The Case of Luke Elwood - documentary screening and discussion-FR

Event Details:

2017 marked the 30th anniversary of the landmark 1987 Luke Elwood case that was prepared for a hearing by the Nova Scotia Supreme court as a constitutional challenge on the right to education. Luke Elwood was an elementary student with an intellectual disability whose family challenged his placement in a Special Education class rather than a placement with his grade-level peers at his neighborhood school. The Halifax County Bedford District School Board settled the Charter of Rights and Freedoms court case and Luke was permitted an integrated educational experience. The Luke Elwood case was one of the first Charter challenges of Section 15: discrimination based on mental disability. Education was situated in the case as an essential part of the right to a quality of life and a prerequisite to other Charter rights. For the field of education, one of the intriguing hinge points of the case is the relationship between equality and integration; whether equality for Luke Elwood in his programming necessitated his integration into the mainstream school environment.

This short documentary film documents this important piece of N.S. history through archival data and interviews of key participants. The presentation will examine the legal case, the professional actions taken and the impact on policy and practice that have followed on from one family’s decision to secure a regular classroom placement for their son. There is much we can learn from Luke Elwood’s journey that is valuable and relevant to current theory, policy and practice work in the fields of Education, Law, Inclusive Education and Disability Studies.

Presenters:

Dr. Lynn Aylward (Co-Director) is a Professor in the School of Education at Acadia in Wolfville Nova Scotia.

Dr. Cynthia Bruce is an instructor in the School of Education at Acadia.

Dr. Matt Rogers (Co-Director) Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at UNB.

Building: Marshall d'Avray Hall

Room Number: 143