Toronto’s journey towards more affordable child care, as highlighted in TWIG’s 2024 report “A Work in Progress: Towards $10 a day Child Care in Toronto,” offers both hope and challenges as we forge ahead in 2025. The Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) agreement’s latest fee reductions beginning 2025, capping daily fees at $22 for children under six reflect a significant policy win for families. This change is projected to save Toronto families nearly $300 million in 2025 alone. However, the impact of these changes on the availability and distribution of child care spaces presents a complex picture worth exploring.
The report published last year, used heat maps as a visual representation of the distribution of licensed child care centres in Toronto neighbourhoods. The heat maps were generated using the City of Toronto’s licensed child care and a before-after school program locator for Toronto. The map has built in filters that allow the viewer to explore the presence of licensed centres based on the different types of programs offered. This year we re-visited the statistics and updated our heat maps to check the year over year change in child care spaces.
Growth in Child Care Spaces: A Closer Look
We found that the demand for child care spaces has surged, driven by more accessible pricing. Over the past year, Toronto saw an 8.9% increase in total child care spaces, with the Before & After school programs experiencing the highest growth at 15.7%. Interestingly, spaces for infants saw only a minimal increase of 0.5%, indicating that not much progress has been made compared to last year. This is due to potential staffing or facility constraints in accommodating the youngest age group.
Addressing Accessibility Beyond Affordability
While lower fees have made child care more affordable, accessibility remains uneven. The report’s heat maps, updated annually, show that there continues to be disparities in the availability of licensed child care centers, particularly in Toronto’s Neighbourhood Improvement Areas (NIAs) like Rexdale and Scarborough Town Centre. These “child care deserts” correlate strongly with areas experiencing structural inequalities such as high rates of working poor and transit poverty, underscoring the need for targeted policy interventions.
TWIG’s use of heat maps offers a compelling visual tool to track changes and identify gaps in child care availability. These maps allow policymakers, stakeholders, and families to see where improvements are needed and where progress has been made. These visual representations become invaluable in our ongoing dialogue about how best to serve Toronto’s diverse communities.
Looking Forward
As we move into 2025, the commitment to expanding and improving child care in Toronto remains strong. However, the challenges of staffing, facility availability, and equitable distribution must be addressed to ensure that every family has access to the child care they need. The ongoing updates and analyses provided by TWIG not only inform but also challenge us to refine and improve our approaches to one of the most pressing issues facing Toronto families today. By keeping the dialogue open and data-driven, Toronto can continue to make strides towards a truly inclusive and accessible child care system that meets the needs of all its residents.
