Look on a B.C. map.
Can you find Old Masset* or Toosey** ?
They are very small places.
*Say:  ma-sut     **Say: too-see

About 300 people live in Toosey.
About 600 people live in Old Masset.
These places are First Nation villages.
And people in the villages
travel far
to go to a library.

Photo – Courtesy of the Office of the Lieutenant Governor/Government House

New libraries
Steven Point is a judge.
He is also from a B.C. First Nation.
Point visited
many First Nation villages.
He brought books. Children smiled.

Point had an idea.
He wanted to build libraries.

So he called friends and businesses.
They raised money.
They collected 30,000 books.
They bought computers.
Together, they built 10 libraries.
Point calls this project “Write to Read”.

Did you know?
There are more than 600 First Nations
in Canada.
But only about 200 First Nations
have a library.

Bob Blacker, left, and Steven Point started the Write to Read project.
Photo by Michael McCarthy

The opening of the library at Malahat on August 6, 2014
Photo – Courtesy of the Office of the Lieutenant Governor/Government House

Bob Blacker, left, and Judith Guichon, Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia, and Chief Michael Harry of the Malahat First Nation unveil sponsors of project.
Photo – Courtesy of the Office of the Lieutenant Governor/Government House

New library at Malahat
Photo – Courtesy of the Office of the Lieutenant Governor/Government House

Links:

Write to Read – increasing Aboriginal literacy
-http://writetoreadproject.org
CBC Article with video
-http://www.cbc.ca/news/aboriginal/first-nations-in-b-c-gain-libraries-thanks-to-judge-ex-officer-1.2654846
Canadian Aboriginal Literacy Levels Need to Improve 
-http://writetoreadproject.org/wordpress/aboriginal-literacy-levels-need-to-improve/