Now, while reflecting on all of this, that great scholar, philosopher, teacher, hero in this community, Northrop Frye, riveted my attention many years ago when he said that if we were not alert and committed enough to battle this issue, it would become entrenched in our society as a generational reality, passed on from parent to child. And another cycle would begin.

Literacy is the foundation for everything we learn and do, and therefore we cannot and we must not ignore the fact that some eight million Canadians, over forty percent of our adult citizens, currently find themselves in one way or another marginalized because of varying degrees of diYculty in learning, numeracy, reading, writing, communication skills – unable to meaningfully contribute to and fully participate in our society.

John O’Leary hit the nail on its head today as he showed the pictures of the tremendous history of Frontier College, and then he talked about the new frontiers for the literacy movement in Canada. I might go even further to suggest to you that our very perception of literacy needs to be revised to take into account the new pressures and the expectations of this twenty-first century.

For me, one of our saddest statistics finds that some 1.6 million Canadians over the age of sixty-?ve are rated at the lowest level of literacy. Simply stated, that means that these seniors have diffculty reading at all. Now, how will they come to grips with the increased use of self-medication? Or with health and social services where communications are increasingly impersonal and automated? And, if you are looking for Home Care in a phonebook, it is rarely under “H.” It’s off in the purple section under something like “community services.” Many seniors can’t cope with that.

Mobility restrictions and sight problems can also lead to a loss of friends, personal contacts, plain old conversation. Their communication links are cut off. A lot of them are women, often isolated. Many cannot read or write letters. They cannot even enjoy a book as a friend.

Today, we in our society may think that literacy is somehow less important to our older citizens. After all, they are generally retired, their productive days behind them – I have heard that mentioned occasionally about myself! Well, this attitude totally ignores the fact that seniors prize independence almost above anything other than health. And independence demands literacy.