Bill 12: An Act to establish the provision of educational childcare by recognized persons responsible for a community educational childcare service

The people most directly affected are home-based childcare providers in Quebec — typically self-employed women who care for small groups of children out of a residence or community space. Under this bill, providers who were operating under a pilot project now get a permanent recognition framework, capped at six children each (up to nine with an assistant), with clear rules about collaborating in pairs at the same location. Their day-to-day work — scheduling children, managing space, hiring assistants, signing leases — becomes subject to formal recognition requirements set by a coordinating office, and their status under Quebec's secularism law (Bill 21 obligations around religious symbols) is also addressed. The bill affects solo operators and small two-person teams, and size matters: solo providers are held to a six-child limit while pairs working together can collectively serve up to twelve children, each remaining independently responsible for their own six.