LAUSR

Certain global leadership forces – competitiveness, tolerance and creativity – are so pervasive that they can be illustrated on the part of any country. However, nations also have unique dynamics to consider within our interconnected world. This is the overarching issue being expressed in this essay wherein I deconstruct Canada’s official narrative using documented sources. Toward this end, I asked, what are some global forces, trends and dynamics of educational reform that are relevant for Canada and more specifically for Ontario? International readers grappling with global forces in their own home fronts can glean insights from which to benefit. Being exposed to another country’s political dynamics that influence education presents the opportunity to not only better understand one’s own national narratives, but also prospects and possibilities for the future. Here, the invitation is to consider how one might respond to this account of Ontario in terms of its applicability to one’s context. To set the national stage, Canada has a favorable environment for immigrants and a hospitable climate for relocation. Based on the Global Creativity Index that assessed 82 nations’ ‘prospects for sustainable prosperity’, ‘Canada takes the top spot’ when it comes to ‘tolerance’, a ‘key factor in economic growth’, because of its ‘openness to ethnic and racial minorities [and] gays and lesbians’ (Florida, 2011, p. v). But its welcoming international climate is neither without dynamics of colonialism nor another bedfellow taking up more space these days – high-stakes standardized testing. The interplay of different forces relative to Canada’s democratic narrative, when teased out, advances a complicated telling that invites interpretation and debate.