Written by archivist Brandon Leung
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Archivist/Community Archive Letter – Dan Pon/grunt gallery
Written by Dan Pon, Archives Manager at grunt gallery
Posted in Archivist, Community Archive
Archivist/Community Archive Letter – Anna Tidlund & Susan Gibb/Western Front
Written by Anna Tidlund, Archivist at Western Front, and Susan Gibb, Executive Director at Western Front
Dear Ms. Kwan, M.P.
We are writing to express deep concern regarding the cancellation of the Documentary Heritage Communities Program (DHCP), administered by Library and Archives Canada (LAC), following recent federal budget cuts.
The DHCP grant has been an essential source of support for community archives across Canada, enabling organizations to preserve and provide access to histories that are often absent from larger archival collections. By funding archival preservation, digitization, and cultural labour, the program has supported community-led stewardship of documentary heritage and strengthened public access to Canada’s diverse cultural memory. The cancellation of this program will have serious consequences for archives nationwide, particularly for small, rural, Indigenous, artist-run, and equity-driven organizations that already operate with limited resources. Without sustained support, many important audiovisual, paper-based, and born-digital records risk permanent loss.
LAC is mandated under section 7(f) and 8(i) of the Library of Archives of Canada Act, to fund and support community archives. Community archives play a vital role in this ecosystem by preserving histories, perspectives, and cultural practices that are not otherwise represented within national, provincial, or municipal institutions.
We are writing from Western Front, an artist-run centre in Mount Pleasant that has supported multidisciplinary contemporary art production and presentation for more than 53 years. Through DHCP support, we have been able to digitize and preserve our nationally significant archive of performance documentation stored on at-risk and obsolete media formats. This work requires ongoing technical expertise, specialized equipment, long-term stewardship, and sustained public investment.
The program’s impact has extended far beyond preservation alone. DHCP funding has created cultural sector employment, expanded public access to archival materials, and enabled us to share knowledge, tools, and digitization resources with other organizations undertaking similar preservation efforts. The need for this support continues to grow as archives expand and media formats deteriorate.
While we have been fortunate to access this funding, the program’s broader potential remains far from fully realized. Across Canada, heritage societies, artist-run centres, Indigenous and community-led organizations, activist archives, and educational initiatives rely on programs like the DHCP to preserve documentary heritage and advance reconciliation, self-determination, and community memory. Its loss disproportionately affects communities with the fewest alternative funding options.
We respectfully ask for your support in advocating for the restoration of the Documentary Heritage Communities Program and for renewed federal commitment to community-based archival preservation. We would also welcome the opportunity to discuss this issue further and hear your thoughts on how this work can continue to be supported.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Yours sincerely,
Anna Tidlund
Archivist, Western Front
Susan Gibb
Executive Director, Western Front
Posted in Archivist, Community Archive
Student Letter – Mina Guan
Written by Mina Guan, a student in the Dual Master of Archival Studies and Library and Information Studies program at the University of British Columbia.
Mr. Wade Grant (Vancouver Quadra), MP
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0A6
Dear Mr. Wade Grant,
I am writing to you today as an archival student and constituent to express my concerns about the elimination of the Documentary Heritage Communities Program (DHCP) by Library and Archives Canada, due to recent budget cuts by the federal government.
The DHCP supports the preservation of and access to Canada’s documentary heritage for Canadians, particularly material that is often overlooked by bigger institutions. Since 2015, it has provided funding to support more than 400 projects that have allowed small, community-based organizations to preserve and provide access to archives of marginalized, minoritized, and underrepresented groups, including Indigenous communities.
These organizations are crucial to my archival training. They have provided student placements for my peers and I, during which we have the opportunity to gain hands-on communities’ histories we care deeply about. For instance, the past 5 months, I have been fortunate to work with the Faculty Organizing for Community Archives Support (FOCAS) Project in collaboration with the Hogan’s Alley Society (HAS), a Black-led non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the social, political, economic, and cultural well-being of people of African descent in Metro Vancouver. Through this internship, I have developed archival policies and plans for HAS’s prospective archive in anticipation of upcoming community consultation sessions.
Moreover, these organizations are often at the forefront of innovative and conscientious archival practice. Attuned to the needs and desires of their communities, they develop creative and thoughtful methods of processing, digitizing, preserving, and sharing records that expand upon traditional theories and practices taught in classes. For example, through my work, I have developed digital preservation workflows which take into account consent, withdrawal, access, and description, critical considerations which respond to ways that Black community members have been unjustly represented through archival holdings.
I have also come to understand the challenges HAS faces: they operate with limited staff and volunteers and reply on grant programs to sustain their operations. For small community archives such as the HAS’s prospective repository, funding is a major factor in the longevity and sustainability of the archive’s operations and we would look to DHCP as one of the only funding grants available for the archive.
I decided to pursue archival studies because of a passion for supporting the collective memory. By providing critical support to community archives, the DHCP is essential to sustaining the archival landscape I hope to begin my career in. I respectfully ask that you advocate for ther estoration of the DHCP or a comparable program with dedicated funding support for community-based documentary heritage work.
Thank you for your time and for representing our community. I would appreciate knowing your position on this issue and any steps you are taking to address it.
Yours sincerely,
Mina Guan
Posted in Student
Student Letter – Vanessa Lee
Written by Vanessa Lee, a student in the Dual Master of Archival Studies and Library and Information Studies program at the University of British Columbia.
June 28, 2026
The Honourable Marc Miller, P.C., M.P. Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Dear Minister Miller:
I am writing to you today as an archival student and constituent to express my concerns about the elimination of the Documentary Heritage Communities Program (DHCP) by Library and Archives Canada, due to recent budget cuts by the federal government.
The DHCP supports the preservation of and access to Canada’s documentary heritage for Canadians, particularly material that is often overlooked by bigger institutions. Since 2015, it has provided funding to support more than 400 projects that have allowed small, community-based organizations to preserve and provide access to archives of marginalized, minoritized, and underrepresented groups, including Indigenous communities.
These organizations are crucial to my archival training. They have provided student work placements for my peers and I, during which we have the opportunity to gain hands-on experience applying course content to a real-world setting and contribute to the preservation of communities’ histories we care deeply about. I am currently conducting an internship at VIVO Media Arts Centre, which holds the Crista Dahl Media Library & Archive. The library and archive holds over 8000 videos documenting the history of video art, as well as social and political movements in Canada. Many of these videos were created by and document the history of marginalized communities, including LGBTQ2S+ and Indigenous activists and organizations. Moreover, they hold valuable expertise and equipment necessary to digitize media on the verge of obsolescence, such as ½” open reel tapes (they are one of two organizations in the region with the equipment needed to transfer these tapes). Without VIVO’s careful stewarding and specialized skillset, these videos, and the stories they hold, would be lost.
I have also come to understand the challenges VIVO faces: they operate with limited staff, volunteers, and a modest budget. They have received DHCP grants in the past, which have been essential to their survival. Unlike other funding programs, the DHCP offered considerable amounts of funding for a diverse range of projects. For instance, through their most recent DHCP grant, they were able to preserve and facilitate access to videos central to 1970s community cable activism and programming. They had plans to apply to the program for future projects but are now left without recourse.
Moreover, I have been fortunate to have been trained with innovative archival literature based on the practices and ideological frameworks of community-based archives, such as VIVO’s. This literature considers the diverse perspectives of archive users and subjects that have been neglected or harmed by traditional archival theory and advocate for alternative routes forward that are rooted in care, consent, trust, and respect and celebrate diverse ways of knowing and living. Through this growing body of knowledge, archivists-in-training like myself can learn to do right by the people and histories represented in the archives we will work in in the future.
I decided to pursue archival studies because I was motivated to preserve and highlight the contributions of those historically omitted from dominant narratives. By providing critical support to community archives, the DHCP is essential to sustaining the archival landscape I hope to begin my career in. I respectfully ask that you advocate for the restoration of the DHCP or a comparable program with dedicated funding support for community-based documentary heritage work.
Thank you for your time and for representing our community. I would appreciate knowing your position on this issue and any steps you are taking to address it.
Yours sincerely,
Vanessa Lee
Posted in Student