HUMA Committee News Release

COMMUNIQUÉ

NEWS RELEASE

 

 

For immediate release:

OTTAWA -- 12 June 2003

 

Judi Longfield, Chair of the Standing Committee on Human Resources Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, today tabled a report entitled Raising Adult Literacy Skills: The Need for a Pan-Canadian Response. This report represents the culmination of the first general study of adult literacy undertaken by a federal parliamentary committee. It also coincides with the beginning of the United Nations Literacy Decade (2003 to 2010) and helps to define a federal contribution toward establishing a pan-Canadian literacy and essential skills development system, one of the 18 priority recommendations adopted at the National Summit on Innovation and Learning in November 2002. 

 

In view of Canada’s rapidly changing labour market needs and slower labour force growth, the Committee is very concerned that more than 40% of working-age Canadians lack the basic literacy skills required to participate successfully in the Canadian workplace. The Committee was constantly reminded that literacy skills have a fundamental influence on all aspects of our lives and that the high incidence of low literacy skills in our society represents substantial economic and social costs. Failure to address this problem will only heighten these costs in the years to come.

 

The Committee began its study of adult literacy in February 2003 and sought the views of almost 60 groups and individuals representing a wide spectrum of interests from across the country. “All members of the Committee are impressed by the literacy community’s hard work and dedication,” Judi Longfield said. “However, this community is stretched to the limit and the time has come for the federal government to work in partnership with provincial and territorial governments to undertake the necessary investments to raise literacy skills substantially across the country.”

 

The report contains 21 recommendations, chief among which is a call for the Minister of Human Resources Development Canada to meet with provincial/territorial ministers of education and labour market ministers to develop a pan-Canadian accord on literacy and numeracy skills. The remaining recommendations identify many key areas where the federal government could contribute to addressing Canada’s low literacy problem. These include: designing an Aboriginal literacy strategy; expanding the mandate and resources of the National Literacy Secretariat; helping families and communities, persons with disabilities, early school leavers, immigrants and refugees, and inmates to combat low literacy; and providing support to address the needs of low literacy individuals in the Canadian labour market.

 

The Committee’s report requests a comprehensive response from the Government within 150 days.

 

 

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