Much of the diverse programming and advocacy activity from the 1960s and on was inspired by perceptions of the personal pain and limitation often associated with illiteracy. In very general terms, literacy was seen as a right, and a means of participation in society. However, within this very general view, there were different tendencies. In one tendency, literacy was understood as a human right and a form of political assertiveness, and literacy work was seen as a form of community development and part of a struggle against poverty. Efforts were made to adapt to a Canadian context then current Third World discussions of "empowerment," or "literacy for liberation." Another tendency understood literacy efforts more in the traditions of philanthropic or benevolent action, and were more likely to view literacy as a technical skill.²⁷ Between these two tendencies, there was an alternation between heated dispute and a complete lack of communication, which hampered unified advocacy efforts, at least at a national level. However, MCL did organize a 1983 meeting that successfully brought together participants from a number of "camps" in literacy.²⁸

Media coverage in the 1970s and early 1980s was scant, and literacy advocates were often told, even by sympathetic reporters, that literacy was not newsworthy, that "there just isn’t a story." Nevertheless, the extent of advocacy and public awareness activity should not be understated. There was some broadcast and print coverage. Public awareness television programming and videos were produced in the late 1970s by the CBC (a "Fifth Estate" program) and by the National Film Board ("J’ai pas mes lunettes"). In the early 1980s there were programs from T.V. Ontario ("Literacy: A Privilege or a Right," and several half-hour dramas) and Access Alberta ("Safer Than a Sock"). MCL joined with Frontier College and Laubach Literacy of Canada in the mid-1980s to encourage provincial governments to recognize officially International Literacy Day, September 8.