Acknowledgements

The National Aboriginal Design Committee (NADC) is most grateful to Senator Thelma Chalifoux, Chair, Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples (SSCAP) for meeting with us on her lunch hour in October 2001, for listening with her Heart and Spirit to our aspirations and concerns for Aboriginal literacy in Canada.

The NADC thanks the National Literacy Secretariat for its support during all phases of the project.

We are grateful to the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU) for making it possible for the Ontario participants to provide their input to all of the activities of this phase of the project, including the Position Paper.

We acknowledge the First Nations Technical Institute (FNTI) and the Ontario Native Literacy Coalition (ONLC) who are the NADC's financial sponsors.

Many thanks go to the NADC for taking the time over and above their responsibilities to their families, communities and host organizations. The NADC members are:

Learners

Larry Loyie (also an Elder), Cree, Living Traditions Inc., Vancouver, B.C. - Larry teaches writing workshops to Learners; therefore, he is a practitioner as well
Rita Buffalo, Anishnawbe, recently hired as the Assistant Coordinator, Thunder Bay Friendship Centre, Thunder Bay, Ontario (therefore, also a practitioner)
Annette Odjick-Decontie, Algonquin, Maniwaki First Nation, Quebec

Elders

Denys Auger, Cree, Bigstone Cree First Nation (the Cultural Coordinator, Curriculum Resource Research and Development Centre, Bigstone Cree Education Authority; therefore, also a practitioner)
Irene Jacques, Dakota, Standing Buffalo First Nation, Saskatchewan (on the Advisory Committee for the Saskatchewan Literacy Network; therefore, also a practitioner)
Nora MacDonald-Plourde, Mi'kmaq, Truro, Nova Scotia (the Coordinator for the Mi'kmaq Community with the Nova Scotia Department of Education and Culture; therefore, also a practitioner)

Practitioners

Mary Ungalaq, Inuk, Language Instructor, Nunavut Arctic College, Igloolik Campus, Nunavut
Mary Koyina Richardson, Dogrib, Language Instructor, Aurora College, Rae Edzo, Northwest Territories