Ontario. Day Nurseries Branch

• Day Nurseries Branch

• Ontario. Day Nursery Branch

• Ontario. Day Care Branch

• Ontario. Day Nursery Unit

The Day Nurseries Branch was established within the Ontario Department of Public Welfare on July 1, 1942 to help women employed in essential industries during the second World War.

The branch was initially known as the Day Nursery Branch (1942- 1945) and was administered by the Children’s Aid Branch. Costs for its operation were shared by the Ontario government and the Canadian federal government. In 1946, the passing of the Day Nurseries Act superseded the Dominion- Provincial Agreement on funding and federal financial assistance was discontinued. Under the new arrangement, the provincial government of Ontario subsidized half the cost of day care facilities and assumed all licensing functions for nurseries.

The branch reported to the Deputy Minister for most of the period between 1942 and 1971 although from 1944-1951 it was under the Child Welfare Division and from 1968-1969 it formed part of the Programs Division. In 1971, nurseries tending mentally challenged children became eligible for the same funding as other facilities and in the same year, the branch was moved into the Children’s Services Division. Although the branch was formally termed a unit within the Children’s Services Bureau between 1973 and 1975 (the Day Nursery Unit), the agency clearly maintained its distinct functions during this experimental organizational period. The Day Nurseries Branch proper re-emerged in 1975 under the Social Services Division as the Day Care Branch. In 1977 the branch was transferred to the reconstituted Children’s Services Division, resuming its Day Nurseries Branch name.

The functions performed by the Day Nurseries Branch were assumed by the ministry’s area offices in 1979 and the branch was dissolved.

The Day Nurseries Branch licensed day care facilities in Ontario and supervised, inspected, and maintained standards in these (as well as in a small number of unlicensed facilities). The facilities supervised by this branch included nurseries for handicapped children and for native children. Lastly, the branch administered subsidies to enable parents of low economic means to attend work.

RAD: Rules for Archival Description, 2nd edn (2008)

2026-11-16: migrated to AtoM

Department of Public Welfare Annual Reports, 1940-1967; Department of Social and Family Services Annual Reports, 1967- 1972; Ministry of Community and Social Services Annual Reports, 1972-1979.

Archivist(s):
Bill Hughey