Evidence of meeting #39 for Subcommittee on International Human Rights in the 44th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was inclusive.
A recording is available from Parliament.
November 21st, 2023 / 12:55 p.m.
Co-Chair, Catalyst for Inclusive Education, Inclusion International
They are not.
NDP
Heather McPherson NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
Thank you.
That might be, for example, a good recommendation for this study.
Co-Chair, Catalyst for Inclusive Education, Inclusion International
That would be an excellent recommendation.
NDP
Heather McPherson NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
There's one thing I want to just get a little bit more insight on, and perhaps I would start with Ms. Rigg on this.
Ms. Rigg, we talked about making sure that our ODA is spent effectively and is spent properly and sufficiently, I suppose we could say. Could you talk a little bit about the need for collecting data and the need for tying strings to that development to ensure that it does have that inclusive component?
Executive Director, Global Campaign for Education-United States
In terms of tying strings, I would love to discuss this further. It would be great as the subcommittee considers their recommendations. For example, I look at what has worked on other types of inclusion that are really critical. We still have a way to go on gender, for example, but we have found that bilateral and multilateral institutions have found it critical to ensure that gender-transformative and disability-inclusive education is embedded within those structures.
Maha is an amazing example of an expert within ECW on disability-inclusive education, yet we also need to make sure that there are those types of people with those resources within every education cluster that's responding on the humanitarian front and across that whole continuum that you and Mr. Jenkins discussed of humanitarianism through to development in a holistic way to really reach children.
Yes, like Mr. Shriver and others mentioned, data must be improved while we are acting and accelerating action. It's not something we should wait for. We should not let perfect be the enemy of the good, so to speak. Like Ms. Richler just said, it's absolutely critical that the current SDG process and whatever may come next, which is, indeed, being negotiated by member-state governments right now, have a very strong voice by member-state governments—as the governments of Canada and then Namibia are leading that process for the pact for the future—to make sure that disability-inclusive education is front and centre and that children and youth with disabilities are not just there once for one consultation but really there fully with policy-makers throughout the whole process.
Thank you.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Fayçal El-Khoury
Thank you, Ms. McPherson. I'm sorry for not recognizing you.
Witnesses, thank you for your testimony and for participating in our study on international disability-inclusive education. We appreciate your taking the time to meet with us and to share your expertise on this important topic.
If you have any additional information to submit to the subcommittee, I would ask you to send it to the clerk.
On behalf of the committee, I would like to thank all of the witnesses for their participation and for giving their time to be with us to explain and to give their points of view regarding this important issue that we are studying.
Is it the will of the committee to adjourn the meeting?