ABOUT THE CCAAC
Who we are
The Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada (CCAAC) is dedicated to promoting a publicly funded, inclusive, quality, non-profit child care system. Our organization is non-profit, membership-based and regionally representative.
Where we have come from
The Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada (CCAAC) arose from the second Canadian conference on Child Care held in Winnipeg in 1982. Over 700 delegates from all Provinces and Territories called for an effective voice to pursue child care issues at the federal level and to promote a broad consensus of support within all regions of Canada. For more information on the history of the CCAAC and the child care advocacy movement in Canada, please see our Moving Forward Together Report (1999), and a CCAAC sponsored history project, Childcare advocacy and Canadian policy processes; History and practice from World War two to the present (2001) by Susan Prentice.
What we stand for
The CCAAC works for:
- Child care as a cornerstone of progressive family policies.
- The right of all children to access a child care system supported by public funds.
- A comprehensive and affordable child care system that is inclusive, quality, and non-profit.
- A range of child care services for young and school age children.
To achieve our goals, CCAAC:
- Works collaboratively with provincial and territorial child care organizations, social justice organizations, and governments.
- Develops policy solutions to child care issues.
- Presents briefs and submissions to governments.
- Partners in initiatives to raise the public profile of child care.
- Mobilizes public support for a pan-Canadian child care system.
Our structure
The Association has a broad base of support and features:
- a membership base of individuals, families, child care programs, regional and pan-Canadian groups and organizations;
- a regional representative Board of Directors (one director elected from the membership in each province and territory);
- a Council of Child Care Advocates; and
- a central office in Ottawa.
What we do
PUBLIC EDUCATION:
- Prepare regular information bulletins, fact sheets, background papers, information kits and briefs on child care issues.
- Present workshops and speak at conferences across Canada.
- Develop proposals for government action.
- Partner in various initiatives which support the well-being of Canadian families, such as social justice campaigns related to poverty, women, education, and health.
POLITICAL ACTION:
- Organize CCAAC activities and work collaboratively with other pan-Canadian organizations to:
- raise the public profile of child care as a political issue; and
- promote broad support for our vision for child care.
- Initiate campaigns supporting a pan-Canadian child care system.
- Advocate specific solutions to child care issues and problems through briefs, submissions to federal government and lobbying of all major federal parties.
CURRENT ADVOCACY CAMPAIGN:
- WENEEDCHILDCARE.CA, a campaign that provides opportunities for your stories to be more broadly shared, in the hope that they will inspire action across the country to build quality, affordable, accessible and inclusive child care services.
FORMER CAMPAIGN:
- Code Blue for Child Care, a Canada-wide campaign to build a real pan-Canadian child care system.
CURRENT PROJECT:
- Child Care is a Right. In partnership with CCCABC (Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC), the CCAAC is proud to announce our new project “Child Care is a Right”. The child care movement began as a central issue of the women’s rights movement so it’s natural that we would return to our roots and begin to explore child care from a women’s, children and family rights position. Read more about the project »
RECENT PROJECTS:
- Making the Connections: Child Care Policy (CCP), a project that supports communities and the federal, provincial and territorial governments to better understand and analyze early learning and child care policy and investments.
- Building Women’s Equality in Child Care Policy (WEP), a project that advances equality for women by shaping federal child care policy to be sensitive to women’s economic, social and political concerns.
- Minding your P’s & Q’s: Pedagogy, Policy and Quality (Ps & Qs), a project that facilitates a national dialogue on curriculum issues in national policy making toward the establishment of a national curriculum policy framework.
For more information:
Visit our recources section which includes links to CCAAC research papers, public and government briefing documents, fact sheets, bulletins, and annual reports.