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ACCESSIBILITY - Developing our new accessibility plan

Image description / alt text: North East School Division logo with ‘Connect. Include. Empower. Innovate.’ written above ‘NESD’ and images of trees and wheat. The text ‘Our Accessibility Plan. Breaking barriers and improving access.’ appears below.

Our vision

Our vision is to create safe, inclusive and academically excellent learning experiences for all. We are committed to creating barrier-free schools and work environments where everyone can participate fully and equally.

Our approach

The Accessible Saskatchewan Act, enacted in December 2023, is provincial legislation aimed at removing and preventing barriers that affect people with disabilities. 

We are developing a three-year accessibility plan as a first step to formalize our efforts and to support our commitment to meeting the Act’s requirements. This plan will guide our priorities, budgets and short, medium and longer-term actions to advance accessibility across all schools in the division.

Squarely Accessible, a consulting firm, has been contracted by the North East School Division to assist with data collection and analysis.

Community consultation process

We launched a consultation process to gather input from students, families, staff and from others in our division to make sure our accessibility plan reflects real experiences and needs. Key steps included:

Accessibility Advisory Group

• Working with Squarely Accessible, an accessibility consultancy, our division created an Accessibility Advisory Group and held regular meetings to develop and refine consultation tools, including surveys and focus groups.

• Feedback from these meetings will shape the overall approach to our accessibility plan.

Engagement activities

• A survey was open from Monday, June 9 to Monday, June 23, 2025 to collect input about accessibility barriers and solutions.

• Focus group sessions were held to gather in-depth feedback from families, students and staff.

Accessibility plan development

• After public engagement activities, the data will be collected and analyzed. 

• A full draft report will be developed with stakeholders, summarizing key findings and next steps.

• The finalized report will be developed and published to our website on or before December 3, 2025.

Project background

Why we are undertaking this work now

As a division, one of our goals has been to create an inclusive, welcoming environment by supporting students, staff and community members in our schools. 

We recognize there is still much work to be done. While we’ve made progress, we will continue to address gaps and improve our practices. 

Our new accessibility plan will capture a clear picture of the current state of accessibility. It will highlight the policies and processes we have in place now and will lay out the steps to build on the work already underway.

The plan will also outline how we will keep identifying and removing remaining barriers on an ongoing basis. We will continue to listen, learn and adapt to meet the evolving needs of our community.

What is a disability? 

The Accessible Saskatchewan Act defines disability as any impairment that, in interaction with a barrier, hinders an individual’s full and equal participation in society. It includes physical, mental, intellectual, cognitive, learning, communication or sensory impairments and a functional limitation. These can be permanent, temporary or episodic in nature, or evident or not.

The Act aims to remove all types of barriers that prevent or limit full participation for people with disabilities. 

Please refer to the Province of Saskatchewan’s Accessible Saskatchewan Act website for additional definitions and other helpful information.

Why we launched a survey

The survey was designed to capture insights and feedback from families, students, staff and community members to help us better understand the barriers people face and what meaningful accessibility looks like in the North East School Division.

Surveys opened on Monday, June 9, 2025 and closed on Monday, June 23, 2025 at 5:00pm.

Which barriers to accessibility are expected to be addressed as a result of the survey findings?

The information gathered from the survey will help us identify key barriers, concerns and preferences. This data will play a key role in shaping our accessibility plan by helping us identify themes, priorities and areas of improvement to inform strategic decision-making. 

While certain barriers may not be fully removed due to existing constraints (i.e., structural or financial), we are committed to making every reasonable effort to identify and address any gaps and improve accessibility wherever possible.

How will the findings of the survey be shared?

We will publicly share our accessibility plan across a variety of channels, including our website and social media, in late 2025.

What happens after the plan is developed?

The plan will guide the first three years of activities. Updates on progress will be released every year to follow the guidelines set out in The Accessible Saskatchewan Act.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact divisionoffice@nesd.ca or 306-752-5741, press 1 for reception.