Grants and Contributions

This project will preserve Fisher River Cree Nation’s existing oral history collection through digitization. Transcriptions of content will help make the collections accessible to community members and researchers.

This project aims to preserve and protect some of Manitoba’s most important recordings of Indigenous cultural and linguistic history. When the Manitoba Indigenous Cultural Education Centre (MICEC) was created by leaders and activists in 1974, its founders saw that Manitoba was at a pivotal moment in history. Armed with recordings and historical accounts of the major events of the time and empowered by a rising tide of Indigenous activism and political involvement, Indigenous leaders in Manitoba had amassed a collection of items and needed a place to house them. MICEC was created to do just that.

The Honouring Our Ancestral Gifts project will enable MICEC to truly honour the gifts Elders, language speakers and cultural knowledge holders left to our Centre. This project will build capacity within the organization as well as help make these gifts more accessible to our community by allowing others to hear and honour the voices of our ancestors and the legacy they left us. This project aims to preserve these important recordings for all Manitobans to enjoy by creating a database of digital files with which to create future content and curatorial projects.

This project seeks to create a detailed inventory that captures information with enduring value from a collection of DV tapes dating back to 1996. The project will result in a full package of descriptive information, including the arrangement and descriptions of 150 tapes from 1996 to 1999, with details such as dates, extent, physical condition, overarching themes in the content, access restrictions, and the Indigenous communities and people interviewed. It will also identify the agency responsible for creating the production.

Strongfront Productions' oldest format is the DV tape, widely used from 1996 to 2005. During this period, the company amassed over 2 250 tapes, totalling 1 500 hours of recorded content. As technology advanced between 2006 and 2011, the production shifted to HDV tapes, resulting in an additional 2 625 recordings. The culture and language recordings are from Manitoba Métis and First Nations communities, on and off reserve, in places like Bunibonibee, Canupawakpa, Chemawawin, Churchill, Cross Lake, Dakota Tipi, Fisher River, Fox Lake, Garden Hill, Grand Rapids, Keeseekoowenin, Lake Manitoba, Little Grand Rapids, Long Plain, Mathias Colomb, Mosakahiken, Nisichawayasihk, Norway House, Opaskwayak, Peguis, Rolling River, Roseau River, Sagkeeng, Sandy Bay, Sapotaweyak, Sioux Valley, Skownan, St. Lazare, St. Laurent, St. Theresa Point, Tadoule Lake, Tataskweyak, The Pas, War Lake, Wasagamack, Winnipeg, and Thompson.

The Woodland Cultural Centre’s Dwadwęnaga:da:t Language Centre is a member of Sweetgrass First Nations Language Council Inc. (Sweetgrass), which is an incorporated organization made up of members from Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabek language groups, schools and centres across Ontario. Sweetgrass members have identified a need for a series of virtual workshops in the areas of archiving, digitization and audiovisual collections management, tailored specifically to the preservation of sacred and sensitive First Nations language collections.

In addition, the Dwadwęnaga:da:t coordinator has identified a collection of 110 audiocassettes that is a high priority for digitization. These cassettes recorded in the background during the original recordings of our Sacred and Sensitive Collection from 1986 to 1988. These tapes, the only existing copies of these recordings, contain high levels of language and provide vital context for the Longhouse materials, making them indispensable for the next generation of Faithkeepers to access.

The organization will digitize, preserve, and provide access to documentation of its media art-related events and activities recorded between 1973 and 2013. The project will include 635 photographic images and audio and video recordings of live performances, media installations, actions, symposia, and artist interviews from its first 40 years. It will include documentation of the annual Signal and Noise Festival (2000-2012) featuring many of Canada's most renowned media artists, and symposia and events that influenced the development of media art on the west coast through those years and beyond.

The organization aims to preserve, increase access to, and increase awareness of the Gananoque Civic Collection’s large archival collection (encompassing nearly 10 000 items). One major goal is to preserve 50% of Gananoque’s documentary heritage (in 2021- phase one) through preventative conservation strategies, and digitization of analogue archival objects. The other major goal is to create a distinct Archival catalogue record within the museum’s collections management database using Rules for Archival Description conventions, for all archival objects within the collection, to make this information accessible to staff, and to the public on-site and online.

The project consists of developing an inventory chart template and completing the inventory of the 4,785 audiovisual records kept at the Centre d’archives du Monastère des Augustines. This rich heritage focusses mainly on the traditions and practices of this historic female religious community. Most of these documents were created in the 20th Century. They relate the Augustinians’ daily history, including their customs, nursing practices, know-how, etc. The formats vary, including 8mm and 16mm films, audio cassettes, CD-ROMs, videocassettes, MP4 files, etc. A significant portion of this corpus has never been indexed or described. Archivists and researchers are therefore unaware of what these documents contain.

This project aims to increase access to Indigenous documentary heritage of Northern Ontario by collecting oral histories from elders and knowledge keepers. Interviews will be conducted with approximately 40 Elders, Survivors, and Intergenerational Survivors of Shingwauk Residential School.
These interviews will focus on preserving lived experiences and wisdom of this aging population. In the case of the interviews with Survivors and Intergenerational Survivors, the interviews will be focused on lived experiences outside of Residential School.

The Canadian Slovenian Historical Society (CSHS) wishes to purchase database software and a laptop computer to electronically manage and improve access to its archival collection.
Since 2002 the CSHS has been collecting and preserving textual records, photographs and audiovisual material that document Slovenian immigration, cultural heritage, and continued contributions to Canada to establish the legacy of Canadian-Slovenians for future generations. Its historical collection is housed in a permanent archival facility located in Toronto, Ontario and currently consists of 54 fonds.

The OJA’s Mitigating Risk project aims to correct this historic neglect by addressing its magnetic media holistically, including the selection, conservation, digitization, rehousing, digital preservation, and description of all 425 ¼"" open-reel recordings. By completing this project, the OJA will fulfill its mandate of preserving its collection to the highest archival standards and providing access to this rich and underutilized resource.