literacy alive

http://egypt.alive.in/

Volunteers have been working on translating the Arabic voice messages left by Egyptian protesters on Google’s Say Now service (which were then, with the help of Twitter, pushed out as tweets on the @Speak2Tweet account) into English.

a nice place to learn

I went to Belleville yesterday to do a presentation about literacy for a group of people who work in literacy, settlement and employment services. Nice people.


I took the train down in the morning and had to wait until 9:30 until I could get a train home. What to do?

Hang out with the amazing folks at Quinte Adult Day School of course. The staff are Marsha, Gary, Chris, Cory and Stacey and are just what you would expect from literacy workers - funny, compassionate and passionate. And, of course, fantastically smart, innovative and creative.

One thing they do at QADS is work with people on job skills and one of the ways they do that is by restoring the beautiful old buildings of Belleville and Trenton to their former glory ... and into well-appointed places to learn.

Needless to say, I learned a LOT!

Thank you QADS people and thank you Community Literacy Ontario for providing us with this opportunity.

originally posted @ StoryJuice

report cards

The news hit the pages of the Globe and Mail under this headline last Friday: Conservatives stop funding for learning organization.

The news is that the federal government will not provide further funding for the Canadian Council on Learning, an organization established in 2004 by a Liberal government with a five-year grant of $85-million to promote lifelong education.

The CCL was established because "In 2004, Canada saw that it had some catching up to do. Canadians were falling behind the rest of the world in some crucial areas. Innovation. Creativity. Skills development. Learning. There was no debate about what we had to do to stop the decline, and begin to improve. We had to figure out what works in education and learning, from early childhood to post-secondary schooling, from job training through adult literacy improvement, and we had to monitor our progress so that we were certain we were always on the right path."

I am not sure that I agree with the basic premise. I see little real world evidence that Canadians are less innovative, creative, skilled and/or learned than their counterparts around the world. In fact, the solutions to our recent economic woes seem to point to a past underuse of the innovation, creativity, skills and learning of many Canadians rather than any deficits in those areas. But the creation of the CCL intrigued me. It seemed to hold promise - perhaps we could create an education think tank that would shine a light on the innovation, creativity, skills and learning of educators in Canada and that this knowledge would inform policy.

The CCL divided its work into 5 knowledge centres: Aboriginal Learning (based in the Prairies, NWT and Nunavut); Adult Learning (based in Atlantic Canada); Early Childhood Learning (based in Quebec); Health and Learning (based in British Columbia and Yukon); and Work and Learning (based in Ontario).

I have had the most experience with the Adult Learning Knowledge Centre. In 2007 I worked on a research-in-practice project that was funded through the ALKC and, in June 2007, I went to an ALKC conference. At the conference I was impressed by the grassroots nature of some of the projects but became aware of a focus on measuring. As time went on, I realized that the CCL was less a "learning organization" and more a measuring organization.

The Globe and Mail article quotes Mr. Cappon about the loss of funding: “What Canada would lose without CCL would be like being a student without a report card of any kind. And we'd be prevented from knowing how far behind the competition we're slipping."

CCL brought us several report cards over the years.

The Composite Learning Index (CLI) measures Canada’s progress in lifelong learning based on statistical indicators that reflect the many ways Canadians learn, whether in school, in the home, at work or within the community. The CLI tells us things like this: "For the first time, Canada's overall score on the Composite Learning Index has declined, dropping two points to 75 in 2009, from 77 in 2008. The decrease is being driven by the Learning to Be pillar, even though there has been an increase on the Learning to Do pillar."

The Projections of Adult Literacy: Measuring Movement (PALMM) provides a statistical “snapshot” of Canada’s adult literacy future through 2031; calculates future adult literacy rates according to province/territory and specific population groups; and generates graphs for incorporating into planning for literacy policy and program interventions. The PALMM tells us things like this: "Although the proportion of immigrants with low literacy skills will decrease by 2031, the actual number of low-skilled immigrants will increase by 61%. However, there will also be an increase in the number of immigrants with higher literacy levels."

The July 2008 literacy educators got a CCL report card. Reading the Future: Planning to meet Canada’s future literacy uses the PALMM to assess the state of adult literacy in Canada and makes recommendations on how literacy programming should be structured and delivered. This report was well discussed on this blog (and here) and in our special bulletin. One of our concerns was that this report makes recommendations about professionalization, teaching methods and time limits that overlook "the rich and varied techniques Canadian practitioners use to teach adults successfully and share in practitioner-based research reports." Reading the Future was a signal to the literacy field that the CCL was not developing knowledge based on the innovation, creativity, skills and learning of educators but was taking a top down approach to develop policy recommendations based on survey data.

In March of last year, CCL presented the adult literacy community with their online literacy assessment tool, also well discussed on this blog. This tool allowed us to develop our own report card on our own IALSS level. CCL told us we could also use the tool to assess learner needs overlooking the fact that the IALSS is a survey tool and is not an appropriate assessment for learning

"In anticipation of renewed funding, CCL had proposed an exciting slate of projects for the coming years."

Many in the list of 10 proposed projects, not surprisingly, seem to be about collecting more data to create more measuring tools. The Literacy Self-Assessments looks to be an expansion of the above mentioned online assessment: "CCL plans to launch a series of free, online tests that will allow individual Canadians to measure their competencies in three areas: prose literacy, document literacy and numeracy. Based on the International Adult Literacy and Skills survey, these tests will also provide teachers and instructors with a convenient means of assessing strengths and weaknesses to ensure programs meet learner needs." Once again CCL is overlooking the folly of using a survey tool to assess for learning and using a standardized test for self-assessment.

That report card argument may resonate in some sectors but I am not sure what literacy workers will think about it. You can probably tell what I think :), but what about you? Do we need these report cards? How do they help us in our work? How do they help learners in their learning? How does the report card argument resonate with you?

condors among us

I am...the Great Supersonic Condor. I chose the walking staff as my 'weapon'. Really I think the big stick is something to lean on when the going gets tough...

feasting

If you are lucky enough to have worked in literacy, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for literacy work is a moveable feast.
                             paraphrasing A. Hotchner 

Here in Toronto, literacy workers used to get together quite a bit. The Metro Toronto Movement for Literacy and the Festival of Literacies used to provide us with many opportunities to meet and share professional wisdom. Neither of these organizations have been able to continue this and for a while we just stopped meeting.

Guy Ewing and Joy Lehman asked why. They asked, "Do we really need funding to get together and learn from each other?" Of course, the answer was no. They started to convene literacy workers at Moveable Feasts.

On Friday, Johanna Pax-Milic, coordinator of the Adult Education Program at LAMP, and a photographer, invited us to an evening of photography and discussion about creativity and community.

We met at a café in the community where Johanna lives, Parkdale. The city was well represented - there were people from all corners. And so was literacy work - there were people who work or volunteer at school board, community based, network and resource programs. They were Leo, Carol, Sue, Linda, David, Phylicia, Nancy, Joy, Johanna, Linda and me.

As usual, we spent some time catching up with each other about how our work is going. And then we talked about creatvity and photography. The theme Johanna suggested was "What moves you when you’re walking in Toronto’s neighbourhoods?"

We went out and took photographs and then returned to the café to discuss what we saw and learned. Those of us with digital cameras shared our photos.

I walked with David, Phylicia, Carol and Joy. Joy used up all her film and David did not bring his camera so the three of us used mine. These are the photos we took. The first three are by David. His pictures show the rainy night.

Then Joy photographed a window with the blind and bottles. She said it was a picture of need and want. That became our theme.

We saw that the Goodwill was still open and decided to get out of the rain. Serendipity because the Goodwill is a palace of need and want. You will see that there were a few raindrops on the lens that I did not notice at first. You will see that an out-of-control witch is only $24.99. You will see need and want comes in all shapes and sizes and is always "as is." You will see why Joy is called Joy.

The photos are in the order we took them so you can see the need and want unfold as we did.

The last three pictures are of a literacy moment that made us all laugh.





If you are interested in hosting a feast or want to be on the feast mailing list contact Guy Ewing - ewingguy [at] gmail [dot] com - or Joy Lehmann - jlehmann [at] idirect [dot] ca.

The song is "Roll On Oblivion" from the album Here's to Being Here by Jason Collett --- a beloved Toronto musician. You gotta love a guy who lists Nick Lowe as an influence. I have bought a few copies of his new CD for me and my friends. You buy one too so he does not get mad at me for putting his song in our slideshow.

feasting 2

Here are some more photos from that great night in Parkdale. The first 4 were sent in by the great, themeless photographer, Sue. The rest came from the great, experimental photographer, Nancy.



The song is "A New Name for Everything" from the album Reconstruction Site by The Weakerthans -- a beloved band from Winnipeg. I have bought a few copies of their new CD for me and my friends. You buy one too so they do not get mad at me for putting their song in our slideshow.

the beauty that you are

faster than a speeding rainbow,
more powerful than the wind, the rain and the sunset,
and able to leap a slough of despond (or the *Slough of Despond) in a single bound.

I'll be your mirror
Reflect what you are, in case you don't know
I'll be the wind, the rain and the sunset
The light on your door to show that you're home

When you think the night has seen your mind
That inside you're twisted and unkind
Let me stand to show that you are blind
Please put down your hands
'Cause I see you

I find it hard to believe you don't know
The beauty that you are
But if you don't let me be your eyes
A hand in your darkness, so you won't be afraid

When you think the night has seen your mind
That inside you're twisted and unkind
Let me stand to show that you are blind
Please put down your hands
'Cause I see you

I'll be your mirror

*about the Slough of Despond, Bruce Trail, Ontario

lonesome no more

Here's my super literacy hero, courageous walking wizard...

Henrietta

Henrietta is a Twitter friend.

faster than a speeding book cart,
more powerful than Imperial Leather,
and able to leap a proscenium arch in a single bound.

and she is definitely not scared of the dark...

a groove that is NEVER out of fashion

The Strange Avenger is ready to join the Community of Heroes in the Literacies blog! (I assume I got the strange label because I was minimalist and chose no weapon).

Nancy :)

faster than a speeding technocrat,
more powerful than a Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment,
and able to leap the corridors of power in a single bound.

I wake up every morning
I hear your feet on the stairs
You're in the next apartment
I hear you singing over there--

This groove is out of fashion
These beats are 20 years old
I saw you lend a hand to
The ones out standing in the cold--

Strange Overtones
In the music you are playing
I'll harmonize
It is strong and you are tough
But a heart is not enough-

Put on your socks and mittens
It's getting colder tonight
A snowball in my kitchen
I watched it melt before my eyes--

Your song still needs a chorus
I know you'll figure it out
The rising of the verses
A change of key will let you out--

Strange overtones
Though they're slightly out of fashion
I'll harmonize
I see the music in your face
That your words cannot explain

Strange Overtones
In the music you are playing
We're not alone
It is strong and you are tough
But a heart is not enough--

announcement: RIP augusto boal

Augusto Boal passsed away in Rio de Janeiro early Saturday morning.

Born in 1931 in the Rio suburb of Penha, Boal graduated in chemical engineering and was the founder of Theater of the Oppressed.

Arrested and exiled during the military dictatorship in 1971, Boal returned to Brazil after 15 years at the invitation of then Secretary of Education of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Darcy Ribeiro.

Here is what Chris over at Comeuppance had to say:

Augusto was one of the titans of modern theatre and his work has spawned hundreds, if not thousands of theatre companies and projects around the world using Theatre of the Oppressed to effect social change. He has made many trips to Canada and the US to do trainings for actors, educators and activists of all kinds. In 1986 he co-founded the Centre for Theatre of the Oppressed in Rio. He was one of the most influential teachers i have ever had and i credit my training and practice of Theatre of the Oppressed with having taught me more about facilitation and teaching than any other single practice/theory.

story circles

Happy May Day Everybody! International Solidarity!

May 16th is the 2nd International Day for Sharing Life Stories.

This day is an opportunity to celebrate and promote life stories, as a way to encourage critical thinking, cultural democratization and social transformation. The International Day is organized by The Museum of the Person International Network (Brazil, Portugal, USA and Canada) and the Center for Digital Storytelling (USA, Canada, Denmark, Czech Republic, Ireland and Portugal)

The chosen theme for this years' Day is Journey for Justice – Migration and Refugees. The Human Rights Commission of U.N. estimates that there are currently 21 million refugees in the world. According to the International Organization for Migration, there are 200 million international immigrants all over the world. We want to hear the stories of people who have experienced migration in order to develop dialogue about this important matter in our societies and promote social change.

Besides that, we could not leave aside the importance of any other person’s life stories. So, whatever your work with life stories is, join us! The idea of this website is to show these stories and to promote a space for listening and exchanging experiences. Post your stories, listen to other stories, and celebrate this day with us!

Find out more and add your activity for this year at ausculti.org.

Here is a video from an international story circle that happened last month.

Queen Rania of Jordan was announced as the Honorary Chair of the Global Campaign for Education's Big Read in Johannesburg. She met Basetsane Khumalo, Gcina Mhlope and Simphiwe Dana before reading her story to children from Soweto and Alex.

Find out more and add your stories at www.campaignforeducation.org/bigread

places to learn - coming soon?

Hey Wendell. Hey Nancy. Hey Bonnie. Hey everybody. Places to learn!!!!

In 1998, when the UK Labour party was less than a year into it's current 12 year run of electoral success, David Blunkett, then the education secretary, wrote The Learning Age green paper.

As well as securing our economic future, learning has a wider contribution. It helps make ours a civilised society, develops the spiritual side of our lives and promotes active citizenship ... It helps us fulfil our potential, and opens doors to a love of music, art and literature. That is why we value learning for its own sake as well as for the equality of opportunity it brings.

It was a great paper, but nothing happened until last month when John Denham, the secretary of state for innovation, universities and skills, issued an adult learning white paper called The Learning Revolution.

The white paper announces £20m of new money. This "transformational fund" will invest in "innovative new approaches to reach and engage new learners".

People who want to organise their own groups and classes will be supported by a new national campaign for learning, Government announced today. Public and private buildings all over the country will throw open their doors to learners in the evening and weekends, from pubs, shops, cafes and churches to workplaces, libraries and galleries. The buildings will be identified by the new "Learning Revolution" logo and at least 7,000 rooms will be available, with the number expected to grow.

Learning in all its many forms improves our quality of life, happiness and personal wellbeing. While improving people’s skills is one of the most powerful things they can do to realise their career aspirations, we recognise the importance of learning for pleasure and the enormous contribution it makes to the well-being of individuals, neighbourhoods and wider society.

Over the past few years, there has been a quiet learning revolution, but the Government wants to ignite this, raising the profile and take-up of learning wherever it happens, so that all adults and communities can benefit from high-quality, innovative learning that is accessible to all.

It all seems a little more back-to-the-future than revolutionary, but who in these parts really wants a revolution anyway. I will gladly forgive them the hyperbole, plus all the sins of Skills for Life, if they make this work. Or better yet, just let this work.

Wouldn't it be nice to hear something similar from any of our governments? If anyone knows of anything along these lines happening anywhere in Canada, please let us know.

Thanks to Nancy Jackson for telling us about this exciting development.

Guardian Article >>
Wanted: a learning revolution

The National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) response >>
Realising The Learning Revolution

leading lights

I am not sure whether adult education teachers are most appropriately grouped with the artists (people-oriented, open-minded, intuitive, and visionary) or the craftspeople (humane, dedicated, knowledgeable, and wise). Probably a little of both. Actually, definitely a LOT of both.

I do know that adult educators do have a lot to offer the “recovery,” -- to the creation and nourishment of strong communities. And so does Dr. Stephen Brookfield, co-author with Stephen Preskill of Learning as a Way of Leading: Lessons from the Struggle for Social Justice. You can listen to what he says about adult educators as leaders here*. You can download a chapter of the book here. (Thanks again to Nancy Friday for linking me to this fantastic, and as she says, affirming resource.)

To get you started, here are what Brookfield and Preskill refer to as the nine learning tasks of leadership:

1. Learning how to be open to the contributions of others

2. Learning how to reflect critically on one’s practice

3. Learning how to support the growth of others

4. Learning how to develop collective leadership

5. Learning how to analyze experience

6. Learning how to question oneself and others

7. Learning democracy

8. Learning to sustain hope in the face of struggle

9. Learning to create community

It seems to me that this comes pretty close to the list of the skills required of adult literacy workers. These are the skills and learning – the crazy wisdom – literacy teachers and learners demonstrate strongly and daily everywhere they work together. It is certainly this list of learning tasks that shows up in the articles in Literacies.

I wonder when literacy workers and learners will take their rightful places in the corridors of power. I do not think that invitations are coming any time soon. I think that the artists and craftspeople and learning leaders are going to have to collaborate and sneak in the back door while the technocrats are busy guarding the front door.

*Sometimes this site requests a user name and password.
I entered abc for both and it let me in.

arts and crafts

Last week Nancy Friday commented on the post titled Pennywise. She told us about Artists, Craftsmen and Technocrats by Patricia Pitcher.

Here's a blurb from the book cover that gives an idea of what's inside ...

Pitcher paints the portraits of the three types of leaders found in organizations: the Artist, the Craftsman, and the Technocrat.

The Artist is people-oriented, open-minded, intuitive, and visionary.

The Craftsman is humane, dedicated, knowledgeable, and wise.

The Artist and Craftsman are "fellow-travellers".

But the Technocrat is another story. Detail-oriented, rigid, methodical, and hardheaded, the Technocrat is the enemy of both the Artist and the Craftsman. His/her analytical thinking leaves no room for fresh ideas and new pathways; he/she follows an uncompromising set of rules he/she believes are right.

To the Technocrat, the Artist is out of control, "nuts", and the Craftsman is old-fashioned.

Too many Technocrats are admitted into the corridors of power.

This week Suzanne Ahearne sent me this link to this video about "Cultural Recovery." (There is a text version here.)

Suzanne also told me that Arlene Goldbard and other community artists and craftspeople have been invited to the White House in mid-May to discuss the ways in which art and craft can help heal what the technocrats have wreaked (my words :P ).

No sign of any artists and craftspeople being invited into the corridors of power on this side of the border but Yann Martel continues, unbidden, to send Stephen Harper good books.

pennywise

There has been a hiatus on the blog. Probably partly because I have been out-of-town on a little trip with my family. The other part I am less sure about. I feel as though I have a lot to say and nothing to say.

We were officially laid off last Friday. I banked some of the March hours for work that needs to be done in April and May closing the grant and making sure that Issue #10 gets to people.

Another group of colleagues are working their last day today. Their work was funded by both Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) and the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU). HRSDC bailed out a while ago and MTCU has whittled away at funding until now they are left without funds and no commitment for the future.

Last week, our federal government announced this:

The federal government will hire hundreds of people as its spends an additional $60 million to help process the growing number of claims for employment insurance [EI], Human Resources Minister Diane Finley said Tuesday [March 24].

Our grant from HRSDC was about $160,000 per year. This grant employs 2 people, provides contracts for 5 other people and two other organizations -- one a literacy program -- and supports the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education through an administration fee. We produce two magazines a year, two bulletins, two web forums, a web site and a blog. I will let you be the judge of the value of these 'products' and how these activities enhanced practice in Canada and helped us engage in the national and international conversations about research, practice and professional judgement.

I am not sure what grants my colleagues got but I do know that those grants helped employ about 8 people and supported a library, online learning and countless other professional development opportunities for learners and practitioners.

We are all probably EI eligible so HRSDC will keep paying us for a number of weeks. And they will use some of that $60 million to process and administer our claims. But we won't be getting any fantastic articles about research, accessible resources, professional development support, conversation, debate, innovative approaches to learning, and so on.

The pretzel logic of unfunding programs and projects that produce resources and advance the so-called knowledge society in favour of funding the administration of income support systems has made me think more about the Guaranteed Annual Income program. The first person I heard talking about GAI was Hugh Segal, a Progressive Conservative Senator. Part of his argument is that we would spend less money ensuring that every Canadian had a liveable income than we do now on administering and policing EI and welfare claims -- that more tax dollars fund the processing of claims, ensuring compliance and the social costs of poverty than income redistribution.

Detractors of a guaranteed annual income will invariably point to its price tag. However, the municipal, provincial and federal governments are currently footing the rather hefty price tag of poverty as it translates into health-care costs, an overburdened judicial system, a myriad of social services that often duplicate each other and the basic loss of human productivity.

Welfare study shows need for guaranteed income, Toronto Star,
by HUGH SEGAL, Sep. 2, 2006

So as you can see, I have nothing to say and a lot to say.

___________________________________________________

More reading on GAI:
Investing in well-being: A guaranteed livable income for Canada, Citizens for Public Justice, Feb 19, 2008
Senator urges debate on plight of poor, Toronto Star, Feb 11, 2008
Guaranteed income, guaranteed dignity, Toronto Star, Mar 05, 2007
Improving Social Security in Canada Guaranteed Annual Income: A Supplementary Paper, Government of Canada, 1994
Plus this list of articles at Liveable Income for Everyone - News.

the r-word

This is the 40th anniversary of the Special Olympics in Canada.

"In June 1969, in Toronto, Ontario, the very first Special Olympics competition was held in Canada, less than one year after the sports movement was born on Chicago’s Soldier Field. It attracted 1,400 individuals with intellectual disabilities from towns and cities across the country who came to compete in athletics, aquatics and no surprise here, floor hockey."

This year the Special Olympics (Canadian site) is launching a new campaign on March 31: Spread the Word to the End the Word. Special Olympics is asking us to recognize and rethink our use of the word "retard," or the "R-word."

"Most people don't think of this word as hate speech, but that's exactly what it feels like to millions of people with intellectual disabilities, their families and friends. This word is just as cruel and offensive as any other slur."

I thought that this was something we had all learned a long time ago but I have noticed the resurgence of the word over the past few years. I thought perhaps the word had lost its connection to a group of people, but it turns out I thought wrong. I actually used "retarded" as an adjective last week. I noted it because I was shocked to hear that word coming from my mouth for the first time since my playground days when I was sharply chastised for it. I am still not clear why it happened. I thought that I needed to check myself. And I thought about how common usage can enter, or re-enter, our lexicons so easily if we are not paying attention.

It is something even the mightiest of us are learning, or re-learning. Last Thursday, on The Tonight Show, President Obama said his bowling skills are "like Special Olympics or something." He was trying to make a self-deprecating joke of course, but then realized that he had instead insulted a whole group of people. On his way home, Obama called the Special Olympics Chairman, Timothy Shriver, to apologize for the remark.

I guess, at least for the President and me, this campaign could not come at a better time.

You can learn more about the campaign and make a pledge at http://www.r-word.org/.

wish

Tannis went to the Read Saskatoon 30 year celebrations in February. She had a great time there. Those are good people at Read Saskatoon. She brought back this outreach postcard for the Basic Education Program at The Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology (SIAST). It was designed by SIAST students and we think it is PERFECT.

me and my sisters

Happy International Women's Day. Have a great celebration.
We'll be thinking of you and all that you do to build equality in your communities.
And remember...

carol goar covers a literacy event

Carol Goar attended the booklaunch of Beyond the Book: Learning from our History and wrote this article.

“As he [Allan Quigley] took his audience through a century and a half of breakthroughs and setbacks, several strong themes emerged:

• Literacy has always been pushed to the margins of the school system. Charities, churches and community groups built Canada's adult education network. Politicians and pedagogues were reluctant conscripts. "We live with an unrelenting sense of impermanence," Quigley said.
• The desire to learn is inextinguishable. No matter how self-conscious, poor or oppressed people are, they want to read. No matter how tired workers are, they find the stamina to study. Each successive generation of literacy pioneers has been told its efforts were futile or misguided. Each has proven the naysayers wrong.
• Literacy is inseparable from social justice. People share their skills because they want to spread the gospel, fight poverty, help workers get better jobs, welcome immigrants and strengthen their communities. From the earliest Bible classes to today's adult learning programs, the intent of literacy has been to lift those at the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid to a place where they can get a foothold and keep climbing.

... No one at last week's book launch expected a secure or comfortable future. Fortunately they know how to produce miracles on a shoestring.”

Read the complete article and leave your response here.

tireless, courageous and sue-ped up

Sue Bannon from the Midland Area Reading Council has been talking to her Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) and here is what happened. Last Thursday Garfield Dunlop, the Progressive Conservative MPP for Simcoe North, stood up in the Ontario Legislature and made this motion:

"I move that, in the opinion of this House, the government of Ontario should provide adequate funding to community-based literacy and basic skills programs so that the agencies can properly address the growing enrolment."

His speech in support of the motion sounded kind of like a literacy worker speaking. Mr. Dunlop either has experience in community-based literacy or he is a good listener. Perhaps a little of both. He brought this issue to his colleagues with passion, compassion and complexity.

You can download a transcript of his complete speech and the comments of the MPPs who spoke to the motion here (PDF 100 KB). Not everybody spoke like a literacy worker. Some kept their politician hats firmly on their heads. Some spoke in support but still have a little listening to do. But many spoke of community-based literacy as we understand it: hard work that takes courage and commitment, where the rewards can be difficult to quantify but are deeply felt, and that continuously creates huge and tiny reward ripples for individuals and communities.

Here is a list of who spoke and some excerpts:

Garfield Dunlop: Progressive Conservative (Official Opposition) Member of Provincial Parliament for Simcoe North.

"...in order to have about 115 learners in their organization [Midland Area Reading Council] right now-and most of the learning is provided by volunteers in our communities - these groups operate on funding of about $60,000 a year. That's for staff time, hydro, heat, computers - $60,000. So basically they're poverty organizations as we would stand today."

Andrea Horwath: New Democrat Member of Provincial Parliament for Hamilton Centre.

"The important piece of this member's motion is to acknowledge that government has a role. Government has a role to make sure that people are prepared and able to engage not only in the economy and economic activity but in the broader social and political activities that a civil society has to offer. ...It is not a matter of inability; it's a matter of lack of access."

Bob Delaney: Liberal (Current Government) Member of Provincial Parliament for Mississauga Streetsville.

"I think it's an important subject that does deserve discussion in the Legislature."

Robert Bailey: Progressive Conservative Member of Provincial Parliament for Sarnia Lambton.

"I was very disappointed to learn, when I met with this organization [Organization for Literacy Sarnia-Lambton], that they have been struggling and operating for a number of years with only $63,000 in core funding. This $63,000 covers rent, administration and wages, which as we know is just not realistic in this day and age. In fact, the executive director, who is a retired school teacher, bless her heart, has not even been drawing a wage for the last number of years in order for the program to keep functioning."

Cheri DiNovo: New Democrat Member of Provincial Parliament for Parkdale High Park.

"I hope this valuable motion is taken up by the government, not just in a vote today-which seems inevitable now-but in actual adequate funding."

Mike Colle: Liberal (Current Governement) Member of Provincial Parliament for Eglinton Lawrence.

"There are some very good teachers and some very good volunteers teaching literacy and numeracy."

Peter Shurman: Progressive Conservative Member of Provincial Parliament for Thornhill.

"I want to underscore something else. Literacy does not mean that you're stupid or lazy or incapable. It usually means you just plain need a leg up. So that's what these programs are about, and it is extremely important. ... I myself have had the privilege of standing before 100 people and talking to them about my background and why I developed literacy skills and looking at their backgrounds and finding out that there's an array of reasons why they didn't, and watching them so hungry to suck up the knowledge they were getting from that literacy centre, that was teaching them to be as good as they could be by having these basic skills."

Ted Chudleigh: Progressive Conservative Member of Provincial Parliament for Halton.

"I would like to bring the attention of the House to the tireless workers and volunteers who tutor these students and what a wonderful job they do. As the member who brought this bill forward mentioned, there are 265,000 hours of volunteer work every year. That's an amazing number. I'd also like to commend the courage of the students. It's not an easy thing to walk into a library or walk into an organization and say, "I can't read and write." That takes a great deal of courage. I would commend those people who do that, particularly later in life."

Garfield Dunlop: Progressive Conservative Member of Provincial Parliament for Simcoe North.

"I, for one-and I'm passionate about this because I've got some strong stakeholders in my riding that push me. I'm not going to let this drop. Even if you don't put one cent in the budget, it's not going to drop. We're going to keep nagging you and nagging you and nagging you until this funding for community-based organizations is increased."

And the motion carried. It seems that community-based literacy has a new champion in the legislature. Thank you Mr. Dunlop and all the others who supported this motion. Those of us in Ontario will help you as you keep nagging and nagging and nagging. Those of us in other provinces will use your speech to energize our champions and encourage new people to join their ranks.