Ontario’s Human Rights Commission concluded that its school system is systematically failing to teach children to read. Not because teachers don’t care, but because the system relies on approaches we’ve known for years don’t work. The report is clear: too many pupils are being denied their right to read due to ineffective methods, inconsistent interventions and a lack of evidence-based practice. The result? A generation of children left struggling unnecessarily, with lifelong consequences. If Scotland carried out the same kind of independent review, I fear we’d see a similar pattern. We still rely heavily on approaches that prioritise guessing strategies over decoding, that underplay phonics, and that leave struggling readers waiting far too long for help. Reading is the foundation for every other part of a child’s education. When a system gets it wrong, everything else suffers. We should be brave enough to look honestly at our own practices and make the changes needed so every child in Scotland learns to read well, early, and with confidence. If Ontario can confront this, so can we.