Child care for whom? A background paper for the Inclusive child care for all project is a CRRU publication issued in November 2023. The project is led by partners Oxfam Canada, Child Care Now, and the CRRU to improve childcare access for under-represented women.

The Inclusive Child Care for All project aims to address barriers to access to regulated child care experienced by newcomers to Canada, racialized women, and women with disabilities and also aims to increase the participation of under-represented groups of women in child care advocacy.

The background paper’s intention is to address to main research questions:

• Which groups of women are under-represented in regulated early learning and child care?

• What barriers do they face to more equitable representation?

The paper includes a scan of available data, a literature review and current provincial/territorial commitments to equity and inclusion.

The paper finds that the project’s research and project activities, including a Summit on the issue, corroborate that marginalized groups of women experience substantial barriers to equitable access to regulated child care. The paper’s recommendations include:

• Consideration of a multi-layered framework focused on equitable access

• A Canadian road map for building a universal child care system

• Strengthened, more focused, collaborative and diverse advocacy

• Better research and data

• More definitive policy making on the part of governments, including:

  • Targets and timetables

  • Active monitoring of results

  • Support for and inclusive participation of civil society actors at all levels

The background paper is available for download at: https://childcarecanada.org/sites/default/files/Child-care-for-whom-Inclusive-cc-for-all.pdf