CFLA Highlights Progress Made in Truth and Reconciliation Initiatives

June 22, 2018

The Canadian Federation of Library Associations (CFLA) marked National Indigenous Peoples Day 2018 with a report highlighting the progress made towards implementing the recommendations in the CFLA Truth and Reconciliation Committee’s 2017 report and recommendations.

Highlights include:

• Establishing the CFLA-FCAB Indigenous Matters Committee and Working Groups to implement the Truth & Reconciliation Committee Recommendations;
• Creation of the Indigenous Resources Hub on the CFLA site with documents which libraries, archives, and cultural memory institutions can build upon
• Creation of the Indigenous Canada MOOC (from the University of Alberta) and the Reconciliation Through Indigenous Education online course (from the University of British Columbia)
• Let’s Talk About Reconciliation, a series of dialogues associated with the screening of a film made by an Indigenous artist, and organized by public libraries across Canada in partnership with the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, the National Film Board of Canada, Library and Archives Canada, CFLA, and the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation
• Position Statement on Indigenous Knowledge in Canada’s Copyright Act

The CFLA also highlighted the recent awarding of an honourary doctorate of laws to Gene Joseph by Vancouver Island University. She was the first librarian of First Nations heritage in British Columbia and the first head of UBC’s Xwi7xwa Library – Canada’s only post-secondary Aboriginal library branch. A member of the CFLA Indigenous Matters Committee created Wikipedia entries on both Gene Joseph and the Brian Deer Classification System (for use in indigenous contexts) which Joseph adapted for use in BC.

(Via Canadian Federation of Library Associations)