Starting a Daycare Centre in Canada Checklist
Starting a daycare centre in Canada runs province by province: each province licences the centre, sets the staff ratios, and runs its own funding and subsidy route.
How to Start a Daycare in Canada
Start a daycare in Canada: centre or home, province by province. Ontario, BC, Alberta, and Quebec licensing paths, child limits, fees, and funding.
Applies in: across Canada
There is no national daycare licence in Canada. Every province runs its own child care system, so the licence, the child limits, the staffing rules, and the funding all depend on where you operate. This page is the map: the two models, the provinces we cover, and which guide to read next.
The two models
A child care centre is a licensed facility in a dedicated (or purpose-built) premises with staff and a provincial licence. The application takes months: you file with the province, prove building and fire compliance, and pass a site inspection. Centre guides:
- How to open a daycare centre in Ontario — the ministry licence through CCLS, $200–$450 by capacity, staff ratios, and the CWELCC fee-cap question.
- How to open a daycare centre in British Columbia — a facility licence from your regional health authority under the Community Care and Assisted Living Act, Schedule E group ratios, and ECE Registry staffing.
A home daycare is care provided in your own home, under a licensed or unlicensed path depending on the province. It is the lowest-cost way to start — but the child cap is the business. Home daycare guides:
- How to start a home daycare in Ontario — two legal paths: unlicensed (5-child cap) or licensed through a home child care agency.
- How to start a home daycare in BC — Licensed Family Child Care (7 children, Schedule E age-mix rules) versus licence-not-required care (2 children or a sibling group).
- How to start a home daycare in Alberta — agency-approved day homes versus unlicensed private care.
- How to start a home daycare in Quebec — recognition by a bureau coordonnateur, the 6- and 9-child limits, and 45 hours of training.
How to choose
Start with the province, then the model. If you have premises, capital, and a staff plan, read the centre guide for your province. If you want to start from your own home this year, read the home daycare guide. In every province, the licensed path is more paperwork but puts you inside the $10-a-day funding framework — which is where the families are going. The unlicensed path is faster and cheaper, but it caps your income (5 children in Ontario, 2 in BC's unlicensed care) and leaves you outside the funding system.
Wherever you land, the business paperwork is the same everywhere in Canada: registering the business, separating its money, and understanding the ECE credential if you will hire staff. The related guides below cover all three.
Provinces without a dedicated guide yet
No dedicated guide exists yet for the provinces and territories below. Start with the licensing authority in each place.
- Saskatchewan: Ministry of Education, Early Learning and Child Care. It approves and funds regulated child care centres. Start at its Apply to start a regulated child care centre page.
- Manitoba: Early Learning and Child Care. It licenses and monitors centres and family and group homes under The Community Child Care Standards Act — see Early Learning and Child Care.
- New Brunswick: Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. It licenses early learning and child care homes under the Early Childhood Services Act — see Investing in Early Learning and Child Care: Operator.
- Prince Edward Island: Department of Education and Early Years. It licenses early childhood centres, family home centres, school-age centres, and preschool centres — see Early Learning and Child Care Space Creation Progress.
- Newfoundland and Labrador: Early Learning, Inclusion and Child Development Division, Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. It licenses and monitors regulated child care services — see the Early Learning, Inclusion and Child Development Division.
- Northwest Territories: Department of Education, Culture and Employment. It licenses centre-based programs and family day homes. A licence is required for more than four children — see Types of early learning and child care.
- Yukon: licensed centres and family day homes are listed on the territorial Find early learning and child care page.
- Nova Scotia: Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, Early Learning and Child Care. Regulated care includes licensed child care facilities and regulated family home child care through agencies; operators start under Become an Operator (Open a Licensed Child Care Facility, or Become a Regulated Family Home Child Care Provider) — see Child Care Nova Scotia.
- Nunavut: Department of Education, Early Learning and Child Care division. It licenses child care facilities for children aged 0 to 6 under the Child Day Care Act and Regulations — see the Canada–Nunavut Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement.
Every province and territory now has at least a licensing-authority pointer above; the dedicated-guide gap is closed to authority pointers, not to full guides.
Related guides
- How to open a daycare centre in Ontario — the centre path in Ontario.
- How to open a daycare centre in British Columbia — the centre path in BC.
- How to start a home daycare in Ontario — Ontario's two home-based paths.
- How to start a home daycare in BC — BC's four home-based categories.
- How to start a home daycare in Alberta — Alberta's agency-approved vs unlicensed paths.
- How to start a home daycare in Quebec — Quebec's bureau coordonnateur route.
- How to register a sole proprietorship and get a GST/HST number in Canada — the business-paperwork side: business-name registration and the CRA business number behind the licence.
- How to open a business bank account in Canada — keep the daycare's money separate from day one.
- How to become an early childhood educator in Ontario (RECE) — the credential side: ECE routes and hiring floors.
How to pick your daycare path
- Pick your provinceThe licence, the child limits, and the funding are all provincial — Ontario, BC, Alberta, and Quebec each run their own system.
- Choose the model: centre or homeA centre is a licensed facility with staff; a home daycare is care in your own home with a hard child cap.
- Follow the provincial guideEach guide below walks the licence or registration path step by step, with the fees and funding for that province.
Questions people ask
Do I need a licence to open a daycare in Canada?
There is no federal daycare licence — child care is regulated by the provinces, and the rules change at the border. Two legal models exist everywhere: a licensed child care centre (a dedicated premises with staff) or a home daycare (care in your own home). Both are licensed differently in each province, with different child limits, staffing rules, and funding. Start with the province guide that matches where you will actually operate.
Should I open a daycare centre or run a home daycare?
A centre means a commercial-scale operation: leased or owned premises, building-code and fire approvals, qualified staff, and a provincial licence that takes months — in Ontario, for example, the licence runs through the ministry's Child Care Licensing System with fees of $200 to $450 by capacity. A home daycare means care in your own home under a licensed or unlicensed path — Ontario caps unlicensed home care at 5 children, BC's Licensed Family Child Care allows 7. Home care has far lower start-up cost but the child cap limits income. Pick the model that fits your capital, your home, and how many families you want to serve.
Do I charge GST/HST on my daycare fees?
No. Child care services are an exempt supply under the GST/HST rules everywhere in Canada (the CRA's GST/HST Memorandum 21-1 confirms it), so you do not add GST or HST to parent fees. The flip side: you cannot claim input tax credits on daycare purchases, and the $30,000 GST/HST registration threshold does not bite your fee revenue.
What is the Canada-wide $10-a-day child care program?
The federal-provincial Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care agreements are cutting parent fees toward $10 a day — but only for licensed child care. That makes the licensed path (centre or agency-licensed home care) materially more attractive to families than the unlicensed path, even where unlicensed care is legal. Ontario's version is called CWELCC: 92% of the province's licensed spaces for children aged 0–5 were enrolled as of March 2024, and fees are capped at $22 a day. The details, enrolment rules, and funding rates are province-specific — see the provincial guides below.
Sources
- Ontario, Apply for or renew a child care licence — centre licence fees of $200 to $450 by capacity; registration through the Child Care Licensing System (CCLS).
- Ontario, Child care rules in Ontario — a licence is required above 5 children under 13; unlicensed home child care is capped at 5 children.
- Ontario, Ontario's Early Years and Child Care Annual Report 2024 — 92% of licensed child care spaces for children aged 0 to 5 were enrolled in CWELCC as of March 2024.
- Ontario, O. Reg. 488/24: General — the CWELCC base fee is capped at $22 a day (s. 77.2).
- British Columbia, Understand the different types of child care in B.C. — Family Child Care allows a maximum of 7 children; licence-not-required care allows 2 children or a sibling group.
- British Columbia, Rules for operating a licensed child care facility — licensed facilities are governed by the Community Care and Assisted Living Act and the Child Care Licensing Regulation.
- Canada Revenue Agency, GST/HST Memorandum 21-1: Child Care Services — child care services are an exempt supply: care and supervision of children 14 years of age or under for periods normally less than 24 hours per day.
- Alberta, Approved family day homes — a licensed family day home operates under contract with a licensed agency; an unlicensed day home may care for up to 6 children, not counting the educator's own.
- Légis Québec, Educational Childcare Act, s. 53 — care for 7 to 9 children requires recognition by a coordinating office and an assisting adult.
- Canadian Child Care Human Resources Sector Council, Requirements to work in regulated family child care — Quebec — Quebec family child care providers complete a 45-hour training program.
- Saskatchewan, Apply to start a regulated child care centre — the provincial starting point for a regulated centre.
- Manitoba, Early Learning and Child Care — licensing and monitoring under The Community Child Care Standards Act.
- New Brunswick, Investing in Early Learning and Child Care: Operator — operator licensing under the Early Childhood Services Act.
- Prince Edward Island, Early Learning and Child Care Space Creation Progress — provincial early learning and child care.
- Newfoundland and Labrador, Early Learning, Inclusion and Child Development Division — licensing and monitoring of regulated child care services.
- Northwest Territories, Types of early learning and child care — a licence is required to offer services to more than four children.
- Yukon, Find early learning and child care for Yukoners — the territorial list of licensed centres and family day homes.
- Nova Scotia, Child Care Nova Scotia — Become an Operator: the licensed facility and regulated family home paths.
- Canada, Canada–Nunavut Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement — the Nunavut early learning and child care framework; the Child Day Care Act is cited in the preamble.