%) were for bilingual programs. For further details about how these spaces are distributed by age, see Table 8.

Data source: Child Care Licensing System, Ontario Ministry of Education (as of March 31, 2023).

Parent fees by age group

It is estimated that mean full-day parent fees for licensed child care centres ranged from $39.46 per day for infants to $25.10 per day for kindergarten children as of January 2023. Mean full-day parent fees for licensed home child care agencies ranged from $24.92 per day for children under two years of age to $23.21 per day for children aged 4 to 5 years.

Full-day child care continues to be more expensive for younger children than it is for older children. In general, full day parent fees for children aged 0 to 5 years were higher among licensed child care centres than home child care agencies. Fees for before and after school care for kindergarten and school age children were lower in licensed child care centres compared to home child care agencies (see Table 9).^{footnote 7[7]}

Data source: Licensed Child Care Operations Surveys, Ontario Ministry of Education. The 2023 survey collected data as of December 31, 2022. Since the “as of” date fell on a weekend, some licensees did not report the fee reduction accurately. Mean daily fees presented here are estimates, adjusted to reflect factors including year-over-year price changes, the $12 price floor and fee reduction trends. The data presented in Table 9 represent all licensed child care programs regardless of whether they are enrolled in the CWELCC system or not.

Staff wages by category

Program staff fall into one of three categories: Registered Early Childhood Educators (RECEs), staff approved by a ministry director^{footnote 8[8]} or staff who are not RECE and have not been director approved. Among full-time RECE program staff employed by licensed child care centres, 22.3% earned between $15.50 and $19.99 per hour and 47.8% earned between $20.00 and $25.00 per hour; 33.0% of full-time director approved program staff earned between $15.50 and $19.99 per hour and 48.8% earned between $20.00 and $25.00 per hour; and, 67.2% of non-RECE, not director approved program staff earned between $15.50 and $19.99 and 28.8% earned between $20.00 and $25.00 per hour (see Table 10).

Data source: 2023 Licensed Child Care Operations Survey, Ontario Ministry of Education (data as of December 31, 2022).

EarlyON Child and Family Centres

EarlyON Child and Family Centres offer free drop-in and registered programs for caregivers and children from birth to six years old. The centres are open to all families in Ontario and offer a range of services including:

• activities such as reading, storytelling, games and sing-alongs
• advice from professionals trained in early childhood development
• information about other family services in the community
• opportunities to connect with other families with young children

EarlyON Child and Family Centre programs and services are offered through a variety of service delivery methods to meet the unique needs of families in their communities, including mobile, virtual and outdoor programs.

The ministry’s EarlyON Child and Family Centre web page allows parents and caregivers to find child and family programs in their communities.

As of June 2023, there were 671 main EarlyON Child and Family Centre locations and 442 mobile/satellite EarlyON Child and Family Centre locations. In addition, there were approximately 181 EarlyON Child and Family Centres offering virtual service supports to meet the needs of families across the province.

Of the total number of EarlyON Child and Family Centre locations,139 offer non-standard hours,101 offer French-language programming, and 109 offer Indigenous programming.^{footnote 9[9]}

Indigenous-led programs and child and family programs on reserve

As part of Ontario’s commitment to reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, the ministry established or enhanced programs in First Nation communities and in urban and rural communities.

In 2023, the ministry supported 65 child and family programs in First Nation communities and 60 Indigenous-led programs in urban and rural communities (including 10 child care programs, 13 joint child care and child and family programs, and 37 child and family programs).

Early years developmental health and well-being

Information on children’s developmental health and well-being prior to Grade 1 is collected throughout the province using the Early Development Instrument (EDI). The EDI is a questionnaire that teachers complete about the skills and abilities of each of their Year 2 (senior) kindergarten students. It measures developmental health and well-being across five domains:

• physical health and well-being
• social competence
• emotional maturity
• language and cognitive development
• communication skills and general knowledge

The EDI is used as a population measure (such as, a measure of whole populations based on geographical or administrative boundaries) by the ministry, municipalities, school boards, and community organizations to inform decision-making and plan early years programs and services. The ministry uses the EDI as a key indicator to monitor the state of young children in Ontario.

Since 2004, the EDI has been collected across the province in three-year cycles:

• over a three-year period for Cycle 1 (2004–06), Cycle 2 (2007–09) and Cycle 3 (2010–12)
• in a single year, every three years, for Cycle 4 (2015) and Cycle 5 (2018)^{footnote 10[10]}

EDI results can be compared over time to get a sense of how young children’s developmental health and well-being is changing in Ontario. Examining the percentage of vulnerable children^{footnote 11[11]} by domain is a way of monitoring areas where children’s level of difficulty in meeting age appropriate developmental expectations may change over time (see Figure 2). The results can also be combined to look at all those who are vulnerable in one or more of the five domains (see Figure 3). Combining domains in this way provides a fuller picture and captures those children who may be vulnerable in single domains or in multiple domains.

Overall, results remained stable between Cycle 4 and Cycle 5. In 2018, 70.4% of children were considered developmentally ready when they entered Grade 1, compared to 70.6% in 2015.

Cycle 6 of the EDI collection would have started in 2021 but was delayed for two years by the pandemic. Collection of data began in the spring of 2023 and data analysis and reporting will take place in 2023–24.

Additional information about the EDI is available from the Offord Centre for Child Studies at McMaster University.

Figure 2: Percentage of vulnerable children by EDI domain, 2004–18

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Data source: Offord Centre for Child Studies, McMaster University.

Figure 3: Percentage of children who are vulnerable in one or more EDI domains, 2004–18

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Data source: Offord Centre for Child Studies, McMaster University.

Part 3: The Federal-Provincial Early Learning and Child Care Agreements

a) Canada-Ontario Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement CWELCC

In March 2022, Ontario signed a historic agreement with the federal government that will lower licensed child care fees for providers enrolled in CWELCC, to an average of $10 per day by the end of fiscal year 2025-2026. As a first step, families saw an immediate 25% reduction in their fees retroactive to April 1, 2022. Fees were further reduced to 50% of pre-agreement levels, on average.

Priorities

Ontario’s Action Plan under the CWELCC Agreement outlines the key principles and priorities for this funding as well as the actions to be taken in the fiscal years 2022–23 and 2023–24 to work towards the goal of implementing CWELCC. The Action Plan sets objectives and targets that align with five priority areas:

• Affordability: average parent fees for children under six will be reduced to $10 per day inclusive of fee subsidies by the end of fiscal year 2025-26 for licensed child care spaces
• Increasing access: 86,000 new licensed child care spaces (above 2019 levels) for children under six will be created by the end of 2026, and expansion will be supported in geographic areas and diverse communities where it is needed the most
• Enhancing quality: the number of Registered Early Childhood Educators (RECEs) will be increased to make up 60% of the workforce in licensed child care by 2025–26
• Supporting inclusion: more children from diverse communities and populations (such as, Indigenous, Francophone, Black and other racialized groups, newcomers, low-income families and children with special needs), can access high-quality, inclusive child care by 2025–26
• Strengthening data/reporting: Ontario’s data and reporting systems will be modernized and upgraded to effectively support implementation and measure success by 2025–26

Reporting on progress

Ontario’s CWELCC Action Plan outlines the indicators that will be used to measure progress and commits to reporting on the results achieved according to the indicators and targets starting in the fiscal year 2023–24.

The sections below outline expenditures on the CWELCC initiatives for 2022–23, followed by the progress achieved, according to the indicators and targets under the five priority areas.

Priority Area 1 - Affordability

Under Ontario’s Action Plan, the province is committed to providing funding to licensed child care operators enrolled in the CWELCC system to support:

• a fee reduction of up to 25% for children aged 0 to 5 years retroactive to April 1, 2022
• approximately 50% fee reduction on average for children aged 0 to 5 years by the end of 2022 from pre-agreement levels
• $10 per day average child care fees for children aged 0 to 5 years by the end of fiscal year 2025–26

As a first step, all Ontario families with children under age six in a licensed child care program participating in CWELCC saw their fees reduced, up to 25%, to a minimum of $12 per day, retroactive to April 1, 2022.

Effective December 31, 2022, average child care fees were further reduced by an average of about 50% from pre-agreement levels. Families may be eligible for reduced fees if they pay more than $12 a day for child care and their child is:

• under the age of six, or
• turns six years old between January 1 and June 30 and is enrolled in a participating licensed preschool, kindergarten or family age group, or in licensed home child care.

For families to receive reduced fees, individual child care licensees must enrol in the CWELCC system through their local service system manager.

As of December 31, 2022, 5,221 licensed child care sites were enrolled in the CWELCC system, providing reduced-fee care for children and families in the province. By the end of December 2022, all 47 service system managers had implemented an up-to-50% fee reduction for CWELCC spaces in their region, to a minimum of $12 per day.

Among CWELCC-enrolled programs, the average parent fee reduction is estimated to range from 48% to 55% across all age groups, when compared to the average parent fees as of March 31, 2022 (see Table 12). The relatively lower fee reduction rate in the Kindergarten (Before and After School) and 4 to 5 years (Before and After School) age groups are due to the $12 floor rate constraining fee reductions.

Table 12: Mean daily fees for children aged 0 to 5 years by age group for licensed child care programs

Data source: 2022 and 2023 Licensed Child Care Operations Surveys, Ontario Ministry of Education. The estimates of 2023 mean daily child care fees in Table 12 are based on data from only CWELCC-enrolled licensed child care programs. The mean daily fees presented here are estimated using adjusted data that aligns with the fee reduction requirement of at least 50% by December 2022.

Priority Area 2 - Access

To increase access, Ontario is committed to creating 86,000 new licensed child care spaces for children aged 0 to 5 years (above 2019 levels) by December 31, 2026. The province is working with service system managers to ensure affordable child care is available in the communities that need it most.

In December 2022, Ontario announced a $213 million start-up grant program to support the creation of new child care spaces in targeted regions, and for underserviced communities and populations. Service system managers have identified their priority neighbourhoods and populations in their Directed Growth Plans.

Start-up grant funding allocations have been provided to service system managers to support growth for all programs but will be prioritized for regions with high-need populations including vulnerable children, children from diverse populations, children with special needs and Indigenous and Francophone communities. Licensees can apply for start-up grants through their service system managers. More information was provided to service system managers in the CWELCC Guidelines released in June 2023, including a notional allocation of $54.8 million to support child care space creation in 2023.

Table 13 below shows the number of licensed child care spaces for children aged 0 to 5 years old in 2019 and 2023. Since 2019, there has been an increase of more than 41,900 licensed spaces for children aged 0 to 5 years in Ontario.

Data source: Child Care Licensing System and Licensed Child Care Operations Survey, Ontario Ministry of Education. Data as of March 31, for spaces in centres each year, as of March 31, 2018 and December 31, 2022, respectively for 2019 and  2023. The data represent all licensed child care programs regardless of whether they are enrolled in the CWELCC system or not.

Priority Area 3 - Inclusion

Ontario is committed to a child care system for all children by developing an inclusion plan that supports child care access to low-income children, vulnerable children, children from diverse communities, Francophones and Indigenous children.

The ministry has released the finalized Access and Inclusion Framework. The framework is designed to support service system managers with developing and implementing their local service plans with an increased focus on access as it relates to inclusion.

The new Framework was informed by the consultations conducted in early 2023 with service system managers, Indigenous partners, Francophone stakeholders, other provincial government ministries and a range of other external partners. It is also now more closely linked with the Directed Growth strategy — the allocation of 86,000 new child care spaces to service system managers — and the ministry’s CWELCC commitments under Ontario’s Action Plan.

The ministry will continue to consider the sector's feedback on longer-term policy, workforce and data collection initiatives as part of ongoing CWELCC policy and program development. 

The ministry is in the early planning stages of establishing an Indigenous-led child care approach for ongoing engagement and collaboration with Indigenous partners. The goal is to identify and leverage best practices and remove barriers to the creation of Indigenous-led child care. Currently, the ministry is undertaking tri-lateral conversations with Indigenous partners and the Government of Canada.

Special needs resourcing

The province provides Special Needs Resourcing funding to service system managers and First Nations to support the inclusion of children with special needs in licensed child care settings, including home child care, camps and authorized recreation programs, at no additional cost to parents and caregivers. Under Ontario Regulation 138/15, a “child with special needs” means a child whose cognitive, physical, social, emotional, or communicative needs, or whose needs relating to overall development, are of such a nature that additional supports are required for the child. Funding for Special Needs Resourcing may only be used to hire services to support the inclusion of children with special needs, provide professional development opportunities to staff working with children with special needs, or purchase or lease specialized equipment and supplies to support children with special needs.

In 2022, a total of $127.4 million (7.6% of provincial funding) was spent on Special Needs Resourcing. A total of 35,990 children were funded through Special Needs Resourcing in 2022, the most recent year for which there are data available.^{footnote 15[15]}

French-language and bilingual programs

Ontario plans to maintain or increase the level of licensed child care spaces offering French-language programs and bilingual programs for children aged 0 to 5 years by 2025–26. The province also plans to continue to meet or exceed the number of French spaces for children aged 0 to 5 years proportional to the population of French-speaking people in Ontario.

In 2021, there were 19,900 licensed child care spaces offering French-language programs and 5,600 licensed spaces offering bilingual programs for children aged 0 to 5. Since then, an increase has been seen in both categories. As of March 31, 2023, there were 21,300 spaces offering French-language programs and 5,900 spaces offering bilingual programs for children aged 0 to 5 in the province. Approximately, 7.5% of licensed child care spaces were in French-language programs, exceeding French-speaking population in Ontario.

Priority Area 4 - Workforce and Quality

Under the CWELCC system, Ontario is supporting the recruitment and retention of RECEs through improved compensation for low-wage earners, including wage minimums and the development of strategies to improve recruitment and retention.

In 2022, a wage floor of $18 per hour for RECE program staff, and $20 per hour for RECE supervisors and RECE home visitors was established.

In 2023, the CWELCC system provided a wage floor of $19 per hour for RECE program staff, and $21 per hour for RECE supervisors and RECE home visitors and provides $1 per hour wage increases annually for RECEs, up to a maximum of $25 per hour.

To be eligible for the wage floor and annual $1 per hour increase, staff must be employed in a licensed child care centre or home child care agency that is participating in the CWELCC system and be in a position categorized as:

• RECE Program Staff
• RECE Child Care Supervisor
• RECE Home Child Care Visitor

In addition, minimum wage offset funding will be provided to participating licensees to offset wage increases for non-RECE staff associated with minimum wage increases.

A comprehensive workforce strategy was announced to support the recruitment and retention of RECEs through further improvements to compensation and professional development opportunities, to be implemented in 2024.

The provincially funded Wage Enhancement Grant (WEG) also supports a wage enhancement for eligible child care professionals working in licensed child care settings. Licensees are required to apply for WEG to be eligible for the wage floor or annual wage increase under the CWELCC system. The wage floor and annual wage increase are calculated after the Wage Enhancement Grant has been accessed.

According to the data reported back from service system managers, 3,783 RECE program staff, 542 RECE supervisors and 15 RECE home child care visitors were supported by the wage floor in 2022.

The table below outlines the wage ranges for full-time program staff working in licensed child care centres by staff categories.

Data source: Licensed Child Care Operations Survey, Ontario Ministry of Education. The 2022 survey refers to data as of March 31, 2022, and the 2023 survey refers to data as of December 31, 2022.

Percentage of RECEs

Ontario aims to increase the percentage of staff who are RECEs in the licensed child care workforce to 60% by 2025–26. As of December 31, 2022, there were 35,967 full-time program staff employed by licensed child care centres of which 20,947 (58.2%) were RECEs (see Table 15).

Data source: Licensed Child Care Operations Survey, Ontario Ministry of Education.

Professional Development

Ontario is committed to investing in professional development, including sustaining workforce initiatives funded under the 2021–22 Early Childhood Workforce Agreement. The ministry has been consulting broadly with sector partners to discuss the current shortage of RECEs and interventions to support increased recruitment and retention, including professional development (e.g., opportunities for growth, targeted training on cultural awareness, mental health, trauma, special needs and anti-racism). The workforce strategy is being implemented. Ontario will report back to the federal government on targets and indicators by the end of fiscal year 2023–24.

Priority Area 5 – Implementation and Ongoing Supports

Ontario is committed to ensuring the implementation of the CWELCC agreement is done in a manner that reflects our principles of accountability and transparency.

To achieve this, Ontario is exploring the development of an IT solution to support greater provincial consistency, reduce administrative burden across the sector (especially for families), and support data collection and analysis, including reporting to the federal government on key indicators associated with the CWELCC system.

In 2022–23, 2.2% of the CWELCC expenditures was used for administration of CWELCC initiatives at the provincial and municipal level including associated IT costs and the implementation of the digital transformation initiative mentioned above.^{footnote 17[17]}

b) Canada-Ontario Early Learning and Child Care Agreement

The federal government committed $400 million in their 2016 budget and an additional $7 billion over 10 years in their 2017 budget, to establish a Multilateral Early Learning and Child Care Framework with provinces and territories. Under the framework, the federal government and these provinces and territories agreed to work together over time to achieve broad long-term goals for early learning and child care systems that are high-quality, accessible, affordable, flexible and inclusive. These provinces and territories also agreed to report annually on progress made in relation to the framework and on the impact of federal funding, while reflecting the priorities of each jurisdiction in early learning and child care.

On June 12, 2017, Ontario was the first province to sign an agreement under the framework, known as the three-year Canada-Ontario Early Learning and Child Care Agreement. Under the agreement, the federal government agreed to allocate $439 million to Ontario over three years (2017–18, 2018–19 and 2019–20).^{footnote 18[18]} In July 2020, the federal and provincial governments agreed on a one-year extension of the Canada-Ontario Early Learning and Child Care Agreement, which allocated nearly $147 million in 2020–21 for early learning and child care investments. In August 2021, the federal and provincial governments agreed on a four-year renewal of the Canada-Ontario Early Learning and Child Care Agreement. Under the renewal, Ontario received nearly $147 million in federal funding in 2021–22 to continue early learning and child care investments in the province, and the annual funding gradually increases to $211 million in 2024–25.

This section highlights Ontario’s progress in working towards increasing quality, accessibility, affordability, flexibility and inclusion in early learning and child care under the Canada-Ontario Early Learning and Child Care Agreement. Please see the indicators that are being used to measure Ontario’s progress.

b1) Expenditures and actions

Under the agreement, Ontario received $198.4 million in federal funding in the 2022–23 fiscal year, which included $2.9 million carried forward from the 2021–22 fiscal year. Ontario’s actual expenditures in the 2022–23 fiscal year were $195.4 million.^{footnote 19[19]}

The 2022–23 funding supported the following three action areas:

• increasing access to affordable, high-quality licensed child care
• increasing access to EarlyON Child and Family Centres
• innovative approaches to providing access to high-quality training and professional learning opportunities for the early years and child care workforce

Data source: Ontario Ministry of Education.

b2) Licensed child care indicators

The indicators reported in this section are reflective of the areas of investment under the agreement for increasing quality, accessibility, affordability, flexibility and inclusion in licensed child care.

Quality

Staff qualifications

Ontario Regulation 137/15 under the Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014 sets out the minimum requirements for staff qualifications in licensed child care centres and home child care agencies, including requirements for the ratio of employees to children, the maximum number of children in a group, and the proportions of employees that must be qualified employees in licensed child care centres, which varies for different age groups (see Table 17). The minimum requirements are as follows:

A supervisor shall be a person who:

• is a member in good standing of the College of Early Childhood Educators, has at least two years of experience providing licensed child care and is approved by a ministry director
• in the opinion of a director, is capable of planning and directing the program of a child care centre, being in charge of children and overseeing staff

A qualified employee for any licensed age group shall be a person who is:

• an employee who is a member in good standing of the College of Early Childhood Educators
• an employee who is otherwise approved by a director

With respect to a licensed junior school age group or a licensed primary/junior school age group that includes only children who are junior school age, the following are also qualified employees:

• an employee who has a diploma or degree in child and youth care
• an employee who has a diploma or degree in recreation and leisure services
• an employee who is a member in good standing with the Ontario College of Teachers

A home child care visitor is an employee of a home child care agency who monitors and provides support at licensed home child care locations. A home child care visitor shall be a person who:

• is a member in good standing of the College of Early Childhood Educators, has at least two years of experience working with children under 13 years old, and is approved by a director
• is, in the opinion of a director, capable of providing support and supervision at a home child care premises

Data source: Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014, Ontario Ministry of Education.

For further information about child care rules in Ontario see Child Care Rules in Ontario.

The ministry monitors and enforces staff qualification requirements in all licensed child care centres and home child care agencies. Centres and agencies meet the requirements by employing supervisors, staff and home child care visitors who are RECEs, or through director approvals as described above. It is estimated that:^{footnote 21[21]}

• 82% of licensed child care centres employed at least one RECE for supervisor positions
• 98% of licensed home child care agencies employed at least one RECE for all home child care visitor positions

Pedagogical framework

How does learning happen: Ontario’s pedagogy for the early years, 2014 is a professional learning resource for those working in child care and child and family programs. It supports pedagogy and program development in early years settings that is shaped by views about children, educators, and families and the relationships among them. Additional regulations under the Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014 are also in place to help child care licensees embed How does learning happen? into practice.

As of March 31, 2023, all licensed child care centres and home child care agencies had achieved compliance with the requirements regarding the development and implementation of a program statement that is consistent with How does learning happen? either before their licence was first issued or before it was renewed. The ministry continues to support the implementation of the How does learning happen? pedagogy in licensed child care programs in the province.

In 2020, the ministry released Building on how does learning happen?: pedagogical approaches to re-opening early years and child care programs in Ontario to support providers and staff in engaging with children and families while adhering to health and safety measures.

Access

As of March 31, 2023, there were 505,055 licensed child care spaces for children aged 0 to 12 years in centres across the province, with 32,058 spaces added to the system over the previous year (see Table 18). It is estimated that there are enough spaces in licensed child care centres for 25.5% of children aged 0 to 12 years in the province.^{footnote 22[22]}

Data source: Child population data from Summer 2023 population projections, Ontario Ministry of Finance, and space data from the Child Care Licensing System (CCLS), Ontario Ministry of Education (as of March 31 each year).

Affordability

The funding under the Canada-Ontario Early Learning and Child Care Agreement supports new full or partial fee subsidies and increased access through the following priorities:

• Supporting children aged 0–6 years through additional fee subsidies, increased access, broadly reducing licensed child care fees and by increasing affordability or not-for-profit community-based capital projects (excluding capital projects for child care programs that run during school hours for kindergarten and school age children).
• Supporting children aged 0–12 years through additional fee subsides, increased access or broadly reducing licensed child care fees and by increasing affordability.

In 2022, the most recent year for which there are data available, 113,052 children in Ontario received fee subsidies.^{footnote 23[23]} Of those, 4,899 children were supported through funding provided by the Canada-Ontario Early Learning and Child Care Agreement.^{footnote 24[24]}

It is estimated that 64% of children who receive fee subsidies live in families with incomes of $40,000 and below (see Table 19).

Data source: Education Finance Information System (estimated percentages), Ontario Ministry of Education.

Flexibility and inclusion

Non-standard hours

Flexibility in child care service delivery is important for meeting the needs of parents and caregivers who work non-standard schedules. In Ontario, a small proportion of licensed child care centres and home child care providers offer care during non-standard hours:^{footnote 25[25]}

• 8.2% of child care centres reported the availability of weekend care and less than 1% reported the availability of care during the evening or overnight
• 7.0% of home child care providers reported the availability of weekend care, 6.8% reported the availability of evening care and 4.5% reported the availability of overnight care

Special needs resourcing

The province provides Special Needs Resourcing funding to service system managers and First Nations to support the inclusion of children with special needs in licensed child care settings, including home child care, camps and authorized recreation programs, at no additional cost to parents and caregivers.

A total of 35,990 children were funded through Special Needs Resourcing in 2022, the most recent year for which there are data available.^{footnote 26[26]}

Indigenous-led child care centres

A total of 37 licensed child care centres reported that they were Indigenous-led organizations operating in urban and rural communities.^{footnote 27[27]}

French-language and bilingual child care

As of March 31, 2023, a total of 316 centres offered French-language programs and 102 centres offered bilingual programs.

Children in licensed child care by income

The ministry does not collect income data from families that enroll their children in licensed child care. This indicator is estimated using the number of licensed child care spaces in the province and data on the distribution of families across income levels from Statistics Canada.

As of March 31, 2023, there were 505,055 licensed child care spaces for children aged 0–12 years in Ontario. Approximately 21.6% of families with children in the province earned a family income below $40,000, 39.7% earned between $40,000 and $100,000 and 38.7% earned above $100,000.^{footnote 28[28]}

It is estimated, based on the income distribution, that:

• more than 109,000 spaces are used by children from families with income below $40,000
• about 201,000 spaces are used by children from families with income between $40,000 and $100,000
• about 195,000 are used by children from families with income above $100,000

b3) EarlyON Child and Family Centres indicators

The indicators reported in this section are reflective of the areas of investment under the Canada-Ontario Early Learning and Child Care Agreement for increasing quality, accessibility, affordability, flexibility and inclusion in child and family centres.

Quality

Staff qualifications

Experiences in EarlyON Child and Family Centres are designed to foster positive outcomes and support nurturing relationships for children and their parents/guardians and caregivers based on the latest evidence and research. Registered Early Childhood Educators (RECEs) play a key role in delivering high-quality early years programs because they have specialized knowledge and expertise in child development and in play and inquiry-based learning.

Every EarlyON Child and Family Centre should employ at least one RECE who oversees all mandatory core services related to supporting early learning and development. If an EarlyON Child and Family Centre is unable to recruit at least one RECE to deliver these core services, the service system manager may grant an exemption from the requirement but must report the number of exemptions to the ministry.

EarlyON Child and Family Centres must ensure that they had at least one RECE on staff by January 1, 2023. However, EarlyON staff who are not RECE but have more than 10 years of experience in relevant programs can be employed to meet this staffing requirement through a legacy provision.

Pedagogical framework

EarlyON Child and Family Centres are expected to provide programs that reflect the view of children, parents and caregivers and educators as competent, capable, curious, and rich in potential and experience. Guided by How does learning happen? Ontario’s pedagogy for the early years, EarlyON Child and Family Centres offer an environment that engages parents and caregivers as co-learners and leaders in influencing positive experiences and outcomes for children, families and the community.

Access, affordability, flexibility and inclusion

As of June 2023, there were 671 main EarlyON Child and Family Centre locations and 442 Mobile/satellite EarlyON Child and Family Centre locations. In addition, there were approximately 181 EarlyON Child and Family Centres offering virtual services supports to meet the needs of families across the province.

Of the total number of locations,139 locations offered non-standard hours, 101 offered French-language programming and 109 offered Indigenous programming.

In 2022, the most recent year for which there are data available, 216,491 children were served by child and family programs at EarlyON centres,^{footnote 29[29]} or approximately 21.3% of children in the province aged 0–6 years.^{footnote 30[30]} In the same year, there were 1,389,398 visits made by children to EarlyON centres, and 1,156,141 visits made by parents and caregivers.^{footnote 31[31]}

Data source: Education Finance Information System, Ontario Ministry of Education.

b4) Professional learning indicators

The indicators reported in this section are reflective of the area of investment under the agreement for innovative approaches to providing access to high-quality training and professional learning opportunities for the early years and child care workforce.

Early childhood educators’ qualifications upgrade program

This program enables individuals working in eligible child care and early years settings to apply for grants to support them in obtaining an early childhood education diploma and becoming eligible to apply for membership with the College of Early Childhood Educators. The program also provides opportunities for leadership development, targeted to those who are working in supervisory roles or who aspire to do so, and who are already RECEs. In addition, the program prioritizes Francophone and First Nations, Métis and Inuit applicants, as well as individuals working under director approvals or Letters of Permission.

Financial support is available to eligible applicants in the form of education grants, travel grants and training allowances. In 2022–23, the ministry allocated $3.5 million in provincial funding and $2 million in federal funding under the ELCC Agreement, and $1.5 million in federal funding under the Early Childhood Workforce Agreement. In 2022–23, a total of 2,153 applications were approved under the Early Childhood Educators Qualifications Upgrade Program. Over the years, there has been an increase in the number of applications demonstrating an overall growth rate of 83%.

Professional learning strategy for Francophone and Indigenous professionals

Given that professional learning needs are often heightened in Francophone and Indigenous communities and fewer supports are available, focused professional learning opportunities have been provided to better meet needs through more targeted, differentiated cultural and regional approaches.

In 2022–23, the ministry allocated $1.5 million in federal funding under the ELCC Agreement and $750,000 in federal funding under the Early Childhood Workforce Agreement to three organizations to support professional learning for Francophone and Indigenous professionals in the early years and child care sector. This funding was allocated to the following organizations:

• Association francophone à l’éducation des services à l’enfance de l’Ontario (AFÉSEO) for early years and child care professionals working in francophone settings
• FIREFLY for early years and child care professionals in First Nations communities on-reserve
• Ontario Aboriginal Head Start Association (OAHSA) for early years and child care professionals working with First Nation, Métis, Inuit, or Indigenous off-reserve

Funds provided to these organizations aim to enhance culturally relevant experiences through the delivery of high-quality child care and early years programs, in alignment with How does learning happen?. The organizations also create linkages or develop professional learning resources that are responsive to the needs of the sector.

In 2022-23, approximately 3,000 child care and early years professionals were supported through the professional learning initiative.

c) Canada-Ontario Early Childhood Workforce Agreement

In August 2021, Canada and Ontario also signed the Early Childhood Workforce Agreement for $149.9 million in one-time funding to support the retention and recruitment of a high-quality child care and early years workforce. This funding aimed to support the following objectives:

• sustain the existing child care and early years workforce to ensure a more stable and high-quality early years and child care system
• enhance access to opportunities for the workforce that promote retention and recruitment, including professional development, training and qualification upgrade programs
• grow the number of qualified staff in the early years and child care workforce to increase access to licensed child care for families
• attract and support the development of an increasingly diverse workforce to reflect the children and families accessing early years and child care programs more effectively

The Early Childhood Workforce Agreement expired on March 31, 2023. Ontario utilized the investment to build on the success of existing programs that support the child care and early years workforce, funded by the provincial and federal government, and implemented by service system managers, First Nation, Francophone and other child care and early years partners. The ministry had the flexibility to carry forward 50% of the $149.9 million in 2022–23.

Implementation activities

This funding helped support and retain the current child care and early years workforce, and attract new individuals into the profession. The Ministry of Education invested in the following initiatives to achieve this objective:

Ontario’s CWELCC Action Plan includes the indicators for the initiatives under the Early Childhood Workforce Agreement that will be used to measure progress.

The Ministry of Education acknowledges the Government of Canada's support in connection with the Multilateral Early Learning and Child Care Framework and the Canada-Ontario Early Learning and Child Care Agreement, Canada-Ontario Early Childhood Workforce Agreement, Canada-Ontario Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement. Part 3 of this document outlines Ontario's progress towards meeting early learning and child care goals under these agreements.