Literacy Alberni works to ensure we are leaders in providing literacy, education, language, and settlement services to our community.
We are located on the unceded territories of the Tseshaht and Hupacasath First Nations, in Tsuma-as (the city now known as Port Alberni, BC).
We provide educational programs and facilitate literacy acquisition in learners of all ages through a range of programs, services, and activities.
We are committed to respecting, promoting, and advancing the values of equity, diversity, inclusion, and safety for all peoples.
Literacy Alberni’s Membership, Clients, Staff, Leadership, and our Programs and Services share a core set of principles and values that shape our work and engagements with one another. We welcome all who share and will uphold these Principles and Values:
- We understand that we operate on and occupy the stolen lands of the Tseshaht and Hupacasath First Nations, and we live here as uninvited settlers.
- We maintain that no one is illegal. We uphold and protect the rights provided to all human beings by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
- We commit to holding ourselves and each other accountable in our work. We commit to ensuring that all work done together is done with the intent of lifting one another up.
- We believe in holding ourselves and each other accountable in our conversations, actions, and relationships. We are unafraid of conflict. We share the expectation that all who are a part of Literacy Alberni Society assume the best intentions of one another, and we address situations of conflict or concern with respect-filled correction and/or appropriate resolution processes.
- We practice deep listening with the whole self. We respect the stories that belong to others, and the only stories we will share are our own.
- We believe that the lived experiences of those who are impacted by inequities are true.
- We do not ask others for casual emotional labour. We reflect on our own privilege and do not weaponize our pain to diminish the suffering of others or assuage our own guilt.
- We consider confidentiality to be sacred in all situations. Confidentiality is only broken when pertaining to safety, wellbeing, or Human Rights violations.
- We share the commitment to welcome and embrace diversity. We honour names, pronouns, genders, identities, experiences, and ancestries.
- We believe in collaboration over competition and honour the source of our knowledge. We give credit to those who inform and uplift our work.
- We commit to moving forward into the unknown and we face challenges together – we believe that discomfort is often a first sign of growth.
- We understand that dismantling systems of oppression benefits everyone, and this belief is at the heart of what we teach, build, and accomplish together.
It is to these agreements that we hold ourselves and each other.
