Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to salute the work done last week at Made in the North, a three-day forum on adult learning, literacy and skills development organized by the NWT, Yukon and Nunavut literacy councils. More than 150 participants representing the three territories, Newfoundland and Labrador and other provinces, and the Government of Canada attended. Minister Lafferty welcomed the forum members and gave much appreciated remarks on the importance of literacy and skill development.
Forum attendees shared innovations in adult learning practices, policies and programs through four moderated discussions including workforce and workplace skills development, non-formal community-based skills and development programs, literacy and essential skills in our multi-cultural and multi-lingual regions, and the challenges of formal adult education programs. General discussions and detailed break-out sessions allowed participants to pool knowledge and creativity towards partnerships and innovative suggestions for action.
Participants learned about programs in such areas as culinary skills, sewing courses and greenhouse building where educators achieved the greatest success by taking inventive literacy and overall skills development as the basis of program design. They shared the lessons of building student achievements into early parts of course delivery, making people feel successful and motivated to continue learning.
The need for flexibility in the development and delivery of programming and the need to seize local opportunities with a practical focus were major conclusions agreed upon at the event. The range of needs and opportunities considered at the forum emphasized the idea that adult learners are often the most marginalized clients of education programming. Well educated people are already well able to learn, but it is the people who need basic learning to unlock their potential that often represent the greatest challenges to the formal systems we currently use to deliver education.
Adult learners’ ineligibility under the Student Financial Assistance Program is a problem that must be addressed. I will be looking for innovative solutions such as those developed by Yukon College as part of our Student Financial Assistance review.
Congratulations to our NWT Literacy Council for hosting this success story and to all organizing partners for the quality and success of this ground-breaking event. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
