By Crystal Clavet
It’s business as usual at People, Words and Change. Kae McColl is assessing students and offering one-on-one literacy training to help adults improve their basic reading and math skills. However, a recent announcement has left her worried about her colleagues in the literacy field.
On Sept. 25, the federal government announced it was cutting $1-billion worth of “wasteful programs” and refocusing the money to pay down the national debt as promised in the 2006 budget. Part of that $1 billion was a $17.7-million cut to adult literacy programming.
Sixty-six programs saw cuts, including the medicinal marijuana program – deemed a low priority for the government – and Status of Women Canada, which lost $5 million for “streamlining program efficiencies.”
The government cut literacy funding because it said Canadians weren’t getting their money’s worth and the money wasn’t being used effectively.
The Conservative government promised to review spending, and according to Robert Makichuk, chief of media relations for the Treasury Board, these cuts are an example of its “tighter more disciplined management.”
However, in this display of “disciplined management,” the government demonstrated its short-sightedness. As the shock of the announcement settles in, so does the reality of the situation. Literacy groups don’t know what is going to happen with their funding, and more importantly, their work.
The Movement for Canadian Literacy, a national non-profit organization, collects information, conducts research, and develops literacy programming that it shares with literacy groups across the country. The group also acts as a government liaison, and has been involved in federal roundtable discussions about literacy and education.
“What we do is in the public interest. It helps the country to have a more literate population,” says Wendy DesBrisay, the organization’s executive director.
In fact, their previous federal funding was used to collect literacy data for the previous Liberal government, she says. She does not expect to get funding for future projects, and says there is a possibility the group’s Ottawa office might close.
The 2003 International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey (IALSS) estimates that 48 per cent of Canadians over 16 do not have the basic literacy skills to read a newspaper, bus schedule or prescription bottle. This does not mean they cannot read – it means they have difficulty reading at the same level as others in society.
In 2005-2006, there were 1,300 people registered in adult literacy programs in Ottawa, according to the Ottawa Community Coalition for Literacy. This is only a tiny sample, because only two to three per cent of people with low literacy skills actually seek help.
DesBrisay says federal funding is used to develop better ways of teaching, which impacts classrooms. The money was specifically cut from adult literacy programs, which in Ontario directly affects Anglophone, Francophone, deaf and Aboriginal programming.
There is no excuse for a $17.7-million cut to literacy. Literacy and education are a basic Canadian right. And this is the core of the issue. By losing funding, literacy groups are losing the opportunity to develop better programming and better methods of teaching, and to strengthen their national network through which they spread this information.
The current literacy tutor’s handbook, developed in a federal-provincial partnership, is a few years old. However, like a school board changing its curriculum, the Movement for Canadian Literacy and its member organizations are always looking for new and innovative ways to teach better literacy skills.
Literacy organizations are currently facing a world of unknown. Many don’t know if they will be open in the new year. The ones that receive their funding from provinces and territories are amending their budgets and scaling back programming so this money makes up for the loss of federal funds. For others still, it’s a ripple effect. Though not directly affected, they are losing the shared resources, the advocacy, and the potential development that the larger organizations provide.
But to take a step back, how can the government say that Canadians don’t get good value for their money when it comes to literacy? Surely the 12 million Canadians
that struggle with literacy everyday would not agree. By improving literacy skills a person increases their chances for community involvement, as well as expands their career opportunities.
“When people make more they pay more taxes,” says DesBrisay. She says literacy contributes to the health and well being of the country, and that’s why the government should fund it.
“No one is asking the government to pay for programming,” says DesBrisay.
“They are asking the government to work in part with the provinces and territories so that all Canadians have the opportunity to contribute to and benefit from our society.”