Annual Report 2018–2019

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Table of contents - Building the future

• Introduction
• Building ...
  • ... engagement
  • ... partnerships
  • ... reconciliation
  • ... access
  • ... truth
  • ... memory
  • ... friendships
• The year in numbers, 2018–2019
• Forecasted expenditures, 2018–2019
• Committees and advisory groups

Introduction

Building the future was an obvious choice for Library and Archives Canada’s theme for 2018–2019. To begin, we have devoted significant amounts of attention to activities that will bear fruit in the future, when our two new facilities are completed: phase 2 of LAC’s Preservation Centre in Gatineau, which will be operational in late 2022, and the building at 555 Albert Street in Ottawa, which, as of 2024, will house our public access areas as well as Ottawa Public Library. It was also with an eye to the future that we held consultations on our three-year plan for 2019–2022. For that conversation about our priorities, we called not only on our staff and users at our different centres—in the National Capital Region, Halifax, Winnipeg and Vancouver—but also on our Stakeholders’ Forum, our advisory committees, our allies in universities, and the public at large through an online survey.

This extensive consultation helped to flesh out the second aspect of the theme of Building the future. This future sees our service models radically redefined and our relationship with our users significantly reoriented. On the one hand, because of the culture of civic participation that took root with the digital revolution, our users now see themselves as our partners more than as consumers of our services: they are involved in digitizing, transcribing, translating, tagging and describing our documents, as is clearly shown by the successes of DigiLab and Co-Lab, our new crowdsourcing tools. On the other hand, relocating access to our services in a joint facility with Ottawa Public Library is prompting us to fundamentally rethink our view of the roles of a national library and a national archives as we open up to new clients.

Of course, looking to the future does not mean ignoring the present; as they say, we have to build the plane while flying it! A 2014 report entitled The Future Now by the Royal Society of Canada set the tone for us, culminating in a couple of key initiatives in the fiscal year that ended on March 31, 2019: our new Youth Advisory Council, made up of 20 young people between 19 and 25 years of age who are helping us to meet the expectations of the coming generations, and the new non-profit Library and Archives Canada Foundation, set up by a group of outstanding volunteers to give LAC the means to develop new initiatives and expand its collection.

There have been other remarkable achievements as well: the acquisition of unique archival fonds such as those of filmmaker Denys Arcand and photographer Gabor Szilasi, of treasured works from the 16th century for the Lowy Collection, and of a piece that received extensive media attention, a treatise on the Jewish presence in North America from the library of Adolf Hitler (purchased with donations from LAC employees); our new online catalogue, Aurora, which provides access to our rich collection of publications; the launch of the Listen, Hear Our Voices funding initiative that will enable First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples to digitize recordings documenting Indigenous cultures and languages; a series of round tables—in Ottawa, Regina and Winnipeg—exploring the role of archivists and librarians in combatting “fake news”; and many more initiatives, which are covered in this annual report.

I write this message as my mandate at the head of LAC, which started in June 2014, draws to a close. I have dedicated the past five years to Building the future, holding to the principle that our institution—despite its size and central role—is just one link in a great chain circling the planet, and firmly believing that as such, it is only as strong as the whole network.

It is clear from this annual report that the present and the future are both busy times for LAC. Given its role as a memory institution, LAC’s growth is essential to those who seek the truth. Fortunately, the network of partners who labour alongside us gives me hope that we will be able to live up to the needs and expectations of our country and the world.

On a personal note, I conclude these five years by remembering the closing lines of the Sophocles play Oedipus Rex. In summing up the misfortunes of the King of Thebes, the tragic author reminds us to “count no man happy till the day of his death.” I hope it is not hubris to say that, at the end of my professional life, not only do I feel happy, but also fulfilled.

Dr. Guy Berthiaume
Librarian and Archivist of Canada

Building ... engagement

Tag it, type it, share it!

Co-Lab is a unique crowdsourcing tool developed at LAC to enhance the metadata on all of its digitized images. Using Co-Lab, anyone can add a transcription, tag, translation and/or description text to an image. That crowdsourced data then becomes searchable in LAC’s collection.

LAC promotes thematic “challenges” for the public to explore, and users are encouraged to contribute within these challenges. They can also add metadata to any digitized content in LAC’s collection using LAC’s new search tool, Collection Search^BETA.

Since the launch, nine challenges with over 2,000 images have been made available to the public. These challenges include love letters between Sir Wilfrid Laurier and his wife Zoé, letters from the First World War, photographs of Japanese-Canadian internment, textual documents about the Spanish Flu pandemic, and more.

All things DigiLab

The DigiLab was launched by LAC in 2017, a hands-on facility at 395 Wellington Street in Ottawa for LAC clients to digitize documents from the LAC collection and set them in context. As of March 31, 2019, the DigiLab has hosted more than 65 projects, resulting in the digitization of over 75,000 pages of textual material and 14,000 photographs and maps. In total, the DigiLab has resulted in more than 90,000 images being digitized and made available to the public. One of the most intriguing projects was with the National Capital Commission, which digitized stunning historical images of Canada’s National Capital Region, including aerial views of Ottawa. Another project digitized images from the Ted Grant fonds, featuring numerous scenes from Ottawa and surrounding areas, including Major’s Hill Park, the Rideau Falls and Dow’s Lake.

Palaces of the people

LAC consults regularly with the public to help with important program and policy decisions. For example, through an online platform established in 2018, Canadians were asked to share their ideas and suggestions about LAC’s three-year plan for 2019–2022. They were also invited to offer their thoughts on how LAC’s published heritage collections could be enriched with new media, such as podcasts and video games.

Tours, visits and open doors!

In 2018–2019, more than 100 tours were given at the LAC Preservation Centre in Gatineau, Quebec, to almost 800 visitors. These included international delegations, VIPs, school groups and Indigenous organizations. During a Doors Open event in September 2018, guided tours were offered to 1,400 enthusiastic visitors, who viewed the vaults, art collections and laboratories; LAC conservators and restoration experts were on hand to answer questions. In June 2018, LAC opened the doors of 395 Wellington Street as part of the annual Doors Open Ottawa weekend. Hundreds of curious visitors explored LAC’s flagship building in Ottawa.

Introducing LAC’s Youth Advisory Council

The LAC Youth Advisory Council (YAC), the newest addition to LAC’s list of advisory committees, held its inaugural meeting in September 2018. YAC meets monthly to help LAC integrate the youth perspective into everything from Co-Lab to social media to the 2019 Summit on the Value of Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums. Its members also participated in LAC events throughout the year, including the launch of the Prime Ministers and the Arts exhibition. YAC is made up of students and young professionals between the ages of 19 and 25.

Building a foundation of excellence

The LAC Foundation was established by a group of passionate individuals to support LAC in making its vast, invaluable and treasured collection more accessible to Canadians from coast to coast to coast, and in sharing it with people around the world. The foundation, chaired by Jacques J.M. Shore, will focus on raising funds to support initiatives and partnerships that grow and preserve the LAC collection.

At the launch of the LAC Foundation, the Librarian and Archivist of Canada presented five distinguished individuals with the first LAC Scholars Awards, during a jubilant ceremony held in Ottawa on April 2, 2019.

The LAC Scholars Awards were created to recognize the outstanding contribution of individuals who have dedicated their lives to the creation and promotion of the country’s literary and historical heritage. The very first awards went to journalist Marie-Louise Arsenault, historian Ronald I. Cohen, author Lawrence Hill, author Frances Itani and journalist Shelagh Rogers.

Building ... partnerships

Partners in academia

On March 13, 2019, LAC hosted a second forum with its university partners, with the theme “Disruptive technologies in memory institutions and in academia.” The subject proved to be so popular that the cap on registration had to be expanded twice to accommodate all of the participants in the Alfred Pellan Room at 395 Wellington Street in Ottawa. Each of LAC’s university partners sent at least one representative, and in some cases, more than one.

LAC also took the opportunity to sign an overarching Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Carleton University in Ottawa, its ninth MOU of this kind with universities across Canada. The two institutions have already established an excellent relationship by jointly organizing an international lecture series on architecture and by working together on the Parliament Buildings rehabilitation project in Ottawa. An overarching MOU was also signed with the University of Victoria in October 2018.

The bold and the brave

They’ve been called “the bold and the brave”: women who have chosen careers in science and engineering. The designation is appropriate, because according to Engineers Canada, less than 13 percent of Canada’s engineers are women, and the numbers are not much better in science, technology and mathematics.

But thanks to a collaboration between LAC, the University of Ottawa Library, and the Education and Research Institute of the International Network of Women Engineers and Scientists, which was announced on June 19, 2018, many of their stories are now being told. The records of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) will be centralized, stored and promoted in a centre of expertise—the Canadian Archive of Women in STEM—at the University of Ottawa, complementing the university’s Canadian Women’s Movement Archives.

LAC has close to 30 fonds relating to women in STEM, and more than a dozen have already been downloaded on the UOttawa Library website. All of these holdings, as well as the fonds of more than 50 professional associations, will eventually be added.

A question of community

Preserving memory, bringing the past to life, and opening the doors of heritage organizations to the local community in ways that are relevant and accessible—these are some of the principles underpinning the Documentary Heritage Communities Program (DHCP), introduced by LAC in 2015.

Since then, the DHCP has provided $6 million to 130 documentary heritage organizations to support 170 projects. On April 11, 2019, LAC announced this year’s recipients at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto. For the fifth year running, LAC will provide $1.5 million under the DHCP to support 52 projects, including 47 new projects by archives, libraries and other documentary heritage institutions throughout Canada.

This year, for the first time, LAC offered a higher contribution amount to applicants in remote areas, ensuring equitable access to funds for those in distant communities. A good example is the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation in Iqaluit, Nunavut, whose project relates to archive records management and training.

A significant number of projects funded by the DHCP this year focus on Indigenous cultural and artistic heritage, including projects with the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations, the Inuit Art Foundation, and the Kitikmeot Heritage Society.

Digitizing our heritage from coast to coast to coast

On October 13, 2018, the Chair of the National Heritage Digitization Strategy (NHDS) announced $1 million in funding to support 21 winning projects by archives, libraries and documentary heritage institutions throughout Canada. Their common goal? To digitize Canadian collections.

Launched in 2016, with the collaboration of LAC and other memory organizations, the NHDS encourages Canadian memory institutions and Canadian creators to use their expertise and resources to facilitate the digitization, preservation and discovery of Canadian documentary heritage. This opportunity, made possible by a gift from the Salamander Foundation, provides funds to digitize, make accessible and preserve analogue documentary heritage material of national significance.

The GLAMorous side of cultural diplomacy

In collaboration with Global Affairs Canada, LAC presented an international panel discussion on cultural diplomacy in Ottawa on March 12, 2019. The event was designed to present different perspectives on cultural diplomacy, and to highlight how members of the galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAMs) communities could play a role in building lasting links between nations.

Participants included representatives from the French and Chinese embassies; national and international cultural and heritage organizations such as the Goethe-Institut, the British Council, the University of Toronto, and ICOMOS Canada (Canadian National Committee of the International Council on Monuments and Sites); national GLAMs (Canada Science and Technology Museum, Canadian Museum for Human Rights, Canadian Museum of History, Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, Canadian Museum of Nature, and National Gallery of Canada); Ms. Christine St-Pierre, former Quebec minister of culture and minister of international relations; and keynote speaker Senator Patricia Bovey (Manitoba).

A partner from outer space

On May 4 (“May the fourth be with you”), LAC announced that it would be the repository of all future Death Star plans. The Facebook post even showed the Librarian and Archivist of Canada meeting with an infamous, very special Star Wars guest at the LAC Preservation Centre in Gatineau!

LAC plays host to global vision

LAC hosted the Global Vision workshop (North America) for the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions in Ottawa on April 16 and 17, 2018, with over 40 representatives from the United States and Canada attending. The idea behind these workshops is to engage librarians from around the world in reflecting on the future of libraries and discussing challenges and opportunities.

The Ottawa meeting was the third in a series of six meetings on six continents. Participants discussed an action plan and a strategy to support the library community in its mission to build societies that are more literate, informed and engaged.

LAC delegation goes to Washington

Senior officials from LAC gathered in Washington, D.C., on November 14, 2018, to participate in a panel discussion hosted by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The panel was held as part of the agency’s celebration of National Native American Heritage Month.

LAC presenters included Normand Charbonneau, Deputy Librarian and Archivist of Canada, and Johanna Smith, Director General, Public Services Branch, who joined Cody White, a subject-matter expert for Native American–related records at the National Archives, in a discussion about Indigenous initiatives at LAC and NARA.

Building ... reconciliation

Listen, Hear Our Voices

LAC is committed to playing a significant role in reconciliation between the Government of Canada and First Nations, Inuit and the Métis Nation. As part of this effort, LAC announced the formal launch of its Listen, Hear Our Voices initiative in early April 2019. The initiative provides funding of up to $100,000 per project to eligible Indigenous organizations to digitize existing culture and language recordings, and to help them build the skills, knowledge and resources they need to carry out this work in their communities. LAC is committed to collaborating closely with Indigenous communities and representative groups to better understand and preserve Indigenous heritage, and to make it accessible in a manner that is historically accurate and culturally appropriate.

An Indigenous review committee, external to LAC and made up of First Nations, Inuit and Métis Nation representatives from across Canada, will review applications under the initiative and make recommendations for funding.

For Listen, Hear Our Voices, LAC also hired and trained seven First Nations, Inuit and Métis Nation staff who work from within traditional territories and homelands across Canada. Through collaborative agreements with Indigenous organizations, LAC helps to provide a workspace for the employees. In exchange, the employees contribute to the work and priorities of the Indigenous organization. These archivists have also begun to research LAC’s holdings, existing regional language and culture networks, and Indigenous libraries and archives.

Labrador Institute pilot project

Carole Brice-Bennett was a Canadian anthropologist whose research on Inuit land claims helped to support the establishment of Nunavut and Nunatsiavut. Her major work, Our Footprints are Everywhere, was published in 1977, and focused on Inuit land use and occupancy in Labrador.

Through a pilot project between LAC and the Labrador Institute (Memorial University), Inuktut-language recordings from her collection, including oral histories about life stories, place names and the Hebron relocation, were digitized at the LAC Preservation Centre and then returned to the Labrador Institute. The digitized recordings include 23 cassettes and 3 micro-cassette tapes. (The government of Newfoundland and Labrador closed Hebron in 1959, forcing the several hundred Inuit living there to move to other communities in Labrador and northern Quebec.)

Indigenous knowledge and access symposium

On November 15, 2018, LAC co-hosted a popular symposium on the challenges of documenting and improving access to Indigenous knowledge, in partnership with Dalhousie Libraries, at Dalhousie’s School of Information Management in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The day featured a keynote address by Elder Albert Marshall and Dr. Cheryl Bartlett, as well as presentations from the Mi’kmawey Debert Cultural Centre and the Beaton Institute.

Indigenous writers gather

On June 5, 2018, LAC hosted a second Indigenous Writers’ Gathering at 395 Wellington Street in Ottawa, with special guests Tomson Highway, Tenille K. Campbell and Napatsi Folger. LAC also participated in a similar event in Québec on August 31, 2018. It featured host Louis Karl Picard-Sioui, Dave Jenniss, Naomi Fontaine and Virginia Bordeleau. These gatherings are part of the ongoing #IndigenousReads campaign, which encourages reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples by sharing Indigenous literature.

Pathways

LAC partnered with the Toronto Public Library (TPL) from August 2018 to October 2018 to present Pathways: Following traces of Indigenous routes across Ontario.

The Pathways exhibition featured works by contemporary Indigenous artists as well as historical materials from the collections of the TPL and LAC, with a focus on land and water routes across what is now Ontario. These routes reveal layers of Indigenous knowledge, resistance and presence from time immemorial to the present and into the future.

Building ... access

LAC welcomes Aurora!

LAC launched its new library catalogue, Aurora, in December 2018, making it easier than ever for Canadians to access LAC’s own collection of published holdings.

With the successful launch earlier of Voilà, the new National Union Catalogue containing the holdings of LAC as well as hundreds of Canadian libraries, and Aurora, LAC now offers two easy ways to access Canada’s rich published heritage from anywhere in the world. Both Voilà and Aurora are hosted by OCLC, the world’s largest online resource for discovering library materials.

Making sense of and sharing census records

LAC launched an expanded version of one of its most popular research guides in August 2018. Finding Aid 300 is a comprehensive guide to early census and related records at LAC, with references dating mainly from 1640 to the 1800s. There are also a few records from the 1900s, including Newfoundland and Labrador from 1921 to 1945. At the same time, LAC updated its census pages to include links to databases of census returns from 1825 to 1921, and other key resources. One of the most popular features of the guide is a table of contents for each census, including useful information such as how the census was collected, common abbreviations and electoral maps.

In October 2018, Statistics Canada transferred more than 45,000 pages of the 1926 Census of the Prairie Provinces to LAC, on 46 microfilm reels. After LAC digitized these reels, its partner on this project, FamilySearch, indexed the census using volunteers. The data was then sent back to LAC, which began to build a database, as well as to verify the data and the index, and to link images. This was no mean feat, as the index contained over 2 million names!

That database is now available, including a free searchable index, as well as the digitized images.

Another year of great Signatures Series conversations!

In 2018–2019, the Signatures Series continued to be a highlight for LAC. Hosted by Dr. Guy Berthiaume, Librarian and Archivist of Canada, it features original interviews with individuals who provide insights into parts of the collection, because they have donated archives to LAC.

The luminaries interviewed in 2018–2019 were: Tomson Highway, playwright, novelist, pianist and songwriter; Denys Arcand, director, screenwriter, actor and film producer; the Right Honourable Brian Mulroney, former Prime Minister of Canada; and the Honourable Louise Arbour, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Premiere

Every item that LAC acquires has a story to tell, as LAC’s Premiere: New acquisitions at Library and Archives Canada exhibition attested. Launched on April 24, 2018, Premiere featured treasures from LAC’s collection as varied as prototype designs for the ill-fated Avro Arrow airplane to a replica of the original Stanley Cup to a very early manuscript by beloved Canadian literary icon Jane Urquhart.

All of the items on display were hand-picked by LAC staff. The accompanying descriptions, also written by LAC staff, allowed visitors to discover why each piece represents a small—but important—fragment of our nation’s heritage.

The free exhibition ran until December 3, 2018, in the Morley Callaghan Room at 395 Wellington Street in Ottawa.

Musing on our PMs ...

Patron, muse, collector or creator—visitors at LAC’s free exhibition, Prime Ministers and the Arts: Creators, Collectors and Muses, launched on February 7, 2019, learned which label fit some of Canada’s former prime ministers. Featuring 66 original published and archival items from LAC’s collection and over 80 reproductions, the material revealed the intriguing, informal and often unexpected side of Canada’s PMs, grouped under these four themes.

Items on display included letters from Sir Wilfrid Laurier’s archives, showing his support of Mohawk (Haudenosaunee) poet E. Pauline Johnson, also known as Tekahionwake. Three massive funereal paintings commemorating the death of Sir John Sparrow David Thompson gave a sense of how former PMs have inspired art. An entire corner of the exhibition dedicated to William Lyon Mackenzie King and his books allowed visitors to relax in an armchair and view an e-book guide to King’s life, as it is represented in his library. Amateur photography attributed to Pierre Elliott Trudeau was part of a section where visitors could learn more about the PMs as creators.

The exhibition also included a timeline featuring 150 years of prime ministers and the chance to take a selfie with one of the life-sized cut-outs!

The exhibition runs until December 3, 2019.

Wallot-Sylvestre Seminar

LAC welcomed Jeff James, Chief Executive and Keeper at The National Archives (United Kingdom) on September 25, 2018, who gave a public talk on the subject Archives Matter. The presentation was part of LAC’s Wallot-Sylvestre Seminars series. These seminars provide opportunities for Canadian and international leaders and strategic thinkers to share their ideas on topics in information science, librarianship, archival science and history.

A common language, an uncommon success!

On September 26, 2018, LAC launched a second edition of its highly successful Lingua Franca: A Common Language for Conservators of Photographic Materials e-book. In less than five hours, it had reached number one in the Top Free Photography books in iTunes! LinguaFranca is a visual glossary of photo conservation processes and terminology; the second edition includes 11 pages of new bilingual definitions and five in-depth supplementary resources on photographic processes, technical studies and preventative care.

Something for everyone: book launches at LAC

LAC hosted numerous book launches in 2018–2019, at 395 Wellington Street in Ottawa. Many were in co-operation with the Ottawa International Writers Festival and Ottawa Public Library. These launches included:

• Speeches that Changed Canada, by Dennis Gruending
• All Things Consoled, by Elizabeth Hay
• Atelier, by Marc Lepine
• The Roots of Entanglement, edited by Myra Rutherdale, Kerry Abel and P. Whitney Lackenbauer
• Ladies, Upstairs! by Monique Bégin
• Son of a Critch: A Childish Newfoundland Memoir, by Mark Critch
• They Call Me George: The Untold Story ofBlack Train Porters and the Birth of Modern Canada, by Cecil Foster
• Islam in the West: Beyond Integration, by Zijad Delić
• Misfit: Autistic. Gay. Immigrant. Changemaker., by Andreas Souvaliotis
• Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: History of Statistics Canada: 1970 to 2008, by Margaret Morris

Portraits at Glenbow

The Artist’s Mirror was the result of a collaboration between LAC and the Glenbow Museum, the first of a series of five co-curated exhibitions that focus on various aspects of portraiture. This exhibition began on March 10, 2018, and featured 25 of Canada’s most compelling and rarely seen self-portraits, drawn from treasures in the collections of both LAC and Glenbow. It included a seldom-exhibited self-portrait of Emily Carr, Yousuf Karsh’s memorable selfie in an orb, photographed in 1956, and the work of Inuit artist Floyd Kuptana, whose remarkable sculpture reveals a different aspect of self from every angle.

Beginning on March 8, 2019, and running until January 5, 2020, the Glenbow Museum hosts a second portrait exhibition with LAC, Ladylikeness, with the theme of historical portraits of women made by women artists. The exhibition includes paintings, prints, drawings and photographs by both amateur and professional artists, including the four featured on the banner shown here: Frances Adaskin (1950–1952), by Paraskeva Clark; Demasduit (1819), by Lady Henrietta Martha Hamilton; Elizabeth Simcoe (1790), by Mary Ann Burges; and The Summit (1952), by Blossom Caron.

Cipher/Decipher

From October 5 to 31, 2018, LAC was the first to host Cipher/Decipher, an interactive travelling exhibition exploring communications cryptology, at 395 Wellington Street in Ottawa. Developed by the Canada Science and Technology Museum, in partnership with the Communications Security Establishment, the exhibition included an authentic Enigma cipher machine.

Building ... truth

LGBTQ Class Action: LAC steps up

When the Prime Minister of Canada apologized to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and two-spirit Canadians on November 28, 2017, he acknowledged the government’s role in the systemic oppression and criminalization of LGBTQ public servants and members of the military from the 1950s to the 1990s. During this dark chapter, known as “The Purge,” many LGBTQ public servants lost their jobs and their dignity.

LAC is actively supporting the settlement for a class action lawsuit to provide compensation to those affected. As the continuing memory of the Government of Canada, and working with the Department of National Defence, LAC has established a dedicated team who will ensure that the historical records that document the purge are accessible. LAC analysts have already identified over 6,000 pages of related records and started to digitize them, making it easier for researchers to locate and review the information that they contain.

Fake news, genuine challenges

What is the role of libraries and archives in the fight to preserve truth? To help answer this question, LAC held three related panel discussions in 2018–2019:

• Panel on Misinformation and Fake News, Canadian Historical Association Conference, Regina, Saskatchewan, May 29, 2018
• Hard Questions: Event on Misinformation Online (organized with Facebook Canada), 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa, Ontario, June 18, 2018
• Fake News: From Theory to Solutions (in collaboration with the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and the Information and Communication Technologies Association of Manitoba), part of the DisruptED19 conference, Winnipeg, Manitoba, February 1, 2019

What might have been …

One of LAC’s most important recent acquisitions in 2018–2019 was a rare book that once belonged to Adolf Hitler. The book, Statistik, Presse und Organisationen des Judentums in den Vereinigten Staaten und Kanada, by Heinz Kloss, was published in 1944, and it offers evidence that the Nazis may have been planning to extend the holocaust to North America.

The book is the first item acquired using donations made through LAC’s website, largely from LAC employees. It details population statistics as well as key organizations and newspapers of the American and Canadian Jewish community from the 1930s.

It was displayed at a public event organized jointly by LAC and the March of the Living Canada, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, the World Jewish Congress, the Shoah Committee of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa, the Centre for Holocaust Education and Scholarship at Carleton University, and the Raul Wallenberg Citation Initiative. Eli Rubenstein, National Director of the March of the Living Canada, delivered a keynote lecture at the event.

Remember everything

On September 20, 2018, LAC hosted a Conference on the 30th anniversary of the Japanese Canadian Redress Agreement, in partnership with the Ottawa Japanese Community Association. The agreement included a formal acknowledgement and symbolic individual redress payments for the unprecedented human rights violations suffered by the Japanese-Canadian community during the Second World War.

Guests included the Japanese ambassador to Canada, His Excellency Kimihiro Ishikane, as well as guest speakers Sachiko Okuda and Dr. Henry Shibata; Matt Miwa and Julie Tamiko Manning, co-creators of the Tashme Project: The Living Archives; Melisa Kamibayashi-Staples, a member of the Ottawa Japanese Community Association board; and panellists Art Miki, former President of the National Association of Japanese Canadians, and Chief Strategist and Negotiator for Japanese Canadian Redress; Anne Scotton, First Executive Director of the Japanese Canadian Redress Secretariat; Ted Itani, internee (Hastings Park, East Lillooet and Greenwood, British Columbia) and humanitarian; and Andrew Cardozo, former Executive Director of the Canadian Ethnocultural Council.

Building ... memory

Five years, 100 days

After five years of intensive work, LAC’s massive database of 622,290 First World War personnel files of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) was completed in time to mark the anniversary of Canada’s 100 Days, the final days of the First World War leading up to Armistice on November 11, 1918. The project features over 30 million digitized images and 540 terabytes of data, and was completed with the assistance of Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC). VAC will use the material to validate information on the First World War, as well as to promote the complete list of more than 622,000 CEF files, accessible online, to their clients. The work began in 2013, and it represents LAC’s largest digitization project to date.

Canada’s oldest synagogue

On November 18, 2018, LAC hosted a celebration to mark the 250th anniversary of Canada’s oldest Jewish congregation. Montréal’s Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue,also known as Shearith Israel, was founded in 1768, when roughly 15 to 20 members prayed there. Today, the synagogue is a community hub for more than 800 families from around the world, including Iraq, Morocco, Lebanon, Egypt, Ethiopia and Algeria. The ceremony was marked by a keynote speech given by the distinguished lecturer James Archibald, and it included a small exhibition, highlighted by the Torah Scroll from LAC’s collection, donated to LAC by the synagogue in 1970.

Acquisitions of note

Denys Arcand fonds

Denys Arcand is an internationally renowned filmmaker who is also an Academy Award–winning director, screenwriter for film, television and theatre, and actor. On October 30, 2018, Arcand made a substantial donation to LAC, including completed and unrealized scripts, correspondence, press clippings and press kits, film script publications, and unpublished writings. The fonds also includes film shoots and private photographs, as well as digital audiovisual documents from radio interviews and films by Denys Arcand in non-professional format. There are also six boxes of trophies, certificates, plaques and medals.

Albert Millaire fonds

On January 22, 2019, LAC acquired the fonds of the late Albert Millaire (1935–2018). The fonds includes approximately 8.5 metres of textual records, more than 1,000 photographs, numerous posters and drawings, as well as sound and video recordings documenting his career as a stage and screen (both television and film) actor, director, artistic director, and reader and narrator in Canada and internationally.

Gabor Szilasi fonds

Gabor Szilasi is a nationally and internationally renowned documentary photographer. He was awarded the prestigious Governor General’s Award for his work in 2010, as well as the Prix Paul-Émile Borduas in 2009. LAC signed an agreement and deed of gift with Gabor Szilasi on March 27 and 28, 2019. The acquisition consists of approximately 60,000 photographic negatives.

The Dominion Bridge Company fonds

The Dominion Bridge Company, one of the largest construction companies in Canadian history, was in operation from 1879 to 1998. It was founded in Toronto as the Toronto Bridge Company but had its headquarters in Lachine (now part of Montréal) for most of its existence. During the 20th century, the company built bridges and roads essential to transportation and the economy, as well as many buildings and facilities across Canada and in several other countries. The addition to the fonds includes approximately 70 metres of textual records, 15 metres of photographs, 50 pieces of art, medals and posters, 3,000 rolls of architectural and engineering records, 1 metre of film, and 1 metre of microfilm and microfiche.

Joseph Gaetz fonds

The Joseph Gaetz fonds includes 604 letters written by this homesick soldier to his fiancée Jean McRae during the Second World War, a photo album, a Soldier’s Service Book/Soldier’s Pay Book, several booklets and a selection of souvenirs.

Rare books acquisition: four Hebrew books from the 1500s

Thanks to a gift from Ruth and Arnon Miller, members of the Friends of LAC, four new rare books were acquired for the Jacob M. Lowy Collection in 2018–2019: Divrei Rivoth (1582); Bible, Hebrew, Five Scrolls (1561); Bible, Hebrew, Haphtaroth (1568); and Midrash Chamesh Megiloth Rabbati (1588). These volumes, some of the oldest books in the Lowy collection, were purchased at auction, and were part of the Valmadonna Trust Library, the world’s largest private collection of rare Judaica.

Selected publications

LAC received the following publications through legal deposit.

• SakKijâjuk: Art and Craft from Nunatsiavut. Heather Igloliorte with contributions by Jenna Joyce Broomfield, Aimee Chaulk, Christine Lalonde and Barry Pottle. Goose Lane Editions. Reproduced with the permission of Goose Lane Editions.
• Autoportrait de Paris avec chat. Dany Laferrière, Montréal: Boréal, 2018 (OCLC 1032726241). This is Dany Laferrière’s first publication as a member of the Académie française. Written and drawn solely by the author, the work is a personal journal that reveals Laferrière’s new world in Paris. Don’t forget the cat!
• I’m Not Myself at All: Women, Art, and Subjectivity in Canada. Kristina Huneault, Montréal; Kingston; London; Chicago: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2018 (OCLC 1013498650). This work is an art history study that explains and analyzes the question of women’s identity in the visual arts in Canada during the 19th and 20th centuries.
• Canada’s Future Army, Volume 3: Alternate Worlds and Implications. Department of National Defence, Kingston, Ontario: Canadian Army, 2017 (OCLC 1026993014). Envisioning the development of Canada’s army, this publication explores the security implications of four possible global futures: Materialism Gone Mad, High-Octane Green World, Global Quagmire, and Recyclable Society.

No Man’s Land: The Art of Mary Riter Hamilton

On November 29, 2018, LAC and The War Amps co-hosted an evening dedicated to Canadian artist Mary Riter Hamilton, featuring Dr. Sarah McKinnon, co-author of No Man’s Land: The Life and Art of Mary Riter Hamilton, the first biographical study of the artist. From 1919 to 1922, the painter undertook a “special mission” for The War Amps to document the scarred landscape where Canadian soldiers had fought and died during the First World War. Her canvases capture not only the devastation of war but also signs of hope and renewal, as seen in the painting featured on the cover of this report, Trenches on the Somme, painted by Riter Hamilton in 1919.

The event also featured Mary Piper Hough, Head Conservator of Paintings at LAC, as well as Marie-Hélène Nadeau, Assistant Conservator of Fine Arts at the Canadian Conservation Institute, who spoke about the process of conserving the works that the artist donated to the Public Archives of Canada in 1926.

Preserving the memory

LAC wins a TOBY for outstanding building of the year

That’s right, a TOBY. Not a TONY, not a Grammy, but an equally impressive first-place win for LAC’s Preservation Centre in Gatineau, named Outstanding Building of the Year for 2018 by BOMA Canada. The only government building under consideration, the Preservation Centre won in the Gold “Corporate Facility” category. The prestigious TOBY award recognizes excellence in areas such as building quality, energy conservation, environment, sustainability, emergency preparedness, security standards and training of building staff.

Inside the bubble: creating a space for archival work

When LAC archivists began work on the preservation of some of the more than 50,000 architectural drawings, photographs and paintings in The Dominion Bridge Company fonds, they faced a problem. Many of the items were too big to be examined, cleaned and processed using the existing facilities at the LAC Preservation Centre in Gatineau. The solution was the bioBUBBLE, a flexible, safe and cost-effective solution to the cleaning and processing needs of oversize materials: a 10-by-10-foot (3-by-3-metre) HEPA-filtered portable room that creates a clean and controlled space suitable for use in a wide variety of archival work. The bioBUBBLE is just one of the innovative ways that LAC cares for and preserves Canada’s shared cultural heritage. The bioBUBBLE’s introduction came about thanks to LAC’s “Dragon’s Lair,” a funding program designed to support employee innovation.

In addition to its many uses at the Preservation Centre, the bioBUBBLE can also be loaned to other heritage institutions.

Building ... friendships

The Friends of LAC continue to support LAC in its mandate, by helping out at many events each year: exhibitions, conferences, symposiums, interviews, book launches and, of course, the Open Doors event held each year at 395 Wellington Street in Ottawa. The 2018–2019 year was no exception, with the Friends working both behind the scenes and in the public eye to help ensure that the riches of LAC’s collection are known to as many people as possible. In 2018–2019, the Friends also lent their invaluable time and support to the consultations about the new joint facility with Ottawa Public Library. In addition, the Friends extended the opening hours of their bookstore at 395 Wellington Street to three days a week. Known as “The Cubby,” the store sells gently used books, and monies received go toward purchasing Canadiana for LAC.

The year in numbers, 2018–2019

Website: 8,963,876 visits

Pages of government records opened: 3,580,226

Questions answered by reference services: 22,302

Questions answered at national service points: 1,923

Images digitized: 4,723,911

Publications collected under legal deposit: 60,717

New private acquisitions: 154

Items loaned to museums and galleries: 165 items loaned to 17 institutions

Tours of the LAC Preservation Centre: 107

Instagram account: 4,000 followers

Facebook: 60,369 followers

Twitter: 63,835 followers

YouTube: 4,254 followers

LAC blog: 222 articles published; 300,293 views

Flickr: 33 sets launched; 2,989,506 image views

Podcasts: 8 episodes; 74,933 listens

Forecasted expenditures, 2018–2019

• Text version

  Forecasted expenditures, 2018–2019
  Total planned expenditures: $124.5M

  • Acquisition and processing of government records (6%)
  • Acquisition and processing of published heritage (9%)
  • Acquisition and processing of private archives (6%)
  • Preservation (9%)
  • Access (21%)
  • Management of the special-purpose buildings (20%)
  • Internal Services (19%)
  • Information and Technology Management (7%)
  • Communications (3%)

Committees and advisory groups

LAC carries out its work with the advice and support of a network of committees and advisory groups from across the documentary heritage community. By offering their time, their ideas and their expertise, the members of these committees make an invaluable contribution to LAC.

Lists current as of March 31, 2019

     

Management Board

Friends of LAC

Board of Directors

Indigenous Advisory Circle

The Circle provides advice, guidance and feedback to LAC on the direction and priorities of its Indigenous-related documentary heritage activities.

LAC Acquisitions Advisory Committee

This committee advises LAC on its acquisition policies, plans and strategies, as well as appraisal tools for government records and select acquisitions of private archives and special collections.

Steering Committee on Canada's Archives

This committee moves forward on priorities identified by the Canadian archival community and identifies new initiatives for collaborative action.

LAC Stakeholders' Forum

LAC’s Stakeholders' Forum allows for timely discussions of LAC’s strategic, policy and operational directions, and means that information, best practices and collaboration opportunities can be easily shared among members.

Public Programming Advisory Committee

The mandate of this committee is to give LAC professional perspectives, advice and ideas on the direction and priorities of its public programming activities, including special events, seminars and exhibitions.

Advisory Committee (Documentary Heritage Communities Program)

Services Consultation Committee

This committee provides advice, guidance and feedback on the direction and priorities of LAC’s public-facing services, from both a user and a professional perspective.

National, Provincial and Territorial Archives Conference

This consultative body, composed of the heads of the 13 provincial and territorial archives and the Librarian and Archivist of Canada, meets to discuss shared interests and collaborative projects.

LAC Youth Advisory Council

This advisory council provides guidance and advice to LAC to help integrate the youth perspective into the visibility, access and relevance of Canada’s documentary heritage.