Action Day Care

Action Day Care was founded in 1979 as an Ontario community organization of parents, teachers, day care workers, and feminist and union representatives. Action Day Care organized for every child’s right to free and universal quality day care. Initially focused on Ontario politics, the organization later expanded its focus to the federal level. By the end of the 1980s, Action Day Care merged into the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care and the Canadian Day Care Advocacy Association.

More about Action Day Care

Action Day Care (ADC) was founded in 1979 as an organization of parents, teachers, day care workers, representatives from community organizations, women’s organizations, and trade unions. It believed that every child had the right to quality day care – paid for by the government – and that day care must become a universal service – although not compulsory – under provincial responsibility.

ADC members initially united to fight cutbacks, which evolved into calling for day care to become a universal service, like the school system (although not compulsory). In 1980, ADC identified that Ontario needed 275,000 full and part-time day care spaces, paid for by the province. ADC also argued that day care should be a provincial rather than a municipal responsibility, because of the scope of the costs. ADC maintained that day care should be community-centered, and a right for the many, not a welfare program doled out to the few who could prove “need”.

ADC started out organizing in Ontario and the local municipalities. By the end of the 1980’s, it had expanded its mandate into the federal arena. It developed a platform that stated that the following:

The Ontario Government must acknowledge the right of every child in Ontario to quality accessible day care and commit itself to provide and pay for that care within ten years. This means an expansion of approximately 16,000 spaces per year. The current ratio of group to home day care spaces should be maintained; and
In order to meet this goal, Ontario will need over 300 new day care centres per year. Even with the use of existing facilities or the transformation of school premises freed up by declining enrolment, the Ontario government will have to provide a large amount of capital funding to build new spaces.

Action Day Care actively responded to government policy initiatives, budgets, throne speeches, reports, and task forces. It also worked with its members to make day care an election issue during municipal and provincial elections. For most of the 80s, it was able to secure employment-initiative funding from the federal government, as well as conduct its own fundraising, which included the popular “Annual Run for Day Care”.

By the end of the 1980’s, Action Day Care had merged into the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care and the Canadian Day Care Advocacy Association.