Tuesday, August 19, 2008

KEYNOTE SPEAKER - VICTORIN BOUDREAU
WALKING THE PATH OF LITERACY: A JOURNEY OF COURAGE

Description of Presentation

Victorin will speak of his life experiences with having a low level of literacy while he attended school, in the workplace and in his life in general. He will raise everyone’s awareness on the struggles people with low level of literacy face every day.

Biography

Victorin left school at the age of 16 after going through many difficult years. All his life, education was a real nightmare. He could not read or write. He was very unhappy and he felt ashamed that he could not follow his classmates. After being in grade 6 three times, Victorin joined the workforce at 16. Victorin did not speak English. Also, when illness struck his family, he could not understand the health care professionals. Since he had not completed his grade 12 and did not know how to read or write, Victorin went back to school in 1971 to try to complete his grades 7 to 9. He had been turned away from several job opportunities because of his poor education. He enrolled in the Programme communautaire de récupération scolaire (Community Academic Services Program), a literacy class in Petit-Rocher, with the goal of obtaining his High School diploma in order to get a better job. He is extremely happy that he made this decision. Finally, doors start opening for him and he received help, such as tutoring, he would have needed when he was young.

He registered at the CCNB - Campus Bathurst (Community College New Brunswick) in the Access Gateway Program. During that time, he gained self esteem and self confidence. He participated to many literacy publicity campaign on the radio and the television. Now, with his background and the support he received, Victorin has a desire to continue to learn for his own self satisfaction.

From 2003 to 2006, Victorin was a member of the Board of Directors at the “Fédération d’alphabétisation du Nouveau-Brunswick (FANB)” and represented adult learners. He was also representing adult learners with the Provincial Partners in Literacy (PPL) in New-Brunswick. Victorin is very engaged in matters relating to literacy and his journey as an adult learner is a great source of inspiration for us all. In 2004, Victorin received the Co-operators Learner Achievement Award for New Brunswick.

Today, Victorin participates in many conferences as a speaker and shares his humor and feelings with the audience as he tells of his real-life experiences on his journey as an adult learner.

Victorin lives in Pointe-Verte, New Brunswick, with his partner Lydia Boudreau. He has 4 children and now has 5 grandchildren.

Resources

http://www.fanb.ca/videos/forum08/victorin.htm (French video of a presentation of Victorin in Miramichi)