Ontario's high schools can begin offering sign language classes in the next school year.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce says school boards will have the chance to offer second-language courses in both American Sign Language (ASL) and Langue des signes quebecoise (LSQ).
He says the curricula were developed in consultation with members of the ASL and LSQ communities to ensure the courses are linguistically accurate and contain ``authentic ASL and LSQ stories.''
Lecce says Ontario is among the first provinces to introduce an ASL second-language course, and the first to offer an LSQ second-language course.
He says the province is ``encouraging all boards'' to introduce the courses.
Wanda Blackett of Silent Voice Canada, a charity that offers services in ASL for members of the deaf community, says that while there are some ASL and LSQ teachers available right now, it may take some time for the courses to be made available provincewide.