Excerpts from the report:

Throughout the summer and fall of 2006, Human Resources and Social Development Canada undertook consultations on the Child Care Spaces Initiative with employers, experts, community and non-profit organizations, provincial and territorial officials, and national organizations.

The purpose of the consultations was to engage stakeholders in a dialogue to:

- Gain a better understanding of the child care systems across the country;

- Understand the needs of parents and child care providers, and the challenges in meeting those needs;

- Understand the unique needs of rural communities and cities, as well as those of official language minority, northern, and Aboriginal communities;

- Understand the unique needs of parents with children with special needs;

- Identify the processes and costs associated with creating child care spaces;

- Obtain input on challenges or impediments to creating child care spaces, and possible solutions to those challenges;

- Understand the conditions for success of employer-sponsored child care;

- Identify the tools to increase the number of child care spaces and increase the accessibility of child care for all families; and

- Receive advice regarding possible tools for delivery of the Child Care Spaces Initiative.

The purpose of this report is to provide a summary of the views and advice received during the Child Care Spaces Initiative consultations. This report is a consolidation and synthesis of input received from consultation participants.