New Brunswick
In New Brunswick, Laubach Literacy has a longstanding involvement.
By 1983 there were 14 English Literacy Councils. There were also then
two francophone community groups, involved not in tutoring but in promoting
the development of programming. In that year, a government report, A
Second Chance, called for "shared responsibility"
between government and voluntary organizations. This led to college
support for Literacy Councils in organization, administration, tutor
training, and program promotion. Currently each college has a literacy
co-ordinator, most of whose time is spent working to establish volunteer
groups, and to train tutors and recruit students. There are also grants
for materials, administration and conferences. Between 1983 and 1990
the number of volunteer and community groups increased 150%. By 1990
there were 23 English Laubach Councils (including programs on Indian
Reserves and in prisons), and 22 francophone groups, organized in the
Fédération d'alphabétisation du Nouveau-Brunswick,
which works primarily to build community awareness and to bring learners
to community colleges. Three Adult Basic Education Centres operate in
the Acadian Peninsula. The Saint John Learning Exchange, opened in 1983
with EIC funding, in 1987 became the first (and only) independent literacy
organization to receive provincial operating funds.
A number of extra-governmental and governmental committees have taken
up the literacy issue for discussion. In 1988 an "Adult Literacy
Consultation: Making Literacy a Priority in New Brunswick" was
held. It has been followed up by the New Brunswick Committee on Literacy,
involving business and labour as well as the literacy community; it
has distributed information, organized community round tables, and encouraged
the government to increase its activity. Since the late 1980s there
has been increased governmental activity, organized through the Ministry
of Advanced Education and Training.74 Basic (grade level 0-3) literacy
is still seen as the task of volunteer groups. But New Brunswick Community
College programming now encompasses all nine college campuses, each
with at least one full-time literacy (grades 3-7) instructor. There
are also nine government-sponsored storefront Youth Access Centres,
and college campuses offer programming through them. The New Brunswick
Federation of Labour is organizing union-operated programs.
|