According to a study by The Canadian Council on Learning, “Literacy rate levels for adult Canadians are at a national rate of 48 per cent. Montreal and Toronto have 50 per cent literacy levels and the best results come from the west in Victoria and Regina.”
I’m not sure this report should be taken at face value, but maybe other reports giving Canada a higher literacy rate are weaker than this one. I can’t tell at this distance. But I have to ask the question in my headline. How illiterate can a people be before they are considered uncivilized, or does literacy have much to do with being civilized?
I’m not sure, but this sounds like an immigration matter. Are they talking about literacy in English or French? A large percentage of the population in the major cities is made up of recent immigrants.