Over 5,000 Child Care Spaces to be Allocated Across Saskatchewan

Released on August 29, 2024

Today, the Government of Canada and Saskatchewan announced an investment of $71.3 million to allocate more than 5,000 child care centre spaces across the province throughout 2024-25.

To date, 1,537 of these child care centre spaces have been allocated to new child care facilities or added into existing facilities in 27 Saskatchewan communities and 36 organizations. The other 3,463 spaces will be allocated throughout the remainder of the fiscal year.

"This investment will create more opportunities for families to find accessible and high-quality child care in their local communities," Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill said. "Expanding child care facilities throughout the province will be an addition to supporting the wellbeing for Saskatchewan families."

"More than 5,000 child care spots will make a real difference for families across Saskatchewan," Canada's Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Jenna Sudds said. "This is an important step that will ensure more kids can get off waitlists and into high-quality centres, and provide more families with access to affordable early learning and child care in their communities."

Funding for the creation of regulated child care spaces will be allocated by the province on an on-going basis throughout the year to not-for-profit organizations including cooperatives, municipalities, non-profit corporations and parent groups. The spaces will be approved based on community need and each organization's readiness to move into the development stage. 

To respond to the needs of the sector and to help address the costs of establishing child care spaces, space development capital funding for centre development is further increasing from $10,000 per space to $13,360 in 2024-25. The funding has increased by $10,000 since 2017. Funding for start-up grants for regulated centres is also increasing from $861 per space to $1,360 in 2024-25. Additionally, the start-up grant for regulated family child care homes will also increase by $200.

Communities, organizations, and individuals who are interested in learning more about how to support children and families by establishing child care spaces are encouraged to visit:
https://www.saskatchewan.ca/business/entrepreneurs-start-or-exit-a-business/start-a-business/managing-a-child-care-business. 

This investment was made possible by the Canada-Saskatchewan Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement and the Canada-Saskatchewan ELCC Infrastructure Fund Amendment. The Canada-Saskatchewan Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement was signed in August 2021. Since signing the agreement, over 11,000 new child care spaces have been opened or are in the process of being created, an increase of 63 per cent. 

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