Consultants covered the Québec Region in two ways. In south, visits were made to six Aboriginal communities with adult literacy and up-grading programs. In the north, where adult educational services are provided by two large Aboriginal school boards, telephone and face-to-face interviews were carried out with staff of the Cree School Board and Kativik School Board located in Montreal.

In general, adult educators and program coordinators in Québec regretted the low level of priority given to the basic education of adult both within and outside the Aboriginal community. In the South, funding may be made available for literacy activities within the community from the Regional Bilateral Agreements. However, there is a great deal of competition for these resources and even when projects receive funding, it is generally given on a year-to-year basis. It is seen as extremely difficult to build a program based on highly uncertain and short-term funding mechanisms.

For this reason, there is a need to rely more heavily on local school boards which are mandated by the Québec Government to provide basic literacy and academic up-grading services. The degree of cooperation between Aboriginal coordinators and the local school board may vary, depending on the level of flexibility, cooperation and sensitivity to community needs demonstrated by school boards staff. Some program coordinators related to us that there were difficulties encountered in meeting the needs of adult learners due to:

• a sense of competition between service providers: In areas where non-Aboriginal adult education centers exist, it may be perceived as unnecessary duplication to offer the same or similar courses both on- and off-reserve, despite the fact that some Aboriginal learners often will get help if it means going off-reserve.

• issues of control: Aboriginal coordinators trying to organize adult literacy and up-grading initiatives in their communities sometimes experience frustration at their lack of control over and input into teaching materials, selection of instructors, teaching hours, class size, course calendar, power to accredit learners and many other factors. These decisions are, in some cases, imposed by the local school board, without a high degree of understanding or appreciation of Aboriginal cultures, traditions, calendars or the particular learning needs of Aboriginal learners.

In Northern Québec, two large Aboriginal educational institutions, created under the James Bay and Northern Québec Agreement, are mandated to respond to the literacy and up-grading needs of adult learners: the Cree School Board and the Inuit-managed Katavik School. Both the Cree School Board and the Katavik School Board deliver adult education services to many communities in their territories, by creating local learning centers, developing and adapting curriculum and assessment methods and placing adult educators. Fully recognized as school boards, they have legitimacy to accredit learners and issue diplomas, and are funded directly by Québec’s Ministry of Education.