According to the Equity and Inclusive Education in Ontario Schools - Guidelines for Policy Development and Development, schools are expected to give students and staff authentic and relevant opportunities to learn about diverse histories, cultures, and perspectives. Lessons, projects, and related resources should allow students to see themselves reflected in the curriculum. Students need to feel engaged in and empowered by what they are learning, and welcomed in the environment in which they are learning.

To validate and honour our diverse and ever changing population, the TVDSB is committed to ensuring that all students see themselves represented and reflected in text. As a result, various text that address the dimensions of diversity have been purchased for all schools to be part of school library collections.

Dimensions of Diversity:

• Ethnicity
• First Nations, Metis, Inuit
• Gender
• Mental Illness
• Physical and Intellectual Ability
  
• Race
• Religion
• Sexual Orientation / Gender Identity
• Socio-economic Status

The Changing Face of Ontario

Language: Ontarians reported more than 200 languages, as “mother tongue”. The proportion of Ontarians reporting English or French as a mother tongue is declining. In 2006, 69.1% of Ontarians reported English as their mother tongue, and 4.2% of the population reported French as their mother tongue.

Aboriginal Peoples: Between 2001 and 2006, Ontario’s Aboriginal population grew nearly five times faster than the non-Aboriginal population. The Aboriginal population is also younger than the non-Aboriginal population. More than a third (35.7%) of the Aboriginal population consists of children and teenagers aged 19 and under.

Families: Between 2001 and 2006, the number of lone-parent families increased by 11.2%.

Same-sex couples: Between 2001 and 2006, the number of self-identified same-sex couples increased by 40%.

Newcomers: Ontario continued to be the province of choice for more than half (52.3%) of the 1.1 million newcomers who arrived in Canada during the 2001-2006 period. More than half of these newcomers will settle in areas outside Toronto.

Visible Minorities: The 2006 Census enumerated an estimated 2.7 Ontarians who identified themselves as members of the visible minority population, representing more tha half of Canada’s total visible minorities. Between 2001-2006, Ontario’s visible minority population increased more than four times faster then the population as a whole (not counting those who self-identified as Aboriginal).

Religion: By 2017, about one-fifth of our population will be members of diverse faith communities including Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism, in addition to a growing number of individuals without a religious affiliation.

(Sources: 2006 Census of Canada; Statistics Canada, March 2005, p.63)

Elementary Mentor Texts Gender Identity & Sexual Orientation	Secondary Mentor Texts Gender Identity & Sexual Orientation
And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell   The Boy in the Dress by David Walliams   In Our Mothers’ House by Patricia Polacco   My Princess Boy by Cheryl Kilodavis   A Tale of Two Daddies by Vanita Oelschlager   Antonio’s Card by Rigoberta Gonzalez   The Family Book by Todd Parr   King and King by Linda de Haan   The Sissy Duckling by Harvey Fierstein   10 000 Dresses by Marcus Ewert	Absolutely, Positively Not by David Larochelle   Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge   Close Range Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx   Fruit by Brian Francis   GLBTQ by Kelly Huegel   Another Kind of Cowboy by Susan Juby Between Mom and Jo by Julie Anne Peters   Empress of the World by Sara Ryan   Get That Freak by Rebecca Haskell & Brian Burtch   The God Box by Alex Sanchez   Hear Me Out by Planned Parenthood Project   Hello Groin by Beth Goobie   In the Garage by Alma Fullerton   Keeper of Secrets by Mark A. Roeder   Kissing Kate by Lauren Myracle   Hear Us Out by Nancy Garden   The Hookup Artist by Tucker Shaw   Is He or Isn’t He? by John Hall   Keesha’s House by Helen Frost   The Laramie Project by Moises Kaufman   Luna by Julie Anne Peters   A Really Nice Prom Mess by Brian Sloan   So Hard to Say by Alex Sanchez   A Tale of Two Summers by Brian Sloan   Totally Joe by James Howe   Rainbow Road by Alex Sanchez The Soccer Field is Empty by Mark A. Roeder   The Straight Road to Kylie by Nico Medina   Tomorrow Wendy by Shelley Stoehr   Tough Love: High School Confidential by Abbey Denson

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