Blog

Before Christmas we got a shot of inspiration for our work supporting NWT communities to embed literacy and essential skills in community youth projects. Along with several other northerners, we attended the annual Conference Board of Canada Skills and Post-Secondary Education Summit in Toronto. We were delighted to hear about practical ways that youth improve their skills through projects and… Read more.

It’s becoming a tradition for the NWT Literacy Council folks to share their Christmas book giving ideas. Here’s what we are giving for gifts this year. Home is Burning - A Memoir, by Dan Marshall This year I will give my brother Home is Burning - A Memoir, by Dan Marshall. The book is filled with humour, plenty of profanity, self-deprecation and extreme sorrow. Dan tells the story of moving home… Read more.

International Human Rights Day is December 10th and celebrates the day the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights back in 1948. The NWT Human Rights Commission celebrates this day every year. The Commission works to promote equality and human rights and to prevent discrimination under the NWT Human Rights Act. This law applies to everyone in the NWT. To promote human… Read more.

I spent last week crafting felt stories, making ice cream, getting to know new people, and singing songs. No, I wasn’t on vacation; I was at the NWT Literacy Council’s Family Literacy Training Institute. Family literacy workers from all over the NWT gathered in Somba K’e (Yellowknife) to attend this annual training. The NWT Literacy Council offered training on the basic theory of family literacy… Read more.

Look for us at Healthy Living Fairs. We’ll have as many of our resources to give away as we can carry. Last week we left Yellowknife with 50 kilograms of luggage and returned from Délı̨ne with only 4.5 kilograms.  That’s because we gave away books and other literacy resources. We found out that Robert Munsch is particularly popular. We gave away homemade play dough and lots of copies of Recipes… Read more.

In October, I was fortunate to be able to attend the 20th Inuit Studies Conference in St. John’s, Newfoundland. We were honoured to have our film Hivulipita Uqauhiit Tuppaaqtauffaaqtut: Awakening Our Ancestors’ Words selected as part of the Katingavik Inuit Arts Festival. This film is about a visit several Elders and researchers from Ulukhaktok and Cambridge Bay made to interact with Inuinnait… Read more.

I've learned many things about finances and money as an accounting student. Here are my three most important tips for managing money. Know where your money goes More often than not we are unaware of where we spend our money. We’re confused about where it goes and why we aren’t closer to meeting our savings goals. One way to see where it all goes is to write down or track all of your spending for… Read more.

Our daily lives are filled with exposure to different media.  We are bombarded with movies, video games, commercials, internet, television, social media.  Sometimes it’s easy to forget how much media can influence our thoughts and our behaviours. That makes media literacy an increasingly important life skill. That’s why, for the past six years, a whole week is set aside to help us focus on… Read more.

Did you know that October is Health Literacy Month? The term “health literacy” refers to the skills people need to access, understand and use information in ways that help them maintain or improve their health. Research shows that 55% of adults in Canada do not have good health literacy in all situations. Health is a complicated topic and health-related information changes all the time. So, it’s… Read more.

October marks Canada Library Month. If recent news stories are any indication, an event to highlight the importance of, and to celebrate libraries, is needed more than ever. In Newfoundland, public libraries are facing drastic cuts and closures. Here at home, the territorial law library is converted to a less than sufficient “resource center” while school districts cut the hours of school library… Read more.