Advocacy Update: Finance Canada Meeting Update
Overview
In late July, the Canadian Camps Association held a follow-up meeting with senior officials at Finance Canada, including the Director of Policy and a Senior Policy Advisor. This session marked our second major engagement with Finance Canada to address a long-standing inequality in Canada's tax code: the treatment of overnight camp expenses under the Child Care Expense Deduction (CCED).
Our goal is to ensure families attending accredited overnight camps receive equitable tax support, reflecting the reality that overnight camps provide essential, 24-hour childcare that enables parents to work, travel, and remain productive during the summer months.
The Issue: An Outdated Tax Cap
Under current Canada Revenue Agency rules (Form T778), day camps and day care costs can be claimed up to standard annual limits. However, overnight camps are capped at a legacy rate of just $125 per week.
This rule penalizes the 650,000 Canadian children and families who choose overnight camp every year. While overnight camps provide 24-hour care, the tax code treats them as if they offer less value than an 8-hour day camp.
The Proposal We Presented
During our meeting, the CCA presented a model designed to bring fairness to Canadian parents:
Eliminate the $125/week cap for at least the foundational first week of accredited overnight camp.
Allow families to claim actual costs up to the national average of $1,200 for overnight camp care.
Deliver direct tax savings of approximately $220 per child for middle-class families.
This change acknowledges that overnight camp is an essential form of childcare that supports workforce participation while providing children with vital life skills, independence, and emotional growth.
Feedback from Finance Canada
Tax legislation is notoriously difficult to change, but the response from Finance Canada staff was encouraging:
High Feasibility: Officials noted that if our proposal were unfeasible or unrealistic, they would have told us directly and closed the file. Instead, they expressed gratitude for the depth of our work and requested ongoing discussions.
Recognition of Impact: Staff were receptive to the framing of overnight camp as 24-hour childcare and appreciated the economic and workforce enablement arguments we brought to the table.
Data Request: Finance Canada asked the CCA to provide further data modeling to explore different implementation scenarios and measure the full impact across Canadian households.
What Comes Next
The CCA is moving forward with gathering additional industry data and refining fiscal models to present to Finance Canada in our next working session.
This progress illustrates the fundamental reason why the Canadian Camps Association exists: to fight for policies that keep camping accessible, affordable, and sustainable across Canada. Achieving long-term policy change requires real data, and we urge all member camps to continue participating in CCA surveys and advocacy initiatives.
If you wish to support the CCA's ongoing federal advocacy work, you can donate here: https://www.ccamping.org/donate