Canada-Ontario

Early Years and

Child Care
Agreement
Annual Report
2017
 Canada-Ontario Early Years and Child Care Agreement

Ontario-Canada Annual Report 2017

Contents
Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 1
Overview of Ontario’s Early Years and Child Care System .................................................................. 1
Investments under the Canada-Ontario Early Learning and Child Care Agreement ............................. 1
Overall Investments in the Early Years and Child Care System in Ontario ........................................ 2
Progress of Actions and Measures ....................................................................................................... 2
Actions for Licensed Child Care ........................................................................................................ 3
Measures of Licensed Child Care ...................................................................................................... 4
1. Quality...................................................................................................................................... 4
2. Access ..................................................................................................................................... 6
3. Affordability .............................................................................................................................. 8
4. Flexibility .................................................................................................................................. 9
5. Inclusion................................................................................................................................... 9
Actions for EarlyON Child and Family Centres ................................................................................ 10
Measures of EarlyON Child and Family Centres ............................................................................. 10
1. Quality.................................................................................................................................... 10
2. Accessible, Affordable, Flexible and Inclusive Indicators ....................................................... 11
Actions for Professional Learning .................................................................................................... 11
Measures of Professional Learning ................................................................................................. 11
ECE Qualification Upgrade Program ............................................................................................ 11
Introduction
On June 6, 2017, the Ontario government released Ontario's Renewed Early Years and Child Care
Policy Framework (2017), which sets out the Ministry’s vision for early years and child care in Ontario.
This framework identifies seven key priority areas for action, including the Ministry’s commitment to
create an outcomes and measurement strategy for the early years. The province is further extending
its commitment to outcomes reporting with the signing of the Canada-Ontario Early Years and Child
Care Agreement and the release of the first Ontario-Canada Annual Report.

In its first Annual Report under the Canada-Ontario Early Years and Child Care Agreement, the
Ministry is providing a snapshot of its progress since June 2017 – using new and baseline data – of
expanding Ontario’s child care and early years system. This report details the government’s progress
toward expanding system access for up to 11,200 children and families to affordable, high quality child
care. It also highlights the expansion of Ontario’s EarlyON Child and Family Centres, and innovative
approaches to improve access to high quality training and professional development opportunities for
the early years and child care workforce. The data contained in this inaugural report does not reflect
the full impact of recent provincial and federal investments that will take time to become observable in
the data.

Overview of Ontario’s Early Years and Child Care System

In Ontario, the province funds municipal service system managers to deliver child care and early years
programs and services. These 47 local service system managers, known as Consolidated Municipal
Service Managers (CMSMs) and District Social Services Administration Boards (DSSABs), have the
authority to determine funding priorities within their local early years and child care system, provided
they comply with provincial legislation, policies, and guidelines. The province also funds 74 First
Nations and three transfer payment agencies to support child care on-reserve. Licensed child care is
provided in centres and homes, and is delivered by a mix of non-profit, for-profit, and municipally-
operated programs. Child care programs are also operated directly by First Nations.

The provincial government sets overall policy, legislation, and regulation for the child care and early
years sector. The Ministry of Education licenses child care centres and home child care agencies that
contract with home child care providers, conducts inspections, and investigates complaints about
licensed and unlicensed child care. On August 31, 2015, new legislation and accompanying
regulations were put into place with the Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014 (CCEYA) replacing the
former Day Nurseries Act.

The ministry also funds child and family programs that are delivered by over 150 lead agencies, school
boards, CMSMs/DSSABs, and First Nations. In 2018, all provincially-funded child and family programs
will be part of an integrated system of services and supports for children ages 0-6 and their families,
guided by a provincial framework and a new funding approach.

Investments under the Canada-Ontario Early Learning and Child Care Agreement
The 2017 federal budget committed $7 billion over 10 years, starting in 2017-18, to support and create
more high quality and affordable child care spaces across the country. The creation of a Multilateral
Early Learning and Child Care Framework (“Framework”) supports the broad long term goals for early

Canada-Ontario Early Years and Child Care Agreement Annual Report 2017 1
learning and child care systems that are focused on high quality, accessibility, affordability, flexibility
and inclusivity.

The proposed investments under Ontario’s action plan build on existing provincial investments in early
learning and child care, and are for programs that are regulated by the ministry. The action plan
supports both centre-based and home-based licensed child care, as well as early learning programs.

On June 16, 2017, Ontario was pleased to be the first province to sign a three-year bilateral
agreement under the Framework. The Canada-Ontario Early Learning and Child Care Agreement
(“Agreement”) will allocate $435 million over the three year agreement. Annual investments include:

 $100 million investment to supporting system access for children and families to affordable,
high quality child care;
 $40 million to support EarlyON Child and Family Centres; and
 $5 million investment to support innovative approaches that provide access to high quality
training and professional development opportunities for the early years and child care
workforce.

Overall Investments in the Early Years and Child Care System in Ontario

Including the investments under the Agreement, the province of Ontario has increased total funding for
child care from $1.24 billion in 2016 to over $1.44 billion in 2017, an increase of 16.7%. Both the 2016
and 2017 funding include $188 million for wage enhancement.
The province has committed to support 100,000 more children 0-4 years old to access licensed child
care over five years, beginning in 2017. As part of this commitment, the province is investing $1.6
billion dollars in capital funding to support the creation of 45,000 new spaces in schools, other public
spaces and communities over the next five years.

The 2017 Ontario budget announced a $200 million investment to support access to licensed child
care for 24,000 more children aged 0-4, including 16,000 new subsidy spaces.
The province also allocated $27.9 million for child care in First Nations communities and $2.9 million
for the wage enhancement program for First Nations in 2017-18.
Beginning in 2017-18, funding for EarlyON Child and Family Centres amounts to approximately $141
million, which includes over $100 million in provincial funding and $40 million through the Agreement.

Progress of Actions and Measures

Guided by key principles of the Framework, the Agreement commits to working towards investments
to increase quality, accessibility, affordability, flexibility, and inclusivity in early learning and child care,
with consideration for those more in need. The Agreement was signed on June 16, 2017, which
includes measures that Ontario will report on annually (See Appendix for the list of measures).

The following sections outline actions and measures of progress made in the past three months, and
in some cases provide baseline information related to licensed child care, child and family centres, and
promoting learning and professional development among early years and child care professionals.

Canada-Ontario Early Years and Child Care Agreement Annual Report 2017 2
Actions for Licensed Child Care

The Agreement provides $100 million in new funding for increased subsidies and increased access to
licensed child care in Ontario. There are two components to this investment:

 $80M for children aged 0-6 years old.

 $20M to support system access to affordable child care based on local priorities.

In the first year and continuing through 2019-20, this funding will support access to licensed child care
for up to 11,200 more children based on the following three priorities:

 Additional fee subsidies;

 Increased access; and/or
 For children aged 0-6, this funding can also be used to create and support new not for profit
community-based capital projects.

Service agreements, including ELCC funding were provided to CMSMs and DSSABs on June 16th
2017.

Funding for the ELCC in 2017 was allocated to CMSMs and DSSABs by modifying the current
provincial child care funding formula (CCFF) to weight the calculation for each stream of funding using
the appropriate age data measures only. This methodology maintains the components of the formula
which addresses unique costs of providing care (rural/northern, cost of living, language etc.) through
an equitable and transparent approach.

CMSMs and DSSABs are in the process of submitting initial proposed strategies for ELCC funding
through provincial-municipal service agreements. Below are some preliminary examples of how ELCC
funding will be used in Ontario:

 City of Ottawa: Funding will support approximately 278 children through two priority areas.
ELCC funding is projected to support fee subsidies for children 0-6 years which will support the
goal of clearing their waitlist for these age groups. Additionally the City will expand access by
supporting children with special needs resourcing and providing licensees with additional
operating dollars.
 Region Municipality of Waterloo: Funding will support approximately 170 fee subsidies to
address the waitlist and provide additional fee subsides for children.
 City of Brantford: funding to increase access by focusing on enhancing special needs
resourcing to support children’s participation in before and after-school programs.
 City of London: The City of London plans to support approximately 16 children by increasing
access to programming delivered by Francophone professionals/educators.
 County of Oxford: funding will support approximately an additional 57 children by working with
Home Child Care Agencies in their community to increase the number of licensed home child
care providers particularly for infants, toddlers and preschoolers.
 United Counties of Prescott-Russell: Prescott-Russell plans to use a portion of ELCC funding
will be used to retrofit space into a 24 hour child care centre for toddler and preschool aged
children.
 District of Sault Saint Marie Services Administration Board: Funding will be used to
increase the number of subsidized spaces available in the system. They will also utilize funding
to support two capital retrofit projects. The first project will result in an additional 10 infant

Canada-Ontario Early Years and Child Care Agreement Annual Report 2017 3
 spaces to the systems through the expansion of a YMCA program. The second project will
retrofit a child care centre at Sault College of Applied Arts and Technology to support an
additional 10 infant spaces and 8 preschool spaces.
 County of Wellington: Wellington has indicated that it will use ELCC funding to expand their
fee subsidy policy, increasing access to 22 children and families who require part time care as a
result of varied work schedules.

Measures of Licensed Child Care

1. Quality

Staff Qualifications

The table below shows the required qualifications for licensed child care centres and license home
child care agency employees.

Staff Qualifications for Licensed Child Care Centres and Home Child Care Agencies

Licensed Home Child Care

Child Care Centres
Agencies

a. Supervisor Home child care visitor

A supervisor of a child care centre must be a member in A home child care visitor shall be a
good standing with the College of Early Childhood person who is a member in good
Educators, have at least two years of experience in a standing of the College of Early
licensed child care setting, and be approved by a ministry Childhood Educators, has at least
director or, in the opinion of a ministry director, be capable two years of experience working
of planning and directing the program in a child care with children under 13 years old
centre, being in charge of children, and overseeing staff. and is approved by a director; or is
in the opinion of a director capable
b. Employee at Child Care Centres of providing support and
supervision at a home child care
For each licensed age group there must be at least one premises.
person that is a member of good standing with the College
of Early Childhood Educators, unless otherwise approved
by a ministry 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.

A member in good standing with the Ontario College of

Canada-Ontario Early Years and Child Care Agreement Annual Report 2017 4
Teachers.

In accordance with the Early Childhood Educators Act, 2007 (ECEA), registration in the College of
Early Childhood Educators is mandatory for all those who practice as Early Childhood Educators
(ECEs) in licensed child care programs in Ontario. Individuals who do not have their ECE diploma or
degree but have director approval to take the place of a Register Early Childhood Educator (RECE)
staff i in a licensed child care centre are not eligible to join the College.

 As of June 30, 2017, the College has 52,228 members in good standing.
 As of March 31, 2017, it is estimated that:
o 79% of licensed centres employ supervisors who are RECEs;
o 63% of licensed centres employed staff who are RECEs and are in a RECE-required
position; and
o 81% of licensed home child care agencies employed RECEs for all home child care
visitor positions.

Pedagogical Framework

How Does Learning Happen? Ontario's Pedagogy for the Early Years (HDLH) 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. It builds on foundational knowledge about children
and is grounded in new research and leading-edge practice from around the world.

To support ongoing professional learning, the Ministry has hosted provincial and regional events on
HDLH and has also created a series of research briefs and online videos titled: Think, Feel, Act:
Lessons from Research about Young Children (“Think, Feel, Act”).

 As of July, 2017 over 95,000 copies of HDLH have been distributed since its release in 2014;
over 50,000 copies of Think, Feel, Act have been distributed since its release in 2013.
 There have been over 37,000 page views on the Child Care and Early Years Resources
webpage and over 99,000 page views on the HDLH webpage.
 The Ministry has hosted over 30 professional learning sessions on HDLH between 2014 and
2016.

In 2015, the Ontario government took steps to strengthen quality by issuing a policy statement that
sets out HDLH as the provincial framework to guide programming and pedagogy in licensed child care
settings. Additional regulations under the CCEYA are also in place to help child care licensees put
HDLH into practice.

 As of August 31, 2017, 99% of licensed child care centres have adopted HDLH to guide their
early years programming. The ministry is working with the rest of the centres to incorporate
HDLH pedagogy into their centres.

Canada-Ontario Early Years and Child Care Agreement Annual Report 2017 5
2. Access

The extent to which Ontario children have access to a licensed child care is based on licensed
capacity in the provinceii.

Licensed Child Care Centres

 As of March 31, 2017, the total number of licensed child care spaces in Ontario was 406,395.
 28,623 spaces were in centres that provide services in French.
 4,694 spaces were in centres that provide bilingual services.
 3,175 spaces were in centres in First Nations on-reserve.

 There were 124 home child care agencies and 7,579 contracted homes providing licensed
home child care as of 2016-17.

 In 2016-17, the number of licensed child care spaces increased by 4% from the previous year.

 Since 2003:
 the number of licensed child care centres increased by 38%, from 3,874 to 5,351.
 licensed child care spaces have more than doubled from 187,131 to 406,395.

Figure 1: Licensed Child Care Space Growth Trend, 2010-17

500,000

450,000

406,395
400,000 389,286
Number of Spaces

350,801
350,000
317,868
294,490
300,000
275,873
264,201

250,000

200,000
2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17

Canada-Ontario Early Years and Child Care Agreement Annual Report 2017 6
 % Increase in
Number of Centres and Spaces in Licensed Child Care
2016-17

Since Since
2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17
2010-11 2015-16

Number of Centres
in Licensed Child 4,796 4,922 5,050 5,069 5,144 5,276 5,351 12% 1%
Care

Not for Profit 3,643 3,733 3,859 3,847 3,942 4,007 4,053 11% 1%

For Profit 1,153 1,189 1,191 1,222 1,202 1,269 1,298 13% 2%

Number of Spaces
in Licensed Child 264,201 275,873 294,490 317,868 350,801 389,286 406,395 54% 4%
Care

Not for Profit 196,708 205,777 222,851 240,881 272,899 305,317 319,608 62% 5%

For Profit 67,493 70,096 71,639 76,987 77,902 83,969 86,787 29% 3%

% Increase in
Spaces in Licensed Child Care by Age Group
2016-17

Since Since
2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17
2010-11 2015-16

Total Spaces 264,201 275,873 294,490 317,868 350,801 389,286 406,395 54% 4%

Infant 8,874 9,269 9,634 10,250 11,025 11,759 12,231 38% 4%

Toddler 29,534 30,867 32,578 34,772 37,833 41,211 42,900 45% 4%

Preschool 103,048 103,474 102,731 102,133 102,380 104,802 105,955 3% 1%

Kindergarten 28,944 32,547 40,796 52,168 64,340 85,014 92,035 218% 8%

School Age 93,839 99,743 108,795 118,545 135,223 146,500 153,274 63% 5%

Canada-Ontario Early Years and Child Care Agreement Annual Report 2017 7
Licensed Home Child Care Agencies

 In 2016-17, the number of homes offering licensed child care services increased by 75, or 1%,
from 7,504 to 7,579.
 From 2010-11 to 2016-17, about 89% of the licensed home child care agencies were non-profit.

Number of Home Child Care Agencies and Homes Contracted

with a Licensed Agency

2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17

Number of Home
135 132 127 126 124 122 124
Child Care Agencies

Non-Profit 121 118 116 113 111 108 109

For-Profit 14 14 11 13 13 14 15

Number of Home
6,832 6,142 5,960 5,765 6,962 7,504 7,579
Child Care Premises

Non-Profit Agency 6,398 5,812 5,640 5,403 6,500 6,992 7,017

For-Profit Agency 434 330 320 362 462 512 562

Number of Licensed Home Child Care Number of Homes Contracted with a

Agencies Licensed Agency
8,000 7,504 7,579
140 6,832 6,962
135 7,000 6,142 5,960 5,765
135 132 6,000
130 127 5,000
126 4,000
124 124
125 122 3,000
120 2,000
1,000
115 0

3. Affordability

Within licensed child care centres, approximately 32% of children 0-4 and 28% of children 0-12
received a fee subsidy; and within home child care, approximately 60% of children 0-4 and 66% of
children 0-12 received a subsidy within home child care.iii.

There were a total of 131,956 children receiving fee subsidies between January 1 and December 31,
2015.

Canada-Ontario Early Years and Child Care Agreement Annual Report 2017 8
4. Flexibility

Flexibility in child care service delivery is important to meet the needs of families who work non-
standard schedules. In Ontario, a small proportion of licensed child care centres and home child care
agencies provide non-standard hour careiv:

 2% of centres offered evening care after 7:00 p.m.; 1% of centres offered care on the weekend;
and, 0.2% of centres offered care overnight.
 29% of home providers offered evening care, 24% offered weekend care and 21% offered
overnight care.

5. Inclusion

First Nations Child Care

 There are 76 licensed child care centres and two licensed home child care agencies located in
57 First Nations communities on-reserve.

 The total number of licensed spaces on-reserve increased from 3,169 in 2015-16 to 3,175 in
2016-17.

First Nations Child Care

2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17

Number of Centres 78 76 76 74 75 76 76
Infant 227 223 232 254 270 296 290
Toddler 662 682 692 702 727 727 727
Preschool 1,613 1,602 1,624 1,620 1,568 1,541 1,553
Kindergarten 279 197 205 172 177 192 192
School Age 391 439 458 443 398 413 413
Total Spaces 3,172 3,143 3,211 3,191 3,140 3,169 3,175

French and Bilingual Child Care

 Of the 5,351 licensed child care centres in the province, 294 offer daily programs in French and
65 offer bilingual programs.

 Of the 406,395 licensed child care spaces in the province:

 28,623, or 7%, offer daily programs in French.
 4,694, or 1%, offer daily bilingual programs.

Canada-Ontario Early Years and Child Care Agreement Annual Report 2017 9
 Licensed Child Care Spaces With Licensed Child Care Spaces With
French Programs, 2016-17 Bilingual Programs, 2016-17
2,500
14,000
12,151 1,928
12,000 2,000
10,000
7,984 1,500
8,000 1,064
5,574 1,000 866
6,000 638
4,000 2,487 500 198
2,000 427
0 0

Actions for EarlyON Child and Family Centres

The $141M in funding for EarlyON Child and Family Centres will support the transformation of four
existing early years programs into an increasingly integrated, cohesive system of services and
supports for children ages 0-6 and their parents and caregivers beginning January 1, 2018, and the
creation of 100 new child and family centres over the next three years.

CMSMs and DSSABs submitted their initial plans for the implementation of EarlyON Child and Family
Centres (“Child and Family Centres”) on September 29, 2017.

Measures of EarlyON Child and Family Centres

1. Quality

Staff qualifications

Programming in EarlyON Child and Family Centres should be designed to foster positive outcomes
and support nurturing relationship for children, parents and caregivers based on the latest evidence
and research. RECEs play a key role in delivering high quality early years programs. RECEs have
specialized knowledge and expertise in child development and play and inquiry-based learning.

EarlyON Child and Family Centres are required to have at least one RECE included as a member of
each qualified staff team. Where a EarlyON Child and Family Centres is unable to recruit at least one
RECE to deliver core services related to supporting early learning and development, the CMSM or
DSSAB may grant an exemption from the requirement.

Pedagogical Framework

EarlyON Child and Family Centres are expected to provide programs that reflect the view of children,
parents, 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

Canada-Ontario Early Years and Child Care Agreement Annual Report 2017 10
 Child and Family Centres provide an environment that engages parents and caregivers as co-learners
and leaders in influencing positive child, family and community experiences and outcomes.

2. Accessible, Affordable, Flexible and Inclusive Indicators

As of January 1, 2018, EarlyON Child and Family Centres will offer a suite of core mandatory services
to children, parents and/or caregivers at no cost. Three key elements of services including engaging
parents and caregivers; supporting early learning and development; and making connections for
families. Program may also choose to provide customized community connections identified through
community-based planning.

Increasing public awareness is a critical component to making EarlyON Child and Family Centres
accessible. The Ministry will launch an online hub for parents to easily access information, resources
and tools connecting them to a range of government early years programs including EarlyON Child
and Family Centres in 2018.

Data collection for accessible, flexible and inclusion indicators include information on the number of
EarlyON Child and Family Centres, the number of children, parent and caregivers served, the number
of visits made by children, parents and caregivers and information on centre program staff, and
programs offering non-standard hours, and programs offering French or Indigenous programming.

As Ontario moves towards its commitment to integrate and transform its child and family programs, the
Ministry is continuing to collect these data for future reporting over the next three years.

Actions for Professional Learning

In 2017-2018, Ontario plans to allocate $5M to support innovative approaches that provide access to
high quality training and professional development opportunities for the early years and child care
workforce. This includes:

 $2M to increase the number of students supported through the Early Childhood Education
Qualifications Upgrade program.
 $3M to develop Centres of Excellence that will be able to connect practitioners, education
institutions, and employers through innovative networks in recognition of the importance that
access to quality training experiences, and professional development opportunities has on
children who access child care and early years programs.

Measures of Professional Learning

ECE Qualification Upgrade Program

Individuals working in child care and early years programs can apply for grants to help upgrade
qualifications. This includes earning an ECE diploma and becoming eligible to apply for membership
with the College of Early Childhood Educators. It also provides opportunities for leadership
development, targeted to those working in supervisorial roles or who aspire to do so, and who already
are a RECE. Financial support is available to eligible applicants in the form of Education Grants,
Travel Grants and a Training Allowance.

Ontario’s Ministry of Education continues to work towards building on this program to find innovative
ways to increase uptake and expand access to the program to increase the number of registered Early
Childhood Educators in child care and early years programs.

Canada-Ontario Early Years and Child Care Agreement Annual Report 2017 11
  Since the program’s creation in September 2007, interest in the ECE QUP has continued to
grow at an encouraging pace, providing financial assistance to over 3,400 individuals.

 As of August 28, 2017, there were 193 applicants approved for financial support through ECE
QUP for the 2017-2018 academic year.

Canada-Ontario Early Years and Child Care Agreement Annual Report 2017 12
Appendix: List of measures outlined in Bilateral Agreement that Ontario will report on annually

Programs Principles Indicators Related to Planned Data

Investment Currently Year 1 Report
Available

High Quality High Quality Number and percentage of providers Yes

See Child Care Quality
Child Care with Early Childhood Education (ECE)
section
certification

Number and percentage of programs Yes

adopting Ontario’s Pedagogy for the See Child Care Quality
Early Years – How Does Learning section
Happen

Accessible Number and percentage of children Yes See Child Care Access
Affordable who have access to licensed child care section
and Flexible
Number and percentage of children Yes See Child Care Affordability
receiving subsidies section

Number and percentage of licensed Yes See Child Care Flexibility

child care programs that offer flexible section
hours

Number of additional licensed child Yes In progress

care spaces created

Number of children receiving subsidy No In progress

by family income

Inclusive Number of child care programs Yes See Child Care Inclusion
designed to serve French linguistic section
minority communities and Indigenous
People off-reserve

Number of children with additional No In progress

support needs participating in child
care programs

Number and proportion of children No In progress

from low-income and middle class
families participating in early learning
and child care programs

Quality High Quality Number and percentage of providers No In progress (See EarlyOn
Early with Early Childhood Education (ECE) Child and Family Centres
Learning certification Quality section)

Number and percentage of programs No In progress (See EarlyON

adopting Ontario’s Pedagogy for the Child and Family Centres
Early Years – How Does Learning Quality section)
Happen

Canada-Ontario Early Years and Child Care Agreement Annual Report 2017 13
 Accessible Number of new EarlyON Child and Yes In progress
Affordable Family Centres (including full and part-
and Flexible time locations)

Number of child and family visits to Yes In progress

early learning programs

Number and percentage of children No In progress

who have access to early learning
programs

Number and percentage of early No In progress

learning programs that offer flexible
hours

Inclusive Number of early learning programs No In progress

designed to serve French linguistic
minority communities and Indigenous
People off-reserve

ECE Number of individuals supported Yes See Professional Learning

Professional Qualification through the Qualifications Upgrade section
Learning Upgrade Program per annum
Program

i “Early Childhood Educator” and “Registered Early Childhood Educator” are protected titles under the Early Childhood
Educators Act (2007). A member of the College of Early Childhood Educators is required to use the title “registered early
childhood educator” or its French equivalents in connection with her or his practice. A member is also required to use the
professional designation RECE or the French equivalent EPEI in documentation used in connection with her or his
practice.
ii The licensed spaces only includes total capacity in licensed child care centres. The ministry does not track capacity in

licensed home child care. Capacity in home child care can fluctuate daily based on the ages and needs of the children. The
maximum number of children per home can be as high as six children under 13 years old, including the provider’s own
children under 6 years old, but no more than 2 children under 2 years old are allowed.
iii Source: 2015 Ontario Licensed Child Care Survey.
iv Source: 2015 Ontario Licensed Child Care Survey.

Canada-Ontario Early Years and Child Care Agreement Annual Report 2017 14