The Literacy Coalition of New Brunswick will provide leadership to advance literacy, lifelong learning and essential skills for all citizens through partnerships and collaboration with government, educational institutions, business, labour and community.

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2022 PGI Gala Dinner and Auction – Oct 11th
Celebrating the Final Peter Gzowski (PGI) Literacy Fundraising Event

After nearly four decades, the Literacy Coalition of New Brunswick will be hosting the final Peter Gzowski Gala Dinner and Auction on Tuesday, October 11th. Given Peter Gzowski’s incredible contributions to literacy it is only fitting that we throw an amazing going away party.

At this year’s event we will be honouring Gaëtan Thomas, who has made remarkable contributions to literacy in our province, with our Champion of Literacy Award. Other award recipients will be announced at the event. We will also hear from some exceptional adult learners who will share their personal stories.

We hope you will join us for this very special evening.

Event Information:

Date: Tuesday October 11th
Time: Reception and Silent Auction at 6:00 pm with Dinner and Live Auction at 6:45pm
Location: Delta Marriott Hotel Ballroom, Woodstock Road, Fredericton NB

Tickets are $150 each or $1,200 for a table of 8. Tickets can be purchased by contacting the Literacy Coalition of New Brunswick at lcnb@nbliteracy.ca or (506) 457-1227.

All funds raised are reinvested to youth, adult, and family literacy programs in New Brunswick.

With sincere gratitude from the New Brunswick PGI Fundraising Committee

Bob Scott, Event Co-Chair
Ashley Counsell, Event Co-Chair
Brent Melanson, President LCNB Board of Directors
Greg Gillis, LCNB Board Treasurer
Sharon White, Community Volunteer
Lynda Homer, Executive Director LCNB

LCNB Releases Report on Barriers Between Language Levels and Adult Literacy in NB

The Literacy Coalition of New Brunswick has released a new research report, Identifying Barriers Between Language Levels and Adult Literacy Learning.

The study, funded by the Adult Literacy Funding Program – New Brunswick Innovation Fund, outlines specific barriers to accessing literacy learning programs that adults – including newcomers – experience in terms of access and engagement, program relevance, and delivery methods.

Carried out from September 2021 to March 31, 2022, this inquiry deepens our understanding of the context in which organizations and service providers deliver adult literacy programs and provides valuable insights from learners who access those programs. The report presents the key findings from the study and eight recommendations to reduce barriers between language levels and adult literacy learning.

To read the full report, click here.

Celebrating Adult Learner’s Week 2022: April 18th – 22nd!

Adult Literacy Week is an occasion to acknowledge the triumphs that many New Brunswickers have and celebrate the importance of life-long learning in our lives.

The past two years have been challenging for all of us, and because of the pandemic, many learners have not been able to attend in-class learning. Despite this, we want to celebrate the accomplishments everyone made this year. Even if you were not able to attend a class, your learning journey is not over!

We received 25 fantastic submissions this year, and we thank all of the learners for their amazing submissions. We are excited to announce the winners of the contest:

Britny Gould – 1st Place, English

Amélie Boudreau – 1ère place, français

Afraa Yako – Runner Up

The winner of the draw for the iPad was Ryan Drost!

Click on the names of the winners to read their essay. You can also read all of the submissions in our ebook:

Click here to read all of the amazing submissions in our ebook!

2022 Dr. Marilyn Trenholme Counsell Literacy Award Ceremony a Success!

We are excited to announce the award winners for this year’s Dr. Marilyn Trenholme Counsell Literacy Awards. The winners will accept their awards during the ceremony on April 21st, which will be held via Z

Our Dr. Marilyn Trenholme Counsell Literacy Awards once again took place on Zoom this year, and we are happy to announce that it was a resounding success! The award ceremony was held on April 21st with over 40 participants. Brent Melanson, President of the LCNB board, and Lynda Homer, Executive Director, were the Masters of Ceremonies. The Honourable Brenda Murphy, Lieutenant Governor, gave the opening remarks in both official languages. Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development, Dominic Cardy, brought greetings from the province and spoke about the importance of literacy, also in French and English. Dr. Marilyn Trenholme Counsell spoke about the power of literacy and how important these awards are.

As a special highlight for the winners, a video was put together by LCNB with messages recorded by friends and coworkers to congratulate the winners. This video was presented at the end of the ceremony after the winners accepted their awards. This video will be made available online.

Congratulations to the 2022 winners! Thank you to everyone who participated in the Zoom ceremony!

The winners are:

Published Author Leo LaFleur. A writer of short stories, poems, novels, graphic novels, children’s lit, and songs, he has been published in literary magazines in North America, as well as nominated for multiple music related awards — Producer of the Year, Rock artist of the Year, and Folk Artist of the Year. His poetry is to be featured in Queen’s Quarterly this year.

Outstanding Effort in Indigenous Literacy Shyla Augustine. Shyla is from Elsipogtog First Nation and is is a 2nd grade teacher at Elsipogtog First Nations school. While studying at St. Thomas University for her Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education degrees, as well as being a single mother of two, she wrote the children’s book Mi’kmaq Alphabet Book. The goal of this book was to increase literacy and awareness of the Mi’kmaq language across New Brunswick and Canada as a whole.

Early Childhood Literacy – « La pédagogie au service de l’actualisation linguistique préscolaire ». Created by Karine Pineault, the project aims to equip early childhood educators with pedagogical practices that promote learning French. Karine has shared her expertise to create resources for these educators according to the best up to date practices. It is expected that over 200 educators will receive this training by June 2022.

Community Literacy Program Achieve Literacy Greater Saint John. Formed in 2014 as a partnership with BCAPI, ELF, PALS and the Anglophone School District South, their focus has been on improving the learning abilities of children in low-income areas from birth to grade 2. The program has added teachers to seven priority schools and raised $150,000. The program also helps families with availability of books, tools and tips to improve reading and provide a comprehensive approach to literacy.

Business Corporate InitiativePaul McAllister and Monster House Publishing. Paul believes that one of the most direct ways to encourage improvement in our society, is through literacy development in our children. That is the mission statement for Monster House Publishing. Through programs like the “Young Author Program” in which Paul works with a class to help them publish their own book, the “Tell us Your Story Writing Competition” and the “A is for Art” program in partnership with The Beaverbrook Art Gallery, he and he hopes to reach those at-risk youth who need that extra boost to develop a lifelong love of literacy.  

Individual Outstanding Contribution to Literacy Moriya Boyle. In 2020, Moriya Boyle became a New Brunswick youth ambassador for Digitally Lit, a youth-led online engagement strategy designed to connect online spaces and locally published books to young people. Moriya stands out as the only ambassador to consistently read and share in both official languages.  She  has also founded and oversees the social media campaign Atlantic Giveaways with Moriya, a book giveaway designed to drive excitement about new local books. Her social media page, Reading with Moriya, promotes reading and local authors.

Individual Outstanding Contribution to LiteracyMary Ryan. Mary Ryan has been an elementary school teacher for over 30 years in the Fredericton area school system. Over that time and in retirement, Mary published several books for New Brunswicker’s reading pleasure and education on a variety of topics. Her most recent book, Flying With Peek-a-Book Multicolored Feathers, shares her vast knowledge and experience as a classroom teacher about how children grow and benefit from exposure to various cultural traditions and religions.

Congratulations to all of the winners of this year’s awards!

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