Adult ESL and Newcomer Education in Toronto

Behind Toronto's reputation as a city of immigrants sits a large, mostly invisible infrastructure of adult language education — free English classes delivered at a scale most residents never see.

LINC: a federal program, delivered locally

The main pipeline for free adult English instruction is Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC), a federally funded program established in 1992 and administered by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. LINC doesn't deliver classes directly — it funds local "service provider organizations," including school boards, colleges and community settlement agencies, to run them. In Toronto, that includes the Toronto District School Board and agencies such as COSTI Immigrant Services, with the TDSB alone reported to hold a federal LINC funding agreement worth over $37 million for the 2025–2028 period.

A parallel adult-ESL system

Separate from LINC, the TDSB runs its own long-standing Adult ESL program through its continuing education arm, serving nearly 20,000 adult learners annually across more than 55 locations citywide — general ESL classes, exam preparation, sector-specific business and computer English, and an Enhanced Language Training stream combining classroom instruction with a work placement aimed at matching skilled newcomers to jobs in their fields.

Sources

• Government of Canada — Evaluation of the Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) Program
• Toronto District School Board — Adult ESL Program