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Who can vote

To vote in a school board election in Ontario, you must be aged 18 or older and be a Canadian citizen.

If you are a resident of a municipality, you are eligible to vote for school trustee. If you are the owner or tenant (or spouse of an owner or tenant) of residential property in a municipality, you are eligible to vote for school trustee. Note: School boards can cover large areas of the province and include many municipalities. You are only allowed to vote for the same school board once.

If you are eligible to vote in a municipality because you are the owner or tenant (or spouse of an owner or tenant) of a commercial property there, you are not eligible to vote for school trustee.

There are four different kinds of school boards in Ontario.

  1. English-language public school board. This is the default - unless you are qualified to vote for a Catholic or French board, you will vote for the English public school board in your area.
  2. English-language Catholic school board. You must be a Roman Catholic, and you must be a separate school board supporter or the spouse of a separate school board supporter. If your spouse is a Roman Catholic and you are not, you are not eligible.
  3. French-language public school board. You must be a French-language rights holder, and you must be a supporter (or the spouse of a supporter) of the French-language public school board.
  4. French-language Catholic school board. You must be a Roman Catholic and a French-language rights holder, and you must be a supporter (or the spouse of a supporter) of the French Catholic school board. If your spouse is a Roman Catholic and you are not, you are not eligible.

"Supporter" refers to which school board the school portion of your property taxes goes to. The default is the public school system. In order to be a Catholic school supporter you must direct your taxes to the Catholic school system. Contact the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (1-866-296-MPAC (6722)) for more information.

"French-language rights holder" is set out in section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and refers to the right of citizens whose first language is French to receive educational instruction in French.

For further information see The Legal Page of this site.