By 11 am on Monday 28 May about 50 archivists and supporters had gathered at Ottawa nearby the Chateau Laurier hotel to march along Wellington Street, past the Parliament buildings, to Library and Archives Canada with a symbolic coffin. They were protesting the ending of the National Archival Development Program.
There were several genealogists and members of the local heritage community in the parade.
They were joined by perhaps 100 others along the way to Library and Archives Canada.
Several prominent local genealogists were on the edge of the crowd showing their support.
Many people had brought flowers which they left at Lea Vivot's Secret Bench of Knowledge in memory of a callous act by LAC management.
Speakers included Lara Wilson (Canadian Council of Archives Chair), Kathryn Harvey (University of Guelph Archivist), Angela Regnier (Canadian Association of University Teachers), Liberal Heritage critic Scott Simms MP, NDP heritage critic Pierre Nantel MP, and NDP deputy heritage critic Andrew Cash MP.
There were numerous media outlets represented.
Reports are that within a few minutes of the end of the demonstration staff had removed the flowers.
2 comments:
Great post, John. Thanks for keeping the rest of us up to date. I think the next step should be a post card campaign or an e-mail campaign to all of the MPs
Great idea to have a postcard/email campaign. Flood the Hill. We should find an old image of a funeral cortege for the campaign - or something of that sort.
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