MORLEY – Mothers with newborn babies on the Stoney Nakoda First Nation Reserve will receive a bag of books to help with early literacy skills, thanks to a new program launched by Marigold Library System.
The bags will contain information about libraries and literacy with children, a cookbook about how to transition to solid foods, as well as a book written by an Indigenous author. The bag will also include bookmarks and information about immunization.
To disperse the bags, nurses with Stoney Health Services will bring a bag with them when they visit new parents for the first time.
“This kind of program is important for every community,” said Rose Reid, the Indigenous outreach specialist for Marigold.
“A significant portion of the Canadian population is functionally illiterate, so this kind of program is really important everywhere. But the rate of illiteracy is even higher on reserves than it is for the rest of the population and by starting very early we can perhaps make literacy and reading something that’s considered a more joyful and family friendly activity.”
To date, the library service has put together 100 bags, which should be enough for the next 12 months given that 88 babies were born on the reserve last year.
The Canmore Rotary Club provided $2,500 to launch the initiative and has promised another $2,000 to keep the program running next year.
Beyond the books, Reid said she also sees the program as an act of reconciliation.
“I feel like it’s a way that we can offer something valuable from our culture and we’re trying to do it in a very respectful way by choosing Indigenous authors and working on the reserve with systems that are already in place rather than trying to impose something from outside.”
Marigold Library System provides library services to 44 municipalities across central Alberta as well as the Stoney Nakoda and Siksika Nations.
