Description
These results are from the 2024 Canadian Survey on the Provision of Child Care Services. This survey collected information about the provision of child care services in Canada for children aged 12 and younger in the spring of 2024. The survey sample was selected from Statistics Canada's Business Register and from publicly available provincial and territorial lists of child care providers. Child care services located within schools that provide before school and after school care, which may not be classified as separate child care businesses in Statistics Canada's Business Register or publicly available lists, may not be included. As such, child care centres that serve school-aged children may be underrepresented. The degree of this gap may vary across provinces and territories, depending on how school-based child care services are regulated and managed.
For the purpose of this survey, child care businesses were defined by three broad categories: child care centres, licensed home-based child care and unlicensed home-based child care. Child care centres, typically located in a non-residential building, are generally larger in terms of both the number of children served and the number of employees. Licensed home-based child care providers adhere to established regulations determined by provincial or territorial standards, are smaller than centres in terms of the number of children attending, and generally have no additional employees. Unlicensed home-based child care providers are also small in terms of the number of children attending and generally have no employees, but they choose to provide a service outside the regulated system, with the only requirement being a maximum number of children at one time.