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Canada's Literacy Rate: an Argument for Plain Language

Most Canadians tend to think that, with few exceptions, everyone can read and write. In the last 20 years, research has shown that this is simply not the case.

In November 2005, Statistics Canada released the Canadian results of the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS). This survey revealed that the literacy rate of Canadians had not improved during the previous decade. In Canada, two in five adults have difficulty understanding and using the information they read. These adults clearly lack the skills needed to flourish in contemporary Canadian society.

What are the implications of this situation for the legal community and for people who work on a daily basis to explain the law and the workings of the justice system? How do they cope with this reality?

A workshop that revealed a reality too often ignored...

This workshop was simultaneously translated.

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