The share of K-12 students enrolled at independent schools across Canada as a share of total enrolment increased 45.0 per cent from 2000/01 to 2023/24, and now stands at nearly 1-in-12 students, whereas the share of students in government-run public schools declined, according to a new study released by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.
"For their children's education, parents across Canada are increasingly choosing options outside the government-run school system, even though in several provinces including Ontario there is no financial support for families that choose independent schools," said Paige MacPherson, senior fellow with the Fraser Institute and co-author of Where Our Students Are Educated: Measuring Student Enrolment in Canada, 2026.
The study finds that, as a share of all K-12 students, enrolment in independent schools increased from 5.9 per cent to 8.5 per cent a 45.0 per cent increase from 2000/01 to 2023/24, the most recent year of available comparable data.
At the same time, K-12 enrolment in government-run public schools decreased as a share of total enrolment from 93.8 per cent to 90.4 per cent.
Across Canada, the share of students enrolled in independent schools in 2023/24 ranged from 13.2 per cent in British Columbia to 1.2 per cent in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Nominal changes in enrolment tell a similar story. Total enrolment nationwide increased by 4.5 per cent, from 5.42 million students in 2000/01 to 5.66 million in 2023/24. Enrolment in public schools saw a nominal increase of 0.6 per cent compared to an nominal increase of 51.4 per cent for independent schools. Independent school enrolment, for instance, increased from 318,947 in 2000-01 to 482,939 in 2023-24.
Five provinces B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec partially fund the operating costs of independent schools on a per-student basis, while the other provinces offer no financial support.
"While funding for non-government schools varies from province-to-province, Canadian parents are increasingly enrolling their children in independent schools rather than their local government-run public school, exercising more choice in how their children are educated, despite the financial sacrifice," said MacPherson.
