Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement

2025 Goals

• Implement the new cost-based funding formula.
• Enhance the directed growth application process to accelerate the creation of new affordable child care spaces to meet the needs of the community.
• Increase child care access rates, which are currently below the provincial target of 37%, through a city-wide directed growth application process. 
• Create 339 new community-based child care spaces in 2025 with 302 approved for 2026, totaling 641 brand new affordable spaces by 2026.
• Strengthen equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging within the affordable child care system.
• Develop additional strategies to grow attract, retain and sustain a high-quality workforce.

2024 Accomplishments

• Hamilton’s Early Years System reaffirmed its commitment to Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging, by signing off on the City’s Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (EDIB) Policy. 
• Launched the OurHamilton Inclusion Policy, which included a webinar with 216 registered participants and workshops attended by 130 child care and EarlyON staff to support early years providers in creating or updating their inclusion policies.
• Completed cost-based funding formula information sessions for centre-based licensees and licensed home child care agencies.
• Continued engaging with Hamilton’s Early Years System and families to inform expansion of child care spaces.
• Created 265 new community-based child care spaces, prioritizing Wards with child care access rates less than 37%. 
• Showcased stories of local early childhood educators to highlight and market the value of the profession in the labour market.
• Implemented Ontario’s Ministry of Education Child Care Workforce Strategy, introducing local strategies to grow, attract, retain and sustain a high-quality workforce. This included implementing two professional development days for more than 2,000 early years professionals.

2023 Accomplishments

• Reduced child care fees by 52.75%, saving Hamilton families an estimated $9,100 on child care per child in 2023.
• Expanded funding agreements with six licensed child care licensees to increase access to child care across Hamilton. 
• Developed an Access and Inclusion Framework to direct growth in Hamilton’s licensed child care system to best serve the needs of the community. 
• Engaged 331 families through 10 community-based service providers to gain a better understanding of child care needs and barriers to access, to inform child care expansion plans.
• Met the Ontario Ministry of Education’s community-based child care space target of creating 381 new child care spaces across the community. 
• Implemented an Early Childhood Educator Workforce Grant pilot to support more than 450 Early Childhood Educators (ECEs) with the cost of child care, resulting in improving retention and reducing barriers to employment. ECEs reported improved family well-being and reduced household debt as a result.
• Implemented an affordability grant pilot to reduce the cost of before and after school child care to $15/day for children aged 6-12 years transitioning out of the CWELCC age window.
• Launched the new fee subsidy client portal which has streamlined communication, enhanced document security, improved efficiency and enabled better case management.
• Launched an Early Childhood Educator marketing campaign focusing on the important role they play in the community and in supporting child development. This resulted in more than 8,000 views and comments on the City’s social media channels.
• Partnered with Atkinson Centre for Society and Child Development and 43 other Service System Managers across the province to implement the “Knowing Our Numbers Survey” to learn more about the early years workforce. These results will help inform future workforce strategies to grow, attract, retain and sustain a high-quality workforce in Hamilton.
• Implemented two successful professional development days for more than 2,000 early years professionals.
• Increased the number of special needs children who received child care service support.

In March 2022, the provincial and federal governments announced a $13.2 billion agreement, known as the Canada-wide Early Learning Child Care (CWELCC) program. The goal of the CWELCC program is to support and improve quality, accessibility, affordability and inclusivity in licensed child care across the country. This includes reducing licensed child care fees for children under six, targeting an average of $10 per day by 2026. 

As a CWELCC participating licensee, you will receive funding to support reduced fees for families to provide high-quality child care. Additionally, you will have access to fee subsidy supports, the City of Hamilton's early years quality program, special needs resourcing staff support and professional learning support for educators through Affiliated Services for Children and Youth (ASCY). Licensees serving children aged 0-5 who do not participate in CWELCC are not eligible for these supports. 

Effective January 1, 2025, Ontario’s Ministry of Education has capped daily child care to $22/day. 

For 2026, parent fees for CWELCC-eligible children (0-5 years) as per O. Reg. 137/15 remain unchanged; base fees continue to be capped at $22/day until December 31, 2026. For programs that operate at fees below $22/day, the lesser rate will continue to be charged; these lower rates cannot be increased to $22/day.

Yes. Licensees who choose not to participate in CWELCC can operate under the existing provincial licensing and regulatory framework. Prospective licensees can apply for a licence through the Child Care Licensing System and indicate “No” to CWELCC participation. Licensees operating outside of CWELCC do not need to complete a Directed Growth Application, and will not receive CWELCC-related supports or funding.

Yes. Any growth within the CWELCC system for children aged 0-5 requires a Directed Growth Application. A licence request will only be approved if the Directed Growth Application is completed, submitted, and approved for community-based child care spaces. Participation in CWELCC is not guaranteed.

No. The City of Hamilton has allocated all CWELCC community-based spaces and funding allocated by the Ministry of Education for 2022-2026 and is not accepting new applications at this time. As a next step, we encourage you to fill out an Expression of Interest form. These forms will not be evaluated, but City staff will use them to track future interest in child care growth and participation in CWELCC. Download the Expression of Interest of Child Care Expansion(PDF, 189.2 KB). 

If the Ministry of Education allocates additional spaces for growth opportunities beyond 2026, we will reach out to those who have completed an Expression of Interest form and advise that the Directed Growth Application process will reopen.

The City of Hamilton has allocated all CWELCC community-based spaces and funding allocated by the Ministry of Education for 2022-2026 and is not accepting new applications at this time. The funding was only available to centres that successfully applied and were approved through the Directed Growth Application process. For detailed eligibility criteria for 2022-2026, refer to the City of Hamilton Access and Inclusion Framework.

No. The City of Hamilton only provides funding agreements to support fee subsidy, general operating expenses, wage compensation and system priority funding to child care centres participating in CWELCC.  Licensees serving children 0-5 who are not participating in CWELCC are not eligible for these supports.

The Ministry of Education is responsible for licensing and compliance. All new licence requests and licence revisions are completed on the Child Care Licensing System. For more resources review Start a child care program.

It is also important that you are aware of your role and responsibilities according to the Child Care and Early Years Act (CCEYA), 2014, and Ontario Regulation 137/15. 

For help using the Child Care Licensing System(website), email the helpdesk at [email protected] and for more information about child care licensing, contact Toll-free: 1-877-510-5333, or [email protected].

Please connect with the City of Hamilton’s Building Division via email at [email protected] or in person at City Hall, 71 Main Street West, 3^rd Floor. For more information, visit Residential Building & Renovation.

The Building Division also receives and processes any requests for the repurposing of buildings, renovations and retrofits – these will require additional zoning approvals, permits and floor plans.

Work with your contractor, engineer or architect through the process of opening a child care centre. 

Please refer to the Directed Growth Application tab to learn more about what areas of the city have lower access to child care by ward. 

Use the interactive Find My Ward map and search by address to find out what ward an address is located in.