With the upcoming election on October 21st, our theme for the next few podcast episodes will be about literacy and civic engagement. We will feature special guests who will talk to us about the importance of participating in the election, why you should vote, and what some of the barriers and opportunities there are to civic engagement.

Did you know that  the voter turnout in the last federal election in 2015 was 68.3%?
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On this week’s episode, the first of our election special we speak with the Honourable David Lametti, who is the Member of Parliament for LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, the Minister of Justice and the Attorney General of Canada. We learn about his role and the perspective of civic engagement from a candidate’s perspective

We also talk with Melanie Valcin from Frontier College about the connections between literacy and civic engagement and the national Forum on Literacy and Civic Engagement that is taking place on September 17th across Canada and online.

Are you registered to vote? How can you check? As part of our election series, we will be talking about voting basics. We chat about how to register or check if you are registered to vote.

• To register or to check to see if you are registered on the National Register of Electors to vote,  you can use the Online Voter Registration service or call        1-800-463-6868 or in person at any Elections Canada office until October 15
• ​You can also register when you go to vote on the 21st of October at your polling station, or during the advance polling days on October 11, 12, 13, 14
• ​If you are already registered but need to update your information after a move or name change, you can visit or call the above link and number.

When we vote we have the opportunity to vote for issues and representatives who will talk about our needs in the government when laws and policies are being made!

Links Mentioned in the Episode

• Honourable David Lametti's biography on the Department of Justice website https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/abt-apd/min.html
• Frontier College's Discussion paper on Literacy and Civic Engagement https://tinyurl.com/y3gfpbdz 
• Register for the Forum on Literacy and Civic Engagement September 17th https://tinyurl.com/yxom8h2s
• To check if you are registered to vote go to the Online Voter Registration  https://ereg.elections.ca/CWelcome.aspx?lang=e
• To learn more about the election https://www.elections.ca/ and ABC's guide to Civic Literacy https://abclifeliteracy.ca/civic-literacy
• Learn about how the government works https://lop.parl.ca/about/parliament/guidetohoc/index-e.htm

Upcoming Events

• The Learning Exchange (TLE) - Starting October 2019 and running through to January 2020, The Learning Exchange will be sponsoring ABC Life Literacy’s Up Skills for Work Series to adult learners
• TLE’s 1000 Books Before Kindergarten reading program will run from Oct. 2018 to Oct. 2019 to support families in the development of language and literacy skills in their young children. Watch for fun and interesting events throughout the year
• Western Quebec Literacy Council - E-parent workshops on Digital Literacy Oct 22 and Nov 5 https://www.facebook.com/events/395500908015049/
• Chateauguay Valley Literacy Council (CVLC) - English Language Workshops Oct 8th https://cvlc-chateauguay.weebly.com/community-events.html
• Quebec City Reading Council (QCRC) -  Fall Fest and Travellin' Toddler Time Sept 21 and Oct 18 http://www.qcrc.org/events.html
• LQ and RECLAIM at Fetes des Cartier de Verdun Sept 28th https://www.facebook.com/events/701443053597709/
• LQ at the 2020 Scotiabank Charity Race (April 25-26 2020)

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Every two weeks our hosts Chris Shee and Jaimie Cudmore from Literacy Quebec explore topics around community building, lifelong learning and literacy for English-speakers in Quebec. Want to help out with the podcast? Have a story you want to share? Contact us at admin@literacyquebec.org or call our office (514) 508-6805 or  Toll-Free: 1-855-890-1587

Happy International Literacy Day! Welcome to our extraordinary episode as part of our celebrations! We learn why it is important to reflect, advocate and celebrate all of the work that is going into promoting literacy worldwide. We talk to international, Canadian and Quebec guests for the celebration about this year's theme "Literacy and Multilingualism."

Did you know that they are over 7000 languages in the world and only about 5% are represented on the internet?

First, we talk with representatives from UNESCO, Borhene Chakroun, Director of the  Education Division of Policies and Lifelong Learning systems and Gabriela Cieploch, Project Officer /  Communication, Section of Youth, Literacy And Skills Development, Division for Policies and Lifelong Learning, Education Sector. We learn more about the ILD and a global perspective on literacy and about this year’s theme of Literacy and Multilingualism and the year of Indigenous languages.

Then we talk with Canadian researchers, who work on Literacy and Multilingualism, Dr Becky Chen and Diana Burchell at the University of Toronto. We learn about the value and challenges that come with knowing more than one language in a child’s development with the right support. We also chatted about the importance of parents’ leadership in the family when it comes to learning more than one language, especially when a different language is spoken at home than in school.

And of course we couldn’t miss an opportunity to chat with Gabrielle Thomas from LQ on how we are celebrating International Literacy Day with a week of events!

Links mentioned in the episode:
1) UNESCO's International Literacy Day
·  UNESCO’s website for International Literacy Day
·  UNESCO International Literacy Prizes 2019
·  What UNESCO does for literacy
·  Subscribe to UNESCO’s education newsletter: Monthly Digest
·  Read more about UNESCO’s work in Education
·  Follow and share information about ILD on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram with the #LiteracyDay

2) Multilingualism and Literacy Lab at University of Toronto
https://www.oise.utoronto.ca/chenlab/index.html

3) Literacy Quebec's International Literacy Day Events
https://www.facebook.com/literacyquebec.org/photos/rpp.205750747010/10156451341442011/?type=3&theater

4) Frontier College's Forum on Literacy and Civic Engagement
https://www.frontiercollege.ca/Get-Involved/Events/2019-National-Forum-Literacy-and-Civic-Engagement
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Every two weeks our hosts Chris Shee and Jaimie Cudmore from Literacy Quebec explore topics around community building, lifelong learning and literacy for English-speakers in Quebec. Want to help out with the podcast? Have a story you want to share? Contact us at admin@literacyquebec.org or call our office (514) 508-6805 or  Toll-Free: 1-855-890-1587