10/16/2026
Media coverage from this week's National Round Table on Inclusive Education.
Andrew Waugh - Telegraph Journal - October 15, 2026
[A two-day conference celebrated 40 years of inclusion in New Brunswick’s schools, and drew a promise from Premier Susan Holt that her government will keep pushing to maintain this province’s reputation as a world leader in inclusive education.
The conference, held in downtown Fredericton on Wednesday and Thursday, wrapped up with Holt addressing a crowd that included educators, academics, teachers’ union officials, former politicians, and more.
“It’s an honour to be here to recognize the 40th anniversary of Bill 85 and that milestone moment back in June of 1986 (when inclusive education became law in New Brunswick),” Holt said. “It is also a heavy responsibility … our government today remains steadfastly committed to making sure that every student has the opportunity to learn and grow and succeed and belong in schools in New Brunswick and in the province of New Brunswick.”
Holt later added inclusion is “about recognizing and valuing diversity in all forms, it’s about ensuring that we are building strong and inclusive learning environments.”
“It’s making sure we have equal opportunities for students to reach their full potential, and that is the path that our province laid out for us all those years ago.”
At one point in his closing remarks, New Brunswick native and Inclusive Education Canada Executive Director Gordon Porter spoke about a mutual erosion of trust between parents and teachers, and said that “teachers and parents may make unreasonable demands and expect things that they can’t deliver.”
“There’s a trust issue,” he said.
Later, Porter said the way to rebuild that trust is “to build competency in our schools so parents trust the schools, and we have to have teachers trust parents, that they’re reasonable, and that there’s an agreeable centre (point) for things to happen.”
Jamie Cooke, the executive director of Inclusion International, told the crowd that they are “are not alone” when they champion more inclusive policies in their respective jurisdictions.
“Families who are struggling to support their learners in challenging circumstances, you have the local, national, international community,” Cooke said. “Teachers who are under so much pressure, policymakers who are trying to find a way forward, researchers who are trying to look to take that data and make a change – we’re part of this bigger family.” Collaboration is the key to success, he added.
“We have a responsibility internationally to get out there to the rest of the world, and we need you to help us do it,” Cooke said. “And it’s a collective responsibility. Each and every one of us wants to see a system that’s not just about children surviving. It’s not just about saying, ‘Do you know what, we got them through it, and that was okay.’
“It’s about their chance to thrive, to live the fullest, most successful lives that they can have, and to be those active members of their community that they want to be, and that they deserve to be, and that every single one of us benefits from. So I think we need to take from these few days – that knowledge of collaboration. That when we see that conflict, it’s because usually we’re all trying to strive for something similar.”]
