Community Living Ontario

Inclusive education advocate lauded by peers
Wednesday July 28, 2010 -- Lisa Bailey

Peers of Gordon Porter say his stalwart leadership in promoting the rights of people who have intellectual disabilities is most deserving of the Order of Canada.

Porter, who is director of inclusive education initiatives with the Canadian Association of Community Living, was among 74 Canadians named to the Order June 30 for outstanding contributions and service to the country.

Keith Powell, executive director of Community Living Ontario, says Porter played a fundamental role in the development of his native New Brunswick’s groundbreaking inclusive education system.

He is currently working with members of Community Living Ontario’s education committee, which launched earlier this year with a goal of building a comprehensive strategy to assist the association’s inclusive education mandate.

Powell has worked with Porter in a number of capacities, including the organization of workshops in Ontario on inclusive education.

“Gordon is an absolutely relentless advocate for inclusive education and his experience in school boards as a director of education in New Brunswick gave him plenty of opportunity to see the need for this approach, this policy, because he saw how children got left behind when they were put in special classes or special schools,” Powell says.

“But it further gave him the opportunity to see that inclusion in regular classrooms works.”

Porter has invaluable “first-hand experience in developing initiatives and programs to achieve inclusion for kids and in working within school systems to make that possible,” Powell says.

“He’s being recognized not just for the commitment but the outcomes that he’s achieved.”

Powell suggests that naming Porter as a member of the Order of Canada is recognition of the value of the inclusion movement and its work.

“The Canadian citizen we know is supportive of a good life for all Canadian citizens and supportive of people having a decent life in their own communities, so whether they associate that attitude they hold to Gordon’s award . . . some people will and say our country has people who are human rights activists and I’m proud of it.”

Salvatore Amenta, co-chair of Community Living Ontario’s education committee and a regional director on the association’s board, recently began working with Porter and has heard him speak at forums.

He says Porter’s Order of Canada appointment is “absolutely wonderful” because it “lends a great deal of honour and credibility and credence to the whole issue of inclusive education which (Porter) has championed and continues to champion not just in Canada but also internationally.”

Amenta adds that he is eager to continue working with Porter because he brings so much experience and knowledge to the table.

Powell says he believes Porter has motivated many people, including advocates, teachers and parents, with his accomplishments as “education systems are large, large systems not easy to change.”

“I think he’s inspired people and I’m glad for his presence and his work.”

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