We believe that the life-changing mission of Catholic education should be made available to every Canadian family.
Unfortunately, a lack of public funding means that Catholic education remains inaccessible for many families.
But here’s the hope – the mission of Canadian Catholic education spans across the entire country. If every person gave even a little, we’d have enough money to assist every struggling family afford tuition payments and attend a Catholic school.
In 2004, it was becoming abundantly clear that many families in provinces or territories without full public funding were struggling. Despite significant sacrifices made by families and incredible efforts made by Catholic schools to accommodate them, the number of families unable to attend Catholic schools because of financial restraints was still growing.
CCSTA had a dream that Catholic education would be made available to every Canadian family.
By 2006, the Toonies for Tuition Endowment Fund was created and campaigns were launched across the country to assist struggling families with tuition payments.
Donations can be made online through our Canada helps account or by mailing a cheque. Donations go directly to our Endowment Fund.
Principals in each school send in applications on behalf of each family in need of tuition assistance. The application includes a summary of the family’s current situation and how much they need.
Consisting of four provincial members from provinces with full funding, as well as the CCSTA Executive Director, the committee reviews the total amount fundraised, carefully reads each request and discerns the allotment of the total amount raised.
After the Endowment Committee has decided on the allocation of funds, CCSTA contacts each individual school to let them know the total amount donated to their school that year. Because there are always more funds requested than donated, each principal decides how the funds are distributed among the families in need of assistance.
This phone call is at the heart of the Toonies for Tuition Campaign – when a family receives the news from their school principal that they’ve received assistance with tuition.
There are students in the classrooms and hallways of Catholic schools in Canada whose lives are being changed because of your generosity to Toonies for Tuition.
Our 2024 School Board Winner was Prince Albert RCSSD, SK.
The 2024 Provincial winner was Saskatchewan.
View past trophy winners
The decision to create and celebrate an annual Toonies Day was made by the CCSTA Board of Directors in February 2023. April 30th was chosen to honour Saint Marie of the Incarnation and ask for her intercession of our national fundraising efforts.
St. Marie, a native of France, landed in Canada 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.
You’ll read up on school success stories, provincial reports and much more news related to Catholic education in Canada.
Canadian Catholic School
Trustees’ Association
Enlivened by the Word of God and our tradition, we promote and protect the right to Catholic education in Canada. We speak as one.
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