2026 Inclusion Alberta Family Conference

Fully inclusive Child Care and Teen Club have been a part of the Family Conference since its inception. Each day will be a new adventure filled with fun, inclusive play, and hands-on experiences. The staff are quality caregivers/play consultants who will add a touch of magic to the day, while parents participate in sessions. A limited number of child care spaces are available for children 12 and under and Teen Club spaces for children aged 13 to 19. When purchasing your Conference ticket(s) online, you will be able to purchase Child Care/Teen Club programming spots at a cost of $25 per day per child or teen. Spaces are limited and will be filled on a first-come basis.  

Belonging and relationships are essential to the well-being of every one of us, irrespective of whether someone has a disability or not. We all thrive and grow when we know we belong, are welcomed, and embraced by our teachers, friends, family, and community. In this plenary, our two keynote speakers, Dr. Virginia Walker and Janet Klees will open our day by sharing how both the classroom and community can and must be places of belonging where relationships for children and adults with intellectual disabilities and their families flourish. 

Youth for Inclusion is an initiative that brings youth—with and without intellectual disabilities—together to speak up, take action, and lead real change in their communities. It’s designed for young people who want to challenge ableism, amplify diverse voices, and help create communities where everyone truly belongs. 
 
The Youth Forum provides inspired youth leaders with the opportunity to dive into hands-on activities, bold conversations, and collaborative projects that spark leadership and fuel activism. Together, participants will create practical tools to kick-start meaningful conversations about community-based advocacy, equity, and leadership. 
 
If you’re a young person—with or without an intellectual disability—who’s ready to lead, question old assumptions, and build a community that reflects your values, you belong here. 
 
Lunch is provided but space is limited so please register early. Tickets are $30 and can be purchased in the 'registration' section.

Families and individuals with intellectual disabilities face growing barriers—longer waits for FSCD and PDD, increasing system bureaucracy and complexity, threats to inclusive education, and changes to AISH that reduce support for one group and apply a degrading label to the rest. These challenges echo past struggles, when families refused to accept exclusion and fought for the rights we now cherish. They fought for inclusive classrooms and community-based supports by seeing what was possible and refusing to settle for anything less.  

Now, history calls us again. How will we respond? Join us to hear powerful stories from family advocates and allies who are meeting this moment with creativity, persistence, and hope. Learn practical ways to take action and stand together to protect and advance inclusion. 

Siblings, whether they're biological siblings, cousins, or chosen family, are often our first friends. Siblings know each other deeply, making them uniquely situated to innately understand their loved ones and their vision for a good, meaningful life in community. This distinctive bond can often provide a perspective about their siblings’ gifts, talents and potential opportunities that can expand the dreams for the future and challenge others to consider new possibilities.  This panel brings together a diverse group of siblings to share how their unique relationships have created opportunities for belonging, leadership, advocacy, and lifelong friendship. Through reflections on their lived experience, panelists will share how their sibling bonds shaped their values and ability to support inclusion and strengthen their families throughout their lives. 

Some students with intellectual disabilities may have elevated behavioural support needs that necessitate individualized behaviour support plans. In this session, information about building and implementing individualized, communication-based supports to address these behavioural support needs will be shared with a particular focus on function-based thinking. 

Employment is a vital part of the normative life pathway and one of the most powerful drivers of belonging, identity, and well-being for people with intellectual disabilities. Employment is more than a paycheque—it is a place to contribute one’s gifts, build relationships, take on valued social roles, and shape a meaningful identity as a youth and adult. Yet too many youth and adults with intellectual disabilities continue to face barriers that interrupt their journey toward full belonging and access to the workforce. This session explores why employment must be considered an essential expectation—not an optional add-on—and how families, community members, and allies can champion inclusive pathways that open doors to real work for real pay. Through stories, insights, and practical strategies, participants will deepen their understanding of why employment is foundational to a good life and how we can collectively ensure that every individual has the opportunity to pursue meaningful, long-term, and financially sustainable employment in their community. 

This session examines the human rights advocacy by Siksika, Kainai, and Piikani Nations concerning systemic discrimination experienced by Blackfoot adults with developmental disabilities within federally and provincially administered systems.

Drawing on the lived realities of Blackfoot citizens and Nations, we will explore how colonial policy frameworks, chronic underfunding, and jurisdictional fragmentation have created persistent gaps in disability supports.
This session highlights Blackfoot perspectives on what equitable, culturally grounded, and Nation-led disability supports must look like. Participants will learn how the Blackfoot Nations are identifying community-defined needs and strengths, articulating solutions, and advancing Nation-driven approaches to address gaps left by colonial governments. We will also explore how respectful partnerships can support, rather than constrain, First Nations self-determination in disability services.

This session is an opportunity to hear and learn from the experiences of a families who took some time to deeply reflect on the capacity of their loves one with an intellectual disability, including those with significant disabilities, to participate in the decision-making that guides their lives. In somewhat surprising but deeply practical ways, this group of families came to see for themselves the importance of expecting, noticing, recognizing and following the voice of their family members with a disability in being at the forefront of the decisions in their lives.  

In this session, you will: 

• Hear family stories about their journey and the impact of thinking differently about support in decision making.  

• Understand the importance of relationships in decision making and in life’s directions 

• Learn a powerful process to ensure the person you love is actively and increasingly engaged in the decisions in their lives. 

•  Look frankly at the natural struggles of families to continually hear and support the voices of their loved ones 

• Explore how to share what you’ve learned with family, friends and allies as life moves forward 

This session is an invitation to rediscover that spark of possibility for a good life for our family member with an intellectual disability. 
 
We’ll explore why the normative pathway matters—the familiar route toward inclusion, belonging, and opportunities that others often take for granted. Following this pathway is a relentless commitment to opening doors to education, employment, relationships, and community life that create the foundation for thriving. 
 
Through powerful stories, we’ll uncover narratives of resilience and hope and reimagine what thriving looks like for individuals with intellectual disabilities. Join us for a session that blends practical insight and aspirational thinking—because even when hope feels distant, the seeds of possibility are always within reach. 

This annual session will explore the advocacy issues and trends currently impacting individuals and families, discuss needed responses, and provide practical ways to take immediate action, the need for which has never been more clear. 
  
In just a few years, many of Alberta’s supports and services to children and adults with intellectual disabilities have been eroded and families and persons with disabilities find themselves under constant attack with the public seemingly unaware or unconcerned. The usual advocacy strategies which served us well in the past are no longer effective and hope and resiliency are at increasing risk without new forms of collective and individual action. Times have changed and consequently our actions have to change.  
  
During this session we will explore and act on some possible advocacy strategies required today and the actions all of us must take to combat the systemic assault on children and adults with intellectual disabilities and their families.  

Inclusive employment is one of the most powerful ways to a meaningful life filled with purpose, contribution, relationships, and greater financial security. Yet for so many adults with intellectual disabilities, it has long remained out of reach. Thanks to Alberta Rotarians, Rotary Clubs and Districts, this is changing.  
 
Over the past 25 years, Inclusion Alberta’s Rotary Employment Partnership has grown to encompass 49 clubs in communities around Alberta, generating over 950 jobs to date. This incredibly successful Partnership provides lessons in the capacity of the community to be welcoming and inclusive and in the desires of persons with intellectual disabilities to contribute and participate as fully as possible in all life has to offer. This Partnership is living testimony that attempts to determine which persons with intellectual disabilities can and cannot work is a false and harmful narrative. 
 
Hear from Rotarians and business leaders who have championed inclusive hiring and the positive impact this has had on their workplaces, and from employees with intellectual disabilities and their families who will describe the life-changing impact of meaningful employment and the opportunity to belong and contribute. 

Inclusion Alberta is linked with local family advocacy associations across the province. The following associations are extending an invitation to you to come meet them today: Inclusion Calgary, Inclusion Edmonton Region, Inclusion Foothills, Inclusion Grande Prairie, Inclusion Lethbridge, Inclusion Lloydminster, Inclusion Medicine Hat, Inclusion St. Paul, and Inclusion Wetaskiwin. They will be in Room 6 at 4:45pm. They invite you to drop by for a few minutes to meet them. Families in some communities not on that list are wanting to form new groups and plan to be there too. If you live in a community not on that list, please drop by and we will try to connect you with others from your region. Relationships with experienced families can be a source a source of practical advice and of courage to continue pursuing an inclusive life.

Join us on Saturday evening from 7pm - 11pm in the Fantasyland Hotel Ballroom for a fun and casual celebration for family members of all ages! A DJ will be playing party favourites and even if you don’t like to dance, it’s an opportunity for Conference-goers to connect, celebrate and enjoy some snacks. There will be entertainment for children (including face painting and the famous ‘freeze-dance’ and ‘limbo’), but please note that parents are responsible for their supervision – Child Care and Teen Club are not provided.

Dinner will NOT be provided but snacks, finger foods and soft drinks will be available along with a cash bar. For dinner, there are numerous restaurants and food courts in the mall if you’d like something to eat before the Family Celebration Dance.

All Conference participants are invited to join us for the Family Celebration Dance. Please add it to your schedule if you plan on attending.

Thank you to Siksika Nation for sponsoring the entertainment for the Inclusion Alberta Family Dance!