As Chair, I am really only one member of a team. As a team, we work together with two staff members to promote literacy in the province. We assist, where possible, literacy groups and organizations in addressing the literacy needs of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. We promote events such as Literacy Action Day and Family Literacy Day. We help literacy groups by funding programs from money provided by the provincial and federal government. The Learning Centre that you are attending is an example of the kinds of programs we support. We also help groups organize conferences.

These are just a few of the things that the Literacy Development Council does. As Chair, I cannot possibly do all of this. Committees and staff work together to promote a literate society through all of these actions.

Somewhat. I will attend events as a representative of Council. Sometimes other people will do that depending on where the event is taking place. We have members of the Board living all over the province. I will travel to St. John's every now and then since that is where the Literacy Development Council office is located. We also have our face-to-face meetings there. The first meeting I chaired was by teleconference. Everyone is linked together by telephone from their office or home. This way the member from West St. Modeste in Labrador can participate in the meeting without the cost of a plane ticket and a hotel bill. With this new technology, meetings can take place at any time, any where, with no two people being in the same room.

That is a difficult question to answer. One can look at the Kindergarten to 12 school system as a literacy group. There are adult learning centres like yours in St. John's, Marystown, and Grand Falls-Windsor. Labrador has a literacy group called Labrador Literacy Information and Action Network. Newfoundland and Labrador Laubach Literacy has 23 councils throughout the province. There are workplace literacy groups and many family resource centres that offer a adult literacy, family literacy, and pre school programs. There are many, many, people involved in literacy in Newfoundland and Labrador.

I would like to see an improvement in the rates in the province. Other countries like Norway have a very high literacy rate. Maybe we could model some of these countries.

I would certainly like to see more sustainable funding for adult literacy programs so that students like you do not have to worry every few months whether your programs are going to close. I would like Council members to be advocates for literacy throughout the province. I want the word "literacy" out there so people are more aware of the problems and are more willing to work together for a literate society. I would like to see a focus on family literacy which is really literacy from the cradle to the grave. That is a tall order for one group. I guess if we all work together we will get things done.