A 2010 Auditor General’s report stated that the NWT had failed to comply with the Education Act and its responsibilities regarding Inclusive Schooling. Of the actions that were reported it indicated that the information was vague and failed to show the details or impact of the described actions. Since then the NWT Disabilities Council has brought multiple concerns forward regarding failures to comply with requirements of Individual Education Plans, Inadequate student classroom supports and No avenue for complaint or concern outside internal resources. These were continuously summarily dismissed, as anecdotal, after internal departmental consultation. These concerns have been repeatedly presented by the NWT Disabilities Council, throughout the life of the 17th and 18th Legislative Assemblies. This has left families frustrated, unsupported and a decade of young people not receiving even the minimum requirements under the Education Act. Well these concerns can no longer be dismissed and have now been confirmed through the 2020 AG report. We know now that Inclusive Schooling has and continues to severely fail our children. A failure which spans 3 Legislative Assemblies.
The 2020 AG report includes actions underway by ECE but as an organization we understand these reported actions do not reflect the actual delivery and have serious concerns as to how these fail to reflect the reality for families, especially in small communities.
No longer in dispute is the following; ( excerpt from 2020 Auditor General’s Report)
60. In addition, we found that the department did not sufficiently monitor whether schools were creating, monitoring, and updating individualized learning plans for students, as required by the Ministerial Directive on Inclusive Schooling. Its monitoring of inclusive schooling did not provide it with sufficient information about whether students on individualized learning plans received the necessary supports, including specialized services, or how this affected their outcomes. This meant that there was a risk that students were not benefiting fully from these plans.
61. Finally, we found that although the department drafted a detailed monitoring plan in 2015 for how it would measure the success of inclusive schooling, it never implemented this plan. Part of this plan was to conduct school reviews, but we found that it still had not determined what these reviews would entail or who was responsible for conducting them. At the time of our audit, the department had not completed any school reviews.
For more information, please read the full report below
https://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/nwt_202002_e_43522.html