Local families saving thousands of dollars with Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Program

BRANTFORD, ON – The City of Brantford is pleased to share that local families are saving over $6,000 annually per child, depending on the age of the child, for full-day licensed child care in 2022 due to the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement (CWELCC). 

Since March 2022, child care fees were reduced by over 50 per cent through the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care system. Locally, the average cost of child care has decreased from $1,026 per month in March 2022 to $485 per month in January 2023, as outlined in an update to Building Our Community from the Kids Up, the City’s Child Care and Early Years 10-Year Plan. 

“I am very grateful to our dedicated staff for their unwavering commitment to implementing the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement in our community,” says Brantford Mayor Kevin Davis. “This program not only supports our children’s early development, but also provides significant financial relief to families across our community.” 

Local families looking for licensed child care are encouraged to register through OneList Brantford-Brant, an online registration system that allows you to search for licensed child care programs for children from birth to age 12. Through OneList Brantford-Brant, families can apply for up to ten centres at once, with one account. Users can also browse for locations on a map, read about each child care centre, and determine if they offer lower fees through CWELCC. The City also continues to provide child care fee subsidy for eligible families who are working or in school. Details are available at Brantford.ca/ChildrensServices. 

Registered Early Childhood Educators Recruitment 

The province is taking steps to meet the demand for licensed child care by building 86,000 new spaces across Ontario. While local allocations have yet to be confirmed, City staff are hopeful that by 2026 approximately 800 of them will be located in the City of Brantford and the County of Brant. In anticipation of this increase in licensed child care spaces, the City is working with the early learning sector to recruit and retain Registered Early Childhood Educators (RECE). RECE’s working in CWELCC agencies in Brantford-Brant are also benefitting from increased wages with a new wage floor and annual wage increases of $1 per year until they reach $25 per hour. If you or someone you know is interested in a career as a RECE in Brantford-Brant, please visit Brantford.ca/RECE. 

EarlyON 

The City of Brantford is the service system manager for EarlyON centres that support early learning and development of children from birth to six years old and their parent(s) or caregiver(s). Programs are delivered at 33 sites across the City of Brantford and the County of Brant through Community Living Brant, Child and Family Services of Grand Erie, and Six Nations of the Grand River, where over 1,900 children visited an EarlyON site over 14,000 times in 2022. 

Last year, EarlyON centres offered over 6,000 hours of free drop-in programming, including programming partnerships with Healthy Kids, Bell Homestead National Historic Site, and the County of Brant. The EarlyON calendar can be viewed Brantford.ca/EarlyON. 

In 2022, two new EarlyON locations were opened at TB Costain Community Centre (16 Morrell St., Brantford) and a pilot location at Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre (254 N Park St., Brantford). In 2023, a new EarlyON centre will be opening at the TF Warren Group Cainsville Community Centre (15 Ewart Ave., Brant). 

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Media Contact: 

Chelsey Tobin | Communications Specialist, Communications and Community Engagement 
City of Brantford | 519-759-4150 ext. 5779 | ctobin@brantford.ca