Arts Canterbury, a program for the arts established by the Ottawa Board of Education at Canterbury High School in 1983, serves high school students from all over eastern Ontario, Canada. The program offers students the opportunity to fulfill their high school graduation requirements while intensively studying one of the five arts disciplines: Dance, Drama, Literary Arts, Music (Instrumental or Vocal), and Visual Arts. The story of the success of Arts Canterbury and the achievements of its alumni are showcased in the Arts Canterbury Collection.

Through the Canterbury Arts program, students are able to feel emotions and live experiences in a safe, unthreatening way; they are able to consider ideas and values without necessarily adopting them. In this way, the arts not only promote creativity and intellectual growth but contribute significantly to a student's moral development. Various issues, concepts and attitudes current in contemporary society will often be examined in this process. Some may take offence at the consideration of such issues; Canterbury High School neither advocates nor condones positions on any issue, but believes that students must be free to explore them.