A two-day visit to Québec City to meet with officials of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) resulted in what can only be qualified as a boost for our project.
The consultant met with the Québec Director of CUPE, and the education and municipal affairs committees. All approved our project and sent our survey to over 225 local unions representing municipal workers in Quebec. This was done by mail and fax, with surveys being returned to the consultant. The initial returns were disappointing, with only about a 5% response. The survey was mailed out a second time, and we received 54/225 replies for a return rate of 24%.
In addition, the consultant met with Louise Miller, Québec Federation of Labour (QFL). Louise is in charge of overseeing the proper implementation of workplace literacy training for local unions affiliated with the QFL. She is also a board member of the Fonds national de formation de la main-d’oeuvre (FNFMO), a fund of approximately $80 million with a top priority of providing literacy training to workers in Quebec. Each project is evaluated and is eligible for up to $250,000 in funding, with payment for instructors of up to $20.00 per hour.
She advised us that the QFL’s approach is to make use of the community organizations’ network for delivering literacy training.
Through Louise Miller, we have been put in contact with the two major Quebec organizations representing most legitimate literacy deliverers. The consultant met with one of these organizations, the Literacy Foundation.
The consultant met with the Foundation’s Executive Director, Sophie Labrecque, and its Assistant Director, Maryse Perrault, in Montreal. The Literacy Foundation is a non-profit organization whose mission is to ensure that all adults have access to basic training in reading and writing.
Through this meeting, we learned that Quebec has more literacy training outlets per capita than any other province or territory. While this is a definite advantage, it also presents a problem. Quebec’s 72 school boards (60 French-language, 9 English-language and 3 with special status; see Table 1) offer adult education to employers and the community in 170 locations across the province. Most school boards have created a for-profit section to deal with adult education and, therefore, respond to demand: if you need literacy training, you get literacy training. They generally respond promptly to employer needs. The funding comes from the Fonds national de formation de la main-d’oeuvre and is tied to strict rules and reporting regulations. All deliverers must be accredited by the fund before any funds are advanced. The approval process may prove to be long but beneficial in the end.