Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s nice to be welcomed back to the House and it’s nice to see all Members here ready and eager to get back to work.
Today, January 27th, is Family Literacy Day. Today, and all this week all over the Territory, communities, schools and families are engaged in activities to celebrate and highlight literacy.
One of this Assembly’s goals is healthy, educated people. But our priorities, unfortunately, do not mention literacy; the value of which is well documented and irrefutable. Literacy, which includes numeracy skills, is necessary for work, for learning and for life in general. Unfortunately, many NWT residents still do not have the necessary life skills -- and that’s literacy and numeracy -- to succeed at a job, at running a home, at volunteering, at helping their children with schoolwork and so on. Without adequate literacy levels, reading the instructions to try out a new recipe is a struggle for a parent. Without adequate number skills, finding the best price for a sale item when grocery shopping can be a challenge.
Here in the NWT we are lucky to have a number of organizations which exist to help NWT residents, especially adults, improve their literacy and numeracy; organizations such as the NWT Literacy Council, Yellowknife Association for Community Living and Aurora College adult learning centres, to name just a few.
On this day, Family Literacy Day, I encourage all residents to recognize the importance of the three R’s, reading, riting and 'rithmetic, and to take part in a literacy activity in your community. Or you can be literacy active in your own home with your family. Together you can read a book, play a board game, write stories or letters together for family or friends to enjoy. Good literacy and numeracy provide the foundation for the learning of all other skills, and a skilled people are a successful people.
So on this day I urge NWT residents to make a promise to each other as a family, that you will do at least one literacy activity each and every week all year long. It will benefit each one of you and the end result is an improved NWT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
