1. Immigrating: Basic English Literacy 26-Feb-2013
It isn't easy to help someone. Anyone.
Human needs are complicated.
Beyond the universal needs of food, clothing
and shelter, the needs of every individual are
different.
Some say we need love, but it's probably more
accurate to say that while love makes living
easier and happier, it's not absolutely
necessary. There are many successful
psychopaths and sociopaths who are complete
strangers to love.
But most of us living in the modern world
agree that our chance for a successful life is greatly enhanced by receiving a formal education. Literacy
rates are a standard of measurement that has always been used in determining quality of life.
By moving to another country when you cannot speak the language of the marketplace, you become
functionally illiterate outside of your own family or community circle, until you become fluent in that
language.
Think about that.
Think about how it applies to your whole family. Young children learn English easily. Older children must
work harder, but being submersed in the culture by attending public school forces them to learn the
language. The same is true of you and your spouse if you are both working. But if you stay home most of
the time, or seldom wander outside of your cultural comfort zone, then you are handicapped. If your
spouse speaks poor English, or you have brought over parents or other family members who do not speak
English, they become less capable of wandering out by themselves than the average schoolchild – and the
attendant loss of status and loss of independence can be very hard for people to live with. Life becomes
unhappy.
Low literacy equals low quality of life – that is a truth that we all accept without question. So, apply that
truth to yourself: If you are functionally illiterate, how can you expect a high quality of life? And if you
weren't hoping to improve your quality of life and that of your family, why would you want to come to
Canada in the first place?
So there is the first and most essential rule for new immigrants: You need to speak the language.
Whether or not you're a fan of Immigration Minister Jason Kenney or the Conservative Party of Canada, you
should applaud the changes made in April 2010 to the procedure for assessing language ability for the
Federal Skilled Worker and Canadian Experience visa categories. It will not only bring down the cost of
integrating newcomers, it will make life more pleasant for those newcomers who are accepted.
In my years of editing Canadian Newcomer, the story I have probably heard more often than any other was
from people who had been led to believe at the time of their application to emigrate to Canada, that their
language abilities were very good, when in fact they were not up to the minimum standards of the

2. marketplace.
Lawyer's Weekly recently posted that, "Canada-wide, 15 per cent of adults have serious problems dealing
with any written materials and a further 27 per cent struggle with anything beyond simple reading tasks.
That's a staggering 42 per cent of the adult population who have literacy issues — and this statistic plays
out in potentially tragic ways each day in our courts."
Not only does lack of fluency in English make you less able to defend yourself in court; it makes it difficult
to read medication labels or ingredients in food products – which can endanger your health or the health
of family members with allergies; and it makes it hard to follow instructions or fill out forms – which can
cost you time and money. It hurts you in hundreds of little ways.
The better and faster you speak the language of the marketplace – the sooner you'll be enjoying the
quality of life that