However, the programs actually adopted were more an incremental extension of earlier volunteer tutoring programs than the comprehensive efforts called for in previous reports. In 1987 the Minister of Education announced a well-publicized provincial Literacy Campaign, and a Literacy Council to co-ordinate it. The Council was mandated to manage the campaign and advise the Minister.¹¹⁶ Campaign objectives were to gain public support for literacy, reduce school drop-out rates, establish a literacy foundation, and serve 10,000 adults and adolescents through the "development of reading and writing skills in response to the requirements of the learners." Fifteen community projects were organized — most through the nine regional and northern colleges and four SIAST campuses. Two "independent" programs are also supported, READ Saskatoon and the Regina Public Library (these programs have the largest numbers of students in the province). Program grants require co-operation with other organizations, identification of the population to be served, and some consultation with it in program design. Most programs involve volunteers, though this is not a requirement. Libraries receive small grants for materials collections. Although the original objective of volunteer programmes was to reach 5000, they actually reached 3670 over 3 years — with the shortfall attributed to insufficient staff time.¹¹⁷ The Campaign also includes an IBM PALS (Principles of the Alphabet Learning System) program, started in 1988. This program aims to reach 5000, in programs operated by school boards, regional colleges, and SIAST. Total graduates (100 hours in program) to 1990 are about 700 adults and 1000 adolescents.

Although the Campaign has now officially ended and the Literacy Council disbanded, the 15 literacy programs it started will continue to be supported, distinctly from institutional ABE programs, through the new Adult Special Education Branch of the Ministry of Education. The PALS project, of which an evaluation is also to appear, is expected to be continued by all the institutions that have been involved. The Literacy Council will be replaced by a Literacy Advisory Committee. It is noteworthy that the Literacy Campaign is the only provincial-level programming effort to have been systematically evaluated in Canada to date.¹¹⁸ The broadest recommendations of the evaluation renew the calls of previous reports for recognition of literacy as a human right, and for a comprehensive, co-ordinated organization of literacy and ABE programming.