The PGIs: Local fun for a national cause

The PGI Golf Tournaments for Literacy – founded by the late Canadian broadcaster and journalist Peter Gzowski and affectionately known as ‘the PGIs’ (the Peter Gzowski Invitationals) – have played in every province and territory in Canada, raising needed resources for the thousands of adult learners who struggle with the challenge of low literacy.

Since its inception in 1986, the PGIs have raised more than 10 million dollars, net. These funds go directly to support literacy initiatives in the provinces and territories where the PGIs are held.

Thanks to the generosity of national and local sponsors, and to the dedication of volunteers and literacy organizations across the country, the annual PGIs offer a hearty dose of fun, entertainment, and spectacular golf. The PGIs reflect the unique spirit of the provinces and territories in which they are hosted, and provide a wonderful opportunity to support the much-needed work of our literacy practitioners.

Peter Mansbridge, PGI National Spokesperson

In my association with the PGIs, I have come to understand some of the many reasons why a person has low literacy skills – including learning challenges that undermined self-confidence, difficult childhood circumstances or perhaps economic pressures that short-circuited educational opportunities. Every adult learner I have met expresses so much gratitude to their tutor for imparting the gift of literacy. By participating in a PGI event, you help hugely in delivering that gift.

— Peter Mansbridge, Anchor of CBC-TV’s The National and National Spokesperson for the PGIs.

Peter Gzowski, PGI founder

The PGIs bring together so much that matters to me: friends, laughter, poetry, music – all playing to make a better world.

— Peter Gzowski, writer, broadcaster, philanthropist.

Peter Gzowski, the first to champion a day of golf and camaraderie in support of adult literacy, had big dreams: to raise one million dollars to further the cause of literacy.

Now, having raised more than ten times that amount, the PGIs are a lasting tribute to his vision and a testament to the thousands of golfers, participants, volunteers and sponsors who, each year, take up the torch of literacy - along with their golf clubs!