[AAACE-NLA] advocacy in Canada

[Janet Isserlis]

Dear all,

Below, reprinted with permission, is a posting to a Canadian list 
about advocacy work there, FYI

(NLS is the National LIteracy Secretariat and MCL the Movement for 
Canadian Literacy)

Janet Isserlis

From: "Marg Rose" <marg.rose at nald.ca>
To: <ripal at nald.ca>
Subject: [RIPAL] FW: Literacy funding case for support made to 
Finance committee-- feedback from Friday
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2003 14:54:26 -0600

Marg Rose, Executive Director
www.mb.literacy.ca

Literacy Partners of Manitoba promotes adult and family literacy by building
partnerships with public and private sectors. It also supports the literacy
field by providing resources.

For help, or to help, call us at 947-5757 or toll free 1-866-947-5757


-----Original Message-----
From: Marg Rose [mailto:marg.rose at nald.ca]
Sent: November 3, 2003 2:45 PM

I thought you'd like to know what happened during the Standing committee on
Finance presentation on Friday, Oct. 31. I presented each MP with a
Halloween treat, and reassured them they could accept it since it was under
the $200 limit and not from Mr. Irving in any way.

They laughed. They listened to the four of us who were invited to speak in
this order: the Man Child Care coalition about the need for a national child
care agenda;
Literacy Partners via me and I brought Joe Dutra as a learner rep and talked
about his story and he also answered a question later)
Dale Kendel from the Association of Community Living about the need for a
new disability tax credit system and more;
Richard Henley, President of the Man Organization of Faculty Associations.

They then quizzed four of us for an hour after our 7 minutes speeches each.

Questions the 4 MPS there asked me of literacy as an investment:

Why is this such a stubborn issue?
Why do we not seem to be making progress in improving literacy levels? Joyce
Fairbairn is a great advocate and we hear lots about this, but why won't the
problem go away and the numbers diminish?
Should we invest at the early childhood level and nip this problem in the
bud with adult learning?
Is the school system not doing its job? How does the present system lead to
such high levels of 'illiteracy"?
You're calling for an investment during tough economic times and a focus on
debt reduction. Do you believe that the new PM Martin will create a social
policy agenda?
What is your opinion of the best way to transfer credits to the provinces
for social programs? The LMDA and CHT have  no strings attached on
standards?


In replying to these issues, I talked about:
What do we expect in outputs when the inputs are presently only $1 per
Canadian directly through the NLS and $1 per Manitoban for programming.

Let's not pit the need for Early childhood VS the adult system, but look to
the promise of family literacy and investing in adults as a way to achieve
double duty dollars and reach two or more generations at once.
We need all hands on deck, and a pan Canadian accord would help us recognize
the input of hundreds of groups that contributed to the HRDC report ( I kept
pushing it as a road map to start).
We too wonder why we don't have a national strategy...yet..now is the time,
(and cited all the Throne speeches, consultations etc with many agreeing it
is time)

I talked about the leveraging capability of NLS dollars, and how the
fed/prov consultation process actually WORKS. Reg Alcock took me aside and
asked again, "You mean this system works with cooperation from the provinces
and the federal government?" I affirmed that projects are mutually decided
on here, with input from community members as well.

I then cited the report on Paul Martin's social policy agenda that MCL had
provided via Havi, and they took copies for their files! Thanks to Wendy for
passing that on; I read it and was so glad to have it with me!

So, we'll see.

Marg Rose, Executive Director
www.mb.literacy.ca

Literacy Partners of Manitoba promotes adult and family literacy by building
partnerships with public and private sectors. It also supports the literacy
field by providing resources.

For help, or to help, call us at 947-5757 or toll free 1-866-947-5757