Quebec ranks 10th among Canadian provinces in terms of literacy. We believe that the proportion of Quebecers who experience difficulties reaching a literacy level that would allow them to fully comprehend a text oscillates around 50%.
During the AlphaRéussite event which was held last March, an update of the “La littératie comme source de croissance économique” study showed that illiteracy levels in Quebec improved from 53.2% to 47.7% between 2012 and 2020. This improvement can be explained by demography, by the decrease in drop out rates and by the increase in graduation rates in the CEGEP and university networks. While a progression can be observed over the past 8 years, it is undeniable that this statistic clearly illustrates the collective, social and economic challenge that Quebec must face.
As part of the context of the last election campaign, the Réseau de Lutte à l’Analphabétisation called on the four main parties, observing that they were quite timid in their proposals to fight this scourge, recalling that illiteracy renders a portion of the population vulnerable and calling for the development of a national strategy.
We therefore propose to:
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Ask the government to hold a summit uniting socio-economic stakeholders and the Education and Higher Education networks in order to improve literacy rates in Quebec, and by doing so, improve the quality of Quebecers’ written and spoken French.
The proposals we are advancing are the result of thorough reflection following several consultations.
In order to undertake this process, we first identified the fundamental principles that should guide us. It was important for us to identify the foundations upon which all Quebecers of all origins could readily unite and rally.