Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, continuing on from my statement yesterday, I want to speak about our territory's challenges with basic literacy and numeracy, what is at stake, and how this Assembly might help.
In 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada released a unanimous decision recognizing that literacy sorry, recognizing that learning to read is not a privilege but a basic and essential human right. The case involved a British Columbia student with dyslexia. The Court ruled that he had a right to receive the intensive supports and interventions he needed to learn how to read.
Within the last five years, the Ontario Human Rights Commission conducted a public inquiry into the right to read. Ontario's public inquiry found that we have decades of extensive research on the most effective methods for teaching students early reading skills, and yet Ontario is still failing to consistently use those proven methods, like phonics. I am worried that the NWT is similarly failing.
Ontario's inquiry found that students who don't develop good early reading skills will go on to struggle in nearly every aspect of school. They start to believe that they're stupid, even though reading disabilities have nothing to do with intelligence. They're more likely to develop low selfesteem, mental health problems like depression and anxiety, likely to act out through bullying and sometimes selfharm or even attempt suicide. Over the longterm, it's easy to see how this can lead to unemployment, substance use issues, homelessness, and higher involvement in crime and incarceration.
There are a significant number of children in our school system who have not yet learned to speak, others who do not know enough words to even begin to learn to read. So consider the consequences of that. If there are concerns about abuse or mistreatment, these children are unable to explain what happened to them because they don't have the words. This inability to communicate puts them at extreme risk. That is when the assistance of a speech language pathologist in each school is crucial, and yet only some of our students have access to these kinds of professionals. Mr. Speaker, I ask for unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
Unanimous consent granted
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So there is evidence that many learning disabilities can actually be prevented with the right early interventions and support, so a learning disability does not need to become a lifelong disability. According to the Human Rights Commission of Ontario, we should not be using student accommodations as a substitute for teaching them how to read. We cannot give up on the expectation that every child can and will become literate. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Members' statements. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
