National Adult Literacy Database

The report was compiled jointly by provinces and territories through CMEC with financial assistance from the Government of Canada. It describes the wide variety of programs, initiatives and projects in minority-language education and second-language instruction that were carried out in provinces and territories between 2005 and 2009.

Thanks to the support of HSBC Bank Canada, ABC Life Literacy Canada is pleased to offer fun learning activities for the whole family with a brand new Family Literacy Day Activity Book. Parents can now download the activity book free of charge and complete it with their children to instil in them a love of learning.

As a panel backed by the federal Conservative government deliberated the best way to improve the lamentable quality of First Nations education, former prime minister Paul Martin said it would be morally unconscionable to accept the status quo.

Joint initiatives among communities and businesses are helping to close the gap between the tremendous need for skilled workers in Canada’s North and the shortage of people with sufficient education and employment skills, according to a new report from The Conference Board of Canada’s Centre for the North.

While team work is an asset, it’s important to be noticed for your individual strengths as well. If your team did good work, make it known that it was you who led the team, says the co-author of the new book entitled Break Your Own Rules.

TESL Canada and BC TEAL welcome proposals for presentations at the TESL Canada 2012 conference next October. As a major national forum with international reach, TESL Canada conferences are held on an 18-month cycle and offer an important opportunity for professionals to share their work with peers.

Frontier College, the Canadian Diabetes Association and Literacy Link South Central invite the general community and health-care providers with clients living with diabetes to attend a videoconference on health literacy. The event is planned for December 1, 2011, and speaker will be Linda Shohet, director of The Centre for Literacy.

There are plenty of occasions in the workplace that may leave you walking on eggshells. To help you navigate those sticky situations, Vicky Oliver, author of 301 Smart Answers to Tough Business Etiquette Questions, looks at various scenarios.

The College Sector Committee for Adult Upgrading has developed an interactive essential skills website that helps existing and soon-to-be apprentices succeed at their training. Colleges, employers and other training providers can set up individual classroom cohorts where instructors manage how the tool is used by their learners. Workers and learners can self-register and use the website too.

Ashoka Changemakers invite you to share your ideas or projects that help First Nations, Métis and Inuit learners to succeed. As long as your focus is on learning, inside or beyond the classroom, your submission is welcome. Deadline for submissions is January 27, 2012.

The disappointing Statistics Canada numbers are in stark contrast to economists’ expectations that 12,000 new jobs would be created in October, after 61,000 new positions in September. The loss of 32,000 jobs in the private sector in October was the third consecutive monthly decline in that category.

With assistance from the federal Skills Link program, the Boys and Girls Club of East Scarborough will help 48 youth develop the skills and experience needed to find a job or the confidence to return to school.

Centre FORA’s Board of Directors is proud of the Centre’s accomplishments as well as those of its director, Yolande Clément, founder and Executive Director since 1989; it is therefore saddened to announce her departure from this position. But at the same time, it is also proud to announce the nomination of Liane Romain, who will spearhead this publishing and distribution house which specializes in literacy and numeracy.

The MB Check-Up shows that between 2005 and 2010, Manitoba had the highest percentage of youth who did not graduate from high school compared to the other western provinces, Ontario, and Canada. In 2010, this percentage rose by 0.9 percentage points to 11.6 per cent.

Wage earners will feel the pinch, as the bulk of jobs created will likely be low-paying, but more broadly the economy will suffer as the trend puts a damper on consumer spending, says Benjamin Tal, deputy chief economist at CIBC World Markets.