On May 4, 2025, B2C2 Chair Susan Colley gave a presentation at the Summer Institute focused on pay equity for Ontario’s early learning and child care workforce. She highlighted the ongoing challenge of low wages in the sector and pointed to the Pay Equity Act as a tool that could support better compensation for staff.

The Pay Equity Act is based on the principle that women and men should receive equal pay for work of equal value. In Ontario, the Act applies to all public and private sector employers with 10 or more employees. It requires these employers to establish and maintain pay equity plans.

The Act also recognizes that women tend to work in different jobs than men, and these jobs have often been undervalued and underpaid. The goal of the legislation is to identify and correct these wage gaps. One of the key provisions in the Act is Section 7, which requires employers “to establish and maintain” pay equity.

There are three approved comparison methods in the Act for creating pay equity plans, depending on the availability of male-dominated job classes. In most cases, child care programs use what is called the Proxy Comparison Method.

This is because child care centres, like many other transfer payment organizations, don’t have enough male-dominated job classes for comparison. Under Regulation 396/93, centres can use wage rates from municipal child care staff as the “deemed male comparator.” This applies to a wide range of services such as daycare centres, private home daycare agencies, early childhood education facilities, long-term care homes, community health clinics, and others.

To qualify, the proxy establishment must be in the same geographic division, or if none is available, the one closest in distance. The regulation helps ensure there is a consistent and fair comparison for organizations trying to meet their legal obligations.

What Happened in the Past?

In 2003, the Ontario Government reached a mediated Charter Challenge settlement that provided $414 million over three years to support pay equity in public sector workplaces. About 100,000 women received funding, including many child care staff. Centres created pay equity plans, signed agreements, and received payments from the province.

However, by the mid-2010s, this funding began to run out. Many centres finalized agreements with their unions and considered pay equity achieved. After that, there were few new efforts to maintain equity. Without public funding, centres couldn’t afford to keep up the payments. Parent fees were already high, and there was no room to raise them further. As a result, wages in the sector began to fall behind again.

With the introduction of the CWELCC system, things changed. Child care became a publicly funded service, and the province froze parent fees. In 2025, cost-based funding was introduced. This means the government provides funding based on the actual costs of operating high-quality child care programs for eligible children. Parent fees of $22/day are deducted as an offset, but providers are no longer dependent on those fees to cover costs like staffing.

This new structure makes it possible to revisit pay equity. Centres cannot raise fees to pay for equity, and now they shouldn’t need to. The public funding model can cover the cost if it’s built into the formula.

Why Now?

Staffing shortages are one of the most significant challenges facing the child care sector. Wages remain too low to recruit and retain qualified Registered Early Childhood Educators (RECEs). The number of qualified staff is declining, not growing. Without action, centres will continue to close rooms and struggle to meet demand. Growth is not happening as long as staff are not available.

Pay equity offers one solution. It is not a new program or grant. It is a legal obligation and a human right under Ontario law.

To support this work, a coalition has come together including the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care, the Association of Early Childhood Educators of Ontario, and the Ontario Equal Pay Coalition, with support from the Atkinson Foundation.

They are calling the initiative “Pay Equity: 5 Wins for Child Care”, highlighting the broad benefits of equitable wages:

• A WIN for quality and the children
• A WIN for all child care staff
• A WIN for operators
• A WIN for the service system managers (SSMs)
• A WIN for the economy through increased tax revenues

All five could be won through pay equity.  Stay tuned for next steps…..