It’s nearing the end of the first full week of school, and Inclusion Nova Scotia is already getting calls from anxious parents reporting that their children are being left out because of their disabilities.
Executive director Brian Foster says it’s alarming, but not surprising.
A new report by the advocacy group warns that students with complex needs continue to face barriers within the public education system.
For the first time, parents and guardians from Nova Scotia responded to a national survey that collected reports of alleged exclusion in schools and child care between September 2025 and June 2026.
Of the 73 Nova Scotia respondents, nearly three-quarters (73.7 per cent) described the exclusion as ongoing, as opposed to an isolated incident. Almost all (97.4 per cent) said the situation was not successfully resolved.
The most common example, the report said, was formal suspensions and partial school days.
“My son has been forced to do half days at school for the past two months,” wrote one parent.
“My child was asked to stay home or attend school for one hour a day,” wrote another.
Other families said their children were consistently separated from their fellow students, for instance, “child was placed in a special learning area for weeks without discussing with me,” or “not allowed to have lunch daily with his peers.”
The most common reasons families were given for their child’s exclusion were lack of staff, untrained staff, safety concerns and behaviour concerns, according to the report.
Foster said the responses highlight ways in which Nova Scotia’s inclusive education policy — which says “all students should receive full-day instruction every day with flexibility” — is not being properly implemented.
“Inclusive education for us is that students are able to participate in the same activities as their peers — to the best of their abilities — getting the support and accommodations that they need in order to succeed,” said Foster.
Parent and advocate Anna MacQuarrie said it’s been a constant struggle to ensure her three children with disabilities receive the help they need as they move through the school system.
“It gets really challenging to constantly hear ‘your kid is not welcome here.’ I’ve had administrators say specifically to my face that ‘we cannot support your kids in this school,’” said MacQuarrie.
“We’re not asking for something extraordinary. We are asking for something really typical, and I think the expectation should be that our basic human rights are met.”
She said inclusive education is not just placing a child into a classroom, but rather ensuring they have the proper resources, accommodations and plans in place for them to thrive.
“We are not doing well at supporting our teachers. We’re not doing well at supporting our schools. We’re not doing well at understanding what inclusive education actually looks like,” said MacQuarrie.
Education Minister Brendan Maguire told CBC News on Wednesday that he read the report and emphasized that every student has “the right to an education.”
He said the provincial government has invested heavily in inclusive education and there are currently more staff and training opportunities in the system than ever before.
But he said there’s always more to be done and his department will be in touch with Inclusion Nova Scotia.
The organization is calling on the province to fully implement the inclusive education policy, establish accountability measures for exclusion and provide individualized support before exclusion occurs.
Maguire said the Department of Education was already moving forward on most of the report’s recommendations.
“We’re all kind of on the same page, so looking forward to it all being implemented fully,” said Maguire.
Asked what his message is to students who feel like they’ve been excluded because of their differences, Maguire said, “You have a right to be in that school. You have a right to be part of the school system. You have a right to learn, play, have fun and have a safe learning environment.
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“And as long as I’m minister of education, I’ll do everything in my power to ensure that you have that.”
Foster said it’s critical that this issue is taken seriously, because how a student is treated at school will impact their future.
“Study after study after study shows that people that are included at a young age … are included in things the rest of their life, and they seek inclusion the rest of their life,” said Foster.
“It makes their quality of life better, it makes health costs lower, it makes everything more effective for that person in the long term.”
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