Chapter 4: Discipline in Ontario Schools: A Policy Analysis

As one of Canada’s original provinces that joined Confederation in 1867, Ontario has a long and rich history. Previously known as Upper Canada and Canada West (Carney, 1990; Gidney, 1999), present-day Ontario is the second largest province in Canada in terms of geography, and with approximately 13,600,000 people calling Ontario home, it ranks first in population. As Peters (2017) notes, ‘the frameworks that underpin and guide the administrative and legal structures in education in Canada have emerged out of our unique histories and traditions’ (p. 57). In addition, ‘…we arrive at this point as a result of the interactions that have taken place over centuries between peoples from differing backgrounds…’ (p. 57). The key takeaway here is that the education system in Ontario in 2025 rests upon several decades of evolution.