Following the Inclusive Education Awards held on February 13 congratulatory messages were issued on behalf of all three official parties on the floor of the New Brunswick Legislature. Congratulations, once again to all recipients!
Minister’s Statement – Hon. Serge Rousselle, Q.C.
Education and Early Childhood Development
Attorney General – Liberal MLA (Tracadie-Sheila)
Mr. Speaker,
I’m proud to rise today to inform the House about the Inclusive Education Awards Ceremony that took place last Friday in Fredericton.
The ceremony was organized by the New Brunswick Association for Community Living and hosted by the association’s patron, the Honourable Jocelyne Roy Vienneau, Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick.
Mr. Speaker, the association presented six 2015 Inclusive Education Awards and two Special Recognition Awards.
These awards are a way to recognize New Brunswick individuals, schools and organizations that work every day to include all students in education and school life.
Mr. Speaker, the six Inclusive Education Award recipients were:
1. Sara Creighton, a resource and methods teacher at Dr. A.T. Leatherbarrow School in Hampton, who organized a program of inclusion called “What I am”;
2. Three educational assistants — Lorena Joseph, Julia Murray and Lorraine Whalen — from Harcourt School who’ve shown great professionalism in their continuous efforts in education and support;
3. Rhéal Hébert, a physical education teacher from École Grande-Digue, who launched a para-sport program in which students both with and without a disability take part;
4. The Unicorn Children’s Centre, an early education and child care centre in Moncton that ensures every child is accepted and included;
5. Al Dewitt, an instructor in metals processing at the New Brunswick Community College in Moncton, whose long-standing support of inclusive practices has helped many students with a disability achieve their goals;
6. and Keelan Lewis, a Grade 8 student at Rothesay Park School, who’s a role model for her school because of her respectful and kind interactions with all her schoolmates with a disability.
Mr. Speaker, the Special Recognition Award recipients are:
1. David Jory, of Saint John, who has worked tirelessly to promote inclusion of people with an intellectual disability;
2. and the English and French teams of Inclusion Facilitators, dedicated New Brunswick educators who were recruited by the Province in support of inclusive education.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the New Brunswick Association for Community Living for presenting these awards.
It’s a great way to promote the best inclusive education practices in our province.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
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Gary Crossman – Progressive Conservative MLA (Hampton)
I would like to join the minister in commenting on the awards ceremony last
week. I was pleased to join the ceremony with the minister. Thank you.
I cannot name all the award winners; the minister just did. We had some students from Dr. A.T.
Leatherbarrow, in Hampton, here in the gallery last week. That was great. What is most
important, in my view as a former teacher and principal, is to have the resources. I would like the
Education Department and the minister to remember that resources for all programs across the
province are important, whether it is for gifted or behaviourally challenged students, or for
students who have special needs in other ways. Please provide the resources to make things
happen.
I certainly thank the association for holding last week’s awards. I was with the minister at the
openings of schools as well, and I attended school closure meetings to get a feel for what is out
there in the community. We appreciate that, and we look forward to more educational
experiences. Thank you.
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David Coon – Leader of the New Brunswick Green Party
I join the member and the minister in sending my congratulations to the recipients of
the Inclusive Education Awards. Anytime our educators—who are really unsung heroes in this
province—are recognized in this way, I think it is tremendous. I congratulate them—our
educators, our teachers, our teacher assistants, and our administrators, who work so hard and
who are committed to our children. They do their very best on behalf of our children’s education
and well-being.
That being said, I am sure they would also want me to say that it is important that we ensure that
resources are in place so that inclusion programs can be fully and effectively implemented, to
benefit both our students and our teachers. Thank you very much.
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