III
Government activities in literacy

Most of this section provides detailed descriptions of the past and present literacy policies and activities first of federal government departments, and then of provincial and territorial governments. Some of these descriptions only summarize policy and administrative arrangements. Others are more elaborated, and indicate debates about developments that have taken place or should take place. These differences in this text reflect differences in the documentation produced and publicly available within various jurisdictions.

National Literacy Secretariat

Since 1986 the federal government has again given official attention to literacy. In 1987 the National Literacy Secretariat was formed, initially within the federal Department of the Secretary of State, and later within Multiculturalism and Citizenship. In 1988 a literacy initiative was launched, under which a five year, $110 million allocation allows the National Literacy Secretariat to play a role as a "catalyst" — stimulating involvement by others. The National Literacy Secretariat both promotes and shapes the development of the field, through its own funding criteria and decisions, and through joint decision-making with provincial and territorial governments. The National Literacy Secretariat has entered into hundreds of joint projects. These projects have both strengthened existing efforts, and prodded involvement in literacy beyond educational institutions and grass-roots community groups.

Much National Literacy Secretariat funding is tied to provincial and territorial departments concerned with literacy, and their policies and priorities. Contributions to joint federal-provincial/territorial initiatives are usually on a cost-shared basis. These include public awareness, access and outreach activities, the development of learning materials, co-ordination and information-sharing among literacy practitioners, and research.⁶⁷ It funds a few innovative demonstration projects, and projects conducted by native, francophone and labour organizations.

Another category of National Literacy Secretariat funding is not tied to provincial policies and priorities. In a few circumstances, the National Literacy Secretariat has funded programming that provincial governments were then unwilling or unable to fund, including programs operated by labour or linguistic minority organizations. Funding has been provided for national and provincial literacy advocacy organizations. Coalitions of program providers are supported in all the provinces and territories. Some of these organizations have actively lobbied governments to expand their commitments in literacy. The National Literacy Secretariat also funds other non-governmental organizations to conduct literacy-related projects.