About
Who We Are
Child Care Now is a proudly feminist organization dedicated to advancing social and economic equality for women, and to ensuring the well-being of children, by working to put in place, and advocating for, publicly funded and managed systems of child care. We are committed to making high quality child care programs and services in Canada universally accessible, inclusive, and responsive to the diverse and overlapping needs of diverse women, families and children.
Our organization is non-profit, membership-based and regionally representative.
Where We Began
We were founded after the second national child care conference held in Winnipeg in 1982. There, over 700 delegates, almost all women, from all provinces and territories called for the creation of an effective national organization to advocate for a robust, reliable, high quality, universal system of child care for children from birth to age 12. Although incorporated under the name Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada (CCAAC) / L’Association canadienne pour la promotion des services de garde l’enfance, in 2016, we decided to work under a new name: Child Care Now in English and Un Enfant Une Place in French.
Today, Child Care Now continues to work with provincial and territorial child care and gender equity organizations and a broad range of other groups including unions, anti-poverty organizations, employers, municipalities, and those advocating for human and women’s rights. In 2013, we worked with our allies to develop the Guiding Principles for Child Care Advocates drawing on our extensive experience building partnerships through the last 30 years.
Our Structure
We are supported by a broad membership base of individuals, families, child care programs, regional and pan-Canadian groups and organizations, and are overseen by a voluntary Board of Directors.
Our central office is located in Ottawa.
What We Stand For
We believe…
- Access to affordable, inclusive, accessible and high quality child care is of central importance to gender equality and to women’s full social and economic participation.
- Child care is a cornerstone of progressive policy for children and diverse families.
- Child care must be treated as a public good. Children and families have the right to access a child care system sufficiently financed by public funds.
- Canadians deserve a comprehensive and affordable child care system that is high quality, inclusive, and non-profit.
- Families deserve a range of child care services for child from birth to age 12.
- Those working in child care must have decent work, wages and working conditions.
What We Do
Research
We conduct research focused on the elements of developing child care systems that are accessible and affordable for women and children across Canada. This research includes surveys, focus groups and other consultations, comparative policy analysis, and analysis of available data, including administrative and licensing data. Recently, we have undertaken two major research projects: Educators Matter, focused on the early learning and child care workforce, and Growth by Design, focused on expanding public and non-profit child care.
Public Education
We keep Canadians informed about the latest news on child care issues and advocacy — federally and across the country.
Child Care Now prepares a range of fact sheets, backgrounders and briefs on key issues. Our staff and leadership speak at conferences, deliver workshops and speak on the issues in the news media.
Political Action
Child Care Now organizes activities, initiates campaigns and works with other organizations to bring about evidence-based change in child care policy.
We develop proposals for federal, provincial and territorial government action, make representations to all levels of government through briefs and submissions. We respond to threats against our objectives of an accessible, affordable and high quality child care system, including the rapid increase of commercial child-care chains. We work with partner organizations in support of policy change to protect and advance the social, economic and political equality of women, protect the universal rights of the child, and further social and economic justice for all.
Our Board of Directors
Child Care Now aims to have a Board of Directors composed of members from across Canada who bring diverse and overlapping identities and lived experience. Our Board includes members who are connected to provincial or territorial child care advocacy organizations and networks. Meet our Board of Directors.
Political Engagement
Child Care Now believes that sustained political action is key to building support for a universal, pan-Canadian child care system for the benefit of all women regardless of their place of residence.
We organize activities, initiate campaigns, and work with other pan-Canadian organizations to raise the profile of child care as a political issue and generate support. We advocate for specific solutions to child care issues through representations to Parliamentarians and Legislators across Canada.
Our Key Activities
- Promote a vision of early childhood education and care (ECEC) based on the principles that access to child care is essential for systemic change for women and that child care as a right of every child
- Monitor and respond to policy developments
- Raise public awareness of child care and its social and economic importance to women
- Support provincial and territorial initiatives in line with our policy aims
- Work with federal government and opposition parties to keep child care on the public agenda
Find Out More
View our news items here.