Parents of children with disabilities upset over possible strike of Nova Scotia school support staff

Some parents of children with disabilities are getting more frustrated every day about the uncertainty around Nova Scotia’s school support workers.

Monday was the first day the province’s roughly 5,500 Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) members could have gone on strike, but a 48-hour notice has not been filed so it’s technically business as usual for now.

The notice could come at any time, so that instability is making some parents who rely on workers like the system’s educational program assistants (EPAs) and early childhood educators (ECEs) anxious and angry.

“I’ve spent the last five years of my son’s life tirelessly advocating for him and making damn sure that my sons know that their brother is no less worthy, deserving, or entitled to opportunities that any other child would get,” Kristen Scott, a mother of three who has one son with a disability, said in an impassioned video message on Facebook over the weekend.

“Because after all, that would be discrimination, wouldn’t it? And remember that word because that will come into play here in a minute. EPAs and school support staff provide a vital safe space for children who may not have this at home. This is where they’re fed, they’re warm, there’s structure and stability and comfort from adults who care about them.

“These are the same staff who work tirelessly to help our children learn how to communicate, learn life skills, all while dealing with incredibly complex behaviours, including being physically assaulted on the job. They are chronically understaffed, undervalued, and underpaid, and now they’re trying to negotiate their contract again, asking for a substantial raise, which they literally should have gotten years ago, while the province tries to strong-arm them into a deal.”

Within the province’s eight regional centres for education, there are varying contingency plans in place in the event the union moves forward with strike action. In some areas, students in certain grades will shift to online or home learning if those irreplaceable workers move to picket lines.

Education administrators and representatives from individual schools are communicating plans directly to parents so they can prepare, but that’s a difficult task for the parents who lean on support staff the most.

“As a mother of a disabled child who very much appreciates and relies on support staff, I find that horrendously offensive and absolutely appalling,” Scott continued in her video post.

“These people are doing essential, vital jobs, arguably one of the most important jobs on the planet, and deserve to be well compensated. The fact that I even need to sit here and make this video and say these things out loud is absolutely disgusting to me. But yet here we are, for the second time in four years, with our most vulnerable children losing access to the people who help them communicate, regulate, stay safe, and learn, and can’t go to school.

“I’m disgusted. If losing EPAs means children lose access to education, then perhaps we’ve demonstrated exactly how valuable these workers are, and the province of Nova Scotia should understand that better than anybody else because, historically, this province has already been found to have staggering rates of discrimination against people within the disability community.”

School support staff in the Halifax area went on strike for roughly six weeks in 2023.

CUPE circulated a news release describing how “workers have learned that recent layoffs of educational program assistants may be tied to a directive from the province to reassess the support needs of students already receiving assistance. Shelley McNeil, president of CUPE Local 5047 (Halifax Regional Centre for Education), says more than 50 educational program assistants were laid off this fall after being told there was no work for them to do.”

“It was odd, because these redundancies are happening even though the needs are not decreasing,” McNeil said in the release. “From what I can tell, the needs are continuing to rise.”

Communications staff for Brendan Maguire, Nova Scotia’s minister of education and early childhood development, supplied other data and viewpoints on the issues.

“We value all our education system support staff and the work they do every day in our schools,” Krista Higdon, department communications staff member, wrote in a statement. “Regional Centres for Education and the Conseil Scolaire Acadien Provincial have presented fair offers to CUPE leadership that would provide annual raises over four years totalling at least seven per cent, with raises for lower-wage earners closer to 17 per cent. Offers also commit to comprehensive annual health and safety training and address localized concerns heard from members.

“The speculation in today’s CUPE news release does not align with Halifax Regional Centre for Education (HRCE) staffing data. In 2025-26, HRCE funded 1,046 Educational Program Assistants (EPAs). This year, HRCE has added five additional EPAs for a total of 1,051. When there are changes in staffing at the school level, it is most often due to changes in enrolment. Notably this year, HRCE year-over-year enrolment decreased for the first time in more than ten years.

“Schools also do not unilaterally change student support plans. Plans are developed with a Student Planning Team (SPT) that include the student and their family, school staff, Region or Board staff, and relevant partner agencies or departments (e.g., community agencies, IWK, Opportunities and Social Development). The roles and responsibilities of SPT members, including staff and families, are clearly outlined in the Inclusive Education Policy.

“The Inclusive Education Policy also requires ongoing assessment and evaluation of the effectiveness of support plans and strategies – a common reason schools will review individual student plans – to ensure plans promote a student’s independence and resilience as they progress through school.”

The CUPE release also included comments from a mother who described the experience of her 15-year-old daughter, who has cerebral palsy.

“Olivia needs to be accompanied at all times while she’s in school,” Robin Gushue said in the release. “She has a full-time support worker and that support worker is always replaced when they take a break. If Olivia needs help being transferred to or from her wheelchair, she always has two support workers available to assist her. That’s been the case from Day 1, since we moved to Nova Scotia almost 10 years ago. I can’t imagine why they’d need to see the safety plan unless they were looking to reduce her supports.”

There are eight CUPE locals representing the support staff around the province so the specific jobs affected vary from region to region, but this is the list of the other workers who could potentially be affected if there is a strike: library support specialists, SchoolsPlus community outreach workers, child and youth care practitioners, Mi’kmaw-Indigenous student support workers, African Nova Scotian student support workers, assistive technology support workers, and substitutes for the classifications, where applicable, plus some bus drivers, custodians, tradespeople, maintenance workers, technology staff, secretaries, cafeteria employees, outdoor supervisors and library technicians.

“Tim Houston, I have a very simple question for you: What message do you think you’re sending now?” Scott said in her video. “What message do you think you’re sending parents of disabled children when their children don’t have access to equal education? I think the government forgets who they work for. You love talking about investing in the next generation, then do it. Invest in them, and that includes investing in the EPAs and school support staff. Pay them appropriately, and hire more because you cannot claim to believe in inclusion when failing to adequately staff inclusion. Actions speak louder than words.

“People have got to care in order to force change. There has got to be more public pressure. But here’s the thing, the government doesn’t need more parents like me trying to beg them to understand the value of EPAs. The parents have explained it. The workers have explained it. The disability community has explained it. We have over-explained ourselves, and it is not my responsibility or the responsibility of anybody else to force the government to understand. They already know, they already understand, and they choose to do nothing about it, and they choose to continue to send a message to the disability community. That’s certainly how it appears to me.

“Equal access is not a favour. Inclusion is not a favour, and the dignity of my son’s rights or the rights of any other Nova Scotian should not depend on how loudly their families are willing to fight for it.”