#indigenizing archives

As many are noting, it’s been a year since the Liberals won the election with promises of implementing the TRC calls to action in their entirety. 

Ian Mosby spent a few days tweeting each Call with their respective status; here’s the storify:

[View the story "Status of Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action " on Storify]

When Mosby got to the Calls that related to archives and museums, I chimed in to say that the ACA has chosen its Taskforce on recommending responses - or at least, I know that I didn’t make the cut, as of August. They haven’t announced it officially yet. 

TRC Call to Action #57 Status: ❓ Uncertain pic.twitter.com/lI8CDNVXfL

— Ian Mosbγ (@Ian_Mosby)

October 26, 2016

@Ian_Mosby @ArchivesOntario is working on identifying, reproducing and sending all of its Residential School materials to the NCTR

— Desmond (@desmondcwong)

October 26, 2016

Here’s what I recommended during a listserv discussion about this last year (which occasioned this resource list on archives, decolonization, and indigenization):

Call #70 promises federal funding to the ACA to undertake a review of archival policies and practices to align them more with providing access to records about human rights violations in residential schools. There are also a number of Calls that indicate archives must begin working in earnest to prioritize services for Indigenous knowledge - for public school curricula, journalism, artistic projects, annual commemorative events, and anniversary exhibits in 2017.

Call #57 is for education for public servants at all levels on Aboriginal issues (which I take to mean education both for and by archivists). Call #76 and others imply that Aboriginal communities will guide many of the efforts of cultural-heritage professionals.

In terms of [the] question about how we as a profession can respond, I have a few suggestions on ways to make this a bigger priority (ones that don't require separate funding, only a realignment of values):

1) Archivaria could dedicate space in each issue going forward to dealing with the issues of Canada's Indigenous history and current affairs. A themed issue in 2016 or 2017 may stimulate discussion and responses in future issues.

2) We could have a stream at our annual conferences, in this and future years, that provides dedicated space for presentations on these issues. I would also welcome major keynotes from Indigenous community members and scholars.

3) The CCA and other groups that offer professional development could find Indigenous speakers to give webinars, workshops, and other services. I'd love to hear about lessons learned from other regions who are farther along in Indigenous reparations than we are.

4) It would be nice to see existing working groups nod to Aboriginal representation regardless of their focus: perhaps a commitment by the CCAD to incorporate Indigenous knowledge or languages into their revision of RAD?

I’m reposting this not just because I think I’m right, but because I feel like we’re lacking in some serious public discussion here. Grant Hurley’s editorial in Off The Record, the AAO’s newsletter, cites this listerv discussion as a “turning point” in Canadian archival silence about reconciliation. As much as I wish that was true, I think the silence is still winning.

TRC Call to Action #69 Status: ❌ Incomplete pic.twitter.com/isNq8kqReD

— Ian Mosbγ (@Ian_Mosby)

October 26, 2016

I want the ACA to issue an update on their progress, announce the Taskforce members, and show us some initial ideas. With or without federal funding, the good-faith action to take is to start working. Decolonization will mean restructuring entire work habits from the ground up, not just an event here and an exhibit there and some articles every once in a while. (Although do read the OTR issue on reconciliation; it’s great.) We have to move the concept out of the scholarly record and into our practice, and help each others do so by talking about it.

It means we need to be constantly interrogating our practices and standards. That means we don’t wait for special money for special projects; it means we each change what we’re doing, right now.

This is a first draft of what should be a much longer list of resources. Most of these were culled from a listserv discussion on the subject, and is right now Canada-centric, but I’m looking to add other regions.

It’ll be added to significantly in the near future. Huge thanks to Melissa Adams, who sent me a massive list of resources. More submissions, please!

Decolonization primers

Book: Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples (1999)

http://www.worldcat.org/title/decolonizing-methodologies-research-and-indigenous-peoples/oclc/39556459

Online journal: Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society

http://decolonization.org/index.php/des/index

good starting read from that: Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang, “Decolonization is not a metaphor”

http://decolonization.org/index.php/des/article/view/18630

“Settler Colonialism” in Oxford Bibliographies

http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199766567/obo-9780199766567-0125.xml

Canada's approach to Indigenous issues

Section 35 of Canada's Constitution Act, which recognizes and affirms existing Aboriginal and treaty rights

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/IPeoples/Pages/Declaration.aspx

Truth and Reconciliation Commission

http://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/index.php?p=890

http://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/File/2015/Findings/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf

Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (1996)

http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/webarchives/20071115053257/

http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ch/rcap/sg/sgmm_e.html

Government of Canada Actions in Support of Aboriginal People and Communities

https://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1338308722907/1338308871692

Canadian prisons are the new residential school system

http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/canadas-prisons-are-the-new-residential-schools/

Indigenous Peoples in Canada

http://www.amnesty.ca/our-work/issues/indigenous-peoples/indigenous-peoples-in-canada

Canada sets lowest standard at world conference on Indigenous peoples

http://www.cbc.ca/news/aboriginal/canada-sets-lowest-standard-at-world-conference-on-indigenous-peoples-1.2779590

Canada still failing First Nations kids

http://www.cbc.ca/news/aboriginal/canada-still-discriminating-against-first-nations-kids-1.3474592

UBC’s Indigenous Foundations website

http://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/

The Indigenous Issues 101 page from âpihtawikosisân’s site

http://apihtawikosisan.com/aboriginal-issue-primers/

Groundwork for Change

http://www.groundworkforchange.org/

CBC’s 8th Fire series

http://www.cbc.ca/8thfire/index.html

Videos of people reading the TRC Rport, one section at a time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vW4lQfOfl3I

Videos of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission National Research Centre Forum, March 2011

http://www.myrobust.com/websites/NRC/index.php?p=132

Day 1:  https://vimeo.com/album/1744410

Day 2:  https://vimeo.com/album/1744451

Day 3:  https://vimeo.com/album/1750974

Canadian Indigenous issues on social media

IndigenousXca on twitter - there’s a different Indigenous host from Canada each week

Storifys from Jessie Loyer’s (JMLoyer) time hosting IndigenousXca on twitter:

“Information organization from an Indigenous perspective”

https://storify.com/JMLoyer/information-organization-from-an-indigenous-perspe

“Information literacy and ethical research”

https://storify.com/JMLoyer/information-literacy-and-ethical-research

“Public libraries on reserve”

https://storify.com/JMLoyer/public-libraries-on-reserve

“Language revitalization and libraries”

https://storify.com/JMLoyer/language-revitalization-and-libraries

“Indigenous librarians you should know and love”

https://storify.com/JMLoyer/indigenous-librarians-you-should-know-and-love

Storify in response to the release of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Executive Summary: “Libraries, Archives, Museums: #MyReconciliationIncludes”

https://storify.com/MelissaA1763/myreconciliationincludes-for-libraries-archives-mu

Resources for Archivists on Indigenous issues

ACA - Special Interest Section on Aboriginal Archives (the section was founded in response to the five-volume report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples)

http://archivists.ca/content/special-interest-section-aboriginal-archives

Kimberley Lawson’s thesis “Precious Fragments: First Nations Materials in Archives Libraries and Museums,” UBC, 2004

https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/831/items/1.0091657

Ann Doyle’s thesis “Naming, Claiming and (Re)Creating: Indigenous Knowledge Organization at the Cultural Interface,” UBC, 2013

https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0073667

Michelle Rydz’s thesis “Participatory Archiving: Exploring a Collaborative Approach to Aboriginal Societal Provenance,” UM, 2010

http://mspace.lib.umanitoba.ca/xmlui/handle/1993/4247

Henrietta Fourmile, “Who Owns the Past? – Aborigines as Captives of the Archives”

http://press.anu.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/article017.pdf

Gabrielle Gardiner, Jemima McDonald, Alex Byrne and Kirsten Thorpe, “Respect, Trust and Engagement: Creating an Australian Indigenous Data Archive”

http://conference.ifla.org/past-wlic/2010/86-gardiner-en.pdf

Kimberly Christian, “Opening Archives: Respectful Repatriation”

http://americanarchivist.org/doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.74.1.4233nv6nv6428521

Matthew Kurtz, “A Postcolonial Archive? On the Paradox of Practice in a Northwest Alaska Project”

http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/12535/13675

Krisztina Laszlo, “Ethnographic Archival Records and Cultural Property”

http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/view/12546/13697

Kim Lawson, “Visions and Metaphors for First Nations Information Management”

http://www.interpares.org/display_file.cfm?doc=ip1_dissemination_cp_lawson_csip_2001.pdf

Kay Mathiesen, “A Defense of Native Americans’ Rights over Their Traditional Cultural Expressions”

http://americanarchivist.org/doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.75.2.0073888331414314

Patricia Montiel-Overall and Sandra Littletree, “Knowledge River: A Case Study of a Library and Information Science Program Focusing on Latino and Native American Perspectives”

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/18722/59.1-2.montiel-overall.pdf?sequence=3

Brad Morse, “Indigenous human rights and knowledge in archives, museums, and libraries: Some international perspectives with specific reference to New Zealand and Canada”

http://hdl.handle.net/10289/6350

Martin Nakata and Marcia Langton, eds., “Australian Indigenous Knowledge and Libraries”

http://www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/tk/en/databases/creative_heritage/docs/aus_indig_libraries.pdf

Library and Archives Canada, “Report and Recommendations of the Consultation on Aboriginal Resources and Services”

https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/020008/f2/020008-7000-e.pdf

Shauna McRanor, “Maintaining the Reliability of Aboriginal Oral Records and Their Material Manifestations: Implications for Archival Practice”

http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/view/12176/13186

Monica Martens, “Creating a Supplemental Thesaurus to LCSH for a Specialized Collection: The Experience of the National Indian Law Library”

http://www.aallnet.org/mm/Publications/llj/LLJ-Archives/Vol-98/pub_llj_v98n02/2006-16.pdf

Alana Garwood-Houng, “Tracking the ATSILRN Protocols: Maintaining the Focus on Indigenous Library Issues”

http://conferences.alia.org.au/alia2008/papers/pdfs/103.TT.pdf

Jason Gibson, “Managing Indigenous Digital Data: An Exploration of the Our Story Database in Indigenous Libraries and Knowledge Centres of the Northern Territory”

https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/bitstream/10453/19485/1/2009%20-%20Gibson.pdf

Mary Ann Pylypchuck, “A Documentary Approach to Aboriginal Archives”

http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/11803/12754

Kirsten Thorpe, “Indigenous Knowledge and Archives”

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00048623.2005.10721258

Kirsten Thorpe, “Protocols for Libraries and Archives in Australia: Incorporating Indigenous Perspectives in the Information Field”

http://library.ifla.org/99/1/125-thorpe-en.pdf

Karen Underhill, “Protocols for Native American Archival Materials”

http://rbm.acrl.org/content/7/2/134.full.pdf+html

Ian Wilson, “‘Peace, Order and Good Government’: Archives in Society”

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10502-011-9168-8

Evelyn Wareham, “From Explorers to Evangelists: Archivists, Recordkeeping, and Remembering in the Pacific Islands”

https://www.nyu.edu/classes/bkg/methods/wareham.pdf

Native American Archives Symposium, Arizona Archives Alliance, October 2012

http://arizonaarchives.org/symposia/na/

Protocols, principles, policies, etc.

Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Data Archive [ASTIDA], “Protocols for the preservation, access, reuse and repatriation of research data relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities”

http://www.atsida.edu.au/protocols/atsida

ASTIDA, “Principles”

http://www.atsida.edu.au/protocols/atsida/principles

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Library Information Resource Network - “Protocols for Libraries, Archives and Information Services”

http://atsilirn.aiatsis.gov.au/docs/ProtocolBrochure2012.pdf

American Philosophical Society, “Protocols for the Treatment of Indigenous Materials” https://amphilsoc.org/library/protocols-for-indigenous-materials

Australian Library and Information Association, “Libraries and Information Services and Indigenous Peoples”

https://www.alia.org.au/about-alia/policies-standards-and-guidelines/libraries-and-information-services-and-indigenous-peoples

Australian Society of Archivists, “Policy Statement on Archival Services and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples”

http://www.archivists.org.au/documents/item/32

Blue Quills First Nations College, “Research Ethics Policy”

http://www.bluequills.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/BQ-Research-Ethics-Policy-09.pdf

Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.  Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans “Chapter 9: Research Involving the First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples of Canada”

http://www.pre.ethics.gc.ca/eng/policy-politique/initiatives/tcps2-eptc2/chapter9-chapitre9/

Council of Australasian Archives and Records Authorities, “Policy 14 – Statement of Principle – Access to Records of Indigenous Australians Affected by Past Separation Policies”

http://www.caara.org.au/index.php/policy-statements/statement-of-principle-access-to-records-of-indigenous-australians-affected-by-past-separation-policies/

First Archivists Circle, “Protocols for Native American Archival Materials”

http://www2.nau.edu/libnap-p/protocols.html

First Nations Information Governance Centre, “Understanding the First Nations Principles of OCAP” (brochure)

http://fnigc.ca/sites/default/files/docs/fnigc_ocap_brochure_en_final_0.pdf

First Nations Information Governance Centre, “Ownership, Control, Access and Possession (OCAP): The Path to First Nations Information Governance” (paper)

http://fnigc.ca/sites/default/files/docs/ocap_path_to_fn_information_governance_en_final.pdf

First Nations Information Governance Centre, “Barriers and Levers for the Implementation of OCAP” (paper)

http://fnigc.ca/sites/default/files/docs/barriers_and_levers_for_the_implementation_of_ocap.pdf

National and State Libraries Australasia, “National Policy Framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Library Services and Collections”

http://www.nsla.org.au/publication/national-policy-framework-indigenous-library-services

State Records New South Wales, “Protocols for Staff Working with Indigenous People”

https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/state-archives/resources-for/indigenous-people/files/Protocols%20for%20Staff%20Working%20with%20Indigenous%20People.pdf

Trust and Technology Project, “Statement of Principles relating to Australian Indigenous Knowledge and the Archives”

http://infotech.monash.edu/research/about/centres/cosi/projects/trust/deliverables/principles.html

Union of BC Indian Chiefs, “Ethical Research Policy”

http://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/ubcic/legacy_url/177/Ethical_research_policy.pdf?1426350017

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf

United Nations Updated Set of Principles for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights through Action to Combat Impunity (often referred to as the Joinet-Orentlicher Principles)

https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G05/109/00/PDF/G0510900.pdf?OpenElement

Protocols for Native American Archival Materials

http://www2.nau.edu/libnap-p/protocols.html

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Protocols for Libraries, Archives and Information Services

http://atsilirn.aiatsis.gov.au/protocols.php

The Mukurtu Project (Open-Source Indigenous Knowledge DAMS)

http://mukurtu.org/about/

The Trust and Technology Project

http://infotech.monash.edu/research/about/centres/cosi/projects/trust/

The Statement of Principles Related to Indigenous Knowledge in the Archives

http://infotech.monash.edu/research/about/centres/cosi/projects/trust/deliverables/principles.html

“Decolonizing Knowledge and the Question of the Archive” by Achille Mbembe

https://africaisacountry.atavist.com/decolonizing-knowledge-and-the-question-of-the-archive

"Decolonial Sensibilities: Indigenous Research and Engaging with Archives in Contemporary Colonial Canada" by Zoe Todd and Crystal Fraser

http://www.internationaleonline.org/research/decolonising_practices/54_decolonial_sensibilities_indigenous_research_and_engaging_with_archives_in_contemporary_colonial_canada

"’The Right to Know’: Decolonizing Native American Archives” by Jennifer R. O'Neal

http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/westernarchives/vol6/iss1/2/

Jane Anderson, “Access and Control of Indigenous Knowledge in Libraries and Archives: Ownership and Future Use”

http://skpubliclibraries.pbworks.com/f/paper_anderson.pdf

The Archival Education and Research Institute (AERI), Pluralizing the Archival Curriculum Group (PACG), “Educating for the Archival Multiverse”

http://americanarchivist.org/doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.74.1.hv339647l2745684

Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums, “Sustaining Indigenous Culture: The Structure, Activities, and Needs of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums”

http://www.atalm.org/sites/default/files/sustaining_indigenous_culture.pdf

Jeannette Bastian's book - Owning Memory: How a Caribbean Community Lost Its Archives and Found Its History

http://saa.archivists.org/store/owning-memory-how-a-caribbean-community-lost-its-archives-found-its-history/218/

Jeannette Bastian, “The Records of Memory, the Archives of Identity: Celebrations, Texts and Archival Sensibilities”

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257519890_The_records_of_memory_the_archives_of_identity_Celebrations_texts_and_archival_sensibilities

Jeannette Bastian, “Taking Custody, Giving Access: A Postcustodial Role for a New Century”

http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/12838/14058

Alex Byrne, “Digitising and Handling Indigenous Cultural Resources in Libraries, Archives and Museums”

http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/CI/pdf/mow/mow_3rd_international_conference_alex_byrne_indigenous_en.pdf

Canadian Conservation Institute, 2007 Symposium:  “Preserving Aboriginal Heritage: Technical and Traditional Approaches”-“What We Heard” - https://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/discovercci-decouvriricc/symposium/2007symposium-eng.aspx

“Perpetuating and Extending the Archival Paradigm: The Historical and Contemporary Roles of Professional Education and Pedagogy” by Anne Gilliland and Kevin White

https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7wp1q908#page-1

Marianne McLean - presentation to Glendon College, School of Public and International Affairs, 2013, on her work with the TRC

http://allanaaa.com/whitepapers/MarianneMcLean-York-TRC-PersonalView.pdf

http://allanaaa.com/whitepapers/MarianneMcLean-York-TRC-PersonalView.pptx

Marianne McLean - presentation to Friends of the Ottawa City Archives, 2014, on her work with the TRC

http://allanaaa.com/whitepapers/MarianneMcLean-Reconciliation-OurCity.pdf

http://allanaaa.com/whitepapers/MarianneMcLean-Reconciliation-OurCity.pptx

Professional  organizations (including other related fields)

Association of Canadian Archivists (ACA), Special Interest Section on Aboriginal Archives

http://archivists.ca/content/special-interest-section-aboriginal-archives

Society of American Archivists (SAA), Native American Archives Roundtable

http://www2.archivists.org/groups/native-american-archives-roundtable

ARMA, MOU between ARMA Canada, ARMA Vancouver and the First Nations Public Service Secretariat

http://vancouver.arma.org/our-friends.html

British Columbia Library Association (BCLA), First Nations Interest Group

https://bclaconnect.ca/fnig/

Association of Tribal Libraries, Archives and Museums (ATALM)

http://atalm.org/

American Indian Library Association (ALIA), an affiliate of the American Library Association (ALA)

http://ailanet.org/

International Indigenous Librarians Forum (IILF)

[Website changes based on who is hosting it]

Ninth International Indigenous Librarians’ Forum 2015

http://libguides.lib.umanitoba.ca/NinthInternationalIndigenousLibrariansForum2015

Funding opportunities for Indigenous students

(including related fields; some scholarships are open to other minorities)

University of Saskatchewan, University Library Aboriginal Internship

http://library.usask.ca/news/2016/university-library-aboriginal-internship.php

Canadian Museum of History, Aboriginal Training Program in Museum Practices

http://www.historymuseum.ca/learn/research/the-rbc-aboriginal-training-program-in-museum-practices/

Museum of Anthropology, Native Youth Program

http://moa.ubc.ca/nyp/

BCLA and UBC, Gene Joseph Scholarship

http://xwi7xwa.library.ubc.ca/2014/03/18/the-gene-joseph-scholarship/

American Indian Library Association, Virginia Mathews Memorial Scholarship

http://ailanet.org/awards/scholarships/

Society of American Archivists, Mosaic Scholarship

http://www2.archivists.org/governance/handbook/section12-mosaic

American Library Association, Spectrum Scholarship

http://www.ala.org/offices/diversity/spectrum

the Aboriginal Bursaries Search Tool