Spreading Debate Literacy
The Speech & Debate Canada Foundation ("S&DCF") is a national non-profit private foundation dedicated to advancing the vision of Mr. Willis. S. McLeese of bringing debate to schools and communities so every Canadian child has the means to advocate for themselves.
Creating Debate Spaces
S&DCF's focus is to establish and operate school extracurricular debate clubs and spaces. Through our free school debate program, students in grades 6-12 receive weekly training by experienced instructors at partner schools.
Hosting Debate Events
S&DCF hosts debate events where Canadian youth can practice and apply their debate skills. Our offerings have included online tournaments, an annual persuasive speech competition, and introductory workshops.
180+
PARTNER
SCHOOLS
4,500+
STUDENTS
REACHED
The Problem: Changing World
Decreasing Quality of Civil Discourse: Respectful dialogue is fading as people become more divided and are exposed to narrow or misleading information.
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Increasing Demand for Soft Skills: The rise of AI has reshaped the job market, pushing demand toward human skills that machines can not replicate.
The Solution: Debate Literacy
Enhances critical thinking, active listening, and communication skills.
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Positively impacts school engagement and personal development (Louden 2010, Ko & Mezuk 2021).​​
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Strengthens the ability to evaluate and advocate for one’s beliefs, and fosters tolerance of and empathy towards different perspectives.
Scott Stirrett
Founder, Venture for Canada, G&M Canadian Changemaker
“Participating in competitive debate changed my life. It taught me valuable transferable skills, like teamwork, public speaking, and critical thinking. All young Canadians should have the opportunity to take part in competitive debate.”
Swish Goswami
LinkedIn Global Top Voice, Young Entrepreneur of the Year
"Debate has truly given me a voice. It’s helped me hone my public skills which I use to this very day when fundraising for my business and speaking on stage about issues I am passionate about.”
Justice Ranjan Agarwal
Ontario Superior Court of Justice
“I joined the Old Scona High School Debating team in Grade 10, largely to overcome my shyness. That was the single most important decision of my life. Debating led me to my career in law. It taught me the power of using one’s voice to advocate for a viewpoint."