Blog

Today is International Plain Language Day. People are encouraged to ‘show and tell’ their clear communication successes. One of our successes is our northern cookbook, Great Food for Northern Cooks, full of clear and easy recipes. Every cooking program in the Northwest Territories uses this book. We’re very proud of it. We had great partners working on this project, including Yellowknife Health… Read more.

Strategic planning. Budgeting. Policy updates. These are some of the necessary behind-the-scenes work that boards and staff tackle in non-profit organizations. The NWT Literacy Council is no exception. Last weekend the Literacy Council board members gathered in Yellowknife to host our Annual General Meeting and to finish updating their board handbook and personnel policies. We are governed by a… Read more.

While we’re celebrating NWT Literacy Week, others around Canada are celebrating Postmedia’s Raise-a-Reader Week. Although we don’t have this program in the NWT, the NWT Literacy Council can help you raise your own little reader! Read from the start. Start reading with your newborn in those very first days. Even very young babies respond to the warmth of your touch, and the soothing sound of a… Read more.

We're celebrating NWT Literacy Week September 25 through to October 1. Each year we choose a theme that explores the connection that literacy and essential skills have to many aspects of our lives. This year, the theme is Tied to Tech. Technology has so many benefits, like helping us connect to the world, or learn a new language, but it also can be addictive, or lead to bullying and strained… Read more.

Have you ever considered the connection between violence at home and how a student acts and participates in the classroom? Often we don’t see what students, friends or colleagues face at home, and bring with them to work, the classroom or social gatherings. Without knowing what takes place at home, we may misjudge someone’s actions or decisions. This is Family Violence Awareness Week across the… Read more.

International Literacy Day 2016 celebrates 50 years of local, national and international work and progress to increase literacy rates and boost literacy in the future.  The goal of promoting literacy as an instrument to empower individuals, communities and societies hasn’t really changed in the past five decades. Of course our ideas about literacy have evolved.  People today need to be able to… Read more.

Where would you cash your paycheque if you didn’t have a bank in your community or a bank account to electronically deposit your earnings? In many remote, northern communities access to bank services are few, far, in between, and non-existent. How could this be? Keep reading and you’ll find out. A couple years ago Katie Randall wrote about her experience delivering financial literacy across the… Read more.

Here in the NWT we may look forward more than anywhere else in Canada to National Aboriginal Day on June 21.  That’s because this is the only place in Canada where it’s a statutory holiday. Aboriginal Day is more than just a chance to enjoy the summer solstice.  I hope you will get out and participate in the wonderful community activities planned across the NWT.  Take advantage of the… Read more.

Take a walk down Franklin Avenue and you will quickly see that the small capital city of Yellowknife is hugely multicultural!  We wonder, “How did they end up here?” Or more importantly, “How are they surviving in Yellowknife?”  The first question is their story to tell, but the second one is our concern. One of the first and most important considerations for survival in any new country is… Read more.

Community Building. Community Enterprise. Workforce Development. These were the themes at the heart of Econous 2016, the national Community Economic Development Conference, which I attended in Montreal in May.   You may be wondering about the place of community economic development in literacy work. In the NWT where many communities lack jobs for young people, we can’t separate economic… Read more.