The last ten years of the twentieth century have left us with a major irony in terms of our capacity to address the issue of literacy. On the one hand, we have more practitioners with better training providing help to more learners in both urban settings and in the most remote reaches of this vast country. Promotional efforts have been better (largely aided by more accurate data presented in more consumable formats) and more people are aware of the issues as they relate to both the social and economic well-being of Canadians.

On the other hand, the tools for measuring literacy have developed well beyond the simple “grade nine” standard as an acceptable literacy level. Current surveys, beginning with Peter Calamai’s “Broken Words” and culminating in the most recent International Adult Literacy Survey conducted by Statistics Canada, use more situational and contextual methods to determine an individual’s literacy level. Survey items based on “real-life demands” measure the subject’s capacity to cope with literacy and numeracy requirements of both daily life and workplace situations.

While the response to the issue of literacy has grown demonstrably, the measuring devices have become so refined that, through redefinition, the magnitude of the problem has grown even further beyond the capacity of current resources to show any measurable impact on the numbers. What was a 2,500,000 person problem (approximately 20% of the population between 16 and 65) in the 1980’s has become a 7,500,000 person problem (approximately 48% of the population between 16 and 65) by the end of the century! Needless to say these numbers present an enormous challenge in terms of both quality of life for all Canadians and in Canada’s continued capacity to remain competitive in the global market place. And there is no doubt that responding to this challenge means greater creativity as well as accessing more resources from all orders of government, business and industry, organized labour and the many communities throughout the land. The skill is there; the will is there, and we must strive to make it all-pervasive. It is an issue that belongs to all of us, and we must work very closely together to take maximum advantage of the limited resources available.

Among the many excellent responses to the challenge that grew out of the increased awareness and determination in the 1990’s is the use of the Internet as an educational tool. This unlikely high-tech ally in a traditionally low-tech environment has emerged as a force for creating and maintaining cohesiveness of effort in the literacy community in Canada. In the last half of the decade, the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW) have provided a platform from which to provide pan-Canadian communication, access to information and resources and access to many professional development opportunities. In the past, these may have been available, but they were available locally and to a limited number of practitioners. Now, however, they are accessible from anywhere in the country through the Internet. The last five years have seen the growth of a number of excellent electronic resources that contribute in turn to the professional development of literacy practitioners and provide a broader range of materials for use by classroom instructors and tutors alike:

• the AlphaCom conferencing system in Ontario (www.alphaplus.ca);
• the First Class communication systems in British Columbia, Alberta and the North West Territories;
• the various catalogues and collections of on-line resources of the National Adult Literacy Database - NALD (www.nald.ca), the AlphaPlus Centre, le Centre franco-ontarien de ressources en alphabétisation - Centre FORA ( www.centrefora.on.ca), and le Centre de documentation sur l’éducation des adultes et la condition féminine - CDEACF (www.cdeacf.ca).

The creation both of these communication systems and the large collection of resources provides an opportunity for Canadian literacy practitioners to communicate regularly with their colleagues across the country, observe what others are up to, and collaborate from British Columbia to Newfoundland as though they were living next door to one another. The “global village” that Marshall McLuhan heralded in the 1960’s has finally reached the literacy community in Canada! Literacy practitioners have the opportunity to participate in a Canada-wide professional body as well as having a gateway to a growing collection of very useful resources. This collection has become available because of the determination of the literacy community to make this user-friendly technology work to the service of literacy and the willingness of organizations to make resources available for sharing on the World Wide Web. Practitioners have more resources and self-development opportunities available to them than they have ever had before.

Over the next few years of this we can be confident: while we are honing our response to literacy issues in volume, focus and the involvement of many different communities of interest, developments in communications technology will help provide even more information, resources and services to a receptive cadre of literacy practitioners. Technology can and will be the enabler that will bring about the “tightness” of response needed from all individuals and all sectors if we are ever to make a real impact and reduce the numbers of those at risk.