Aboriginal literacy network to host gathering

People from across the province involved in promoting literacy among Aboriginal people are invited to take part in Nikanihk Mesa Kanahkewina: Pathways to the Future, the second Saskatchewan Aboriginal literacy gathering taking place at Wanuskewin Heritage Park and at the Hilton Garden Inn in Saskatoon from May 9 to 11.

The gathering is being co-ordinated by the Saskatchewan Aboriginal Literacy Network Inc. (SALN), an organization that grew out of the proceedings of the first Saskatchewan Aboriginal literacy gathering held in May 2002.

Created in 2003, SALN works to increase awareness of the value, importance and uniqueness of Aboriginal literacy in the province, to increase support for culturally-based and community based Aboriginal literacy programs that are sustainable, and to promote an support development of curriculum, teaching methods and assessment processes that are based in Aboriginal values and ways of knowing.

The mandate that guides the work of SALN was formulated based on information that came out of the 2002 literacy gathering, explained Lisa Wilson, president of the SALN board of directors.
"So the strategic plan that the SALN works on is based on all that community input from that first gathering. So everything that we sort of do came right from the grassroots, right from the people involved," she said.

The information coming out of the upcoming gathering will be used similarly, providing the organization with further direction.

Organizers anticipate the gathering will give people working in Aboriginal literacy across the province a chance to meet and share information about what they are working on.

"A lot of time in Aboriginal literacy, you have problems that run ... in different communities all over the province and they never get a really good chance to talk to each other and find out what each other are doing and things that get developed through those different projects," Wilson said. "Sometimes the project will run a couple of times and then just kind of not get any more funding and stop running and then somebody in another community will run the same project but they'll have to do all that work over again. So it's nice to get together, to network, to talk about what each other are doing and to be able to share information and ideas around Aboriginal literacy. And just come together as a community concerned and interested about the same thing."

Through the gathering, organizers also plan to provide participants with information about the International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey. The survey results were released in May 2005, with additional information about literacy rates within Saskatchewan's urban Aboriginal community released in November 2005 showed literacy rates among Aboriginal people in urban Saskatchewan are lower than among the non-Aboriginal population by about 15 percentage points, but that literacy rates improve among Aboriginal people who have more than a high school education.

Registration fees are $300 for the full conference or $150 for single day attendance. The fees cover the cost of attending cultural activities and workshops, meals, transportation to and from Wanuskewin and membership in SALN.

For more information about the Aboriginal literacy gathering, call gathering co-ordinator Tammy Forrester at 384-6044 or visit the SALN Web site at www.aboriginal.sk.literacy.ca.