Nova Scotia is banning the practice of registration or wait-list fees for provincially licensed and funded early learning and child-care programs.
The move comes after Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Becky Druhan said in October the province was looking to eliminate the practice.
“We are transforming Nova Scotia’s child-care system and part of that transformation is ensuring we build family-centred practices,” Druhan said in a news release on Thursday.
“I am very happy to say these extra fees will no longer be something parents have to worry about.”
Daycare provider Kids & Company has come under fire for taking thousands of dollars from families and then not providing the spots families thought were guaranteed.
The fees will be banned under 2024-25 child-care operator funding agreements.
The updated agreements will also include a one-time grant to provincially licensed and funded child-care providers, and those delivering the Nova Scotia Before and After Program, to offset rising costs.
These grants total $9.7 million.
The new operator funding agreements, funded in part by the federal cost-sharing Canada–Nova Scotia Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement, will take effect on April 1.
“I want to commend Nova Scotia for its incredible work on improving access to high-quality regulated child care in the province by supporting its early learning and child-care workforce and regulated child-care providers, and by making wait-list and registration fees a thing of the past for parents,” Jenna Sudds, federal Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, said in a news release.
The agreements also include:
- additional funding to reflect minimum wage increases for entry-level, non-early-childhood-educator staff;
- increased funding for ECE wage increases, group benefits and a defined benefits pension plan for staff in provincially licensed and funded child care, which was announced in December 2023;
- a requirement for operators to have property insurance.
