One of the principal challenges faced by educationalists across the world is the unique history of educational institutions and structures. Reforming schools to foster inclusion means adapting and even sometimes changing the whole grammar (Tyack & Tobin, 1994) of existing frameworks, conceptual, and contextual to accommodate the heterogeneous needs of learners and address diversity with an inclusion-oriented concept. This is particularly relevant at the current moment in Europe, where the borders of countries and the union itself are being challenged by global forces, including migration, debates about statehood and the integrity of the nation-state, as well as questions regarding inclusive approaches towards social, linguistic, religious, cultural, and ethnic diversity.

Canada is of interest to scholars of inclusive education across Europe because its provincial and territorial control of education mirrors that of many European countries, where regions and provinces also have autonomy over educational policies and practice. Where states are entirely responsible for education, their populations and diversity are of like size to Canadian provinces. Apart from models of full inclusion (e.g., the Atlantic province of New Brunswick), the diverse, unique responses to inclusion can be seen as potential inspiring practices across Europe. Rather than ask Canadians to explore inclusion in their own contexts—a framing that might only be of interest to Canadians—this book engages international scholars to consider Canadian education comparatively.

Besides New Brunswick, Canada's two most populous Anglophone provinces, Ontario and Alberta, have distinct policies and statements on equity, which relate directly to demands of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (United Nations, 2006). Canada also has a long and unique history with core elements of inclusion, including co-operative learning and career counselling. Where Canada is unique, but of interest internationally, in its particular challenges relating to inclusion, its concept of a migrant society, and its unique relationship with Indigenous peoples and with linguistic diversity.

Educators in Canada share a common baseline understanding of what inclusion means, drawing on a social value that all individuals in a society deserve the opportunity to learn. This is an effect of the long tradition of inclusive policies, which at least some European countries are not sharing. Inclusion is one thing to define, another to operationalise. Upon further consideration, Canadians might identify historically marginalised groups, including individuals with disabilities; Black, Indigenous, and other people of colour (BIPOC); or members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, Two-spirited plus (LGBTQ2+) community, among others. Perhaps their response would highlight that inclusion involves consideration of how our systems exclude these individuals, and how they need to change to provide equal access to all.

Canada has a history of multiculturalism and has been studied for decades as a space where schools have been challenged to include immigrant and refugee students, while also accounting for a history of exclusion with respect to Indigenous peoples and racialised students. Canada, which is constantly among the top group of PISA participating countries, has thus been a site of research on inclusion in schools since the mid-1980s, ranking among the leading countries in this respect. Canada's education system is also observing major shifts in the understanding of the past and values for the present and future. Recent and ongoing discoveries of the unmarked graves of Indigenous children on the sites of former Residential Schools have forced a long overdue confrontation with an ugly past with Indigenous peoples. Racial tensions appear to be at all-time highs with increases in anti-Asian hate crimes (e.g., in Canada), and religious tensions are no better with frequent acts of discrimination, including a targeted attack with a vehicle only months ago. Many countries worldwide are also facing challenges with the diversity caused by increased mobility of refugees. Though we have much work to do in support of inclusive education, there have been tremendous efforts towards realising inclusion in many Canadian schools in Canada, and other countries have taken notice.

In this edited collection, Inclusion in Education: European and Canadian Perspectives of Diverse Learners in School, contributors from across Europe examine inclusionary educational practices within Canadian educational spaces of teaching and learning. This project permits Canadian scholars, educational practitioners, teacher educators, and students to examine the ways that inclusion is seen, studied, and understood outside of Canada. The rationale for this project is that it creates a space to have critical discussions about a context widely considered as an example of high-quality inclusive practices, without the barrier of language that would normally limit scholarly discussions to remain within a language. Further, it addresses an international audience of scholars who have conducted and are involved in research throughout Canada.