For over 20 years, People for Education (PFE) has been tracking policy changes and funding changes in Ontario’s publicly funded schools. Now, in partnership with the Maytree Foundation, PFE, is working with key stakeholders to articulate what a quality education consists of in Canada and how to ensure all students can fulfill their right to education in Canada. 

The COVID-19 crisis has exposed and exacerbated inequities worldwide. The United Nations recently released a policy brief warning that the combination of worldwide economic impacts and school closures could turn the current learning crisis into a “generational catastrophe” (United Nations, 2020). To prevent this, governments and stakeholders around the world need to ensure all students have access to a quality education, and to do that, education systems must be grounded in the right to education. 

Within Canada over 5.6 million students are enrolled in K-12 education, with 92% attending a publicly funded institution (Statistics Canada, 2019). While data demonstrates that access to education is almost universal in Canada, data also reveals persistent inequities for specific student communities related to the quality of education they receive: for ex. Persistent lower rates of student achievement for Indigenous and Black students, over-representation of Black students being expelled, and lower rates of funding for on-reserve schools (Brown, Gallagher-Mackay & Parekh, 2020; People for Education & The Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 2020). 

This Right to Education framework will measure Canada’s progress in achieving the right to a quality education for all students in publicly-funded schools. 

United Nations. (2020). Policy brief: Education during COVID-19 and beyond. https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/sg_policy_brief_covid-19_and_e...

Statistics Canada. (2019). Elementary–secondary education survey for Canada, the provinces and territories, 2017/2018. Government of Canada. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/191024/dq191024b-eng.htm 

Brown, R. S., Gallagher-Mackay, K., & Parekh, G. (2020). Redefining risk: Human rights and elementary school factors predicting post-secondary access. education policy analysis archives, 28, 21. https://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/view/4200 

People for Education & The Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. (2020). List of Issues for Canada’s 2020 United Nations CESCR Review. [Submission to 66th Pre-Sessional Working Group]. Retrieved August 1, 2020 from UN Treaty Body Database: https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.asp...

Schedule: Friday, November 20 from 12 to 2 PM (Atlantic Standard Time)

Delivery Method: Remotely, by virtual room

Cost: Free

Speaker: Elyse Watkins

Elyse Watkins is the Policy and Research Manager at People for Education. She has dedicated much of her professional life to working with both national and provincial governing bodies to enhance public education. Her research interests include policy advocacy, skill development, the right to education and equity. She earned her Master’s Degree in International Education Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) and hold a Bachelor of Health Sciences (Honours) from McMaster University. Elyse is currently pursuing my Doctorate of Education (EdD) in International Educational Leadership and Policy at the University of Toronto.

Asia Kotasinska is an educator and researcher at People for Education. She completed her Masters of Teaching at OISE at the University of Toronto and also studied French translation. Her research interests include language rights, Indigenous language revitalization and language immersion programs.