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Country guide

Canada

Canada is the opposite of most markets on this site: the question is not which international school to buy, but whether you need to buy one at all. A strong public system is free to most work-permit families — provincially, not nationally — and the independent-school tier exists mostly for programme, class size and tradition rather than as the only English option.

The landscape

Thirteen systems, not one

There is no Canadian school system. K-12 education is provincial jurisdiction — there is no federal ministry — so the entitlement rules a relocating family cares about are written in Toronto, Victoria and Quebec City, not Ottawa. The good news: the two provinces most expats land in are explicit and generous. Ontario’s Education Act (s.49(7)) prohibits boards from charging fees to children whose parent holds a work permit, and Policy/Program Memorandum 136 bars any board from refusing admission because a child or parent lacks immigration status. BC’s School Act (s.82) delivers free schooling to every child “ordinarily resident” in the province, with funded status for children of guardians holding a one-year-plus work permit and employment of at least 20 hours a week. ↗ ↗

The private tier is a choice, not a necessity. Unlike the Gulf or Singapore, where foreign children are shut out of state schools, Canada’s independents compete against a free public alternative — and against each other on programme and class size rather than access. The sector’s national filter is CAIS (Canadian Accredited Independent Schools) accreditation; nearly every name a relocating family will be quoted — UCC, Havergal, Branksome Hall, St. George’s, Crofton House, Mulgrave — holds it. In BC the independents are partly publicly funded: Group 1 schools receive 50 per cent and Group 2 schools 35 per cent of the local per-student operating grant for eligible students, which is why several charge non-qualifying families a make-up surcharge. ↗

The benchmark for what “free” is worth: families who do not qualify for funded status pay board-run international student fees — the Vancouver School Board charged $17,000 tuition plus $400 application and $1,400 medical insurance for 2025-26. That is the market price of the public seat a work permit otherwise delivers at no cost. ↗

The city directory

City guides live now

City guide · CanadaTorontoThe entitlement paperwork, TDSB catchments and French immersion windows, the Catholic layer, free public IB, and the CAIS tier from UTS to Appleby with verified 2026-27 fees.City guide · CanadaVancouverBC’s ordinarily-resident test, VSB lotteries and choice programs, West Vancouver’s public outperformance, the Group 1/2 grant quirk, and St. George’s to Mulgrave fees.

The fee reality

What the independent tier costs, in CAD

  • Toronto ceiling (2026-27, first-party): Upper Canada College $44,940-48,720 day plus a $10,000 registration fee; Branksome Hall $45,140-49,210; Havergal College $45,670; Crescent School $46,270 all-grades. Boarding roughly doubles the bill — Appleby College’s international boarding is $96,010. ↗
  • Vancouver tier (2026-27, first-party): St. George’s $37,300-37,400 day (residents) with a $7,500 entrance levy; Crofton House $35,300 plus $5,000 entrance; Mulgrave $30,290-34,180 plus a $25,000 refundable family deposit; Collingwood $30,075-32,750. The outlier: Vancouver College at $10,100, an order of magnitude below, reflecting its Catholic-school funding model. ↗
  • The BC clawback: because the province funds independents per eligible student, non-qualifying families pay it back — Crofton House charges a $5,000 “Independent School Grant Fee” and West Point Grey Academy a $4,500 annual surcharge for non-BC-resident students (2026-27). Ask every BC school how it treats your status. ↗
  • Selective-entry exception: University of Toronto Schools charges $40,400 plus a $9,500 enrolment fee (2026-27) and admits by competitive exam — and only Canadian citizens, PRs and children of work-permit holders; it does not take study-permit international students. ↗

The rules that matter

Your province writes your entitlement

Work permit in hand? Public school is free — but read the provincial test. Ontario’s is the simplest: a parent’s work permit (or a pending application) makes the child fee-exempt, full stop. BC’s adds conditions: the permit must run a year or more with employment of at least 20 hours a week, and the VSB asks for an employment letter to prove it. Alberta funds resident students and makes study-visa children replace the subsidy. Confirm your province’s rule before you budget. ↗

Quebec is the exception to everything. Access to government-funded English schooling requires a certificate of eligibility under the Charter of the French Language; newcomers on temporary status are generally routed to French schools. The escape hatch is the unsubsidised independent sector: Selwyn House dropped provincial grants in 2021 precisely so the certificate would no longer be required at any grade, and Lower Canada College likewise admits without it. Montreal families choose a school by choosing a language stream first. ↗

Catchment is destiny in the public system. Both hub boards assign schools by home address; popular programs — French immersion in Toronto and Vancouver, public IB at five TDSB secondaries — run on application windows and lotteries, not money. The Toronto and Vancouver guides map the deadlines; the address you sign a lease on decides which queue you are in.

Beyond the hubs

Ottawa, Calgary, Montreal

Ottawa prices below Toronto. Ashbury College — the capital’s IB boarding-and-day school — lists $40,920 day tuition for 2026-27 (boarding around $80,670 on its 2024-25 handbook), and Elmwood School tops out at $37,650. The diplomatic community keeps demand steady but the ceiling sits under the Toronto band. ↗

Calgary is the value market. Webber Academy’s 2025-26 tuition runs $20,000 (JK) to $24,500 (Grades 10-12) plus a $5,000 non-resident surcharge and a refundable $6,000 enrolment bond; Calgary Academy lists $18,400-22,990 for 2026-27; Strathcona-Tweedsmuir, Alberta’s only full IB continuum independent school, is listed at $17,003-24,484. Alberta’s subsidy structure means international students on study visas pay the full cost — ask each school how it handles work-permit families. ↗

Montreal runs on two tracks. The French public system is the default for newcomers; the English independent cluster — Selwyn House (boys, ~550 students, French immersion in the early years) and Lower Canada College (co-ed, pre-university programme feeding CEGEP or Grade 12) — sits outside the certificate regime by foregoing grants. The French-system international option is real too: the Lycée Louis Pasteur operates in Calgary, and Montreal’s AEFE lycée serves the French-corporate stream. Fee schedules for the Montreal independents are set each spring — confirm the current year directly. ↗

Sources

Where the numbers on this page come from

Every figure above traces to our research dossier. Primary sources: Ontario’s PPM 136, BC’s funding-eligibility rules, first-party 2026-27 fee schedules from UCC, Branksome Hall, Havergal, St. George’s, Crofton House and Mulgrave, the VSB international fee schedule, and school handbooks from Calgary and Ottawa. Where a fee page omits its academic year or a school publishes no schedule, we say so and grade accordingly.

Fees and policies expire. This page was researched on 2 September 2026 and is re-verified each academic year — see our research standard, browse the school directory as profiles open, and use corrections if you spot something stale.

Coverage priorities

What we investigate here

01

The provincial rulebook: no federal ministry — Ontario’s Education Act s.49(7) and BC’s School Act s.82 both deliver free public schooling to work-permit families, on different tests.

02

The public-vs-private spine: when the TDSB or VSB catchment school is the right answer, and when the CAIS independent tier earns its $30,000-49,000.

03

The fee reality: verified 2026-27 CAD schedules from UCC, Branksome Hall and Havergal to St. George’s and Crofton House, plus BC’s grant-clawback surcharges.

04

Quebec’s exception: the certificate-of-eligibility regime and the Montreal schools that dropped provincial grants to escape it.

05

Beyond the hubs: Ottawa (Ashbury, Elmwood), Calgary (Webber, Strathcona-Tweedsmuir) and Montreal (Selwyn House, LCC).

Recently researched

Toronto city guide

The entitlement paperwork, TDSB catchments and French immersion windows, the Catholic layer, and the CAIS tier from UTS to Appleby with real 2026-27 fees.

Read the Toronto city guide →

Common questions

What families ask about Canada

Is public school in Canada really free for expat children?

In the two provinces most relocating families land in, yes — and it is statutory, not discretionary. Ontario’s Education Act (s.49(7)) prohibits school boards from charging fees to children of work-permit holders, and PPM 136 bars boards from refusing admission for lack of immigration status. BC’s School Act (s.82) gives every “ordinarily resident” school-age child free schooling, with funded status for children of guardians holding a work permit of one year or more with employment of at least 20 hours a week. The entitlement is provincial, so verify your own province — Alberta, for example, makes study-visa students replace the subsidy.

Public or private — how do families actually decide in Canada?

Unlike the Gulf or Singapore, where foreign children are shut out of state schools, Canada’s independents compete against a free public alternative. The public system wins by default when the catchment school is strong — and both Toronto and Vancouver run application-window programs (French immersion, public IB at five TDSB secondaries) inside it. The CAIS-accredited independent tier earns its fees on programme, class size and tradition rather than access: UCC, Havergal, Branksome Hall, St. George’s, Crofton House, Mulgrave and peers all hold CAIS accreditation.

What do Canada’s top independent schools cost?

Verified 2026-27 first-party schedules: the Toronto ceiling runs $44,940-49,530 a year for day tuition (UCC $44,940-48,720 plus a $10,000 registration fee; Branksome Hall $45,140-49,210; Havergal $45,670; Crescent $46,270); Vancouver’s tier sits lower (St. George’s $37,300-37,400; Crofton House $35,300; Mulgrave $30,290-34,180). Boarding roughly doubles the bill — Appleby College international boarding is $96,010, St. George’s $105,200. Smaller cities price below: Ashbury in Ottawa lists $40,920 day, and Calgary’s Webber Academy runs $20,000-24,500.

Why do some BC private schools charge expat families extra?

Because British Columbia publicly funds independent schools. Group 1 schools receive 50 per cent and Group 2 schools 35 per cent of the local district’s per-student operating grant — but only for students who meet the province’s residency and status rules. Several schools claw the shortfall back from non-qualifying families: Crofton House charges a $5,000 “Independent School Grant Fee” (2026-27) and West Point Grey Academy charges non-BC-resident students $4,500 a year. Ask every BC school how it treats your family’s status before comparing headline fees.

Can my child attend English-language school in Montreal?

Not automatically. Quebec’s Charter of the French Language restricts government-funded English schooling to children holding a certificate of eligibility; newcomers on temporary status are generally routed into the French public system. The established workaround is the unsubsidised independent sector: Selwyn House dropped its provincial grants in 2021 precisely so the certificate is no longer required at any grade, and Lower Canada College likewise admits without it. Montreal families choose a language stream first and a school second.

We are posted to Calgary or Ottawa, not Toronto — what changes?

Prices drop sharply and the public option stays free on the same provincial rules. Ottawa’s independent tier tops out around Ashbury College’s $40,920 day tuition (2026-27) and Elmwood’s $37,650 ceiling. Calgary is the value market: Webber Academy runs $20,000 (JK) to $24,500 (Grades 10-12) plus a $5,000 non-resident surcharge, Calgary Academy lists $18,400-22,990, and Strathcona-Tweedsmuir — Alberta’s only full IB continuum independent school — is listed at $17,003-24,484. Note Alberta’s quirk: students on study visas pay the full cost of education, so confirm how each school treats work-permit families.

Continue your research

Choose the question that comes next

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