During the month of April the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) is proud to recognize Latin-America History Month. In April 2016, our TDSB Board of Trustees voted that April be designated as Latin-America History Month at the TDSB.

As outlined in the TDSB Days of Significance Resource Guide:

“Latin-America immigrants began arriving in large numbers in Toronto in the late 1970's. Latin America is generally defined as the countries south of the United States where people speak Romance languages (such as Spanish, Portuguese, and French). Today, some of the people from these countries might identify as Latino, Latina, Latinx, or Hispanic.

“Before 1970, there were only around 3,000 people who identified as Latin American in Canada. In the early part of that decade, around 68,000 Latin Americans started arriving, some on tourist visas. Canada then, had a policy that allowed people to arrive as visitors and then apply for landed immigrant status.

“At this point, most Latin American immigrants were from the Andean region, where economic prospects were shrinking. In the 1970’s, political unrest in Central and South America led people to flee their homes and countries, with thousands choosing to move to Canada.”