Departmental Results Report 2023–2024

• Description
• Progress on results
• Key risks
• Resources required to achieve results
• Related government-wide priorities
• Program inventory

LAC was able to meet the majority of its targets in 2023-24, and its accomplishments reflect a commitment to continue acquiring and preserving material representative of the plurality of Canadian experiences and perspectives. Targeted acquisitions, improvements to services and partner collaborations have all contributed to strengthening LAC’s collections and role within the federal government and wider community.

Results achieved

• LAC prioritized acquisitions that reflect Canada’s diversity
  • Committed to building collections that represent the wide range of experiences and cultures in Canada, LAC focused on acquisitions that would help to strengthen its holdings of groups and subjects underrepresented in its collections. The organization succeeded in collecting born-digital and analogue material from all 25 of its targeted subject areas, with a focus on material created by or documenting First Nations, Inuit and Métis; multicultural communities; Francophone culture; women; sexual diversity and gender expression; and regional diversity. Some of the most significant private archives acquisitions of 2023-24 include:
    • The archives of Chinese Canadian composer Alice Ping Yee Ho
    • The archives of Jewish composer, conductor and jazz drummer, Milton Barnes
    • Photographs by Janice Reid, Diane Liverpool and Al Peabody, purchased through a collaboration with the Black Artists in Networks Dialogue
    • Two prints by Inuit artist Padloo Samayualie
    • Two artworks by Métis artist Rosalie Favell
    • The journal and letters of Kanyen’kehá:ka (Mohawk) Chief John Norton/Teyoninhokarawen
  • LAC also acquired books, serial publications and various audiovisual recordings that prioritized Indigenous publishers, 2SLBGTQI+ content and regional publications, while additionally initiating a review of its Private Archives Acquisition Orientation to align with LAC’s strategic direction, focusing on Equity Diversity, Inclusivity and Accessibility (EDIA), reconciliation and user experience.
• LAC acquired more records from Government of Canada organizations than anticipated
  • Exceeding its target by over 14%, LAC continued to support records transfer from federal institutions to ensure that information of archival value created by the Government of Canada is available to Canadians. Furthermore, to better facilitate transfers from federal organizations, LAC issued three new disposition authorizations, so that 95% of the federal institutions subject to the Library and Archives of Canada Act are now covered by a disposition authorization.
• Improved services and outreach activities attracted new publishers, creators and donors
  • The successful implementation of a new digital ingest system and a variety of outreach initiatives allowed LAC to attract 835 new digital publishers and 7,904 new digital titles last year. This influx contributed to LAC increasing the percentage of published titles transferred in a digital format by 17.8%, helping to reflect the growing digital publication industry and the ways in which Canadians create and access cultural content. In 2023-24, LAC prioritized the migration of already acquired digital titles held in high-risk legacy systems to the Digital Asset Management System (DAMS) so that these titles are preserved and accessible to the Canadian public. This migration meant that LAC was unable to reach its 25% target for new digital titles this year. LAC expects to meet this target in 2024-25. Other improvements to services included allowing Canadian filmmakers funded by Telefilm Canada to electronically transfer their materials via their preferred method of transfer.
  • In addition, LAC engaged in outreach activities with communities and institutional donors to share knowledge and encourage donations to LAC or document preservation within the relevant communities. LAC proactively worked with Indigenous, multicultural, 2SLBGTQI+ and regional communities to preserve archives created by these groups. In particular, a partnership with the Muslims in Canada Archive (MiCA) involves LAC sitting on MiCA’s policy committee to share knowledge and best practices on acquisitions and processing archival material.

LAC not only processed many of its acquisitions within its service standards, but it also made significant progress toward making the existing collections more discoverable by improving descriptive terminology and assessing its metadata practices.

Results achieved

• LAC made more material in its collections searchable in a timely manner
  • Significant process improvements enabled LAC to process, describe and make more material searchable and accessible to users in 2023-24. Ongoing use of DAMS created efficiencies that contributed to LAC’s ability to process 94% of published heritage acquisitions within the service standards—well over the 83% target. A total of 25,157 publications were described in 2023-24, a major improvement over the last few years, which had been impacted by the introduction of a new library management system and the physical restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Due to improvements in the physical processing space at LAC’s 395 Wellington Street facility, in Ottawa, and using temporary resourcing strategies to increase assistance, LAC succeeded in processing 95% of private archive acquisitions within the service standards. With 32% of services to clients meeting service standards, LAC experienced a slow-down in processing complex specialized reference requests related to private archives, including cases involving reassessment and correspondence with donors to renew expired access conditions. Frequently, requests initially identified as simple with a short service standard are later determined to be complex, requiring more time to complete and the service standard is not updated in the Query Management System (QMS). LAC also made progress in updating and closing old cases in the QMS. In 2024-25, LAC will work towards ensuring information in the QMS better reflects the processing work accomplished.
  • LAC improved its capacity to process government records within service standards significantly in 2023-24, ensuring more records are discoverable to users in a timely manner through its Collections Search tool and reference services. In the past three fiscal years, LAC processed an average of 39.3% of its government records within service standards. Its result of 58.5% for 2023-24 marks considerable progress towards its target goal of 60%. Furthermore, LAC worked to clear a backlog of unprocessed material acquired before 2023, and the total number of records processed this year exceeded the volume that was acquired. In addition, the removal of over 10,000 containers of legacy Government of Canada non-archival material from the collections significantly participated in enhancing the searchability of LAC’s government collections, improving approximately 255 government records and 160 finding aid descriptions.
• LAC is describing its collections with more accuracy and respect
  • Aligning with the principles of EDIA and reconciliation, LAC made significant headway in describing the collection in its care with more respectful and accurate terms, improving the discoverability of its records for its diverse range of users. Updates to cataloguing resources, such as the Canadian Subject Headings and FC classification, removed older disrespectful descriptions of Indigenous content and replaced them with terminology used by various First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities. LAC also worked to improve its search engine, Aurora, by masking harmful terminology, exploring options to add syllabic characters to applicable records and continuing to research 2SLBGTQI+ terminology.
  • Furthermore, a pilot project was launched to target existing fonds or collections with problematic descriptions or titles and ensure that descriptions were culturally appropriate, historically accurate and free of racist language and colonist connotations. The project is ongoing and if successful, the procedures employed will be applied to all future acquisitions.
• Work on metadata standards, digital data description and archival information systems is progressing
  • Recognizing the importance of metadata to make archival records discoverable, LAC launched its Operational Standard for Digital Archival Records’ Metadata in November 2023. The standard applies to all Government of Canada records transferred to LAC and will assist LAC in achieving its mandate of preserving these documents over the long term and making them accessible to the Canadian public. LAC also outlined the key strategic elements for its Coordinated and Actionable Approach to Collections Metadata, which will ensure collections are more discoverable in light of evolving metadata standards. It also finalized the Guideline on the Essential Level of Arrangement and Description for Government Archival Records to ensure consistency in descriptions of government archival records to facilitate their discoverability.
  • In addition, the internal planning for the multi-year project to replace the archival information system with the Archival Information Revitalization Initiative (AIRI) is progressing. The focus in 2023-24 was on modernizing the arrangement and description processes and technology, as well as aligning itself to the horizontal collections metadata work.

To ensure that collections are preserved in optimal conditions, LAC is reorganizing the collections it preserves to take full advantage of the environments provided by the new state of the art Preservation Storage Facility (PSF) and the optimized Preservation Centre (PC) vaults. In addition, LAC has continued to ensure digital material is adequately preserved for future generations.

Results achieved

• LAC continued to work to ensure optimal preservation conditions for its collections
  • Committed to preserving the collections in its care for future generations, LAC continued to prioritize adequate preservation environments for collections. In 2023-24, 65% of LAC’s facilities met the environmental standards for the preservation of analog material. The environmental conditions were difficult to manage in collections facilities in Renfrew, Winnipeg and Ottawa and were often outside the environmental threshold for optimal preservation. By contrast, the newly completed PSF consistently met preservation standards all year, and although the conditions in the PC did fluctuate somewhat, this was largely due to visitor and collections circulation. Optimization work continues to ensure collections are housed in appropriate environments.

  • The Big Move: LAC’s collections find a new home at the Preservation Storage Facility and Preservation Centre

    2023-24 saw the completion of the monumental task to move 680,294 containers from the Renfrew Collections Storage Facility (RCSF) to the PSF and the PC in Gatineau, which had begun in August 2022. The volume of documentation moved may be hard to imagine, but if all boxes in the move were placed side by side, they would cover a little more than the 103-kilometre distance between the RCSF and the facilities in Gatineau! This project also made 26,694 of these containers discoverable in LAC’s systems, making the collections more accessible to users.

    This move ensures that more of LAC’s collections are conserved in facilities with environments that meet preservation standards, thereby ensuring their long-term preservation.

  • In addition to completing this move, planning began last year to relocate at-risk collections in the RCSF to the PC’s newly optimized vaults in 2024-25, and special collections located in the Public Archives and National Library in Ottawa are being prepared for their relocation to Ādisōke in 2026-27. Furthermore, the installation of the new heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system at the Nitrate Film Preservation Facility will ensure a stable, cold and dry environment for nitrate film collections in 2024-25.
• Mould remediation greatly extended the life of at-risk documents
  • The environmental conditions in LAC’s facilities are managed to prevent mould growth. Unfortunately, some objects arrive at LAC with mould issues, which require freezing and remediation to allow their access to the public and ensure their preservation for current and future generations. In 2023-24, 97,927 items were treated for mould.
• LAC exceeded its target for amount of digital material preserved
  • In 2023-24, LAC preserved 2,274 terabytes (TB) of new digital material, increasing the cumulative number of terabytes of digital material preserved to 15,334 TB, exceeding its target of 14,000 TB. Among the digital material preserved was the 1931 Census data, which was processed to both data tape at the PC and to DAMS for ongoing active digital preservation. Public access copies of this material were also made available online. Finally, 13,510 GB of Web resources, including social media, was preserved and made accessible to the public through the Government of Canada Web Archive.

LAC’s activities and initiatives for the acquisition, description and preservation of documentary heritage are supported by gender-based analysis plus (GBA Plus) approaches that respect distinctions and are culturally appropriate. LAC continued to apply these approaches to its initiatives related to the description of the collections in its care using vocabulary that is respectful, culturally appropriate and historically accurate.

LAC has undertaken two major projects at the RCSF, which support two United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The preferred roof replacement system for the collections facility was selected based on the increased resiliency it provides against climate hazards and has a life expectancy of 35 years. This is line with SDG 9, which involves building resilient infrastructure, promoting sustainable industrialization and encouraging innovation.

In addition, SDG 12, which involves establishing sustainable means of consumption and production through efficient use of resources and energy, is supported by the electrical distribution system replacement. The new system includes a new transformer, low voltage switchgear and backup diesel generator, which would ensure the collections remain in a climate-controlled environment and that onsite staff remain safe should severe weather conditions cause a transformer or hydro grid to fail. The system is cost-effective to operate and has a life expectancy of 40 years.

It is also notable that in 2023, LAC’s PSF, which opened in 2022, won the Canadian Consulting Engineering Award and the Engineering a Better Canada award. The controlled environments of this eco-friendly building are based on improved refrigerant management and regenerative braking technology, which allows it to achieve the highest standards of sustainable development.

More information on LAC’s contributions to Canada’s Federal Implementation Plan on the 2030 Agenda and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy can be found in the Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy.

• Description
• Progress on results
• Key risks
• Resources required to achieve results
• Related government-wide priorities
• Program inventory

Successful digitization efforts have made LAC’s collections more accessible, while improvements to online services and the development of a new user-centric service strategy will increasingly provide opportunities for the Canadian public to access their documentary heritage.

Results achieved

• LAC’s digitization efforts have made more content accessible
  • LAC has long recognized that digitization will play a key role in increasing discoverability and access to the collections in its care. In 2023-24, LAC surpassed its target, making 5.7 million more images accessible to the public through digitization. The addition of a digitization team in LAC's regional centre in Winnipeg contributed to LAC exceeding its target of 2 million images for ATIP response. A total of 2.4 M images were digitized for ATIP in 2023-24. LAC also exceeded its target connected to the We Are Here Sharing Stories initiative, digitizing 237,028 images of Indigenous content from the Inuit Women’s Association fonds, the RG 85 Northern Administration Branch Central Registry and the Isabel York and Arthur H. Tweedle fonds.

  • A major digitization and description initiative underway: the Indian Day Schools Project

    In 2023-24, LAC prioritized removing barriers to accessing historical materials for Indigenous communities, survivors and individuals. It created a special team to prepare for the digitization of archival records related to the federal Indian Day School system. Though this initial preparation required more time than expected, LAC was able to digitize 1,971,982 images and is now on track to reach the target of 6 million pages by March 2025. Description work also began in 2023-24, with 100 035 pages described by the end of the year. Now that the digitization preparation is complete, LAC will aim to describe 536,000 pages per month moving forward so that it can reach its targets for 2025. Importantly, LAC engaged with Indigenous partners so that their needs and expectations for the project are integrated into project plans, priorities and work, as well as into the planning of ongoing work at LAC beyond the end of the project. The lessons from these engagement interviews will be used to increase access to the materials.

  • In February 2023, LAC completed its Digitization Strategy 2023–2030 to support LAC’s commitment to preserving the collections in its care for future generations and making them available online to Canadians from coast to coast. Based on the foundational principles of access and discoverability, reconciliation, EDIA and preservation, the Digitization Strategy will be integral to LAC maintaining relevance, attracting new users and improving access to its collections.
• LAC modernized systems and online platforms to increase access
  • In 2023-24, LAC continued to modernize its digital services to facilitate access to the collections and improve the online experience for users. LAC worked to create new Web research tools related to immigration records, new features for the ATIP request submission tool and improved the Census Search based on user feedback. LAC also added more records to Collection Search, including those related to World War I and the British Royal Navy, and made improvements to this search engine based on user suggestions. LAC’s description work improved the discoverability of government records and new research help pages were added to the website to aid in genealogical research. In addition, LAC launched the public access layer of the Government of Canada Web Archive, making 3.1 billion documents available.

  • DAMS in action: Public access to the 1931 Canadian census

    The first collection to be processed and made accessible to the public through DAMS, the records and images of the 1931 Canadian census were made publicly available to Canadians on June 1, 2023. This achievement was due to the successful operationalization of DAMS and the commitment and efficiency of LAC staff, who digitized and described thousands of documents so that the records would be accessible as soon as they were eligible for public release. Furthermore, to support the public research of these records, LAC created finding aids, guides and a blog series that featured tips for navigating the records.

  • These efforts resulted in 1.8 million unique visitors to LAC’s website, which does not factor in unique visitors to its main application, Collection Search. Since launching the new website, LAC has been driving visitors to this search interface directly to complete their tasks more efficiently. In 2024-25, LAC will be able to report on unique visitors consulting Collection Search in addition to its website, which will provide a more accurate view of the online visitor experience. Of note, Collection Search receives approximately 3 million queries per month. In fact, LAC’s Collection Search and Aurora catalogue received a total of 52 million queries in 2023-24, indicating that the public is actively accessing LAC’s collections online.
  • Improvements to online services based on user feedback is ongoing and the current development of interpretative plans are also aimed at improving the online experience and attracting new users. On a monthly basis, LAC receives over 500 comments from users through its online channels, like the online feedback form. The comments and feedback are categorized and shared throughout the organization to inform improvements.
• Internal and external collaboration helped to make more records available
  • Recognizing the power of collaboration to help make material more available, LAC engaged in numerous partnerships and collaborative ventures, both internally and externally. Last year’s release of the records related to the 1923 Chinese Immigration Act (commonly known as the Chinese Exclusion Act) required successful collaboration across teams at LAC to review for privacy and to digitize and describe the material, all while establishing partnerships with members of the Chinese Canadian community to improve and strengthen descriptive metadata. To ensure broad access and to increase awareness of these records, LAC worked with FamilySearch International and the Canadian Research Knowledge Network to host the digital images on a public and free platform.
  • Further collaborative digitization ventures allowed LAC to enable access to more of Canada’s heritage in the interest of the public, academics and local communities. The initiation of a three-year partnership with Internet Archive Canada aims to digitize books and make them available to the public free of charge, with the first two months of this partnership already having generated over 375,000 images. In addition, in support of ongoing academic research, LAC continued its collaboration with the University of Victoria on the Mountain Legacy Project, conducting the digitization and description of glass-plate negatives that highlight the impacts of climate change. LAC also engaged the community in its digitization efforts, welcoming 15 projects in DigiLab, a hands-on facility that allows users to digitize material in LAC’s collections that is of value to their research or communities, while simultaneously making this material available online for general public access once digitized.
• LAC continued to support users onsite and remotely
  • While providing its services to the public across Canada, LAC performed 56,868 service transactions related to reference, genealogy, orientation and reprography, either online, by phone, email, fax, mail or in person. In-person visits to specialized physical collections increased in 2023-24, with more visitors accessing restricted documents, special collections and microfilm onsite. In fact, the number of visitors to LAC’s Public Archives and National Library in Ottawa increased by 11% from 2022-23. Furthermore, 24,138 containers of material were circulated to external clients, with an additional 53,762 containers of material circulated internally to LAC staff working on a variety of requests and projects in service of LAC’s users.
  • As part of its commitment to ensure its collections are accessible to its diverse range of users, LAC provided Indigenous users with specialized services for access to materials and research support. Approximately 8% of reference requests received in 2023-24 were related to Indigenous topics. In addition, Indigenous Reference Services (IRS) supported 42 requests from Indigenous groups through reference appointments, workshops, presentations or in-person visits. Training was also developed and delivered so that LAC staff can better support Indigenous users.
• LAC is working to transform its user services
  • LAC worked diligently in 2023-24 on tools and strategies that would attract new audiences and improve visitor access to services, with a particular focus on developing service models for LAC’s new joint facility with the Ottawa Public Library, Ādisōke, set to open in 2026. The new building is currently 53% complete, with construction continuing to progress on schedule.
  • New services at Ādisōke, including a unique makerspace, engaging exhibition spaces and immersive experiences, will be aimed at meeting the needs and interests of both current and new users. LAC also continued to advance its vision for Ādisōke’s core spaces, such as the Welcome and Orientation Venue, the Family and Community History Centre and the Research and Reading Room, which are designed to engage with all visitors.
  • The transformation of LAC’s services extends beyond the planning for Ādisōke. New service models are also being developed for LAC’s other service points. In 2023-24, LAC extended the hours to its consultation rooms at 395 Wellington Street to improve access to its collections.

Major leaps were made in 2023-24 to increase LAC’s capacity to process Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) requests, which have allowed the organization to improve client services and adequately support Government of Canada litigation proceedings.

Results achieved

• LAC increased its capacity to process ATIP requests
  • 2023-24 marked a significant increase in LAC’s capacity to efficiently process ATIP requests. Although the 55% of ATIP requests processed fell short of the 70% target, it is a notable improvement over the previous year’s result of 38%. In 2023-24, LAC closed 14,653 ATIP requests, 3,492 more than in 2022-23. This included 301 requests in support of the Canadian Armed Forces – Department of National Defence Sexual Misconduct Class Action. Furthermore, 61% of ATIP requests were responded to within the statutory time limits, well over the 25% projected for 2023-24. Significantly, the ATIP team was also able to reduce the wait time for access requests to military and intelligence documents from 200 days to 50 days. The ATIP Complaints Management Team also reduced the queue of complaints identified by the Information Commissioner; it processed 123,000 pages of records in 2023-24, reducing the queue of complaints by 46% and exceeding the targeted 12.5%.
  • These advancements were due largely to LAC’s continued implementation of its ATIP Action Plan, which was initiated in 2022 after it received temporary funding to increase its capacity to process ATIP requests. LAC also adopted the online Government of Canada Portal for incoming ATIP requests, which provided clients with one channel to submit their requests. Policy and procedural changes were also implemented to improve services, and an additional five secure terminals to process classified information were installed in 2023-24.
  • In addition to processing requests, LAC supported the Government of Canada response to the fourth settlement agreement related to the LGBT Purge, affecting members of the Canadian Armed Forces, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the federal public service.

Involvement in a variety of exhibitions, an increased online presence and continued support of local and Indigenous communities has allowed LAC to spread awareness of the collections in its care. Participation on international committees and in international conferences has also given LAC a presence on the world stage.

Results achieved

• Exhibitions and events exposed the Canadian public to the breadth of LAC’s collections
  • With 222,836 participants attending exhibitions or events held by LAC or delivered in collaboration with other organizations, more people than anticipated were made aware of the national collections in its custody. Two important exhibitions, Pulling their Weight: Dog Teams in Indigenous and Canadian Art, a collaborative venture with the National Gallery of Canada, and Unexpected! Surprising Treasures from Library and Archives Canada, held at the Canadian Museum of History, introduced important objects from Canadian history to over 200,000 visitors. Furthermore, the loan of 66 original objects from photographs by Yousef Karsh to a songbook of labour activist songs, in addition to numerous digital reproductions, helped to disseminate LAC’s collections to a wide audience across the country, the United States and the United Kingdom.

  • Successful collaboration: Treaty 3 travels to Grand Council 3 Territory

    Exemplifying LAC’s dedication to meaningful engagement with the communities it serves and its commitment to reconciliation, LAC worked collaboratively with Grand Council Treaty 3 (GCT3) to exhibit Treaty 3 and its related documents in various communities in Ontario and Manitoba. Signed between the Saulteaux peoples (a branch of the Ojibwe Nations) and the Government of Canada on October 3, 1873, Treaty 3 was an agreement between the parties to share 55,000 square miles of land and resources. Though digital copies of most treaties can be consulted on LAC’s website, the travelling exhibition, conceived to commemorate the 150th anniversary of its signing, offered a unique opportunity for the 28 First Nations Treaty 3 communities to see the original documents. LAC and GCT3 worked together to ensure access, promote reconciliation and safeguard the documents. A ceremonial feast performed by Elders in the community was held before the documents were returned to LAC.

    Beyond exhibitions, LAC held 119 public events in 2023-24, attracting 3,728 participants to its book launches, panel discussions and symposiums. LAC held events at the Ottawa Black Film Festival, LAC Scholar Awards, Salon du livre de l’Outaouais and Freedom to Read Week. It also opened the doors to the Preservation Centre in Gatineau, welcoming 823 visitors through 80 guided tours.

    Furthermore, to respond to the needs of Indigenous communities and to help spread awareness of Indigenous documentary heritage in the collections it preserves, LAC undertook numerous meaningful outreach initiatives. The Indigenous Reference Services team gave a presentation in Iqaluit on how to search LAC’s collection and met with Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami researchers in Ottawa. LAC also partnered with the Vancouver Public Library to facilitate workshops and sessions on Indigenous genealogy, joined the Royal British Columbia Museum for a presentation on the same subject, and facilitated a tour of LAC’s Winnipeg service point for University of Winnipeg students.

    To build on its successes, LAC also revised its programming strategy so that it can continue to engage with the Canadian population and attract new users. Working to better define its current and potential audiences, LAC created an interpretive plan to guide the development of new public programs, events and exhibitions.

• LAC’s contribution programs successfully supported local and Indigenous documentary heritage
  • Recognizing the importance of keeping documentary heritage within the community from which it originates, LAC supported local and Indigenous organizations and groups in increasing awareness of and access to archival materials within their communities through the Documentary Heritage Communities Program (DHCP) and Listen, Hear Our Voices (LHOV) initiative. Both programs were very successful in 2023-24, with almost all those who have submitted final reports indicating that the projects funded by LAC achieved their expected results.
  • Through DHCP, LAC funded 38 projects, including the Multicultural History Society of Ontario’s Archival Management Project to review, appraise, arrange and describe its collection, and the North Shore Micmac District Council for a preservation project to compile, categorize, catalogue, digitize and display work by Indigenous artist, Nelson Cloud. Supporting efforts to identify, digitize and preserve documentary heritage related to Indigenous languages and cultures, the LHOV program provided $1.8 million dollars to 25 projects led by First Nations, Métis and Inuit organizations, including the Council of Yukon First Nations, Gwich’in Tribal Council and Kitsumkalum First Nation, all of whom undertook significant digitization, description and migration projects.
• LAC increased its online presence and effectively engaged with the public on social media
  • In an effort to attract new users and engage the public, LAC significantly increased its activity on social media in 2023-24, publishing 2,283 posts: a 68% increase from 2022-23. LAC posts on Facebook, X (Twitter), Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube received 170,217 reactions (shares or comments) from members of the public. All platforms saw an increase in interactions with the exception of X (Twitter), which decreased due to outside factors concerning the platform itself.

  • Positively engaging communities online: the Project Naming initiative

    Particularly successful was the Project Naming initiative, where LAC published three photos each week on Facebook and X (Twitter). Collaborating with the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, LAC launched the “Finding Kin” pilot project in conjunction with Project Naming, and the positive audience response was overwhelming. The project resulted in an increase of 334 followers on Facebook and a 729% increase in page visits. The success of the initiative was such that it was featured in a Radio-Canada documentary and was featured on CBC Morning Radio in Sudbury and APTN’s national news.

    LAC also reached users and shared knowledge of the collections in its care through podcasts, blog posts and Flickr albums. LAC released seven podcasts in 2023-24, including its Treasures Revealed series, which discussed objects in LAC’s collections that told stories about important moments in Canada’s history, from communication in the Second World War to the Chinese labourers who built the cross-country railway and the First Nations peoples who were displaced by its construction. In addition, 47 “Discover Library and Archives Canada” blog articles, published in both official languages and covering a wide variety of subjects from literature and arts to important historical events, attracted 250,259 visitors in English and 70,572 visitors in French. Among the most popular were the seven blog posts published in anticipation of the release of the 1931 Canadian census records and the series “Cooking with Library and Archives Canada”, which documented the creation of recipes from historical cookbooks in LAC’s collections and recreated by LAC staff. Thirty Flickr albums consisting of 873 new images that received almost 1.6 million views were produced both as independent projects and in support of LAC’s podcasts, blogs and exhibitions.

• LAC continued to advance its Indigenous Heritage Action Plan
  • Numerous initiatives helped to advance LAC’s Indigenous Heritage Action Plan, such as the digitization of the Indian Day School records, the work of Indigenous Reference Services and the Listen, Hear Our Voices and We are Here Sharing Stories programs. In addition, LAC initiated consultations with the Indigenous Advisory Circle in 2023-24 and implemented an Indigenous cultural awareness plan, organizing 17 awareness sessions and sharing circles for LAC employees.
  • LAC also continued the dialogue to strengthen ties with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR). As co-chair of the National, Provincial and Territorial Archivists Conference (NPTAC)—which is a significant platform facilitating communication between the Government of Canada and the provincial/territorial archives—LAC invited the NCTR’s Head of Archives to participate in NPTAC meetings. The inclusion of the NCTR at these meetings and allotting them speaking time on each agenda allows them to raise and discuss issues of concern at both the federal and provincial/territorial levels. In addition, LAC met with the NCTR on a regular basis on improving access to records with Indigenous content.
• LAC engaged with stakeholders at home and abroad, strengthening its national and international presence
  • In keeping with its vision to develop its expertise and share it with the world, 2023-24 saw LAC increase its presence on the international stage. This past year, Leslie Weir, Librarian and Archivist of Canada, joined the Executive Committee of the International Council of Archives (ICA) Forum of National Archivists, and was elected as President-elect of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). She has been elected to serve as President of the IFLA from 2025 to 2027. Also, by participating in a number of conferences, Ms. Weir ensured that Canada’s voice is included in the international discussion of libraries and archives.
  • LAC was also involved in a number of domestic engagement activities with stakeholders and the archival community. It attended the four NPTAC meetings. Its Youth Advisory Council met every month from November to March to discuss how LAC could improve services and outreach. The Official Language Minority Communities group and the Stakeholders Forum, whose members represent the diverse expertise and perspectives of Canada’s documentary heritage community, also met regularly in 2023-24.

Access to LAC-lead national collections activities and initiatives are supported by GBA Plus approaches, and they are distinctions-based and culturally appropriate. GBA Plus has demonstrated LAC’s alignment with the six pillars of the Government of Canada’s Gender Results Framework. It is also consistent with the Accessible Canada Act (S.C. 2019, c. 10).

Since ATIP legislation does not allow for the collection of applicant data, LAC’s GBA Plus focuses on the broader equity-seeking communities served by LAC’s ATIP team. In particular, the function has a positive direct and indirect impact on these communities, meeting the growing demand for historical documents to support settlements of past harms and discrimination, and advancing reconciliation between the Government of Canada and Indigenous peoples.

Aligned with Sustainable Development Goal 9, which entails building resilient infrastructure, promoting sustainable industrialization and encouraging innovation, Ādisōke, the joint facility between LAC and the Ottawa Public Library is targeting the level of LEED® certification and a “net-zero carbon” standard.

More information on LAC’s contributions to Canada’s Federal Implementation Plan on the 2030 Agenda and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy can be found in the Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy.

• Description
• Progress on results
• Resources required to achieve results
• Contracts awarded to Indigenous business

• Spending
• Funding
• Financial statement highlights
• Human resources

Variations in actual spending are mainly due to the following:

• Acquiring, processing, preserving and providing access to the private files of the Right Honourable Stephen Harper (2017-18 to 2021-22)
• Implementing the Federal Pathway to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People, announced in Budget 2021 (2021-22 to 2024-25)
• Supporting ATIP and litigation support functions to address the recommendations in the Office of the Information Commissioner’s report (2022-23 to 2027-28)
• Implementing the federal framework to address the legacy of residential schools, announced in Budget 2022 (2022-23 to 2024-25)
• Implementing the LGBT Purge Class Action Final Settlement Agreement (2023-24 to 2026-27)
• The real property portfolio, including the PSF, completed in Gatineau, Quebec in 2022 (actual expenditures in 2022-23 include a payment of $36.1 million for the substantial completion of this construction project)
• The partnership between LAC and the Ottawa Public Library for the Ādisōke project
• Salary adjustments following the ratification of collective agreements.

Variations in projected spending are mainly due to the following:

• Implementing the Federal Pathway to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People, announced in Budget 2021 (2021-22 to 2024-25)
• Supporting ATIP and litigation support functions to address the recommendations in the Office of the Information Commissioner’s report (2022-23 to 2027-28)
• Implementing the federal framework to address the legacy of residential schools, announced in Budget 2022 (2022-23 to 2024-25)
• Implementing the LGBT Purge Class Action Final Settlement Agreement (2023-24 to 2026-27)
• The partnership between LAC and the Ottawa Public Library for the Ādisōke project
• The Refocusing Government Spending exercise, announced in Budget 2023
• Salary adjustments following the ratification of collective agreements

The net variation in full-time equivalents among fiscal years is mainly due to changes in resources linked to:

• The initiative to acquire, process, preserve and provide access to the private files of the Right Honourable Stephen Harper (2017-18 to 2021-22)
• The initiative to implement the Federal Pathway to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People, announced in Budget 2021 (2021-22 to 2024-25)
• The initiative to implement the federal framework to address the legacy of residential schools, announced in Budget 2022 (2022-23 to 2024-25)
• The initiative to support ATIP and litigation support functions to address the recommendations in the Office of the Information Commissioner’s report (2022-23 to 2027-28)
• The initiative to implement the LGBT Purge Class Action Final Settlement Agreement (2023-24 to 2026-27)
• To the real property portfolio, specifically the move of the collections to the PSF, completed in Gatineau, Quebec, in 2022

The net variation in full-time equivalents over the next three years is mainly due to changes in resources linked to:

• The initiative to implement the Federal Pathway to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People, announced in Budget 2021 (2021-22 to 2024-25)
• The initiative to implement the federal framework to address the legacy of residential schools, announced in Budget 2022 (2022-23 to 2024-25)
• The initiative to support ATIP and litigation support functions to address the recommendations in the Office of the Information Commissioner’s report (2022-23 to 2027-28)
• The initiative to implement the LGBT Purge Class Action Final Settlement Agreement (2023-24 to 2026-27)
• The partnership between LAC and the Ottawa Public Library for the Ādisōke projects, specifically to prepare for the move of the collections, scheduled for 2025-26
• The Refocusing Government Spending exercise, announced in Budget 2023

Appropriate minister

The Honourable Pascale St-Onge, Minister of Canadian Heritage

Institutional head

Leslie Weir, Librarian and Archivist of Canada

Ministerial portfolio

Department of Canadian Heritage

Enabling instrument

Library and Archives of Canada Act, S.C. 2004, c. 11

Year of incorporation

2004

Acronym

LAC

Mailing address

550 de la Cité Boulevard, Gatineau, Quebec, J8T 0A7

Telephone

613-996-5115 or 1-866-578-7777 (toll-free in Canada and the United States)

TTY

613-992-6969 or 1-866-299-1699 (toll-free in Canada)

Fax

613-995-6274

Email

reference@bac-lac.gc.ca

Website

library-archives.canada.ca

appropriation (crédit)

Any authority of Parliament to pay money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

budgetary expenditures (dépenses budgétaires)

Operating and capital expenditures; transfer payments to other levels of government, organizations or individuals; and payments to Crown corporations.

core responsibility (responsabilité essentielle)

An enduring function or role performed by a department. The intentions of the department with respect to a core responsibility are reflected in one or more related departmental results that the department seeks to contribute to or influence.

Departmental plan (plan ministériel)

A report on the plans and expected performance of an appropriated department over a 3 year period. Departmental Plans are usually tabled in Parliament each spring.

departmental priority (priorité)

A plan or project that a department has chosen to focus and report on during the planning period. Priorities represent the things that are most important or what must be done first to support the achievement of the desired departmental results.

departmental result (résultat ministériel)

A consequence or outcome that a department seeks to achieve. A departmental result is often outside departments’ immediate control, but it should be influenced by program-level outcomes.

departmental result indicator (indicateur de résultat ministériel)

A quantitative measure of progress on a departmental result.

departmental results framework (cadre ministériel des résultats)

A framework that connects the department’s core responsibilities to its departmental results and departmental result indicators.

Departmental results report (rapport sur les résultats ministériels)

A report on a department’s actual accomplishments against the plans, priorities and expected results set out in the corresponding Departmental Plan.

full time equivalent (équivalent temps plein)

A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person year charge against a departmental budget. For a particular position, the full time equivalent figure is the ratio of number of hours the person actually works divided by the standard number of hours set out in the person’s collective agreement.

gender-based analysis plus (GBA Plus) (analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS Plus])

An analytical tool used to assess support the development of responsive and inclusive how different groups of women, men and gender-diverse people experience policies, programs and policies, programs, and other initiatives. GBA Plus is a process for understanding who is impacted by the issue or opportunity being addressed by the initiative; identifying how the initiative could be tailored to meet diverse needs of the people most impacted; and anticipating and mitigating any barriers to accessing or benefitting from the initiative. GBA Plus is an intersectional analysis that goes beyond biological (sex) and socio-cultural (gender) differences to consider other factors, such as age, disability, education, ethnicity, economic status, geography (including rurality), language, race, religion and sexual orientation.

government-wide priorities (priorités pangouvernementales)

For the purpose of the 2022–23 Departmental Results Report, government-wide priorities are the high-level themes outlining the government’s agenda in the November 23, 2021, Speech from the Throne: building a healthier today and tomorrow; growing a more resilient economy; bolder climate action; fighter harder for safer communities; standing up for diversity and inclusion; moving faster on the path to reconciliation; and fighting for a secure, just and equitable world.

horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)

An initiative where two or more federal organizations are given funding to pursue a shared outcome, often linked to a government priority.

Indigenous business (enterprise autochtone)

For the purpose of the Directive on the Management of Procurement Appendix E: Mandatory Procedures for Contracts Awarded to Indigenous Businesses and the Government of Canada’s commitment that a mandatory minimum target of 5% of the total value of contracts is awarded to Indigenous businesses, an organization that meets the definition and requirements as defined by the Indigenous Business Directory.

non budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires)

Net outlays and receipts related to loans, investments and advances, which change the composition of the financial assets of the Government of Canada.

performance (rendement)

What an organization did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the organization intended to achieve, and how well lessons learned have been identified.

performance indicator (indicateur de rendement)

A qualitative or quantitative means of measuring an output or outcome, with the intention of gauging the performance of an organization, program, policy or initiative respecting expected results.

plan (plan)

The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how an organization intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally, a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead to the expected result.

planned spending (dépenses prévues)

For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, planned spending refers to those amounts presented in Main Estimates.

A department is expected to be aware of the authorities that it has sought and received. The determination of planned spending is a departmental responsibility, and departments must be able to defend the expenditure and accrual numbers presented in their Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports.

program (programme)

Individual or groups of services, activities or combinations thereof that are managed together within the department and focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.

program inventory (répertoire des programmes)

Identifies all the department’s programs and describes how resources are organized to contribute to the department’s core responsibilities and results.

result (résultat)

A consequence attributed, in part, to an organization, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single organization, policy, program or initiative; instead they are within the area of the organization’s influence.

statutory expenditures (dépenses législatives)

Expenditures that Parliament has approved through legislation other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they may be made.

target (cible)

A measurable performance or success level that an organization, program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative.

voted expenditures (dépenses votées)

Expenditures that Parliament approves annually through an appropriation act. The vote wording becomes the governing conditions under which these expenditures may be made.