ABORIGINAL FOCUS

The Aboriginal participants (learners, instructors/practitioners and organizations) who provided input were very clear as to which direction programming should take in order to properly address the serious literacy needs of their adult population. The specifics of their comments were:

• There was passionate advocacy to develop effective separate approaches that would provide suitable autonomy to program providers and culturally appropriate experiences for the learners.
• The mobility of our current Aboriginal population was noted as a specific challenge to the provision of literacy.
• There were some positive comments about the Apprenticeship program through University College of the North (UCN) and Frontier School Division which allows ALC students to complete their high school academic credits while working towards Level 1 carpentry. There was also a positive comment about the school/work cooperative programs sponsored by the Technical Vocational Initiative.
• There was one strong recommendation to train adult educators with the skills to be able to work in Northern communities.
• There was strong advocacy to meet the specific need for on-reserve literacy training particularly in the remote communities. It was noted that many learners are accessing provincially funded programs outside of their communities.
• There was a specific call for a vast improvement to programming and supports for Aboriginal women who are single parents.
• The first language of many Aboriginal people is not English. There was a call for at least one centre dedicated to teaching English as an Additional Language (EAL) for Aboriginal adults. There was also a call for reinvigorating an EAL curriculum for these learners.
• It was noted that some off reserve ALCs charge tuition to First Nation students who live on reserve.