Our History

In November 1978, a group of concerned people got together because they realized that there were many adults in our community needing help with basic reading, writing and math skills. 

A program at Canadore College, designed to help lower-level readers, had its funding cut but the need was still there and there were people eager to learn. Canadore College president, Murray Hewgill gave John Brock, who was the director of Adult Training, the job of finding a program that Canadore could sponsor and help. Joan Sharman, a Canadore staff person at the time said the Laubach workshop was chosen because it was the best material and gave better information to untrained volunteers than any other method.

In the early years, Canadore College helped with coordination, telephone contact number, newsletter printing and mailing, stocking the books, meeting rooms, workshop rooms, and other help as needed. Unfortunately, there was no provincial funding to help with costs. Money for books was raised through bake sales, raffles, and tag day. Today, over 40 years later, we still do these activities to raise money for books and supplies. 

On November 4 - 5, 1978 the first Laubach Tutor Training workshop was held at the Teacher’s College (now the Correctional Services Building on First Avenue). A record-breaking forty-five people responded to that first call for literacy tutors. At the conclusion of this workshop the North Bay and Area Literacy Council was born, complete with its first President, Executive and Student Tutor Coordinator. The first President was Kaye Montgomery, the first Student/Tutor Coordinator was Al Craig, (a teacher at Canadore). Joan Sharman was president for two years and Student/Tutor Coordinator for several years. 



The driving force behind bringing the workshop to North Bay was Canadore College. In 1986, the Council hosted the Laubach Literacy Ontario conference, which was a success with over 90 people from across the province attending. In October 2003 over 200 people attended another provincial conference when we celebrated our 25th anniversary.

The Council was housed by the Literacy Alliance (a network of literacy providers which included Canadore College, Nipissing Board of Education, the Separate Board of Education, and the Council) at 124 Main Street East from 1987 until 1992 when the Council received provincial funding from the Ministry of Education for a part-time Student/Tutor Coordinator and some rent. We set up offices at the historic Scollard Hall Building at 1000 High Street. Our next move was in 1998 when we moved to King Street. We quickly outgrew that office space and in June 2000 we once again packed up our books and moved into an office at 450 Main Street West. This space too, with only one tutor room and a small classroom, quickly became too small and once more we packed up and moved to 347 Sherbrooke Street, Suite 301. 

In 2014, the Board of Directors, under the leadership of Executive Director Jane Jackson, decided the council needed to update its image in the community to reflect the vast area we serve. It was decided that a new name and logo should be created. On January 24, 2015, The North Bay Literacy Council unveiled its new name: Literacy Nipissing

Another move was destined to be in our future. Unfortunately, we had to move from 347 Sherbrooke Street in 2019 to accommodate learners who had special needs. We moved to 175 Main Street East which offered street-level access and other special accommodations.

We were happily located at 175 Main Street for 8 months when we suffered a devastating loss. On December 20, 2019, our office was destroyed by fire. The fire started in a nearby vacant building and quickly spread to our office. In 12 short hours, the first spread enough that our building had to be torn down to limit the spread to the rest of downtown. We were left with nothing – not a thing. A fire was not going to stop us. On January 8th, we started classes again at the YES office. We were and still are, incredibly grateful for their support of our program in our time of need. We secured a new office space at 204 Main Street East. We worked to rebuild our resources so that we could re-open in our new space. We were able to schedule our re-opening on March 16th (less than 3 months after the fire). The global pandemic hit, and March 16th was the day that the province had to close. We were all ready, but our opening was delayed as we put health as a top priority. During the pandemic, we survived many shutdowns, but modified classes became our main source of instruction. This allowed us to be officially in our new space in August of 2020. 

On September 28, 2022, we officially opened the doors to the re-built Literacy Nipissing, and we continue to serve the citizens of North Bay and area.