Sept. 7, 2006

VANCOUVER – For the third straight year, the Province will match all donations raised by the Vancouver Sun and Victoria Times Colonist Raise-a-Reader campaigns in September, Premier Gordon Campbell announced today.

“Literacy is the true cornerstone of lifelong learning, supporting the foundation of imagination, achievement and discovery that allows every individual to rise to their fullest potential,” said Campbell. “Thanks to Raise-a-Reader, B.C. is well on its way to achieving the goal of being the best educated, most literate jurisdiction on the continent. But even more importantly, thousands of British Columbians have been empowered with the gifts that literacy brings: self-confidence, success and the power to achieve their very best.”

The matching funding for the Raise-a-Reader campaign will go to support many family literacy groups, such as the Canucks Family Education Centre, Literacy BC, S.U.C.C.E.S.S., CNIB, Aboriginal HIPPY Canada (Home Instruction for Parents of Pre-school Youngsters) and Big Sisters of B.C. Lower Mainland, as well as public and school libraries around the province.

“One in three B.C. adults struggles to read a restaurant menu, bus schedule or prescription bottle,” said Education Minister Shirley Bond. “By working together and taking a co-ordinated approach to focus on reading in our province, we will be able to help improve literacy throughout this province.”

“The support of the B.C. provincial government and Premier Campbell toward literacy and the Raise-a-Reader program is greatly appreciated,” said Kevin Bent, president and publisher of The Vancouver Sun. “This worthwhile initiative has and will continue to make a major impact on the lives of all British Columbians. The ability to read and write is the key to learning and growing as an individual.”

Since its inception in Vancouver in 1997, the Raise-a-Reader campaign and its sponsors have made significant contributions to help improve literacy for children and families across the province. The matching funding this year will help to support more than 150 beneficiary organizations and help British Columbia continue to lead the country in Raise-a-Reader fundraising. The B.C. government has been matching funds raised through the campaign since 2004, and to date has contributed a total of $892,015 to the Vancouver Sun and Victoria Times Colonist campaigns.

The Province has made improving reading skills one of its five great goals for the coming decade. Since 2001, the Province has provided more than $50 million in literacy funding, including $12 million for public libraries, $10 million for literacy innovation grants, $1.4 million for adult literacy, $5 million for Literacy Now, and $10 million for textbooks.