News Release

Vancouver - The British Columbia Securities Commission is pleased to announce a new educational seminar program targeted at B.C. high school students and teachers featuring the Smart Cookies, five women who joined together to pull themselves out of debt through budgeting, wise investing and honing their financial knowledge.

The Smart Cookies, who are well-known television hosts on the W Network and best selling authors, will speak at events in Richmond, Kelowna, Victoria and Nanaimo in October and November. They will speak about the importance of teaching financial life skills to young people in order to avoid the debt they found themselves in before forming a money group that helped them take control of their finances.

“Learning about saving, budgeting and how to manage debt in high school can help young people meet their life and educational goals,” said Patricia Bowles, BCSC director, communications and education. “The Smart Cookies seminars are engaging presentations that demonstrate the relevance and necessity of teaching financial life skills to young people, especially in uncertain financial times.”

The Smart Cookies seminars will show how the BCSC’s financial education resource for grade 10 students and a new web-based resource, both called The City, help young people understand financial concepts that they can use throughout their lives.

In September 2008, the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) in partnership with the BCSC launched The City, a free, web-based teacher resource that engages youth by using an imaginative and interactive hands-on approach to learning, providing practical real-life skills and making financial concepts easy to understand. The City is available, in both English and French.

The City is based on a successful, award-winning teacher resource, The City: Financial Life Skills for Planning 10. The BCSC developed the resource for educators who teach the Planning 10: Finances course, which is mandatory in B.C. high schools. The resource is used in all of B.C.'s school districts and has been delivered to more than 1,400 teachers since it was introduced in November 2004. British Columbia is one of two Canadian provinces that requires the teaching of financial life skills in high school.
 
The B.C. Securities Commission is the independent provincial government agency responsible for regulating securities trading in the province. If you have questions, contact Ken Gracey, Media Relations, 604-899-6577.

Learn how to avoid investment fraud at the BCSC's investor education website: www.investright.org .