UPDATE: FEB. 27, 2025

Inclusion Alberta is pleased that the Minister of Education has issued a new Ministerial Order that no longer discriminates on the basis of disability but fails to ensure the rights of students with disabilities are protected.

This new Ministerial order is in response to the court’s February 20, 2025 findings of discrimination which should be interpreted as also applying to school divisions. We call on school divisions to immediately stop the existing discriminatory practice of excluding only students with disabilities from in-person learning while educational assistants exercise their right to strike. Families should not have to pursue legal action against individual school divisions given the court’s findings that excluding only students with disabilities is discriminatory.

To effectively uphold the rights of students with disabilities, our province needs a Ministerial Order that directs school divisions to allocate their resources so that if students must be affected during labour disputes, all students regardless of disability experience the effects of a strike equitably. Such a plan could see those students who require more support to learn remaining in school, while students without disabilities engage in at-home learning for some days.

These school division resourcing plans should be submitted to the Minister for approval and made public.

____

For immediate release – February 21, 2025

Inclusion Alberta applauds the parents who challenged the Ministerial Order that discriminates against students with disabilities by excluding them, and only these students, from in-person learning during the Edmonton Public Schools support staff strike. We commend them for standing up not just for their children but every student who is being excluded on the basis of their disability.

Yesterday’s Court of King’s Bench decision issued a temporary injunction giving the government until next Thursday, February 27 to craft a new order that would not discriminate on the basis of disability, failing which the injunction will likely come into force.

The Court recognized the seriousness of the alleged breach of the students with disabilities Section 15 Charter right to equality and their right to education under Alberta’s Education Act. The Court rightly recognized that the values and principles of UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CPRD) offer further guidance on how the Charter should be interpreted. Further, the Court affirmed the authority and validity of the voice of the parents in articulating how their children are being harmed by their exclusion from school and in-person learning.

The Court correctly determined that it is the Government of Alberta that is potentially breaching the Charter rights of students with disabilities. The discriminatory decision to allow the denial of access to in-person learning to only students with disabilities is having a profound impact on thousands of students with disabilities and their families, not only in Edmonton but also in Sturgeon County and Fort McMurray.

“My child does not understand why her world has been turned upside down and only she can no longer attend school, while she watches her sister go to and come back from school each day,” says parent Wossene Berhane. “The loss of routine, learning and connection with her classmates has left her increasingly upset and heartbroken. Each night she reminds me that she wants to go to school. Why does my child’s education mean any less than any other child’s?”

This case exposes the ableist assumptions so easily applied to students with disabilities and the challenges their families face to be treated equitably within our education system.  While it is the government’s action that has potentially breached the Charter rights of students with disabilities, Edmonton Public Schools is morally culpable for seeking the discriminatory Ministerial Order in the first place.

Inclusion Alberta’s CEO, Trish Bowman, said, “The Alberta government and affected school divisions have an ethical obligation to ensure that students with disabilities are treated no differently than their non-disabled classmates and that their Charter right to equality is protected. A swift end to the now 5-week-old strike and a resolution that provides for a fair and liveable wage for the support staff upon which students and teachers rely is more urgent than ever. In the meantime, resources must be deployed to ensure the ongoing impact of these strikes is not being discriminatorily experienced only by students with disabilities and their families.”

-30-

Inclusion Alberta Chief Executive Officer Trish Bowman is available for interviews. Please contact Sara Protasow, Inclusion Alberta Communications Coordinator at sprotasow@inclusionalberta.org or 780-906-4693.

About Inclusion Alberta: Inclusion Alberta is a family based, non-profit federation that advocates on behalf of children and adults with intellectual disabilities and their families. Together, we share a dream of meaningful family life and community inclusion for individuals with intellectual disabilities. As an advocacy organization we support families and individuals in their desire to be fully included in community life.