The following statement, "Special Matters: The Report of the Review of Special Education", was issued today by Roger D. Grimes, Minister of Education. It was also read in the House of Assembly:

In 1990, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador established a Royal Commission to examine all aspects of education in the province. Government released the Royal Commission Report "Our Children Our Future" in 1992 and, subsequently, established an Implementation Secretariat to guide the implementation process.

At that time, the Royal Commission indicated that it could not complete a review of special education within the context of the overall review and recommended that a separate, comprehensive review of special education be conducted. Consequently, in March 1995 Dr. Patricia Canning of Memorial University was contracted, through the Royal Commission Implementation Secretariat, to complete the review. A draft of "Special Matters: The Report of the Review of Special Education" was presented to me on July 23, 1996. As a follow-up to this meeting, Dr. Canning was requested to prepare a Summary Report and invited to make a presentation to the Social Policy Committee of Cabinet. The report was presented to the Social Policy Committee on October 30, 1996. Following this meeting, I requested the printing of 1,000 copies for public distribution. These documents are available today.

The report provides a broad review of all aspects of special education and support services for children and youth. It contains 226 recommendations which highlight the need to reformulate strategies from both the prevention and intervention perspectives. In general, early intervention services for at-risk populations and specialized interventions for students with special educational needs are contained within the report.

This report is being released today, and will be distributed as broadly as possible, including to all the major stakeholders. Within this context, government will establish a three-stage response to the report that will include the following components:

• - a detailed internal analysis of all 226 recommendations;

  - an invitation to the public, including the major stakeholders, to provide responses to the issues and recommendations contained in the report;

  - an integration of the internal analysis and public response to provide a decision-making framework for government.

A careful analysis is required in order to develop a well-reasoned response over time. In addition, government will need to consider certain aspects of this report along with the Report of the Select Committee on Children's Interests and the Report of the Social Policy Advisory Committee. An implementation plan will be prepared to address the issues and recommendations contained in the report.