Financial Support for Educational Childcare Services (ECS)

The Quebec government offers financial support to Educational Childcare Services that recruit educators internationally.

Take note: Applications for financial assistance must be submitted before April 1, 2025.

This financial aid is intended to facilitate the following:

Temporary hiring of an early childhood staff member from abroad (EIMT reimbursed at 75%).
Participation in a Journées Québec activity (up to 50% reimbursed).

What are the Journées Québec?

Journées Québec is an initiative of the Ministère de l’Immigration, de la Francisation et de l’Intégration (MIFI) and aims to recruit workers abroad in multiple industries.

The Journées Québec can take place in person in different countries or virtually.

To learn more about Journées Québec as a potential recruiter, visit this page from the Gouvernement du Québec.

Assistance amounts
These new grants reimburse SGEE:
50% of registration for a virtual Journées Québec [1]
35% of registration for an in-person Journées Québec [2]
75% of the cost of a labor market impact assessment (EIMT) for the hiring of a temporary foreign worker[3].

[1] Virtual: a maximum reimbursement of 50% per activity for an annual maximum of one activity per permit holder
[2] In-person: maximum reimbursement of 35% per activity, up to an annual maximum of $4,000 per permit holder.
[3] For a maximum of five new foreign workers per year.
Eligibility requirements
You must hold a permit for one of the following:
a childcare centre (CPE)
a childcare service (SG)
a non-subsidized childcare centre (GNS).

Visit the Ministry's website

Testimonials

Isabelle Simard, executive director of CPE La Croisée, and Caroline Comtois, owner of four subsidized childcare centres on the outskirts of Québec City, took part in the latest Journées Québec TUNISIA with Québec International. In this short video, they tell you how their experience went.

Isabelle Simard

Executive Director of CPE La Croisée

“We took part in Journées Québec TUNISIA. It went really well! We felt supported throughout the process, because for a CPE, it’s completely new to recruit internationally. [...] Our level of involvement has been minimal in the sense that everything is organized for us.”
“Honestly, it’s a great experience [...] that’s been both professionally and personally rewarding. [You should] trust the organizations that are there to help you, and go. It comes down to the quality of our services.”
Caroline Comtois

Owner of four subsidized childcare centres

“We received about 1,500 résumés, which is quite different from what we are experiencing in Quebec right now. [...] We spent two days meeting thirty-eight people – qualified candidates.”
“I would tell another childcare centre that wants to get into recruiting internationally to plan for their workforce needs in the medium to long term, because it still takes six to twelve months to bring them in. But it’s worth it because it’s all qualified labour.”