Occasional paper series

This paper's starting place is with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child's assumption that child care is a right and that governments have a responsibility in ensuring that this right is achieved. The paper reviews the Canadian political and social context for child care, putting this in a historical context; reviews the current child care situation; discusses the Articles of the Convention that pertain to
early learning and child care; and concludes that Canada has not yet taken the issue of children's right to early learning and child care seriously.

After many years of relative political inattention in Canada, the federal government has committed to developing a national early learning and child care program. In 2005, the first beginnings of the national program were laid down through a $5 billion/five year initiative consisting of bilateral agreements with provinces and territories.

The issue of auspice in child care has been debated in Canada for many years and for several reasons. One reason for this is the consistent research finding that commercial child care centres as a group obtain lower ratings for overall program quality than do non-profit centres. Other reasons include the belief that essential services such as child care should be publicly operated, and concerns about ensuring accountability for the use of public funds if they are flowed to commercial operators. This study explores the issue of auspice from the perspective of program quality.

In 1997, the Québec government announced its new family policy. The government undertook a massive reorganization of the child care system and transformed it into the early childhood care and education component of the new family policy. The reform was indeed substantial and ambitious and was undertaken at a time when, as in other provinces, the government was trying to reduce its budgetary deficit to zero. As the reform enters its fifth year, the author reviews the first five years and examines the successes, challenges and lessons learned.