Inclusive education has become an international educational priority with the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This article compares and analyses in depth two different educational systems on two continents with regard to their development of inclusive education and their current issues with this policy. France and Nova Scotia, a Canadian province, have two different traditions of schooling and of the education of children with disabilities. The article will compare the educational systems, educational policies, definitions of inclusive education, and the shifting teachers' roles and responsibilities. Two case studies will be used to contextualize the layers of meaning underlying inclusive education. (Contains 6 notes and 1 table.)