Conferences are fast-paced and intense, and offer a great deal of information to participants.
There was representation from coast to coast to coast throughout Canada. Native literacy conferences have traditionally created a powerful sense of affirmation in the work that is being done on a community level, and, in my experiences, throughout Ontario. Yet, with participation from each province and territory, the affirmation seemed stronger, and was given a unified voice. Leading up to the Closing Plenary, where recommendations were made to go to the Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples, there were common calls for more NALGs, as well as a National Aboriginal Literacy Coalition, to continue networking and training efforts. To experience the growth of a national network of Aboriginal literacy practitioners was awesome.