Step 1
See your pathway
Answer a few questions — province, home or centre, how you’ll run it — and get the exact licence category, steps, and funding you qualify for. Every rule is verified, province by province, with the date we last checked it.
How it works
Step 2
Get licensed and funded
Work a checklist built for your jurisdiction: home readiness, inspections, documents in one vault, and guided enrollment into $10-a-day operating funding. Grant deadlines are tracked so nothing slips.
Step 3
Run your days
Enrollment, attendance with live ratio checks, daily reports to parents, billing that splits what government covers from what families owe — and parents pay online, straight to your bank.
Who daycair is for
Providers & early childhood educators
Whether you’re an ECE ready to run your own program, a parent turning your home into a licensed family child care, or an operator opening a centre — daycair is your licensing guide, funding navigator, and back office, free.
What daycair does for providers →Parents & families
If your child’s provider uses daycair, you get their day in your pocket — daily reports and photos, clear invoices that show what government funding covers, secure online payment, and year-end receipts for your taxes.
What daycair does for parents →Built for Canada’s child care shortage
Families wait years for spaces while people who’d love to provide care get stopped by licensing paperwork, funding mazes, and municipal fine print. daycair exists to create more spaces — so the whole playbook, for every province and territory, is free.
Free for providers. daycair is a Canadian not-for-profit — no subscription, no cut of your fees.
All 13 provinces and territories, with municipal permitting rules verified city by city.
Home-based or full centre — both are first-class, from licence category to funding.
Parents pay by bank debit or card through Stripe. Money lands in your account; we never hold it.
Common questions
What is daycair?
daycair is a free platform from a Canadian not-for-profit that helps you open and run a licensed child care — in your own home or as a full centre. It gives you the licensing steps, funding programs, and day-to-day tools (enrollment, attendance, billing, parent reports) for your specific province or territory.
How much does daycair cost?
Nothing. daycair is free for child care providers — no subscription and no cut of your fees, because our mission is more child care spaces in Canada, not profit. If parents pay you online, the payment processor’s standard transaction fee applies (about 1% for bank debit); daycair adds nothing on top.
Can I run a daycare from my home?
Yes — every Canadian province and territory licenses home-based child care, typically for around four to eight children depending on where you live and the ages in your care. daycair shows you the exact licence category, capacity, and requirements for your province, plus your city’s zoning and permit rules.
How do I get $10-a-day child care funding as a provider?
The federal $10-a-day program (CWELCC) flows through each province’s own funding system — for example CCFRI and CCOF in British Columbia, or agency-routed funding in Ontario. daycair tells you which programs you qualify for, walks you through enrollment step by step, and then reconciles what government pays against what parents owe.
Which provinces does daycair cover?
All of them. daycair covers every Canadian province and territory — licence categories, facility rules, funding programs, and municipal permitting for more than 120 cities — and every rule shows the date it was last verified against official sources.
How do parents pay through daycair?
Parents see exactly their share of each invoice — after government funding is applied — and can pay online by pre-authorized bank debit or card, processed securely by Stripe and deposited directly to the provider’s bank account. Providers can also record cash, cheque, or e-Transfer payments at no cost.