Province: 13 January 2008
VICTORIA -- B.C.'s new lieutenant-governor, who credits a single book on famed lawyer Clarence Darrow with changing his life, has designated literacy as one of the major themes of his term at Government House.
Steven Point plans to concentrate on early childhood literacy and ensure that more reading material for preschoolers makes its way into B.C.'s most remote communities.
"The place to begin a change is in the beginning,'' Point said. "The availability of early-learning children's books is essential. Many of our remote communities lack these vital tools."
Point has asked the Government House Foundation to help improve literacy "by collecting as many children's books as possible and to create a distribution program through the assistance of local community service organizations such as the Rotary.''
A similar program begun by a former lieutenant-governor in Ontario has been "hugely successful,'' he said.
About 60 per cent of urban aboriginals in B.C. have low literacy. Point is the province's first aboriginal lieutenant-governor.
http://www.ltgov.bc.ca/events/speeches/2008/jan/sp_080101.htm
