Background
Tefs was born in Saint Boniface, Manitoba, the middle of three children, to Armin and Stella Tefs, and grew up in Northwestern Ontario.
Tefs was born in Saint Boniface, Manitoba, the middle of three children, to Armin and Stella Tefs, and grew up in Northwestern Ontario.
In 1971 he graduated from the University of Manitoba and received the gold medal for Arts Honours. He was awarded a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship and took his Master of Arts at the University of Toronto. He was a lecturer at the University of Saskatchewan (Regina Campus) from 1972-1974 before completing a Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Manitoba in 1978.
He received a certificate of education from McGill University in 1981.