Helma Trass, a student under Maria Montessori

Maria Montessori

Maria Montessori was an Italian physician and educator, a noted humanitarian and devout Catholic best known for the philosophy of education which bears her name...

 was the founder of the first Montessori school in Canada, Toronto Montessori Schools

Toronto Montessori Schools

Toronto Montessori Schools, now rebranded to "TMS School", was the first Montessori school in Canada. Founded by Helma Trass in 1961, it still remains the most well-known Montessori school in Ontario. The school is now expanded into a high school and includes students from 18 months to grade 12. ...

. After the Second World War, Mrs. Trass, a citizen of Holland, was so grateful to Canada's contribution to the freedom of her home country that she decided to move there. In Canada, she was shocked to find that there were no Montessori schools, despite the growing popularity of the Montessori Method

Montessori method

Montessori education is an educational approach developed by Italian physician and educator Maria Montessori. Montessori education is practiced in an estimated 20,000 schools worldwide, serving children from birth to eighteen years old.-Overview:...

. As a result, she created the first Montessori school in Canada in the 1960s.
In 1971, she founded the Toronto Montessori Institute, a school for the education of would-be Montessori teachers.