Literacy groups demand $17M back from Ottawa
Last Updated: Wednesday, October 4, 2006 | 5:43 PM ET
CBC News
Literacy groups across the country demanded Wednesday that Ottawa put back the $17.7 million it cut from adult literacy programs last week.
In Nova Scotia, Manitoba, P.E.I., Ottawa and in the North, literacy supporters urged the Conservative government to reconsider its decision.
The Conservative government announced the cuts Sept. 25 as part of a $1-billion package of cost-saving measures.
"The cuts will decimate the infrastructure built co-operatively by all levels of government and the literacy community and will set us back years in our ability to meet the literacy challenges of Canadians," Wendy DesBrisay with the Movement for Canadian Literacy said in a news conference Wednesday in Ottawa.
The federal cuts will affect programs that provided outreach to potential learners, professional development for educators, curriculum development and research.
Canadian literacy groups were shocked when the federal funding cuts were announced, said Margaret Eaton of ABC Canada in the capital.
"This is not the time to be cutting back on the very resources Canadians need," Eaton said.
"Cutting back now simply exacerbates the low-literacy problem and ignores the other costs that fall out from not making such an investment."
Minister needs more info: group
Treasury Board President John Baird has said the Conservatives want to use the money more effectively to better teach children how to read and write.
"This is repair work after the fact," Baird said of adult literacy programs last week.
"We've got to [have a] much greater focus on ensuring we get it right from the get-go, with the first $20 billion, rather than doing it after the fact."
"His statement indicates he knows nothing about who attends literacy classes," said Lorri Apps, executive director of Literacy Partners of Manitoba, a province-wide network of literacy programs and services, which may have to close its doors next spring as a result of the funding cuts.
"In Canada, the number of people who are illiterate is only one per cent. It is the low-literate Canadians who come to literacy programs," Apps said Wednesday.
People with low literacy skills have difficulty with reading, writing, numeric skills, or a combination of all three, she said.
Literacy groups estimate that up to nine million Canadians face some difficulties with reading and writing.
"How can the government expect to increase the tax base and thereby grow the economy, when 42 per cent of Canadians struggle or are unable to function within the level which international experts say we need to function in today's environment?" Apps asked.
Apps, who has had to let go of three staff members since the announcement was made, said about $780,000, or 80 per cent of its funding, has been cut in Manitoba.
She said her organization and other literacy groups across the country are organizing efforts to put pressure on Ottawa to reverse the funding cuts.
"Good politicians are not afraid to admit when they've made a mistake. Let's chalk it up to a rookie mistake," she said.
The Commons Standing Committee of Human Resources and Social Development is expected to review the impact of the cuts.
An NDP motion calls on the human resources minister, senior departmental staff and literacy groups to appear before the committee.
Educators 'disturbed' by cuts
Literacy supporters rallied in Halifax on Wednesday, calling on the Harper government to rethink what they say is a 40 per cent funding cut.
"It's mean-spirited and it's short-sighted, and I think it's a bad decision," said Ann Marie Downie, executive director of Literacy Nova Scotia.
Jason Dykens said he's a prime example of the social and economic benefits that come with adult literacy programs.
"I see my children, I see their work every day, and I'm not too intimidated to help them with their studies," Dykens told the crowd gathered at the Keshen Goodman Library in Halifax.
Dykens, 28, had a learning disability and left school in Grade 11. He stayed in low-end jobs, but now plans to train as a machinist.
The organization trains tutors to work with adults to increase their skills so they can go back to school.
In Prince Edward Island, the head of the PEI Teachers' Federation said its members are "disturbed" by the adult literacy program cuts.
People of all ages, not just children, need the services provided through literacy programs, said federation president Seana Evans-Renaud.
"I don't think it has to be mutually exclusive. We have some severe problems with adult illiteracy, and quite often if a parent is not able to read, then they can't provide that support for their own children at home," Evans-Renaud said Wednesday.
"So it certainly is not something that we can choose ... one or the other. We need to attack illiteracy on all fronts."
In Nunavut, Education Minister Edward Picco said he was disappointed with the funding cuts, which he said were made without the knowledge of the government in Nunavut.
He estimated that the territory will lose $800,000 in literacy funding, meaning the Nunavut Literacy Council may have to shut down and Nunavut Arctic College may lose three literacy programs.
"In Nunavut, where we have some of the worst literacy levels in the country, it is very important to have funding, especially for English as a second language, adult basic education programs and pure literacy programs," Picco said.
"This indiscriminate and arbitrary cut by the federal government is really disappointing and terrible news for Nunavummiut."
The Nunavut government is still determining when the cuts would take effect, and Picco said the government doesn't have the money right now to make up for the lost funding.
With files from the Canadian Press
