École secondaire Étienne-Brûlé
École secondaire Étienne-Brûlé is a French-language public high school located in North York, Ontario, Canada, named for a famous explorer. Part of the Conseil scolaire Viamonde, the school serves the French population of the Greater Toronto Area.
It is featured in the NFB documentary Une école sans frontières by Nadine Valcin.History
Throughout the mid 1960s, Étienne-Brûlé was part of the North York Board of Education. A four-year battle resulted in the opening of the school on September 2, 1969: following the adoption of Bill 141, a group of Francophones demanded that a French-language public high school be established in the Toronto area.
To this end, 15 portable classrooms were set up on the grounds behind the English-language secondary school York Mills Collegiate Institute. At the time, 310 students from Francophone families living not only in Toronto, but also in Oshawa, Georgetown, Burlington and Mississauga, formed the first student body at Étienne-Brûlé.
In 1973, the school officially inaugurated its first building, which is still located at 300 Banbury Road in North York. The majority of students were of Franco-Ontarian origin, while others came from Quebec and the Atlantic provinces, and a few from outside of Canada. Today, Étienne-Brûlé reflects the highly diverse population of modern-day Toronto; students come from a variety of cultural backgrounds.
The school was part of the Conseil des écoles françaises de la communauté urbaine de Toronto of the Metropolitan Toronto School Board. In 1998, it became the part of the newly formed Conseil scolaire de district du Centre-Sud-Ouest, which is now le Conseil scolaire Viamonde.Notable alumni
