How to Open a Daycare Centre in New Brunswick

The short answer

Apply for a facility licence from the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, through your regional Early Learning and Child Care Services office — and decide first whether to seek designation. A licensed centre meets the standards in the Early Childhood Services Act and its licensing regulation. A designated centre is a licensed centre that also qualifies for Canada-Wide funding, which lowers the parent fee without any application from the parents. This guide covers the centre model only — a facility for children, not a home daycare — and only New Brunswick's mechanics. It does not re-cover the Manitoba centre guide's rules, which are a different province's system. The subsidy route for parents is covered in full in our How to Apply for the New Brunswick Daycare Assistance Program guide.

1. Decide whether to seek designation

Designation is the fork in the road, and it is worth deciding before you spend money on premises. Designation is voluntary recognition for licensed facilities serving preschool children aged 5 and under, according to Government of New Brunswick, Investing in Early Learning and Child Care. Designated facilities are eligible for funding under the Canada-New Brunswick Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement, including operational grants, the Parent Fee Reduction Subsidy, and increased Wage Support Program funding, on the same page. Parents of preschool children in a designated facility pay a standard reduced fee with no application, eligibility criteria, or income testing, on the same page. Non-designated facilities are not eligible for Canada-Wide funding, and the reduced parent fee grid does not apply to them, on the same page.

A licence with designation is a two-step application: first an Expression of Interest for designated spaces, then an Application for a Designated Facility or an Increase in Designated Spaces, and then the Application to Operate an Early Learning and Child Care Facility that every centre needs, according to Government of New Brunswick, Application to Operate an Early Learning and Child Care Centre. If you do not seek designation, you apply only for the licence. The designated-spaces stream can be oversubscribed, so apply early and have the premises and staffing plan ready before you start.

2. Apply for the facility licence

Licence applications go to the regional Early Learning and Child Care Services office where the centre will operate. An application for a licence must include proof that the premises comply with municipal by-laws, a Certificate of Insurance or an insurer's statement of intent to issue one, an operational plan including a description of services, a statement of services for parents, and weekly menus, and criminal record and vulnerable sector checks on the applicant and associated persons and a Social Development check, all issued within the previous three months, according to New Brunswick Regulation 2018-11, Licensing Regulation. For a centre, the application must also include a comprehensive business plan, three copies of the official plan of the premises including the outdoor play area, and a staffing plan setting out the positions and responsibilities and the orientation policies, on the same page.

The classes of licence are a full-time centre, a part-time centre, and an early learning and childcare home, on the same page. A full-time or part-time centre licence costs $200, on the same page. The maximum number of children at a full-time or part-time centre is 60, on the same page. Renewal is not automatic: apply at least 90 days before the licence expires, and the renewal fees are $75 for a centre licensed for 25 children or fewer, $112.50 for 26 to 60 children, and $150 for more than 60 children, on the same page.

3. Pass the health and fire inspections

Before issuing a centre licence, the Minister requires a statement of compliance from a medical officer of health and a statement of compliance from the fire marshal, a deputy fire marshal, or a fire prevention officer, according to the licensing regulation. Book these inspections early: the statements are a precondition to the licence, not a follow-up, and they can surface premises changes — exits, fire separation, washroom fixtures, outdoor play surfacing — that take weeks to fix. The premises plan in your application must show the indoor space and the outdoor play area. The regulation does not state a minimum number of square metres per child in the pages opened for this guide, so no figure is printed here — check with the regional office before you sign a lease.

4. Meet the educator qualification rules

Staff qualifications are set in the regulation and they are the hardest part of the licence to get right, because they apply to every educator, not just the administrator. The administrator and every educator must hold valid first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation certificates, according to the licensing regulation. Anyone without a one-year Early Childhood Education Certificate, or training the Minister considers equivalent, must complete the Introduction to Early Childhood Education course, on the same page. At a centre, the administrator or at least 25 percent of the educators must hold a one-year Early Childhood Education Certificate, on the same page. On and after July 1, 2020, the bar is higher: at least 50 percent of educators must hold a one-year Early Childhood Education Certificate or equivalent training, and the administrator must hold a one-year Early Childhood Education Certificate, on the same page.

An educator is an operator or staff member who is 16 or older and works directly with children, on the same page. An educator under 19 must be supervised at all times by an educator who is 19 or older, on the same page. Build the roster with the 50 percent rule in mind from the start: it is a condition of the licence, and a centre that falls below it after opening risks the licence.

5. Staff to the ratios

Ratios are the other hard rule, and they decide how many children you can take in each room. For groups of children of the same age, the ratio of educators to children is: one educator for every 3 infants or fewer, 5 children who are 2 years of age, 8 children who are 3 years of age, 10 children who are 4 years of age or older and not yet attending school, and 15 school-age children, according to the licensing regulation. The size of a group may not exceed the number of children requiring two educators, on the same page. Infants must not be grouped with children of another age group, on the same page. Mixed-age groups are calculated using the factors in Schedule A of the regulation, on the same page — do not guess the ratio for a mixed room; work it out from the schedule or ask the regional office.

6. Set parent fees and the subsidy route

Fees are where designation pays. In a designated facility, parents of preschool children pay the standard reduced fee, with no application, eligibility criteria, or income testing, according to the Department's operator page. In a non-designated facility, parents apply for Childcare Financial Assistance, which is income-tested on a sliding scale by gross annual household income up to $80,000, and parents with income of $37,500 or less whose preschool child is enrolled in a designated facility may qualify for free childcare, according to Government of New Brunswick, Childcare Financial Assistance guide. There are two programs under one online-only Parent Portal application: the Parent Subsidy Program for preschool children aged 0 to 5 in a designated facility, and the Childcare Assistance Program for preschool children in a non-designated facility or children aged 5 to 12 in a school-age program, on the same page. Parents may apply up to 60 days before the child starts, and pre-approval lasts up to 60 days, on the same page. Parents must be working, in training or education, or have a parent or child program referral, on the same page. If a parent has questions, the contact is 1-833-221-9339 or EECDPortal-PortailEDPE@gnb.ca, on the same page.

Your job as the operator is to know which program each family is in, to charge the right fee, and to keep the enrolment records that support it. The parent-facing steps are in our How to Apply for the New Brunswick Daycare Assistance Program guide.

What the licence costs

The licence fee is $200 for a full-time or part-time centre. Renewal is $75 for a centre licensed for 25 children or fewer, $112.50 for 26 to 60 children, and $150 for more than 60 children. Those are the only fees in the regulation. There is no fee stated for the designation application, and no fee stated for the health or fire inspections, so this guide states neither.

What the opened pages do not state

The opened licensing regulation does not state a minimum indoor space per child in square metres, so this guide states no figure — check with the regional Early Learning and Child Care Services office before signing a lease. The opened pages do not state a fixed processing time for a licence application, so this guide states none. The opened pages do not state the current reduced parent fee grid for designated facilities, so this guide states no fee figure — the grid is published by the Department and changes with the Canada-Wide agreement.

Related guides:

• How to Apply for the New Brunswick Daycare Assistance Program — the parent-facing subsidy route for families using your centre.
• How to Open a Daycare Centre in Nova Scotia — Nova Scotia's centre licensing steps, for comparison with New Brunswick's.
• How to Open a Daycare Centre in Ontario — Ontario's centre licensing steps, another province's system.
• How to Open a Daycare Centre in Saskatchewan — Saskatchewan's centre licensing steps, another province's system.
• How to Start a Daycare in Canada — the national overview of opening a daycare, for the country-wide picture.
• How to Start a Construction Company in New Brunswick — the construction company guide for the same province, if you are building or renovating the premises yourself.

Renewing the centre licence

Renewal takes more than the fee. An application to renew must be made at least 90 days before the licence expires, and for a centre it must be accompanied by a copy of the Certificate of Insurance, a fresh statement of compliance from a medical officer of health stating that the facility meets the lighting, ventilation and other general health standards under the Public Health Act, and a fresh statement of compliance from the fire marshal, the deputy fire marshal or a fire prevention officer stating that the facility meets the standards under the Fire Prevention Act. If the operational plan or the staffing plan has changed since the last filing, the updated plan goes in with the renewal application as well. Book the health and fire statements early in the renewal window: without them the renewal application is not complete.

Sources

• New Brunswick Regulation 2018-11, Licensing Regulation — the licence application contents, the $200 centre licence fee and the $75, $112.50, and $150 renewal fees, the 60-child maximum, the 90-day renewal rule, the health and fire statements of compliance, the educator qualification rules and the 50 percent rule from July 1, 2020, and the staff-to-child ratios.
• Government of New Brunswick, Investing in Early Learning and Child Care — designation as voluntary recognition for licensed facilities serving preschool children aged 5 and under, Canada-Wide funding, the reduced parent fee with no application, and licence applications to the regional Early Learning and Child Care Services office.
• Government of New Brunswick, Application to Operate an Early Learning and Child Care Centre — the two-step designation application: Expression of Interest for designated spaces, then the Application for a Designated Facility, then the Application to Operate.
• Government of New Brunswick, Childcare Financial Assistance guide — the sliding scale to $80,000, free childcare at $37,500 or less in a designated facility, the two programs under one Parent Portal application, the 60-day application and pre-approval windows, and the contact number and email.