Apr. 16 2025
By Mélanie Valcin
President and CEO, United for Literacy
In a country like Canada, we do not expect to hear that there are millions of adults struggling with basic reading and writing. But PIAAC 2024, the latest international study on adult skills, released on December 1, 2024, gave us a serious wake-up call: one in five working-age adults in Canada has difficulty with simple reading tasks.
This needs attention now! Those struggling to read may be our neighbours, our colleagues, or family members. These are people who want to build the literacy skills needed to continue going to school, to retain meaningful employment, and to navigate our complex world. However, they face barriers every single day.
When someone struggles to read or write, it touches every part of their life. It can mean not understanding a medical form. It can mean missing out on a job opportunity or being unable to support a child with schoolwork. These challenges need our collective attention- today.
With over twenty years of experience in this field, I have seen how literacy is directly tied to the future of our economy and our country. The economic impact of literacy levels in Canada is serious. Experts say that if we increased literacy levels by only one percent, Canada’s economy could grow by more than fifty billion dollars and productivity could go up by five percent. That is transformative!
Investing resources in literacy programs is the collective response we need to address unemployment rates and the rising cost of living and to boost Canada's overall prosperity.
At United for Literacy, we believe that everyone in this country should have equal chances to learn and build their literacy skills. Every day, our teams work locally with community partners to reach individuals wanting to build their literacy skills and transform their lives. It could be a young adult needing to complete a high school equivalency, a new Canadian learning to read in English or French, or a child requiring academic support that is not available at home. These are just a few examples.
One adult working on her reading skills is Tricia, who shared: "In the future, I’d like to learn carpentry and masonry so I can repair things in my home and not rely on others. I’d also like to volunteer with a library and a hospital to help adults and children discover books and feel better. I’ve worked hard to be here today, and I would love to show other people that they can learn new things, too."
Inspired by the determination of our learners, United for Literacy has just launched a four-year strategic plan with an objective to equip our leaners with the future-ready literacy skills they need for their education, employment, or life skills.
Our experience has shown that we need to offer literacy support to those who face the greatest barriers: people experiencing poverty, newcomers, Indigenous peoples, and individuals living in rural or remote areas. We intend to remain deeply committed to that work. We have learned that this can be accomplished by partnering with local organizations. We also recruit and train volunteers from within these communities to help deliver our literacy programs. By 2029, our goal is to reach 25,000 learners each year. By 2035, we aim to double that to 50,000 people annually. These are individuals we want to support as they work toward new goals for themselves, their families, and their communities.
We cannot fix this alone. Literacy is everyone’s business.
It is essential for our governments to position literacy as a fundamental building block for civic engagement and the development of sustainable economic plans to impact change at the policy level. To this effect, United for Literacy and the entire literacy sector are joining forces to efficiently demonstrate how literacy impacts health, employment, education, reconciliation, and housing. We need local, provincial, and national employers to actively support the development of literacy skills in the workplace and recognize the value of investing in essential skills training as a key factor in employee success, productivity, and overall organizational growth.
Most importantly, we need individuals—like us—to talk about this issue. Our silence means we are saying it is acceptable that twenty percent of adults in this country are left behind.
Today, in response to the economic and social challenges we face, we need broader support and a shared commitment from the entire country to make sure every person in Canada has the tools to contribute, share, and belong.
United for Literacy has a plan to deepen its impact across the country. Together, let's place literacy where it belongs—at the centre of every Canadian's well-being. Join us today, stay informed, and learn more. Start now by subscribing to our newsletter.
