Statement made on 30 March 2010 by Senator Catherine Callbeck
Hon. Catherine S. Callbeck:
Honourable senators, four in ten — or 42 per cent — of working-age Canadians have literacy skills that fall below what is adequate for coping with the demands of everyday life and work in an advanced society.
More disturbing, these numbers will not improve in the future if things continue the way they are now.
Higher levels of literacy skills are fundamental to the success of this country. Research has shown there is a strong relationship between literacy skills and social and economic issues like health, productivity and crime.
Adults with low literacy skills can have poorer health outcomes, work fewer weeks at a time, and make less during those weeks. Adults with higher literacy skills are healthier, experience less unemployment, earn more, and rely less on government assistance. They even tend to be more involved in community groups and in volunteer activities.
In uncertain times like these, adult learning has even more benefits. In its September 2009 report, State of Adult Learning and Workplace Training in Canada, the Canadian Council on Learning notes:
Education and training can also act as a protective factor in times of economic instability, enabling individuals to adapt to fluctuations in the labour market — serving as a preventive, rather than a reactive, form of social policy.
Without a doubt, improving literacy has real benefits to individuals and to society. Support for literacy and learning is an investment, not a cost. That is why I urge the federal government to make literacy a higher priority on its agenda. We need to encourage Canadians to keep updating their skills; lifelong learning should be the norm. By improving literacy levels across the board, we can improve everyone's quality of life and strengthen the Canadian economy at the same time.