III	Limited Literacy: An Important Challenge for the Administration of Justice
		by the Honourable Susan V Devine, Provincial Court of Manitoba
Introduction
		Like most other Canadians who were raised in the suburbs and attended middle class Canadian schools, I grew up thinking of literacy as an issue for developing countries. As I became a little older, I began to realize that there might be some senior Canadians who, because of limited opportunities for formal schooling were not able to read or write, or had very limited literacy skills. Of course, occasionally there were classmates who did not seem to learn very well and who were held back in school as a result, but we tended to regard them as just not very "smart". The notion of learning disabilities had not been acknowledged, or if it had, it had not yet permeated the sheltered halls of the schools I attended in the 50's and 60's.
My First Encounters with Literacy Issues as a Lawyer and Judge
		My first meaningful encounter with literacy issues arose when I was a law student representing an Aboriginal man living in Winnipeg's inner city. The case was part of a pioneering skills course at the Manitoba law faculty. "The Lawyering Process" followed twelve cases over the year with each of the dozen students being responsible with a teammate for interviewing, preparing and ultimately handling a trial. We were to discuss each of these steps with our class.

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