“Your child is number 247 on the waitlist.” When you have no daycare spot in Quebec, that is often how you find out — by email, on a Tuesday morning, between two meetings. You read it twice. You check the number. Then you close the tab, because there is nothing to reply.
This scene repeats every year in thousands of Quebec households, from Montreal to Rimouski. And the most common reaction is to wait: surely a spot will open. Sometimes it does. Often twelve or eighteen months later.
The real cost of waiting
While you wait, someone in the couple cuts back their hours. Moves to four days. Turns down a mandate, declines a promotion, shelves a project. Almost always the same person — and Quebec employment data on mothers of young children is unambiguous about who.
A decision presented as temporary regularly ends up costing more, over a career, than the solution nobody dared to look at.
This is not an argument against the public system. Quebec’s educational childcare services are among the most accessible in North America, and a subsidised spot remains an excellent option when you get one. The problem is not quality. It is the delay, and what you do during that delay.
Three options when there is no daycare spot in Quebec
They are not equivalent, and above all they do not answer the same timing constraints.
The local nanny — available within weeks
A caregiver already established in Quebec comes to your home on weekdays, without living in. No federal program, no work permit to obtain, no regional restriction: she is available across the entire province. She is the only one of the three who can be in place for the start of the school year.
She is also the best fit for irregular schedules — night shifts, operating rooms, trials, travel. Your child stays home, in a familiar environment, with the same person every day.
The European au pair — Greater Montreal and Laval
She lives with you for a set period under the International Experience Canada program, at between $20 and $25 an hour. She brings continuous presence and often a second language into the home. Lead time is intermediate: it depends on when the program opens its intake.
The international live-in caregiver — 8 to 9 months
She arrives through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, with a work permit in her name, and lives in your home. From $19 an hour, on a path that leads to permanent residence within two to four years — which means a caregiver who stays, often for several years.
Two caveats. The timeline is 8 to 9 months: this is a decision for next year, never for September. And eligibility depends on your region — families outside Greater Montreal, in Saguenay, Trois-Rivières, Sherbrooke, Gatineau or Drummondville, are fully eligible, while in Montreal, Laval and Brossard this stream is restricted when the local unemployment rate exceeds a certain threshold.
A medical exception can lift that restriction when someone in the household has a documented condition. It is assessed case by case, on documentation, and is never automatic.
How to decide without losing your summer to it
Three questions usually settle it.
- For when? If it is September, only the local nanny meets the calendar. If it is next year, everything opens up.
- Do you have a bedroom to offer? Without a private bedroom, the live-in arrangements are out, au pair included.
- Are your hours predictable? Fixed hours work well with home-based childcare. Hours that change every four weeks call for someone in your home.
Our page on the live-out nanny covers the first arrangement, the one on the live-in nanny program covers the international stream, and our article on after-school care addresses the specific case of the school year.
What it costs
The caregiver’s wage depends on the arrangement, her experience and the number of children. Our agency fees vary with the profile sought, the region and the urgency. We do not publish a single flat rate: two families with different needs do not pay the same thing, and advertising a fixed price would give a false impression.
The quote is free and itemized, with no commitment. Since 2004, more than 1,000 Quebec families have trusted us. The agency is led by a lawyer, a member of the Quebec Bar, and backed by an in-house legal team.
Sitting on a waitlist?
Twenty minutes on the phone is enough to know which of the three arrangements matches your deadline and your region.
Request a free quote or call us at (514) 344-0099, Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
