MISSISSAUGA, Ont. (CCN) — A French Catholic elementary school named for St. Kateri Tekakwitha, North America’s first Indigenous saint, is so new that less than a month before the start of the school year, the saint’s name was not on the building yet.
Principal Vicky Marcotte was confident that the signage for École élémentaire catholique Sainte-Kateri-Tekakwitha will be ready by the time students arrive Sept. 8, along with furniture in place and turf installed on the athletic field, where she hopes to one day host soccer tournaments for neighbouring Catholic schools.
Marcotte said the name was chosen after a survey of parents recommended Kateri, who died in present-day Quebec in 1680 and is regarded as a symbol of reconciliation.
Throughout the school, there is a sense of a place created for community and belonging, with a family feel. Classrooms are equipped with adjustable tables and chairs to encourage mobility. Between the rooms are workspaces for small-group learning and to allow teachers to take a break while another teacher can easily supervise both classes. In keeping with the latest school board practice, a low-sensory room awaits students who feel overstimulated and need some quiet time to restore their sense of calm.
In an interview in mid-August, Marcotte described the combination of openness, identity and sense of belonging the school intends to instill. Before long, the community being created at Sainte-Kateri-Tekakwitha will spill over into the wider anglophone community, she said.
She shared some of her plans with CCN: a neighbourhood outreach that will include Christmas cards and greetings to those who are alone. She wants to start with a one-kilometre radius from the school and “build on that.”
“We’ll reach out. Christmas is joyful but not for everybody.”
A short distance down the road are Sainte-Famille school and parish, where Father Antoine Badr is keen on maintaining the strong relationship between school, church and family, she added.
“We’re lucky to have the priest that can come in our school and build relationship with the kids and the school staff and the community,” said Marcotte.
The strong connection between parish church and school community was highlighted by Sebastien Lacroix, manager of diocesan affairs at Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir, the regional French Catholic school board whose name translates to My Future.
“We are truly blessed to have a priest at Sante-Famille, père Antoine, who really understands the potential for close relations between local school and parish church,” said Lacroix.
That sense of community also helps to explain the growth in French Catholic education, Lacroix said. Southern Ontario’s largest French-language Catholic school board welcomed about 16,000 students for the 2025 school year as student enrollment surged, according to The Catholic Register.
The school’s francophone character is also drawing students, with French-speaking parents originally from as far as Africa and Belgium looking for ways their children can hold on to their culture, said Marcotte.
Nadine Hanna is among those parents who, in addition to the school’s inclusive community, was drawn by its cultural and religious background. She said she expects to have some big emotions on the first day of school, when her son will start kindergarten, and even took the day off work.
“It’s a big step, a big milestone for us,” said Hanna, who wants her son to have the French education she never had, despite being French.
The school’s Catholic identity draws her as well. “We are Christian, and being in a Catholic school, a Christian-rooted school is very important to me, that’s why we are here,” she said.
Catholic schools have a special role in society, said Lacroix, and the mission and role of a French Catholic school in particular is “to be in conversation with the world we live in and to prepare students to live fully … the life they are called to live.”
The secular culture, he said, is difficult for educators. “School and teachers can only do so much during the six hours per day they have with students. You cannot control what happens at home, what students eat or how much screen time they have.”
Meanwhile, as the school and the day care centre that is integrated into the building prepare for the chattering voices, backpacks and crowded hallways of the first day of school, details such as the installation of crucifixes in classrooms and plans for a dedication ceremony were being finalized.
Matthijs Kronemeijer is a religion writer based in Toronto. His work has been published in Broadview and Christian Courier.
This report was produced during CCN’s God in the City Catholic Journalism Seminar, Aug. 9-15, 2026.
