PART I  INTRODUCTION TO THE PROJECT

1.0 Introduction

The NWT Literacy Council has supported literacy development in all official languages since 1989. Most of our work focuses on English literacy, but we have also supported Aboriginal literacy directly. We know that people in the Aboriginal language communities believe it is important and urgent to maintain, revitalize and promote Aboriginal languages and literacy, and so we feel it is time for us as a literacy organization to try to improve our support in this area.

1.1 The NWT Literacy Council

We are a non–government organization that serves the whole NWT, promoting and supporting literacy development in all NWT official languages. We do this through research, resource development, training, information sharing, and public awareness. Here are some of the current services we provide to people who work in literacy.

• We have conducted research on literacy in the NWT, Making a Case for Literacy, and Languages of the Land: A Resource Manual for Aboriginal Language Activists. These provide information on different aspects of literacy.
• We have developed new program resources, including 1–2–3 Rhyme with Me; Books in the Home; Families First: A Northern Parenting and Literacy Program; Tools for Community Building; Health Check: A Health and Literacy Program. We are now developing a literacy activity manual.
• We develop and deliver training workshops on community and family literacy, tutor training, teaching approaches and curriculum support, plain language writing, program planning, proposal writing and evaluation.
• We have a resource lending library and web site to help people access resources.
• We have a literacy folder on North of 60, that links to an electronic literacy conference site in southern Canada.
• We publish regular newsletters that we send to people across the NWT.