September 5, 2024
TORONTO – Dyslexia Canada thanks the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) for its continued commitment to protecting the rights of students within education, as noted in the Right to Read Inquiry Two-Year Anniversary Report. While applauding the significant progress made, Dyslexia Canada urges the Province to take immediate action on the key areas the Commission found to be unaddressed.
“The changes resulting from the 2022 Right to Read Inquiry Report (Inquiry) have been transformative, shifting the province toward an evidence-based, proactive approach to preventing reading difficulties”, says Alicia Smith, Executive Director of Dyslexia Canada. “However, there is still a lot of work to do, particularly in meeting the needs of older students with dyslexia who were failed by the previous approach. Properly identifying and supporting these students requires urgent and immediate action.”
Dyslexia Canada appreciates the Province of Ontario’s quick action in delivering new Language and Français curricula, which are aligned with current scientific research. This brings Ontario into the forefront of educational innovation, serving as a model for all of Canada. Dyslexia Canada is grateful for the productive partnership with the Ministry of Education in creating ONlit.org, a central hub to support educators in implementing the new approach. Another significant accomplishment begins this September, with the implementation of universal early screening for risk of reading difficulties and dyslexia.
While these major steps are already helping our youngest students get off to a good start with reading, significant gaps remain. Many older students continue to struggle with literacy, yet do not have access to effective intervention programs. Despite being one of the major issues highlighted in the Inquiry, the Province has made no changes to the process for identifying students with dyslexia and other learning disabilities. Most disappointingly, the root cause of the issues identified in the Inquiry – the failure of the faculties of education to move beyond outdated reading instruction methods – has not been addressed. Teachers continue to leave university without the skills necessary to teach reading effectively, putting an unnecessary burden on school boards to fill in the gaps caused by this ineffective pre-service training.
“The commitment of the Province, school boards, educators, teachers’ unions, the Ontario College of Teachers, and faculties of education is paramount in ensuring that every student realizes their fundamental right to read,” says Patricia DeGuire, Chief Commissioner, Human Rights Commission, in the Status Report.
Dyslexia Canada echoes the OHRC’s call to all stakeholders in the education system to work together to ensure all students receive access to a fair and equitable education.
About Dyslexia Canada
Dyslexia Canada is a national charity whose mission is to ensure that there is a national voice and forum to advocate for all Canadian children with dyslexia. Dyslexia is the most common cause of reading difficulties, affecting 10%-20% of children. Partnering with professional organizations, experts, and advocates, Dyslexia Canada strives to drive systemic change by engaging and educating the public and updating policies and practices to ensure that students with dyslexia are properly identified and supported.