Grants and Contributions

The purpose of the project is to make crowdsourcing—that is, seeking the public’s assistance to increase awareness of the archives—available to the community of Francophone archivists, both inside and outside Quebec. The project consists in developing online training (short videos, theoretical content, educational activities, collaboration spaces) for a wide variety of archive services, particularly services for the French-speaking and Indigenous minority populations, and making this training available at no charge. The goal of this online training, which is intended to be self-supporting, is to build knowledge through sharing experiences and holding activities within a community.

The Multicultural History Society of Ontario (MHSO) is rearranging and re-describing its archival holdings in a multi-year initiative. Its overall objective is to increase public awareness of, and access to, archival materials documenting the histories of ethnocultural and Indigenous communities. In the final phase of the initiative, the Society will focus on collections of hardcopy newspapers and newsletters currently in storage. Specifically, it will review and appraise 325 newspapers and 585 newsletters produced by / for 50 different communities. It will rearrange—both physically and intellectually—and then re-describe these materials. It will prepare administrative histories based on research it conducts for the newspapers and the organizations that produced the newsletters.

The Rossland Museum and Discovery Centre (RMDC) completed a high-level inventory of its archival collection in 2020. During this inventory, RMDC identified several sets of items that would benefit from digitization. These collections, previously unknown or under-utilized, consist of 180 level maps of the Rossland mines and a collection of almost 1,000 photo negatives of individuals and scenes related to Rossland’s history. The objectives of this project are to digitize and rehouse these items and add them to RMDC’s online database.

The Métis Nation of Alberta (MNA) is the legal and administrative arm of the Métis Nation within Alberta. Since 1928, the MNA has acted as the representative indigenous government of the Métis Nation within Alberta, based on its inherent right of self-government and self determination. The MNA currently represents over 45,000 identified Métis Citizens across the province of Alberta. The MNA is the representative government of all Metis living within Alberta, and as such, it is crucial that the MNA, as a governing entity, manages and maintains it’s own archive that conforms to existing governmental standards. The attached proposal outlines a strategy for the centralization and digitization of all materials currently possessed by the MNA.

The project will digitize the contents of tapes produced in 2001 as part of the University College of the North (UCN) course Kayas Achanohkewina: Legends of Long Ago, led by Dr. Peter Geller, who stated:

“The course delivery will include having several storytellers and/or elders participate in the course, both in the classroom and through doing the interviews with students. The interviews will be recorded, and with the participants’ consent we would like to have copies of the tapes kept in northern Manitoba.”

The UCN Library is in possession of the output of these storytelling sessions and interviews, along with related project documentation.
This initiative seeks to preserve the original materials while making the digitized versions available to researchers and the public through UCN Libraries' streaming platform.

Walter Poorman is one of 14 Elders interviewed by an Indigenous oral history project which in 1971-72 recorded over 60 hours in the Cree and Saulteaux languages from Elders from Touchwood Agency Tribal Council (Treaty Four) in central Saskatchewan. The interviews relate Cree and Saulteaux oral traditions, ceremonies, songs, and community histories passed down since in middle of the 19th century and earlier. These recordings are an invaluable resource for our efforts to reinvigorate knowledge of Indigenous cultures, histories, and languages. TATC seeks funding from Listen Hear Our Voices to repatriate the original recordings from the Provincial Archives of Alberta to TATC to support community efforts to renew cultural awareness and Indigenous languages in the younger generation.

The mandate of the Language Nest is to support the language revitalization goals of the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation. The program has developed language resources that preserve our local dialect and provides members with accessible tools to support their language learning goals. We offer learning opportunities, training and culturally appropriate workshops in Anishnaabemowin.

The Language Nest has taken action to record language speakers, many of whom have since passed on. Digitization of the existing recordings began several years ago. The next phase will involve describing, organizing, transcribing, translating and storing these materials so that they can be accessed by community members and other programs.

The main goal of this project is to hire an additional Language Technicial to collect, digitize and catlog a large number of VHS tapes and audio recordings from across the Syilx in order to make them available for educational purposes.A secondary goal is for the Language Technicians to survey community members and Syilx organizations and communities to identify other recordings that need to be digitized, to review content and make a work plan for digitization of additional materials that may exist in educational institutions and in other communities who are interested in working with us.

Building on funding received from Listen, Hear Our Voices in 2019, this follow-up project will continue digitizing priority materials as identified by nine Yukon First Nations and to work with the five Yukon First Nations that were unable to participate in the initial program to identify and digitize priority recordings of their First Nations languages.

This follow-up project has two primary goals:

1. In collaboration with digitization experts, we aim to strengthen local capacity for digitizing and archiving audiocassette recordings of Yukon First Nations languages at the Yukon Native Language Centre (YLNC), an established regional hub for First Nations language revitalization, documentation and education in the Yukon.

2. Through continued collaboration with all 14 Yukon First Nations, we aim to identify and improve access to high-impact audio recordings in YNLC's archival collections, providing valuable resources for First Nations language revitalization and education initiatives throughout the territory.

Our project aims to give our community the power of knowledge to protect our history and voices through the digitization of our historical materials. To achieve this, we will acquire digitization equipment, which will be housed at the community’s public library for accessibility. A digitization expert will be brought in to provide training to community members across various age groups, ensuring there is longevity of knowledge in digitizing. Special emphasis will be placed on training students and recognizing their commitment to learning this new practice. Their dedication and the knowledge they will acquire will be invaluable in helping us safeguard what might otherwise be lost forever.