Create a National Child Care Program Now!

The Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW) works to improve the status of
women and to promote social justice in Canada and abroad. One of our foremost
issues over the past several years has been to call for a nation-wide, affordable,
accessible, well-regulated, high-quality child care program that helps all parents be
more effective contributors to the national economy.

With Covid-19 shutting down schools, day care and after school care, it was obvious that
these essential services affected the employment of parents who had to stay home and
care for and school their children.

Canadians deserve a high quality, accessible, affordable system that has the health and well- being of children at the core. Canadian families deserve a coordinated well- funded response to Child Care from federal and provincial/territorial governments. The benefits of such a system would be enormous to children and to the quality of life of Canadians, and essential to economic recovery.

The pandemic clearly demonstrates that Child Care is an essential foundation for
economic recovery. We are asking that Child Care be funded as an essential service
and for Federal oversight to ensure that all provinces and territories guarantee that child
care is affordable, easily accessed (keeping the needs of shift workers in mind)
and well- regulated with Federal as well as provincial oversight.
  1. Affordable, high-quality child care benefits gender equality and women's economic security.
  2. Canadian child care lacks a national strategy and is inadequately funded.
  3. Child care is a necessity and making it affordable and high-quality needs to be a priority.
  4. An effective child care strategy ensures a high-quality development environment for children. Child care is an essential service.

The Affordable Child Care for All Plan (2020) was developed by Child Care Now
through extensive consultations with those most concerned with the well-being of
children, gender equality, economic security of families, social inclusion and equity. It
addresses the need for “a long-term, phased approach to building the solid universal
child care system Canada needs. The Plan provides for an increase in Canada’s federal
ELCC budget to $1 billion in 2020, and a further increase of $1 billion each year for ten
years so as to meet the internationally recommended spending benchmark and achieve
the goal of affordable, high-quality, inclusive child care for all across Canada.” And it
recommended establishing a federal Secretariat for Child Care
Letter Campaign by
Kenzie Zimmer
Kenzie Zimmer
Ottawa, Canada