APPENDIX A XLIII 
EDUCATION 
I have no intention of discussing the schools and colleges of the 
Dominion. For, however pertinent such an enquiry might be to the 
matter I am dealing*with, justice to the enquiry would take me quite 
beyond the bounds of such a paper as the present. I may be per- 
mitted notwithstanding to offer a few observations on the education 
of our people. 
It is satisfactory to note from the census returns of 1911 that 
illiteracy in Canada, in the ten years from 1901 to 1911, decreased 
from 14-39 to 10-50 per cent of the population of 5 years and over; 
and that the decrease occurred in every province of the Dominion. 
In 1911 illiteracy varied in the provinces from 6-51 per cent in On- 
tario to 14-05 in New Brunswick. The percentages of illiteracy in 
the various provinces only in part correspond with the percentages 
of population of European birth, for New Brunswick has the lowest 
percentage of European birth with the exception of Prince Edward 
Island. On the other hand, it seems that a certain amount of illiteracy 
is to be ascribed to European immigration, for Saskatchewan, 
and Alberta, which rank next to New Brunswick in illiteracy, have 
the highest percentages of population of European birth with the 
exception of British Columbia. This characteristic of British Col- 
umbia, which places it below the other western provinces in illiteracy 
while it exceeds them in percentage of population of European birth, 
is doubtless due to the fact that a large part of its immigration came 
from the British Isles. A large proportion of the Ontario population 
of European birth also came from the British Isles, thus keeping 
down its percentage of illiteracy. The following table on which these 
statements are founded may be of interest, the figures being percent- 
ages :— 
Illiteracy European Birth 
Canada es ROLE: 10-50 17-81 
ERA ANNE Cr 7-61 1-75 
Nova SCO ee eee 10-34 6-87 
New Brunswick.......... 14-05 3-70 
@ulebecs ER MS ES at 12-66 6:30 
Ontariows son AR ALAN wd 6-51 18-13 
MANITODA MERE 133i 38-32 
Saskatchewan ee. 2e 13-70 35:35 
AIDET TA eg ache cee cones 12-72 34-98 
BrashColumbiar. "0e 11-61 47-29 
It is not easy to compare Canadian illiteracy with that of other 
countries for the reason that Canadian statistics include individuals 
of five years and upwards, while in almost all other countries ten is the 
