The Language of Literacy: A National Resource Directory of Aboriginal Literacy Programs is the first directory of its kind in Canada. It attempts to gather, in narrative form, critical–core information about the operations of Aboriginal literacy programs throughout Canada — from east to west to north. It is a comprehensive, representative sample of Aboriginal literacy initiatives operating in both urban, rural and remote regions of the country. Under the direction of a group of passionately committed, resource-strapped, often isolated and always busy literacy coordinators and practitioners, these Aboriginal literacy programs offer learners and students opportunities to reacquaint themselves with the challenges of learning. These programs are almost always learner-centred, operating in a welcoming and nurturing environment that moves at the pace of the learner, recognizes the integrity of the whole person, and attempts to remove the negative baggage and experience of previous institutional education experiences.

This resource directory is meant to serve as a thread of contact among these "diamonds in the rough", serving, it is hoped, as a point of convergence, as an opportunity to share information and learn from the vast depth of experiences which comprise the important arena of adult learning within Aboriginal communities.

Noting the absence of any material at the national level describing the status and health of Aboriginal literacy programming, the Step by Step Early Learning Centre, an early childhood education program situated in the First Nations community of Kahnawake and Beverly Anne Sabourin and Associates, a Winnipeg-based First Nations consultancy specializing in advocacy, received financial assistance and support from the National Literacy Secretariat to undertake a national initiative on the current status of Aboriginal literacy programming in Canada. The intent was to create an inventory of Aboriginal literacy programs that would serve as a comprehensive database of program information and become a resource for program practitioners and others working in the field of Aboriginal literacy.

Additionally, with the wealth of information collected from practitioners and coordinators of Aboriginal literacy programs located in every jurisdiction in the country, opportunities became available to extract and compare information across all program initiatives. In addition to providing key information about the operations of approximately 100 literacy initiatives (Chapter Three), we are able to identify and present practitioners and others labouring in the field of literacy with critical information about challenges and opportunities affecting most programs (Chapter Four) and go on to identify and suggest the key or critical components essential to the overall, long-term success of Aboriginal literacy programming (Chapter Five).