Rallying the Troops Into Action

For the past couple of years, I have read in awe the postings from the American genealogy community as they have rallied for a cause: The SSDI, Georgia Archives, library closures, indexing the 1940 census.

For the most part, Canadians are far more complacent. It's an innate part of our nature. We don't get riled about much - except maybe changing the hockey night anthem or threatening to eliminate the small size of our beloved Horton's coffee cups. We all love a good rant, but we rarely make them.

However, one thing that has certainly united the Canadian Genealogy community is the farce of what the rest of the world knows as Library and Archives Canada. Funding cuts, service cuts, the muzzling of employees. On June 1, LAC took possession of the 1921 Canadian Census. It was handed over in microform (microfilm) since the original records were destroyed a number of years ago, and all that remains are the microfilm images. LAC is responsible for digitizing (pretty simple given it is already in microform), indexing and making the census available online to the public. For free - just like the other census records. In the past two days, it has come to the attention of the genealogy world that the digitizing is complete. A geographical index is complete. The 1911 census was actually released at this stage and then only searchable by name once other, pay-per-view, companies had done the leg work in that area. For some unknown reason (nothing from LAC seems transparent or reasonable anymore), LAC has decided to withold the release, mostly because they don't see its release as a priority. The latest comment from a senior official is that the release is only important to "three old ladies in Kingston who want it for their genealogy" - no doubt an off-the-cuff remark that will come back to bite someone in the tuchus. However, that non-Canadian attitude has certainly sparked a fire in the belly of Canadian genealogists. Today they have united for a common cause. News has spread through Facebook groups, across Facebook pages, on Twitter, throughout Google+ Circles and via e-mail. Canadian genealogists are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. A frenzy of e-mails and letters have been sent to the Heritage Minister, the Honourable James Moore. Copies have been sent to local MPs, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and in one instance, to CBC asking for a public enquiry into the delayed release.

Now its time to rally the rest of the troops. Everyone with an interest in Canadian genealogy records, whether they themselves are Canadian, their ancestors were in Canada or those who are just passionate about access to records or freedom of information is being called into action to assist in getting LAC to release these records to the public and to do so expeditiously even if it means outsourcing to the genealogy community.

Here are the e-mail addresses for:

The Honourable James Moore (Minister of Heritage and Official Languages):
james.moore@parl.gc.ca

Local Members of Parliament:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/MembersOfParliament/MainMPsCompleteList.aspx?TimePeriod=Current&Language=E

Prime Minister Stephen Harper:
stephen.harper@parl.gc.ca

and yes, CBC's Fifth Estate:
fifth@cbc.ca

Carry On!

The Death of Library and Archives Canada and the Complacency of Canadian Genealogists

The Harper Government has made sweeping changes to Library and Archives Canada which affects everyone interested in pursuing family history, Canadian history or who wishes to preserve Canada’s national memory and national archival documents.

The mandate of LAC is as follows:

•To preserve the documentary heritage of Canada for the benefit of present and future generations;

•To be a source of enduring knowledge accessible to all, contributing to the cultural, social and economic advancement of Canada;

•To facilitate in Canada cooperation among communities involved in the acquisition, preservation and diffusion of knowledge; and

•To serve as the continuing memory of the government of Canada and its institutions. (LAC website, “about us” page)

The Harper Government has made the following cuts:

• The elimination of 21/61 archivists and archival assistants dealing with nongovernmental records
• Reduction of 50% of digitization and circulation staff
• Elimination of inter-library loans
• Elimination of the National Archival Development Program (the program to preserve the national memory of Canada)
• Significant number of reductions of staff dealing with conservation and preservation of materials 

The result of the Harper Government’s steamrolling is as follows:

• 450 LAC staff have lost their jobs
• The Canadian Council of Archives in Ottawa has been closed
• Other smaller archives will be forced to close
• Critical documents will be thrown out or shredded, thereby creating an abyss in the history of our nation

Mr Harper has reduced Library and Archives Canada to The Government Archives of Canada. Through Mr Harper, the LAC has been reduced to preserving government documents and records (his personal filing cabinet for everything that happens in parliament, essentially). This is against the LAC mandate.

The “leader” of the LAC, Daniel Caron, is not an archivist, he is not an historian, he is not a librarian. Daniel Caron is a human resources specialist, a treasury board specialist, a bureaucrat who is apparently all too willing to downsize his staff in order to save money, rather than fulfil the mandate of the LAC  - to save the documentary history of the nation to whom he is accountable.

The Canadian Association of University Teachers are up in arms (rightfully so)

The Antiquarian Booksellers Association of Canada have expressed concern.

The National Graduate Caucus of the Canadian Federation of Students have expressed concern.

The Association of Canadian Archivists riled the masses at their recent conference in Whitehorse.

And, yet, through this entire maelstrom, the Canadian genealogy community has remained silent. Complacent. Appearing uncaring. In the US, when RootsTech decided not to allow anyone other than technology buffs to grace their marketplace, the US genealogy community rallied within minutes and within a couple of days, RootsTech saw the error of their decision and reversed it. When the US made changes to the access and availability of the SSDI, the US genealogy community again rallied and even formed an “Occupy Genealogy” movement.

Major reductions and access to our national memory, to our national history, to the records of our ancestors and their struggles is being reduced and in time, perhaps eliminated. Here’s how the Canadian Genealogy Society has responded:

The OGS, the largest provincial genealogy society’s mandate is:

• To promote genealogical research
• To set standards for genealogical excellence by encouragement and instruction in effective research methods
• To make available to those whose ancestors are from Ontario, the knowledge, diversity and comprehensiveness of the genealogical resources in Ontario
• To share expertise in other geographic areas

If you go to their website, and manage to navigate your way to their “advocacy” page, you can see that they are sort of concerned and are letting you know that there is an issue. They aren’t terribly concerned, but they understand that YOU might be, so they have offered to let you sign an online petition. The petition belongs to another organization – not OGS.

All of the other provincial genealogy societies have mandates to serve the genealogical communities of their provinces. All of them are silent on the LAC issues. Ok, so maybe the provincial bodies, who should be uniting in this cause will be more outraged when the cuts make their way to the provincial archives. As for a united front, a driving force, a leading contender in the preservation of LAC as a NATIONAL archive, the Canadian genealogy community is silent. Complacent. Appearing uncaring. And Harper can get away with changes that will affect ALL Canadian genealogy researchers.

To their credit, the Niagara branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society are outraged. They have placed the concerns on their homepage. I encourage everyone to visit their homepage, to click on the Save LAC box, to take action, to be informed and to be anything other than complacent. If Niagara is willing to take the lead, let’s jump on their bandwagon. Let’s start a letter writing campaign. Let’s inundate our MPs with postcards of protest. Let’s fill their inboxes with e-mails of concern. Let’s unite and let’s be outraged together. But, let’s be outraged. Not silent, complacent, uncaring.

Niagara OGS webite: http://www.ogs.on.ca/niagara

For a list of MPs and their addresses & e-mail addresses: http://www.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Compilations/HouseOfCommons/MemberByPostalCode  Fill in your postal code to find the information for your local MP

E-mail Stephen Harper: pm@pm.gc.ca

BIFHSGO Conference 2012

The British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa is gearing up for their fall conference. The dates are September 15 & 16 at Library and Archives Canada, 395 Wellington St, Ottawa. This year, the topic for the presentations is Scotland. The final details are being ironed out, but we do know that Chris Paton will be the keynote speaker. There will be pre-conference sessions on Friday, September 14. For those details, check John Reid's blog Anglo-Celtic Connections.

Hope to see you at the Conference!