News Release

Vancouver – The B.C. Securities Commission’s newly updated financial life skills resource now offers B.C. high school teachers and their grade 10 students an easier-to-teach and more engaging resource that will help further B.C.’s place as a leader in financial literacy education for youth.

The City: Financial Life Skills for Planning 10, 2nd edition, is a free resource used across the province by teachers responsible for delivering the government-mandated Planning 10: Finances curriculum. First introduced by the BCSC in 2004, The City is used in every B.C. school district and highly-rated by B.C. teachers.

A new module on identity theft and fraud adds an important new dimension to the financial literacy skill set teens acquire through The City.

“Financial life skills are essential today if we want our young people to succeed and prosper in a complex global economy,” says Patricia Bowles, BCSC director of communications and education. “The City gives teachers all the tools they need to offer teens practical money skills that they can use the same day they learn them.”

British Columbia is the only province in Canada that mandates the teaching of financial literacy in high school. One feature that sets The City apart from other financial literacy resources is the creative way it captures the interest of 14- and 15-year-olds using a cast of fictional characters engaged in real financial dilemmas and gives them hands-on experience dealing with financial documents and decisions.

Patricia Bowles will introduce the new Planning 10 resource today in Kelowna at Rutland Senior Secondary School. Immediately following, Canadian comedian James Cunningham will present his award-winning Funny Money comedy routine to Rutland students.

Media are invited to attend the event and Funny Money presentation, starting at 12:45, and to interview Ms. Bowles.

Who:    Patricia Bowles, Director of Communications & Education, BCSC

What:   Introducing The City: Financial Life Skills for Planning 10, 2nd edition

When:  Monday, November 22, 2010, 12:45 p.m.

Where: Rutland Senior Secondary School, 705 Rutland Road North, Kelowna, BC

The City: Financial Life Skills for Planning 10 is part of a number of investor education programs offered through the BCSC InvestRight program. The BCSC is the independent provincial government agency responsible for regulating trading in securities within the province. If you have questions, contact Brenda Lea Brown at 604-899-6554.

Learn how to protect yourself and become a more informed investor at www.investright.org .