The Government of Canada Supports the Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia

The Honourable Stockwell Day, Minister of Public Safety and Member of Parliament (Okanagan-Coquihalla), on behalf of the Honourable Josee Verner, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women and Minister for La Francophonie, today announced funding for the Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia.

Funding of more than $81,000 will be used by the Association to produce two catalogues of Canadian books that have been selected and annotated by educators for use in Canadian schools. BC Books for BC Schools and Canadian Aboriginal Books for Schools are aimed at students from kindergarten to Grade 12.

"Our Government is proud to support British Columbia's publishers," said Minister Verner. "Our authors and publishers are symbols of our creativity and innovative spirit, and they contribute to the vitality of our culture and economy."

"Our Government is pleased to support the Association in promoting books by authors from British Columbia and elsewhere in Canada to a wide audience of educators and students," said Minister Day. "I encourage them to continue working to offer young Canadian readers a wide range of books with which they can identify."

"It is so important that our children have access to books, fiction and non-fiction, that tell our own stories," said Margaret Reynolds, Executive Director of the Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia. "The funding our association receives through Canadian Heritage makes it possible to inform teacher-librarians across the country about the excellence of material being published by Canadian publishers and its suitability for use in libraries and classrooms."

The Government of Canada has provided this funding under the Collective Initiatives component of the Book Publishing Industry Development Program. This program of the Department of Canadian Heritage seeks to increase the capacity of the Canadian-owned and -controlled sector of the industry to publish and market Canadian books, domestically as well as internationally.

This news release is available on the Internet at www.canadianheritage.gc.ca under Media Room.

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