Schools and daycare in Canada: enrolling your French children

Public school is free in every province, but school in French is not a given. Outside Quebec, the Constitution reserves the right to French-language schooling for parents who are Canadian citizens: a French child gets in through an admission process run by the school board (the local education authority, a bit like a French rectorat), not as of right. Quebec is the reverse: school is in French, and English school is only open to temporary workers’ children with authorization, for 3 years at most.

What follows is for French families settling with a work permit, a study permit or permanent residence. Other family topics (parental leave, children’s health) are on the schools and family page.

Can your children go to school in French outside Quebec?

Yes, usually, but not automatically. Section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees French-language schooling to the children of “rights holders”: parents who are Canadian citizens and whose first language learned was French, who were schooled in French in Canada, or who already have a child who was. So a French parent without Canadian citizenship isn’t a rights holder, even if French is the only language they speak.

In France, nobody asks your nationality to enrol a child at the local school. In Canada, they will if you want a French-language school outside Quebec, and each province handles non-citizens its own way:

• Ontario: parents who aren’t rights holders apply to an admission committee (section 293 of the Education Act)Source: csdcab.ca, made up of board management, the school principal and a teacher; the elected board decides. The province’s policy is specifically meant to make it easier for French-speaking newcomers to get in.
• British Columbia: the Conseil scolaire francophone (CSF) admits the children of an immigrant parent who would be a rights holder if they were a Canadian citizen, which is the case for a French parent whose mother tongue is French.
• Alberta and other provinces: each French-language school board has its own admission policy for non-rights holders, so ask for it before you sign a lease.

Each school serves a catchment area, so your address decides the school, just like the carte scolaire in France. Check where the French-language schools are before you start looking for an apartment, with the guide to renting a home in Canada.

French-language school or French immersion: what’s the difference?

Outside Quebec, there are two options, and people often mix them up. A French-language school teaches in French for French-speaking children, with a curriculum designed for them. French immersion is a program in English-language schools for children whose first language isn’t French: part of the teaching is in French, and it’s open to everyone, whatever their nationality.

For a child arriving from France, a French-language school is the natural choice. Immersion is the fallback if admission is refused or the nearest French-language school is too far: plenty of French-speaking children do perfectly well there, even if the French is below their level.

In Quebec, school in French or in English?

For most French families, the question doesn’t even come up: Quebec’s schools take your children in French without any language paperwork. The Charter of the French Language (“Bill 101”) requires almost every child to go to French school, and public English school is mostly reserved for children with a Canadian-citizen parent who did their elementary schooling in English in Canada.

For families who are only passing through, there is a temporary authorization: the child of a parent staying in Quebec to work or study can attend English school for 3 years at mostSource: Québec.ca, renewable only in some cases. You apply through the school you want, which sends your application to the Ministry of Education; a refusal can be challenged before the Tribunal administratif du Québec within 60 days.

If you become a permanent resident, the temporary authorization doesn’t turn into a right: your child moves to French school.

For a child coming from France, only the vocabulary, grading and school calendar change. A child who doesn’t speak enough French starts in a welcoming class (classe d’accueil), where they learn French before joining a regular class. You enrol with your neighbourhood’s school service centre, Quebec’s name for a school board.

How and when can you enrol a child, even mid-year?

Public schools enrol all year round: a child who arrives in February is taken in, usually within a week of applying. Nobody will ask for the equivalent of a certificat de radiation (the French school-leaving certificate), but French report cards help place your child in the right grade.

Add these documents to your moving checklist: a multilingual birth certificate (extrait plurilingue) is easy to get in France, much less so from Toronto.

French lycées: what does the AEFE network cost in Canada?

If you want your children to stay in the French curriculum, say because you plan to go back in two or three years and want them to slot straight back into school, there are schools accredited by the French ministry and linked to the AEFE (the agency for French schools abroad) in the big cities, including Montreal, Quebec City, Ottawa, Toronto and Calgary. In Quebec, they’re private schools that teach in French, so Bill 101 puts nothing in the way. All of them charge tuition, and the price is a shock: at the Lycée Claudel in Ottawa, 2026–2027 fees run from about C$16,100 a year in elementary to C$17,700 in high school, plus registration fees and a C$2,000 investment fund per family.

To bring the bill down, French families can apply for a means-tested AEFE school bursary through the French consulate. There’s only one application round a year, so contact the consulate before you commit to the school.

Daycare: what do you pay in Quebec and elsewhere?

In Quebec, a subsidized daycare place (at a CPE, a centre de la petite enfance, or at a subsidized private daycare) costs C$9.65 a day in 2026Source: Québec.ca, a rate indexed every January 1. Places go through a single waiting list, La Place 0-5, so register your child as early as you can. In the meantime, unsubsidized daycares cost more, but part of the fees comes back through a Quebec tax credit.

Elsewhere, Ottawa has been funding agreements since 2021 to bring the average price down to C$10 a day. Only part of the country has got there: by summer 2025, six provinces and territories had reached it, including Manitoba, while Ontario still capped fees at C$22 a day on the way to C$12, and Alberta had set a flat fee of C$326.25 a month.

If you’re still torn between two provinces, put a number on daycare: C$9.65 a day instead of C$22 is a gap of about C$3,000 a year for a child in full-time care. Weigh it against the rest of your budget in the guide to choosing a province in Canada.

What family benefits can you get in Canada?

The Canada Child Benefit (CCB) is Canada’s counterpart to French allocations familiales. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRACanada Revenue AgencyThe federal tax authority, the equivalent of France’s Direction générale des Finances publiques.) pays it monthly, and it’s tax-free. A permanent resident qualifies as soon as they settle; a temporary resident only after 18 months in Canada, with a permit still valid in the 19th monthSource: CRA. You apply with form RC66, and you have to send the CRA a copy of each renewed permit, or the payments can stop.

The amount goes down as family income goes up. From July 2026 to June 2027, it can reach:

• C$8,157 a year for a child under 6Source: CRA;
• C$6,883 a year for a child aged 6 to 17.

In Quebec, Retraite Québec also pays its own family allowance on top of the CCB.