As identified on their BC government website, StrongStart BC is a series of “early learning programs [which] provide school-based early learning services for adults and their young children, aged birth to five, at no cost to families.”  My journey to uncover this program came as a result of reading a recent Vancouver Sun newspaper article, titled “Aboriginal education in B.C. gets failing mark“.  The article was prompted by the annual Fraser Institute report on education which concluded that aboriginal achievement and success rates in this province are unacceptably low.  The Fraser Institute report’s themselves are contentious as they are used to compare different schools and demographics of students to each other while including little-to-no data on elements such as socio-ecomic factors of the surrounding community.  Education Minister George Abbott is optimistic that recent initiatives such as the StrongStart program will help close the gap between aboriginal achievement and success and that of other students across the province.  I don’t believe there is ever one ‘cure-all’ for these types of issues, but certainly programs like StrongStart can’t hurt.  Let’s hope it makes a positive difference!