In the 1970s, The Writers' Development Trust (as The Writers' Trust of Canada was formerly named) produced a series of teachers' guides about Canadian literature. Structured thematically-prairie literature, women's literature, Québec literature in translation, northern literature, immigrant literature, etc.-these guides were primarily written by teams of high school teachers working with an advisory group made up of members of the publishing community including writers, publishers and editors. The question was posed: might it be time to produce another series of guides?

After some preliminary research it was clear that there have been profound changes in the educational environment since the 1970s. Literary publishers have been reporting declines in educational sales and adoptions. The profession of teaching has gone through dramatic challenges including curriculum changes and funding cuts. As well, widespread use of the Internet has affected access to resources.

It was decided that an extensive research stage was required in order to determine some of the fundamental issues, changes and challenges. Just how much Canadian literature is being taught in Canadian high schools and why?

The resulting study, released in April 2002, is more than 100 pages; the executive summary highlights the main points of the report. Copes of the full report in English are available from the Canada Council for the Arts and Writers Trust of Canada.