Today is the 19th annual Family Literacy Day nationwide.

It was created in 1999 by ABC Life Literacy Canada, to draw awareness to the importance of reading and engaging in other literacy-related activities as a family.

"Our intention is to create more awareness on the important roles that families play in the learning of a child," Bula Ghosh Family Literacy and ESL with Great Plains College said. "It all begins at home, we want the families to think and be more aware of the very significant role they play in the early development language in the child."

The theme of this year's Family Literacy Day is Canada 150 (One Country - Together is Better), celebrates Canada’s 150th anniversary.

"We want to focus on the multicultural aspect of Canada (this year)," Ghosh the Chair of the Southwest Literacy Committee said. "People learning to read in their first language is very important in the development of all the other languages (they learn), because that is the foundation. Recent research is indicating that the development of the first language is very important."

The Southwest Literacy Committee has will be hosting author and storyteller Leah Dorion at the Swift Current Mall today. She will be reading The Giving Tree in both English and Michif at 9 a.m., 10:15 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 1:45 p.m.

This week (January 22nd to January 28th) in Swift Current was also declared Family Literacy week by City Council on January 16th.