Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s good to be back here with my colleagues. This is Literacy Week in the NWT, and yesterday was Read for 15 Day. In an effort to best Nunavut, as they challenge us for the greatest number of readers, I hope that everyone in this room did their homework. By that I mean that you read some material, even a comic book, for a mere 15 minutes and submitted your name for this contest. The NWT Literacy Council has many other activities planned for this week to celebrate and promote literacy. As they say on TV, check your local listings and take part in something in your community.
The council is a non-profit registered charitable organization that has been promoting and advancing literacy development in all NWT official languages since 1989. They run training sessions and workshops, do research, develop resources and deliver programs. One of their programs is to provide learning materials about elections, a very timely resource at the moment with an election only two weeks away. Learners can take advantage of an election how-to kit and can access suggested questions for candidates and other tools to assist them with and involve them in elections. Just go to www.nwt.literacy.ca and check it out.
For our residents who see the voting process as an unknown and scary prospect because their literacy skills are weak, the council’s tools enable them to understand elections and voting and to gain the confidence necessary to want to vote. No doubt our voter turnout has increased as people become comfortable with the process and then actively exercise their right to vote.
One of this Assembly’s goals is healthy, educated people. Our priorities, unfortunately, do not mention literacy, the value of which is well documented and irrefutable. Literacy and numeracy skills are necessary for work, learning and life in general. They provide the foundation for the learning of all other skills. A skilled people are a successful people. This Assembly needs to seriously consider increasing the emphasis that we place on literacy in order to help our citizens achieve more productive and successful lives.
As this government develops the 2009–10 budget, funding for literacy and numeracy must be increased over this current year’s amount. We need to support the NWT Literacy Council with adequate and consistent long-term funding. Our residents, our communities and our economy will benefit as a result. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Members’ statements. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
