Canada’s overall average scores for 16 to 65 year-olds for both prose and document literacy correspond to Level 3 proficiency – the desired threshold for coping with an emerging knowledge economy and society. Averages, however, hide variations in performance across groups within the population. If one goal is to achieve a high level of performance then another is to achieve an equitable distribution of literacy outcomes. IALSS 2003 allows us to examine the relative literacy performance of three selected groups in Canada: linguistic minorities, Aboriginal populations, and immigrants. The purpose of this chapter is to examine the literacy, numeracy and problem solving proficiencies among linguistic minorities, Aboriginal populations, and immigrants.
Linguistic duality is a fundamental characteristic of Canada. Both official languages, English and French, are spoken by a significant proportion of the populations in Quebec, New Brunswick, Ontario, and Manitoba. The results of the 1994 IALS showed that adults whose mother tongue was French (Francophones) had lower literacy proficiency than adults whose mother tongue was English (Anglophones). This difference in literacy performance is also observed in 2003. Francophones have lower average prose literacy scores than Anglophones and the proportion of Francophones scoring below Level 3 is higher than the proportion of Anglophones in each of the provinces. The difference between the two groups in the proportion below Level 3 ranges from 17 percentage points in New Brunswick to 13 in Quebec (See Annex A Table 3.30 and Figure 3.1).