Background
On November 8th, 2007 the Government of Manitoba passed an adult literacy act becoming the first province in the country to do so. The Adult Literacy Act affirms the contribution that high literacy levels make to the economic and social health of the province and makes provisions for annual funding of literacy programs under a Manitoba Adult Literacy Program (MALP).

The MLA is supportive of the legislation as a whole, but regrets that libraries received one word of mention in the Act and, as such, were not recognized as integral partners in the province’s literacy landscape. In the related discussion paper produced by the Province libraries receive no mention.

The MLA presented its views at a public consultation session in Winnipeg held on June 16th, 2008. The Association argued that libraries’ resources and services constitute significant value-added factors for literacy groups, in addition to supporting related goals of lifelong and intergenerational learning and providing socially inclusive spaces. Three key recommendations were made and can be read in the submission paper found below.

Now is your time to be heard!
The strategy related to the Act – including the specific terms of funding arrangements, related reporting and measurement of the overall success of the MALP – is still in the development process. The Province has hosted or proposed a series of public consultation sessions in Winkler, The Pas, Thompson, Brandon and Winnipeg.

The MLA remains in contact with provincial officials regarding the strategy. We are here to assist libraries and library systems throughout the province communicate their perspectives on this issue – now is the time to make your voices heard!

Please send any input or questions to either:
Carolyn Minor (President): northwest@hotmail.com
or Monique Woroniak (Advocacy and Promotions Director): mworoniak@winnipeg.ca

Related links:
Read the Adult Literacy Act
Read the province’s Discussion Paper