Innovating Adult Literacy: Stories from Across Canada

Black Educators Association-Nova Scotia

In this episode, we're headed to Nova Scotia, Black Educators Association to explore an adult literacy program that is intentionally weaving black history, storytelling, and lived experiences into the learning process, showing how literacy can reflect the fullness of who learners are and where they come from. We explore questions like, how do you build confidence in communities shaped by migration, economic change, and strong cultural traditions. We have other questions like how does literacy connect not just two words on a page, but to identity and place.

Literacy in Action-Lennoxville Quebec

The organization we’re featuring today is Literacy in Action, a community-embedded organization situated in Lennoxville Quebec. This is a story about rural resilience, minority-language realities, and an approach to literacy that begins with belonging. In today’s episode, we’re visiting English-speaking minority communities in Quebec’s Eastern Townships,  * English communities scattered across farmland and small towns.  * With neighbors often 15 minutes apart,  * Limited English services,  * Where being part of a linguistic minority can add another layer of challenge to folks who need support in developing literacy skills and accessing support services.

Access To Learning-Newfoundland and Labrador

In today’s episode, we explore community-based literacy programming in Newfoundland and Labrador, where learning often happens in the same spaces where people seek connection, stability, and support. Across the province, programs operate in a range of community settings, from libraries and seniors’ residences to correctional facilities and community organizations. The focus is always the same: meeting people where they are physically and academically and creating opportunities to build foundational literacy, numeracy, digital literacy, and life skills.

Mental Health Monday in Manitoba

This episode takes us to Winnipeg’s North End to explore how one adult literacy program is weaving mental health directly into the classroom through “Mental Health Mondays.” Instructor Chelsea Vanessa shares how her own lived experience with anxiety, depression, and trauma informs a learner-led approach that builds safety, confidence, and community, from support dogs and sharing circles to practical coping tools that ripple out to learners’ families and the wider neighbourhood.

Redefining Literacy Through Place, Practice, and Lived Experience-Yukon

Today’s conversation takes us north, where learning is shaped by land, culture, and community. In a place where traditional schooling hasn’t always worked for everyone, literacy is being reimagined through hands-on, real-life experience. In the Yukon, literacy can look like navigating a lake when the weather turns, reading the land to find your way home, or knowing how to adapt when resources are limited. In this episode, we’re joined by Mark Studle from the Yukon Literacy Coalition. We talk about what happens when learning moves out of the classroom—and into canoes, workshops, and everyday tasks. It’s a conversation about innovation driven by need, and about redefining literacy in ways that might resonate far beyond the Yukon.