SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
You can buy a lot of books with $10,000.

Xiaoyi Yan, literacy outreach co-ordinator, left, accepts a $10,000 cheque from Dominion Diamond with Elaine Harris, Aurora College regional program head for the Tlicho and Yellowknife Regions. Dominion CEO Brendan Bell made the cheque presentation, right. - photo courtesy of Dominion Diamond Corp.

Also computers, tutors and other resources to help bridge what Xiaoyi Yan, co-ordinator for the Yellowknife Literacy Outreach Centre, says is the gap in literacy in the Northwest Territories.

"This year it's a really big surprise," said Yan.

Dominion Diamond has donated $5,000 per year to the centre for the last seven years, but this year the company decided to double its contribution.

"Dominion Diamond recognizes the importance of having a community-based adult literacy program, which helps those with low literacy skills learn in a safe and comfortable environment," stated Dominion CEO Brendan Bell in an e-mail to Yellowknifer.

"We are proud to contribute to organizations that are making a significant difference in the community and helping individuals develop their skill-set."

The NWT Literacy Council's 2003 International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey, which offers the most recent statistics available, found four out of 10 people in the NWT between the ages of 16 and 65 face literacy challenges.

"Literacy has always been a big challenge for the whole country, but in particular very challenging in Northwest Territories because we have a very high illiterate or low literacy percentage in our population," said Yan. "Low literacy can lead to many social and mental and health issues, because people who have low literacy levels tend to leave school very young, and they tend to have low pay or no job at all. Because of their low literacy level, their skills of taking care of themselves and their families are also limited as well."

But literacy isn't just limited to reading, writing and arithmetic anymore. Yan said that some of the most popular programs offered by the centre is computer literacy, especially for older people.

"Those people are not necessarily low in reading and writing skills, but they definitely have difficulties in running the new technology, so that's why they go to us," said Yan. "Computer is part of literacy now. If you're short of the skills of that, you will feel quite limited."

The centre has been steadily growing to meet that demand. A partnership between Aurora College and the Yellowknife Association for Community Living since 1997, the Yellowknife Literacy Outreach Centre offers a variety of services for families and adult learners, free of charge. Yan said in 2011-12, there were around 200 people enrolled in the various courses, including basic adult literacy, tutoring services and community outreach programs. By 2015-16, she said the program had close to 500 people enrolled.

"The numbers are increasing really fast," she said.

Both of her current computer classes are already full.

"I keep getting the phone calls to say, 'I want to come in, I want to come in,' and I have to tell them the class is already full. So the demand is really strong," she said.

Yan said the consistent funding is a key element that has allowed the program to grow.

She added her group wants to express their gratitude for the support from Dominion, but said with the increasing demand, there's always more work than resources.

"The money is helping us to sustain it for sure. But ... we need more support," she said, adding that with more resources, the centre could offer more services to more students. "Our Centre has been striving to help and also provide information and support for this marginalized population so they feel empowered because they realize that no matter how old they are, they can still learn."

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