Comments on poll on LAC

This item contains personal opinions.

A few days ago I posted a poll asking respondents what action they have taken regarding the situation at Library and Archives Canada. 55 people responded, obviously a highly significant number totally representative of the Canadian population at large (NOT).

Over one third of respondents have written to the Minister of Canadian Heritage and/or their MP about LAC, or about LAC in the the context of the larger issue of Canadian heritage. Another 13% have signed a petition.

A further 49% expressed concern in the survey. A little under half of those have expressed concern to someone else.

Only 6% supported the government action.

While I`d like to have seen more nearly 50% taking some action is encouraging.

There are many issues to be concerned about in this world. Hunger, obesity, terrorism, violence, environmental sustainability, biodiversity, nuclear proliferation, literacy, youth unemployment, discrimination .. the list goes on. How can you deal with them all. Set against these the preservation and availability of Canada`s documentary heritage may not seem so significant.

Yet our governments have a sophisticated (complex) structure to allow them to deal with more than one issue at a time. I wouldn`t want the job of government to balance them but do expect them to do just that. Yet government, and we, rely on single issue organizations and agencies to clamber for attention to their and our issues.

I`ve said it before, but it bears repeating. Genealogy suffers in this game as there is no national voice for genealogy in Canada, and no willingness on the part of OGS, by far the largest single organization, to lead in its formation.