Legislation & Regulations

By law, children in Canada must go to school. Depending on the province or territory children must start at the age of 5 or 6 and continue until they are 16 (in most provinces) or until the completion of grade 12 or age 18 (New Brunswick and Ontario.)

Each province and territory has the right to exclusively make laws in relation to education under the Constitution Act, 1867. These separate education acts (legislation) outline regulations, guidelines and policies for the public school system within the province or territory. (See Section 2 for more information).

While there are many similarities among provincial and territorial education systems across Canada, there are significant differences in curricula, assessment and accountability practices in direct relation to the geography, history, language, culture and the specific needs of the populations of the province/territory.