National News
News From MCL

Wendy DesBrisay has been appointed the new Executive Director of the Movement for Canadian Literacy. Ann Marie Downie, President of the MCL Board of Directors, writes:

…Wendy has been the Acting Executive Director since July 1999. Her appointment was confirmed by the Board Directors at its recent meeting.

Wendy is well known in the literacy community. She has been involved in literacy work since 1985, as a community literacy educator, administrator, researcher, writer, project manager and plain language consultant. Her earlier employment was in social work and community development.

MCL will soon celebrate its 25 th anniversary as an organization which speaks for literacy for every Canadian. Wendy will be a superb guide for MCL as it moves towards its 35 th year. Wendy brings the mixture of knowledge, personal commitment and communication skills to help all of us involved in literacy have a strong voice on literacy matters.

I know you will join me and the Board of Directors in welcoming Wendy to this position.

Learners Advisory Network (LAN) News

Literacy BC is delighted to announce that Wendy Koivisto, the BC representative to MCL’s Learner Advisory Network (LAN), has been elected as Vice-Chair of the Network.

Wendy lives in Courtenay and has been involved in learner-based activities in B.C. for a number of years. She was chair of the “Learners Talking to Learners” Regional Events Committee, and for three years was the learner representative on the federal/provincial cost-shared project review committee.

Congratulations, Wendy!

The Learners Advisory Network (LAN) is a committee of MCL. The LAN is made up of one learner representative from each province and territory. It is the mandate of the LAN to strengthen the learners’ voice in Canada. The work that the members of the LAN do is geared toward reaching that goal. The LAN is also contacted by other groups and organizations for advice such as focus testing information pamphlets for readability, and various issues related to health, employment, technology and justice. A very important part of the LAN work is advocacy on behalf of Canadian learners, including work on the annual Literacy Action Day on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.