The article focuses on a holistic retrospective analysis of the history of media education in Canada, which has been done for the first time. Based on the theoretical findings of Canadian media educators, the authors substantiate the periodization, identify the trends, the periodization criteria and three main periods of establishment and development of Canadian media education in the context of socio-political and socio-pedagogical determinants. The historical preconditions of the development of media education in Canada are revealed. The essence of media education is regarded as a theory study and development of practical skills for mastering modern mass media, which is considered as part of a specific, autonomous field of knowledge in pedagogical theory and practice. The authors determine that media education is associated with all types of media, which include the set of information and communication tools that each person interacts with in everyday life: printed (newspapers, magazines), auditive (radio, audio) and screen or audiovisual media (cinema, TV, video, multimedia, Internet, etc.); they identify the essential characteristics of media education, determine that media education is the form of media literacy and media culture of an individual; as well as they find out, characterize and systematize the gaps in media education in Canada. The article presents the evolution of media education programs, techniques as well as media education associations. In the context of studying the experience of Canadian media theorists and practitioners, the necessity of applying positive Canadian experience to solve the problems of implementing media education in Ukraine in terms of reforming and humanizing its educational space has been substantiated.