We’re delighted to be announcing our very first annual National Toonies for Tuition Day on April 30, 2024! 

Will you join us? 

The decision to celebrate an annual Toonies Day was made in February during our CCSTA Board Meeting in Ottawa. After recurring discussions surrounding the need to grow and expand the Toonies campaign nationally, it was decided that we would dedicate one day of the year specifically to Toonies for Tuition. 

Our hope is that initiating a National Toonies for Tuition Day will:

✔ increase Toonies awareness and fundraising
✔ simplify and streamline fundraising efforts for schools, parishes and individuals 
✔ strengthen the sense of unity in our cross-Canada mission

Year after year, we see the significant gap between funds requested and funds available for Canadian families wanting to choose a Catholic education. 

As noted below, our 2023 requests for funding totaled $315,000 while the total amount we raised was just over one third of that amount. Our goal is to close that gap so that no child will be left out of a Catholic school – regardless of where they live in Canada.

Awareness: What is Toonies for Tuition? 

In 2005, CCSTA established a charitable foundation to assist students in Catholic schools with their tuition costs in provinces with limited or no public funding. During its 2006 AGM in St. John’s, NL, CCSTA members envisaged the Toonies for Tuition campaign as the official fundraiser for the Charitable Foundation.

Full public funding for Catholic schools only exists in Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories and Yukon. Partial funding (approximately 50%) occurs in Manitoba and British Columbia. Meanwhile, Catholic schools located in Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Nunavut receive no government funding. Operating a school costs money, and in many places in Canada, local tuition donations and fundraising are the only financial source. Toonies for Tuition assists to help alleviate these costs.

April 30th: The Feast of St. Marie of the Incarnation

It was decided that Toonies Day would be celebrated on the feast day of St. Marie of the Incarnation to honour her legacy in Canadian Catholic education and ask for her intercession of our collective fundraising efforts. 

St. Marie, a native of France, joined the monastery of the Ursaline of Tours in 1631. Several years later, inspired by the Jesuit missionaries in Canada, St. Marie traveled from her home country to Canada where she felt called to educate French and Indigenous girls in Quebec.

She landed in 1639 and later, recalling her initial arrival in Quebec, “the New France”, recounted, “The first thing we did was to kiss the ground of the place to which we had come to fulfill our lives in the service of God and the Indigenous people.”

She went on to found an Ursuline convent in Quebec and there welcome, shelter and educate Indigenous and French girls in the local community. In addition, she eventually translated grammar books, dictionaries, catechisms and prayer books into four First Nation languages.

St. Marie died in Quebec on April 30th, 1672 and was canonized by Pope Francis in 2014. 

A little goes a long way across Canada…

When we say a toonie makes a difference, we really mean it. 

The mission of Canadian Catholic education spans across the entire country and those invested in its impact are counted among hundreds of thousands across Canada. If we had one toonie from every student in a fully funded province, we would be able to ease the financial burden of every family in Canada looking to choose a Catholic education. 

This is the beautiful vision with which we initiate, promote and will celebrate the Toonies for Tuition campaign on April 30th. 

April 30th: What can you do?
Resources for your school and parish to celebrate and partake in Toonies for Tuition Day:

We’d love for you to join us in celebrating our first ever Toonies for Tuition Day! How can you participate? 

Resources for your school + parish
You’ll find here a file of parish and school resources designed to help simplify your fundraising efforts! 

Have the donation link emailed to your inbox on April 30th!
Sign up for our email list (a pop-up upon arriving on our website!) and you’ll receive the link on April 30th to donate to Toonies for Tuition!

Be our friend online!
Follow us on Social Media for reminders leading up to Toonies Day and shareable content for your community of followers!

Friends, let’s work together on April 30th to enable every Canadian family access to the life-changing mission of Catholic education.