Children read the winning books of the 2009 TD Canadian Children's Literature Award

Literacy and Education

A strong foundation in education opens the door for opportunity and contributes to individual, family and community well-being. By injecting funding into often resource-strained educational institutions, TD is making a significant contribution to Canada’s universities and colleges.

In 2009, TD gave over $4.8 million dollars to post-secondary education across Canada. These funds support a range of bursaries, scholarships and programs, including an urban ecology program at Douglas College in British Columbia, a leadership fund at McGill University and “green” student bursaries at the University of Ottawa, to name a few.

The ability to learn through reading is often taken for granted. Many studies demonstrate the impact of improved literacy on a child’s education, self-confidence and economic opportunities. TD supports many education and literacy programs, scholarships and literature awards to encourage reading and the distribution of books to children.

For 14 years, the TD Summer Reading Club (in partnership with the Toronto Public Library and with Library and Archives Canada since 2004) has encouraged millions of children in libraries across Canada to develop a passion for reading while helping maintain their literacy skills during the summer holidays.

In 2009, the program theme was “Agent 009.” More than 2,000 libraries participated. Over half a million Canadian children received their own personal “spy kit” containing a colour poster, a sticker sheet and a logbook to keep track of their progress and to make the TD Summer Reading Club a fun and educational experience.

In partnership with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB), we extended the program to children with vision loss by adding a Braille component to program stickers. The booklet also included Braille code deciphering for sighted children.

TD Canadian Children’s Book Week

TD is proud to support the largest free book-distribution program to school-aged children in Canada. Each November, Grade 1 students across the nation receive a free Canadian storybook, in English or French, as part of TD Canadian Children’s Book Week. In 2009, over 500,000 students received a copy of Let’s Go! The Story of Getting from There to Here.

For more examples of our work in children’s literacy and education, click here.