New: Facebook has blocked all Canadian news. Join our mailing list to stay in the loop.

New: Facebook has blocked all Canadian news. Join our mailing list to stay in the loop.

Grant_annoucement

Grant Annoucement

Oct 2000

LAND O'LAKES NewsWeb Home

Contributors

History

Image Gallery

Municipal Government

On The Road

Contact Us

Jane Stewart visits the North Frontenac Literacy Program to announce grant

Jane Stewart, HRDC (Human Resources Development Canada) Minister, visited Sharbot Lake on Friday to present a large but voided $32,000 check to the Literacy Program for their Trails to Literacy Project. Fortunately, the Literacy Centre already has received a good check from HRDC.

Literacy Centre participants will work towards improving the Trans Canada Trail, and in so doing, upgrade their skills. They will work on projects that will help mark, improve, and promote the Trail. Their contributions might include: clerical work on pamphlets; collecting historical information; talks to local groups; construction of shelters on the trail; computer work on the GIS linking of special features; writing, and desk top publishing, of promotional materials.

Joyce Bigelow, the Director of the North Frontenac Literacy Program, said, "All of us ... are pleased to welcome the Honourable Jane Stewart to Central Frontenac and to receive HRDC's support for our Trails to Literacy project. Literacy is an essential skill for work and for active, positive participation in the community and its economy. This project will provide tangible proof of the benefits of literacy and basic skills upgrading, while interpreting and improving a valuable community asset - the Trail."

Barbara Muir, a participant in the project, said. "I have joined in this project to improve my research and writing skills while I learn more about the area and its history, because this is where my mother's family is from."

Stewart and MP Larry McCormick, who accompanied her, charmed the crowd. They did what politicians do: worked the room before the presentation (and in doing so made personal contact with almost everyone); convinced us that they were partners in our development as a community; and in this case, that the Trails to Literacy project had real promise for both the community and the participating individuals.

If there was anyone who doubted that they are both sincere, hardworking, and dedicated individuals, it wasn't evident.

Stewart said, "this project is exactly the kind of thing that government should be investing in. Literacy, broadly defined, is extremely important and giving participants an opportunity to improve their skills, while at the same time they are making a contribution to the community, is an ingenious idea. It takes strength and courage for individuals to come forth and make an effort to improve their skills."

McCormick noted that the trail is a connector, and that connections are important for rural areas. "Today is E-commerce day and I think that that notion has important implications for this area. High tech facilities in nearby Kanata are expanding rapidly and there will undoubtedly be some spill- over here. Your own Land O'Lakes Communications Network, directed by Jim MacPherson (who was in the audience), has applied for a Connect Ontario grant which will give you an opportunity to develop to use the technology for local applications. There are exciting days ahead of us."

With the participation of the Government of Canada