On May 28, a group of approximately 30 archivists and archives supporters gathered at Canada Place in downtown Edmonton to protest the funding cuts affecting Library and Archives Canada, in particular the cuts to the National Archival Development Program (NADP) that had funded numerous beneficial archival projects in Alberta. Wearing white gloves and holding protest signs, the protesters chanted slogans including “Information is a Right / Join Us in the Fight” as well as (in a moment of inspiration) “You Gotta Fight / For Your Right / To Archives.”
Protesters in Edmonton
Group of Protesters in Edmonton
The protest in Alberta mirrored the larger protest in Ottawa, where approximately 150 protesters marched from Major’s Hill Park in Ottawa along Wellington Street to the Library and Archives Canada building at 395 Wellington. Also wearing white gloves, marchers carried a small coffin and held a mock funeral for federal funding for archives that included eulogies by MPs and representatives of the CCA and other groups.
Protesters March in Ottawa (Image courtesy of http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.ca/2012/05/on-to-ottawa-trek-in-photos.html)
Bench in front of Library and Archives Canada after protest march.
The ASA encourages its members to speak up about the cuts by contacting your MP as an individual and, if applicable, as an affected institution to highlight the importance of the funding to the archival community. Keep up the advocacy and keep up fight!
