CHILD, YOUTH, AND FAMILY HEALTH
CANADA’S NEW EARLY LEARNING AND CHILD CARE ACT: What is it and why is it important? Prepared by Denise Webb
The Canada Early Learning and Child Care Act received royal assent and became official on March 19th, 2024. This Act is Canada’s first national-level early learning and child care (ELCC) legislation since World War II (Dhuey, 2024), and has important implications for ELCC programs for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis families from coast to coast to coast. 1 This document provides an overview of the Act, with information for families, ELCC practitioners, researchers, and interested readers alike.
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ELCC programs have the potential to promote and support young children’s social, emotional, physical, linguistic, and intellectual growth and development. What is ELCC? ELCC programs have the potential to promote and support young children’s social, emotional, physical, linguistic, and intellectual growth and development. Some ELCC programs not only provide opportunities to care for and supervise children, but also include parents and caregivers in their daily activities and/or engage with community organizations
and resources to improve program quality (Webb, 2025). High-quality ELCC programs, measured by many factors such as qualified ELCC staff and adequate funding, can improve children’s health and well-being, with long-lasting effects (Dhuey, 2024). ELCC programs may exist in homes or centres, and may be run by private, public, or not-forprofit sectors.
This summary is part of a collaborative project between the National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health (NCCIH) and the First Nations Information Governance Centre (FNIGC). Together, the NCCIH and the FNIGC are unraveling concepts of quality ELCC programming and arrangements for First Nations families with young children on reserve. More information on this work is available on the NCCIH website.