CHAPTER 6

A TIME OF CHOICE FOR CANADIAN ABE

Views and Recommendations

The present time represents a particularly critical juncture with regard to the development of adult basic education in Canada. The Ottawa government has justified its withdrawal from the most basic levels of adult academic upgrading under the Canada Manpower Training Program with the observation that elementary education is a provincial responsibility under the British North America Act1. However, in most provinces, provisions for adult basic education are either at minimal levels or only in the discussion stage, and so far only British Columbia has responded with a policy which encourages and funds local programs on a scale capable of replacing the federal involvement.2 As a result, those concerned about the problem of illiteracy face enormous challenges in stimulating the development of adequate new programs in Canada and in influencing their shape and direction. Over the last several years adult educators, especially those working in adult basic education, have begun to intensify their efforts in this regard through organizations at local, provincial and national levels. A brief survey and analysis of some of their views and recommendations can give us a sense. of the relative strength of the three perspectives on illiteracy--the liberal, conservative and critical --within what is presently the most credible and influential constituency working on behalf of illiterate adults.

A Human Right

A promising approach to securing access of illiterate adults to adequate educational opportunities lies in the assertion of a fundamental human right to basic education. This has been the approach of the Movement for Canadian Literacy in its briefs to the government of Ontario, 3 and the principle has been successfully enshrined in legislation in British Columbia where tuition-free education through high school is guaranteed as a right to all citizens of the province, including those adults who did not complete it as children. 4 The principle derives from the Declaration of Persepolis, a statement issued by the International Symposium for Literacy in 1975 which was heavily influenced by Freire's critical perspective. The Declaration called literacy a "fundamental human right".5