Early Childhood Development

Federal/Provincial/Territorial Agreement on Early Learning and Child Care

On March 13, 2003, Federal, Provincial, Territorial Ministers Responsible for Social Services reached agreement¹on a framework for improving access to affordable, quality, provincially and territorially regulated early learning and child care programs and services. This initiative builds on the September 2000 First Ministers’ commitment to improve and expand early childhood development programs and services. Under this Agreement, the Government of Canada is providing $900 million over five years to support provincial and territorial government investments in early learning and child care.

Governments have also committed to transparent public reporting that will give Canadians a clear idea of the progress being made in improving access to affordable, quality early learning and child care programs and services.

Joint Federal/Provincial/Territorial Information
	Federal-Provincial-Territorial Meeting of Ministers responsible for Social Services Vancouver, British Columbia - February 11, 2005
	Federal-Provincial-Territorial Meeting of Ministers responsible for Social Services Ottawa, Ontario - November 2, 2004
	Supporting Canada’s Children and Families Toronto, Ontario, March 13, 2003
	Multilateral Framework on Early Learning and Child Care March 2003
Government of Canada
	Early Learning and Child Care Activities and Expenditures, Government of Canada Report 2003–2004 February 2005 PDF version
	Early Learning and Child Care Activities and Expenditures: Government of Canada Baseline Report 2002-2003 November 2003
1. While the Government of Québec supports the general principles of the Early Childhood Development Initiative and the Early Learning and Child Care Initiative, it did not participate in developing these initiatives because it intends to preserve its sole responsibility on social matters. However, Québec receives its share of federal funding and the Government of Québec is making major investments towards programs and services for families and children. All references to viewpoints shared by the federal, provincial and territorial governments in this document do not include the viewpoints of the Government of Québec.