Study: An overview of child care services in the minority official language in Canada, 2021/2022
Released: 2026-03-27
In Canada outside Quebec in 2022, children eligible for instruction in French who had attended French-language child care were far more likely to continue in a French-language elementary school (93%) than those who had attended bilingual (61%) or English-language (30%) child care. Meanwhile, in Quebec, children eligible for instruction in English who had attended English-language child care were more likely to attend an English-language elementary school (82%), including French immersion programs, than those who had attended bilingual (63%) or French-language (48%) child care.
Today, Statistics Canada is releasing a new study on child care services offered in the minority official language in Canada, which is English in Quebec and French in the other provinces and the territories. The study provides information on the participation of children eligible for instruction in the minority official language in child care, on child care workers and on child care facilities. Statistics Canada is also releasing two data tables with detailed results on child care services from the 2022 Survey on the Official Language Minority Population.
Eligible children whose parents speak the minority official language most often at home are more likely to attend child care in that language than other children
The language spoken most often at home by parents influences their use of child care services in the minority official language.
In 2022 in Canada outside Quebec, among children eligible for instruction in French who had attended child care, children in families where both parents spoke French most often at home were more than three times more likely to have attended French-language child care (66%) than children in families where neither parent spoke French most often at home (20%).
In Quebec, in 2022, among children eligible for instruction in English who had attended child care, those whose parents both spoke English most often at home were more than twice as likely to have attended bilingual child care (49%) than children in families where neither parent spoke English most often at home (22%).
Distance to facilities and availability of services play a role in the use of minority official language child care
Some parents of children eligible for instruction in the minority official language did not use minority official language child care but would have preferred to do so.
In Canada outside Quebec in 2022, 54% of children eligible for instruction in French who had attended child care attended English-language child care. However, 40% of these children's parents would have preferred a French-language option but cited a lack of available French-language services (67%) and distance to French-language facilities (33%) as the main barriers.
In Quebec, in 2022, 47% of children eligible for instruction in English who had attended child care attended French-language child care. Under one-third of these children's parents (29%) would have preferred to use English-language child care, with the unavailability of English-language services (69%E; data should be used with caution) cited as the main reason for using French-language services, followed by distance to facilities (23%).
In Canada outside Quebec, the proportion of child care facilities with at least one available space is lower than average in facilities where providers speak French with children or parents
The availability of child care spaces differed according to the language spoken by providers with children or parents.
In Canada outside Quebec in 2022, child care centres (41%) and licensed home-based child care facilities (24%) where French was spoken with children or parents were less likely to have at least one available space than the average of 46% for child care centres and 39% for licensed home-based child care facilities.
In contrast, in Quebec, child care centres (34%) and licensed home-based child care facilities (20%) where English was spoken with children or parents were more likely to have at least one available space than the average of 24% for child care centres and 10% for home-based child care facilities.
In Canada, 1 in 10 child care workers uses the minority official language at work at least regularly
The availability of child care services in the minority official language depends on the presence of workers who use that language at work.
Among Canada's 170,495 child care workers in 2021, 10% used the minority official language at work at least regularly, alone or with another language. In Quebec, 16% of child care workers used English at work at least regularly, while outside Quebec, 6% used French at least regularly. Outside Quebec, this latter proportion was highest in New Brunswick (34%).
Note to readers
In this release, results on children eligible for instruction in the minority official language come from the 2022 Survey on the Official Language Minority Population, which is a postcensal survey conducted among the English-speaking population in Quebec and the French-speaking population elsewhere in Canada. Results are presented for children aged 1 to 17 years who had attended child care in Canada and are eligible for instruction in the minority official language under section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, that is, primary or secondary instruction in English in Quebec or in French outside Quebec. Although eligibility criteria for instruction in the minority official language do not apply to child care services, this study focuses on eligible children to examine the continuity of educational pathways in the official languages from child care to elementary school.
Results on space availability among child care providers according to the languages spoken with children or parents are based on the 2022 Canadian Survey on the Provision of Child Care Services, which was conducted among child care facilities in Canada, including centre-based child care, licensed home-based child care and unlicensed home-based child care facilities.
Results on languages used at work by child care workers are based on the 2021 Census of Population. Child care workers included individuals whose occupation was "early childhood educators and assistants" or "home child care providers," according to the 2021 National Occupational Classification, and who worked in "child day-care services," based on the 2017 North American Industry Classification System.
For details on each data source, please consult the publication Survey on the Official Language Minority Population: User guide, 2022; the page Canadian Survey on the Provision of Child Care Services for the reference year 2022; and the Guide to the Census of Population, 2021.
Products
The study Child care services in the minority official language in Canada, 2021 and 2022 is now available in the Ethnicity, Language and Immigration Thematic Series publication.
Two new data tables from the 2022 Survey on the Official Language Minority Population (SOLMP) are also made available today: Language of daycare attended and reasons for attending a daycare in the minority or majority official language, among children in a minority official language situation and Language of daycare attended and preference for minority official language daycare, among children in a minority official language situation. These new SOLMP tables complement those already published.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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