National Adult Literacy Database

In this report, the Conference Board of Canada (http://www.conferenceboard.ca) studies BHP Billiton Diamonds Inc, which operates the remote Ekati Diamond mine site in the NWT. The majority of the company's workers come from the Aboriginal communities in the region, a population with a strong oral, rather than written, culture. Workers often have little or negative experience with schooling, and, consequently, low literacy skills. The company initiated a Workplace Learning Program in order to address the need among some of its workers for literacy skills upgrading. This case study looks at the various aspects of this learning program including its objectives, target groups, resources, innovations, challenges and use as a model.