Ahneen! It is my pleasure to fill you in on what’s been happening since the first ever in Canada National Aboriginal Literacy Gathering (NALG) last year. We based the Follow-up Strategy (NALGFUS) on what people said in the following : Phase I interviews of this project; NALG Closing Plenary; NALG workshop evaluations; NALG Evaluation.

Three main themes emerged which are the thrust of the NALGFUS:

1. Consultative support for Aboriginal literacy practitioners
2. More NALGs
3. The need for a National Aboriginal Literacy Organization

I’ve been maintaining contact with Aboriginal literacy practitioners, learners and Elders in every province and territory across Canada. I’ve provided information, letters of support, and even written proposals for Aboriginal literacy programs. I’m working on the Foundational Training in Family Literacy Project. We met in Vancouver in February, and will culminate in a training event in Pictou, Nova Scotia in October. The result will be a manual of the same name. Finally, I’ve been speaking on Aboriginal literacy at the following:

- Lens on Literacy Conference
Fremantle, Australia, September 22, 2000 (as well as meeting with literacy practitioners in Brisbane, Sydney; Port Augusta, and Perth);

- Treaty 7 Education Conference
Delta Lodge, Kananaskis, October 5, 2000;

- Alberta Association for Adult Literacy (AAAL)
Provincial Literacy Conference, Calgary, November 3, 2000;

- Literacy: Who’s Missing Conference
by the Catalyst Centre, Toronto, November 10, 2000;

Frontier College Conference,
Montreal, January 13 and 14, 2001;

International Women and Literacy Conference,
Atlanta, Georgia, January 22, 2001;

Family Literacy Program Kick-offs -
Morley Community School and Bighorn Community School, Alberta, February 13 and 14, 2001;

Yukon Learn Conference, April 28, 2001.

We’ve expanded the NADC to be more representative of the Aboriginal literacy movement in Canada. We have added 18 new members from different areas of Canada. We had our first meeting in Toronto in June, 2001, to prepare for the Literacy Roundtable in Ottawa facilitated by Senator Joyce Fairbairn. The NADC was asked to assist the Government of Canada in fulfilling its Skills and Learning Agenda. The 2001 Speech from the Throne specifically says, “Canada will only realize its full potential by investing aggressively in the skills and talents of its people.” and “Canada must see at least one million more adults pursue learning opportunities during the next five years.”

The NADC identified the following priorities to be put forward at the Literacy Roundtable: a national Aboriginal literacy organization, so that we can do literacy “OUR WAY”; have secure, ongoing funding rather than one-time only projects; use the holistic approach, which encompasses language and culture; include family literacy.

We selected a smaller group to meet with Senator Thelma Chalifoux, Chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples. That group includes a learner and an Elder and are: Mary Koyina Richardson; Derek Payne; Larry Loyie; Irene Jacques, Don Pinay, Rhonda McCorriston and Nora MacDonald-Plourde. These people spoke knowledgeably and passionately at our meeting on Aboriginal literacy, and were nominated by the group.

Our next full NADC meeting will be at Atetshenshera, Six Nations, September 14-15, 2001. Lianne Vardy, the new Director-General at the National Literacy Secretariat, and Jim McLaren, Program Consultant, will attend. The smaller group will participate in Literacy Action Day, October 25, 2001. This is an opportunity for the Movement for Canadian Literacy (MCL) and its partners to visit Parliament Hill to talk to federal politicians about literacy issues in Canada. We have a tentative meeting with Senator Chalifoux the afternoon of October 24. We will endeavour to meet with national Aboriginal organizations in

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