Yellowknife (Dec 20/06) - The department of Education, Culture and Employment has given the NWT Literacy Council $44,000 in emergency funding following recent funding cuts by the federal government.

Even so, the council has eliminated one full-time position as well as cancelling numerous programs, including Aboriginal literacy research and all community-based training and outreach programs.

Brad Heath, right, of the NWT Literacy Council protested in November with Chief Bill Erasmus of the Dene Nation against Federal Government budget cuts made earlier this year. - NNSL file photo

"The department of (Education, Culture and Employment) have provided us with emergency funding for the end of the fiscal year," said Brad Heath, promotions and fundraising co-ordinator for the literacy council.

"The funding we got from ECE is for projects, it's not core funding."

Charles Dent, minister of Education, Culture and Employment, said the organization requested funding to see them through to the end of the year.

"We were able to provide them with some funding," Dent said. "It was just in areas where we were able to find bits of money."

Dent said the literacy council is vital to the NWT.

"The suddenness of the federal cuts have made it hard for them to adjust," he said.

Dent said the federal government is re-evaluating some of the cuts it has made.

"My understanding is that they're going to reconsider our funding," Heath said.

"We're kind of in a holding pattern right now."