Every province and territory is responsible for monitoring and licensing regulated child care services according to their provincial legislation and regulations. Regulated child care services include centre-based full-day child care, regulated family child care, school-aged child care, and in most provinces, nursery schools and preschools. With regulated spaces for only 24.9% of children aged 0-12 years old in Canada it is assumed that the majority of child care is provided through unregulated arrangements, either in the caregiver’s home (unregulated family child care) or in the child’s home (usually a nanny or a babysitter). National Institute Chandigarh. Kindergarten, provided through the public school system in every province and territory may also serve as one part of working parents’ child care arrangements.
In most provinces/territories, child care services in some form, either regulated or unregulated, are available for children whose parents work non-standard hours. Non-standard hours child care services vary significantly across Canada and may refer but are not limited to extended hour child care, late night/ overnight care, weekend child care, or on call child care. In two of the territories (Nunavut and the Northwest Territories), there is no non-standard hours child care.
Regulated child care services
Provincial/territorial regulations for child care programs set minimum acceptable standards for regulated arrangements—these do not necessarily establish quality. This means that simply meeting the regulations and obtaining a license do not necessarily indicate high quality. High quality programs usually strive to exceed some or all of the regulations.
Full-day child care centres
Unlicensed full-day child care centres do not operate legally in any region of Canada.
- Must be licensed everywhere in Canada. (In some regions, private schools such as Montessori, religious schools or others that may include very young children may be exempt from licensing.)
- Must meet their province’s or territory’s regulations to be licensed, such as group size, staff-child ratios, staff training requirements, physical space, nutrition, sleep and outdoor time, health and safety, and record keeping requirements.
- Are monitored/inspected regularly by government officials.
Part-day programs
- Include programs such as nursery schools or preschools.
- Are regulated in almost all provinces/territories through the same licensing systems as full-day programs, although some requirements can be different.
- Unlicensed part-day programs are permitted to operate in Saskatchewan, British Columbia and Yukon.
School-age programs
- Are regulated in all provinces/territories, usually up to age 12.
- The starting age and specific requirements for school-age programs vary.
- Some before and after-school programs, recreational and skill building programs, as well as programs for young school-aged children during summers and school holidays are not required to be licensed (including some that operate in school premises).
- Summer sleep-away camps are not regulated and summer day camps are not required to be licensed as child care (although some may be).
Regulated family child care (home child care)
- Is provided to a group of children in a caregiver’s own home.
- Is offered in all provinces/territories.
- Regulations usually cover the physical environment, number of children by age, record keeping, nutrition, health and safety and sometimes caregiver training.
- In some provinces, regulated family child care homes are inspected or monitored by a government official who makes regular visits. In others, they are regulated through supervision by a licensed or approved agency that monitors multiple family child care homes through regular home visits.
- Several provinces offer “group family child care” – regulated child care in a private home with two caregivers and a higher number of children permitted.
- In several provinces, regulated family child care is “approved” rather than regulated.
- Most family child care is not regulated, monitored or approved. No province/territory requires all family child care homes to be regulated, so long as they don’t exceed the maximum number of children.
Care for Newcomer Children (CNC)
- Free, onsite child care for children whose parents are attending Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) programs.
- Three types: Long Term, Short Term, and Combined, offered individually or in combination, depending on client needs.
- All permanent residents and accepted refugees to Canada have access to free settlement services including CNC programs prior to obtaining citizenship.
- Funded by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) as a support to settlement services in every province except Quebec.
- Some are licensed under provincial/territorial child care regulations; the majority are unlicensed and operate under the Care for Newcomer Children Requirements. Child Care Course in Chandigarh
In the education system
Kindergarten
- An early childhood education program offered for all five-year-olds in all provinces/territories, either part-day or full-school day, not covering teachers’ professional development days or summer or other holidays (seven provinces/territories offer full school day kindergarten for five year olds).
- Kindergarten or kindergarten-type programs for four-year-olds are available in some regions and in development in some other regions. Four provinces/territories offer kindergarten for all four year olds, either part day or full school day.
- Kindergarten is available as part of public and denominational school systems with no parent fees and is sometimes provided in private schools as well.
- Although neither full-day nor part-day kindergarten is set up to meet many parents work schedules, these may serve as one part of working parents’ child care arrangements.