In October 1989 Statistics Canada carried out The Survey of Literacy Skills Used in Daily Activities on behalf of the National Literacy Secretariat of Multiculturalism and Citizenship Canada. They based the skill levels on the following definition of official language literacy:

• The information processing skills necessary to use the printed material
  commonly encountered at work, at home, and in the community.

Residents of the Yukon and Northwest Territories, members of the Armed Forces, persons living on Indian reserves and inmates of institutions were not included in the survey. Results were as follows:

• Sixty-nine percent (69%) of British Columbian adults aged 16 to 69 have sufficient reading skills to deal with most everyday reading requirements. Their skills enable them to acquire further knowledge using printed material. In other words, thirty-one percent (31%) don't have sufficient skills.
• A further nineteen percent (19%) of British Columbian adults can use reading materials to carry out simple reading tasks within familiar contexts with materials that are clearly laid out. Careful document design will often enable these readers to use the text, but carelessly constructed documents will make it difficult for those at this level.
• The reading skills of twelve percent (12%) of British Columbia's adults are too limited to allow them to deal with the majority of written material encountered in everyday life.

• The majority (69%) of British Columbian adults have numeracy skills enabling them to deal with printed material requiring a simple sequence of numerical operations. Skills at this level allow Canadians to meet numeracy demands required in many everyday documents and forms. In other words, thirty-one percent (31%) don't have sufficient skills.
• Twenty-two percent (22%) of British Columbian adults do not possess the necessary skills to meet most everyday numeracy requirements but can deal with commonly encountered documents and forms requiring them to perform a simple numerical operation such as addition or subtraction.
• An additional 9% of British Columbian adults have limited numeracy skills. These skills enable them to, at most, locate and recognize numbers in isolation or in a short text. Their skills do not permit them to perform numerical operations consistently.