Did you know, in Canada, according to the Canadian Literacy and Learning Network;

42% of Canadian adults between the ages of 16 and 65 have low literacy skills.

55% of working age adults in Canada are estimated to have less than adequate health literacy skills. Shockingly, 88% of adults over the age of 65 appear to be in this situation.

Impoverished adults often do not have the literacy skills required to get into job training programs. They may need literacy skills upgrading before they can succeed in training programs but only about 5 – 10% of eligible adults enroll in programs.

Less than 20% of people with the lowest literacy skills are employed.

A 1% increase in the literacy rate would generate $18 billion in economic growth every year.

Investment in literacy programming has a 241% return on investment.

Those are just some of the reasons why we are focused on teaching and learning literacy skills in the early years.

We talked to Christine Boyczuk who, after a career in the education system, now volunteers much of her time to making life better in Moose Jaw and area.  Representing the Moose Jaw Literacy Network, Christine talked to CHAB's Rob Carnie about literacy and a family-oriented celebration celebration coming up on Saturday, January 30th in Moose Jaw.  Listen to the interview here: