Abstract
This report provides an analysis of the 12 priority areas of concern identified in 1995 as well as additional information on key policy areas that are essential to women’s progress today. It contains sets of recommendations, developed in consultation with chapter authors and Beijing +30 network members, for the accelerated implementation of the Beijing Platform.
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6. Early childhood education and care
Our 2019 Parallel Report on Canada’s implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action highlighted the failure of all levels of government to make regulated early childhood education and care available to all children. We noted that Canada’s reliance on market-based approaches to creating child care programs resulted in scarcity of supply, high and ever-rising parent fees, unchecked growth of for-profit child care, and inequitable access. The latter particularly applied to Indigenous communities, children with disabilities, infants, rural communities, and parents employed in non-standard work arrangements.1 The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the weaknesses in the existing patchwork of programs, including the financial and operational fragility of the child care sector and the uneven distribution of child care programs. In 2021, partly in response to the dramatic drop in women’s labour force participation during the pandemic, the federal government took decisive action to enhance and expand Canada’s child care system.
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