When the NLS Business and Labour Partnership Program began in 1990 federal literacy policy was based on the premise that increasing the quality of the literacy skills of the Canadian population would have a beneficial effect on the nation’s social, economic, cultural and citizenship development. This policy proposition is still well grounded in research today. For example, evidence suggests that literacy provides access to opportunities to learn, to find better employment (Boothby, 2002) and to earn higher financial rewards (Osberg, 2000; Green and Riddell, 2001). In addition, literacy also affects a person’s social status, level of citizenship and community participation, linguistic vitality, cultural involvement, access to health care and social services, and more (OECD and Statistics Canada, 1997).
The Program was also based on the understanding that the Canadian literacy policy field is intricate given our constitutional division of powers. The provinces and territories play a role given their mandate for education and training, while the municipalities are engaged through their support for community resources such as libraries and schools and delivery of social services that have a literacy component to them. The federal government’s economic and social development mandate means that it, too, has policy interests. Since literacy policy is made at every level of government, the Program was developed not only as partnership involving business and labour but also as one involving various levels of government.