Since their creation in 1994, Alberta’s Francophone school boards have developed a service model for students with handicaps, social maladjustments or learning difficulties (SHSMLD) that relies heavily on the services of teaching aides (TA). This approach is not without its consequences, as the systematic use of TA’s remains a controversial choice of services to offer to SHSMLD. This article attempts to present the main reasons for the controversy surrounding the use of TA’s with SHSMLD, specifically in Alberta’s Francophone schools. In concluding, the authors stress that the problems encountered by TA’s result less from the nature of their work with students than from their dealings with administrators and teachers. The authors offer suggestions for the enhanced use of these auxiliary personnel who are, after all, essential to the functioning of open and inclusive classrooms