Thank you, Mr. Lake.
Thank you, also, for referring to the call to action. It was launched last year at the Transforming Education Summit.
Before I get into some of the actions we can take right now, I would really urge Canada to endorse this, and also parliamentarians in Canada to be champions for this call to action. It's truly a document that lays out a direction, a path, for advancing disability-inclusive education.
As you rightly pointed out, data has been an issue. We still don't have reliable and comparable data on disability and on disability disaggregation, which is why many of my interventions are often not adequate on the ground, because data informs those policies. To that point, I can speak to the international development context. Canada's development assistance on education must therefore include data, disaggregation and targets for reaching learners with disabilities through those programs that they support.
We would also really call on Canada to adopt a twin-track approach. This also speaks to the point that Mr. Lake made just now as he began his remarks. The twin-track approach really says that we not only need to invest in making the overall education system inclusive, but we also have to invest in specialized services that are required for learners with disabilities to be able to come to school and access education on an equal basis to others.
I think setting criteria, setting indicators and targets that are monitored and tracked over time and ensuring that reliable and comparable data is collected are two steps that Canada can definitely take in its international development assistance programs.
Additionally, I think there is also a need for awareness generation, and we need to talk more and more about disability in the transformation. We need champions, and we need Canada to be a leader on this.
Thank you very much.