• Huge geographic areas with small and isolated communities make service delivery difficult. Not only do the distances make it logistically challenging, small populations compromise the economic viability of doing so. Programs are difficult to fund and expertise in such areas as learning disabilities is difficult to attract.

• Access to infrastructural technologies (eg. fiber optic cabling) make it difficult for rural communities to attract the kinds of employers that would contribute to economic renewal, job creation, and program funding.

• Northern communities in particular express a sense of inequality with those in the South and Lower Mainland. They feel the profits and benefits derived from the resources extracted in their region go elsewhere.

• Some of the people we interviewed during the consultation believe that people in their community are just not interested in education and literacy – that it wasn’t valued.

• Long distances and separated communities, in many parts of the province, make communication, collaboration, and support quite difficult. Service providers can easily become isolated and frustrated.

• There are limited resources (eg. regional literacy coordinators or government field staff) to bring people together locally and regionally to create more collective plans and actions.

• Learners with unique challenges (eg. learning disabilities and Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder) need unique supports. Often, in smaller communities, these are not available.

Not All Urban Centers are the Same…

• Metropolitan areas need to be seen as a series of overlapping, diverse communities. Local priorities will vary from community to community. What is needed and available in Port Coquitlam, for example, might be quite distinct from what is needed and available in Surrey.

First Nations Communities…

• The people we spoke with during the consultation overwhelmingly affirmed the need for literacy programs for First Nations peoples in BC and cited a number of factors that compromise the relevance of traditional paths to literacy and learning among native peoples. However, there are enormous variations in the circumstances of First Nations throughout the province – and it would be a mistake to consider them as a single and homogeneous community.

• Some bands, for example, particularly those who are reluctant to develop partnerships with traditional education institutions, have their own education delivery systems. Others have stronger relationships with mainstream service providers.

• The experience and issues facing First Nations on- and off-reserve are very different.

• A number of different bands throughout the province are in the throes of negotiating for land claims and self-governance. The concept of literacy and lifelong learning may be more or less in the forefront of their thinking as a result.