CCL Home > Newsroom > Speeches
Thank you for joining us today to celebrate the launch of the Canadian Council for Learning’s Health and Learning Knowledge Centre, the first of five knowledge centres that CCL is creating across Canada. The other knowledge centres, which will be announced in the coming weeks, will focus on adult learning, aboriginal learning, early childhood learning and work and learning.
Before I start my formal remarks, I would like to recognise some of the elected officials who have joined us today – Peter Julian, MP, for Burnaby-Westminster, and Richard Lee, MLA for Burnaby North. I am delighted to have representatives from both the federal and provincial governments join us to celebrate the launch of the Health and Learning Knowledge Centre.
CCL was created following extensive national consultations that identified the importance of lifelong learning in today’s knowledge-based society and economy. Leaders from all walks of Canadian life — education, business, labour, government, aboriginal organizations and non-governmental organizations of many kinds — agreed that Canada must move beyond rhetoric about lifelong and life-broad learning. They called for better links among the various parts of our learning systems—a national roadmap for learning throughout an individual’s lifespan.
People also wanted to know what educational models and practices work well, and which do not—in Canada and abroad—so that they could make informed choices about learning. Both business and labour saw a need for national perspectives, national solutions, to issues of workplace learning, in order to create the conditions for innovation and productivity.
But learning is not just about innovation and productivity; learning plays a key role in personal development, social participation and social cohesion.
CCL will examine learning issues from a wide range of perspectives. Our approach is based on a model of collaboration. CCL will partner with all levels of government, learning institutions, non-governmental organizations and learners to enhance existing networks, skills and organizations. We will identify research priorities, develop indicators to measure progress in learning, and build networks to exchange promising practices.
The theme of health and learning is particularly close to my heart because of my own background as both an educator and medical doctor.
Studies over the years have repeatedly demonstrated a strong link between level of education and level of health. The higher a person’s education status and ability to learn about health, the better his or her health. Health status and healthy environments also lead to better learning. One simple example is the impact that breakfast programs have on the classroom performance of under-nourished children. However, much as Canadians value their health, few make the connection to the role that ongoing learning plays in health. One of the key goals of the knowledge centre will be to reinforce that important link.
To create this knowledge centre, CCL initiated a collaborative process that called for the formation of a consortium of experts. We chose the region encompassing British Columbia and Yukon for the centre in order to build on the active base of researchers here who specialize in the health-education interface. However, the centre will serve as a national resource, linking researchers and organizations right across the country.
I am delighted by the high calibre and dedication of the consortium members that have come together under the leadership of Budd Hall at the University of Victoria. The 17-member consortium represents a wide cross-section of researchers, educators and practitioners in the field of health and learning, with expertise across the spectrum from early childhood to senior citizens.
The consortium has set an ambitious agenda – to address the full range of determinants of health and learning, including income and social status, literacy and education, social and physical environments, early childhood development, personal health practices, genetics, gender and culture, and health promotion. I am looking forward to an exciting and productive relationship with Budd and the consortium members.
Top