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BACKGROUND: We begin with a definition, synthesized from existing literature and refined based on expert input: Data literacy is the ability to collect, manage, evaluate, and apply data, in a critical manner. It is an essential ability required in the global knowledge-‐‑based economy; the manipulation of data occurs in daily processes across all sectors and disciplines. An understanding of how decisions are informed by data, and how to collect, manage, evaluate, and apply this data in support of evidence-‐‑based decision-‐‑making, will benefit Canadian citizens, and will increasingly be required in knowledge economy jobs. Data literacy education is currently inconsistent across the public, private, and academic sectors, and data literacy training has not been approached systematically or formally at Canada'ʹs post-‐‑secondary institutions. There are also per-‐‑sector capability gaps, which makes it difficult to set realistic expectations of data-‐‑based skills.

CONSIDERATIONS: Developing the solid foundational knowledge of data literacy is integral to building discipline-‐‑/domain-‐‑specific knowledge and ensuring that citizens are able to use and apply these skills appropriately and diversely throughout their personal and professional lives. The best place to begin this initiative is the undergraduate curriculum in post-‐‑secondary institutions, due in part to their overarching goal of producing globally competitive, critically thinking, well-‐‑equipped graduates. Post-‐‑secondary curricula already introduce students to new theories and practices, and to new forms of literacy such as information literacy and computational thinking. Twenty-‐‑first century …