Literacy is a very important topic in Canada. It affects every part of society as well as our economy. Canada has a high literacy rate among highly developed countries despite not have a national, standardized literacy program. The literacy movement really began in Canada in 1920 when programs were introduced by Dr. Frank Laubach but really began to pick up steam in the 1980s. It is a continuing process that must be monitored and improved as we try to increase higher literacy rates in this country. Currently Canada has many issues with literacy from vast differences in different regions, the effects it has on this countries labour force, funding for programs, and barriers such as poverty that constantly lower literacy rates. Solutions for these problems are plenty and come from different sources based on social, political and regional of the area which they are derived. The three levels of governments play a key role in the creation and maintaining of literacy levels and their programs but they still have much more to do. Immigration has a major effect on literacy levels and changes must be made so that people coming into this country have a fair chance to compete and excel in Canada like everyone else. Costs for increasing literacy are high but the benefits of doing so greatly outweigh those costs. The future of literacy in Canada is bright but more must be done to improve levels so that Canada can compete with countries around the world. Recommendations have been made to improve rates and they must be taken seriously.
Literacy in Canada The concept of “literacy” has evolved. Literacy now means more than the basic ability to read and write. Literacy skill levels now also reflect a person’s ability to understand and use information, a key function in a world where daily living requires higher communication and information processing skills. Literacy is the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate, compute and use
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