Blog

  • 29 Oct 2019 1:07 PM | Michel-Adrien Sheppard (Administrator)
    The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning has published the first UNESCO publication on prison libraries, highlighting their contribution to the personal development and education of incarcerated adults and young people:
    "This publication explores the extent to which prison authorities fulfil their societal mandate to rehabilitate and reintegrate inmates by enabling them to use prison libraries to pursue their right to education."

    "Reading and using a prison library can open up a world beyond prison bars, allowing prisoners to forget for a time the harsh reality of prison life and empower them to choose their own reading materials in an otherwise extremely restrictive and regulated environment. Providing access to relevant books and information in various languages, including easy reading materials, is crucial for prisoners’ personal development."

    "This publication takes a closer look at selected examples of prison library systems around the world, outlining best practice and possible challenges, thus demonstrating their transformative potential as informational, educational, cultural and recreational meeting and learning spaces."
    The open access e-book was launched at the most recent conference in August of the International Federation of Library Associations that took place in Athens, Greece.

    The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) is located in Hamburg, Germany. It promotes and supports lifelong learning with a focus on adult learning, continuing education, literacy and non-formal basic education.

    It is a body of UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.


  • 18 Oct 2019 2:08 PM | Martha Murphy (Administrator)


    In the last few years, there have been alarm bells in the information professional community over the loss of stewardship and access to Canadian government information.  Information professionals look to federal and provincial governments, universities and colleges to provide access to government publications; yet there are still missing publications regardless of format.  There has been a response among academics, librarians, archivists and other stakeholders with interests in publications to identify gaps and preservation in collections. 

    Government Information Day is one such response to the loss of stewardship and access to Canadian government information.  The forum is a one day free event to "learn and share about the use, production, preservation and access of government information." Government Information Day East will be held on November 28th at the Toronto Reference Library. 

    CALL members are encouraged to read the recently published book, Government Information in Canada, Access and Stewardship, Edited by Amanda Wakaruk and Sam-chin Li to understand the magnitude of the issues facing the perilous preservation of government documents. The book is divided into three parts, part one gives historical overviews of Federal, LAC, Commissions and Tribunals; part two provides provincial landscape and part three gives collaborative stewardship solutions.

    CALL member Amanda Wakaruk and co-editor Sam-chin Li have certainly answered the siren call as to the state of government information in Canada.  Other CALL members contributing to the book are Caron Rollins and Martha Murphy.

    The book is available in paperback and also as an Open Access PDF, which is available for download from University of Alberta Press website. Webpage for the book includes reviews and the table of contents. The page is here Government Information in Canada

    This post is written on behalf of Government SIG


  • 11 Oct 2019 4:52 PM | Stef Alexandru (Administrator)

    version française ci-dessous.

    Fiona Chiu, Librarian | Librarian, Courthouse Libraries BC

    1. Tell us a little about your educational background and how you entered the legal information industry.

    I have an MLIS from the University of British Columbia. After I graduated, I worked as a librarian in rehabilitation sciences. The aspect I enjoyed most about the role was being involved in supporting both the public and a professional community – connecting the public to health information while supporting clinicians in evidence-based practice. The role at Courthouse Libraries is similarly positioned – to help the public as well as the legal community in finding and using legal information. So when I came across the opportunity to work there, I was very excited to opt for the position and apply my work experience in a new capacity.

    2. How has being involved in CALL helped you professionally (e.g. scholarships & grants, continuing education, networking)?

    I had the wonderful opportunity to attend my first CALL conference in Edmonton earlier this year. It enabled me to meet many other legal information professionals in person from across the province, including other fellow courthouse librarians! Thank you to everyone who made it such a positive experience for me. As a new law librarian, the icebreaker and new professionals’ special interest group events made me feel especially welcomed into the CALL community to learn new skills and network.

    3. What are three things on your bucket list?

    • Help build a library in a developing country
    • Complete a multi-day hike on a different continent
    • Go aurora hunting

    4. What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone looking to break into the legal information industry?

    Invite a legal information professional out for a coffee to learn all about their role and how they broke into the industry.

    5. Who is your favourite library professional—living or dead, real or fictional?

    Mr. Morris Lessmore from the short animated film, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. The film reminds me how impactful curated books and stories can be and centres on his life which he devotes to his love of books and to maintaining a library filled with flying ones. If you have 15 minutes to spare, I definitely recommend watching it!

    Fiona Chiu, Bibliothécaire, bibliothèques des palais de justice de la C.-B.

    1. Parlez-nous un peu de vos antécédents scolaires et de la manière dont vous vous êtes intégrée au secteur de l’information juridique.

    Je suis titulaire d’une maîtrise en bibliothéconomie et science de l’information de l’Université de la Colombie-Britannique. Après l’obtention de mon diplôme, j’ai travaillé comme bibliothécaire dans le domaine des sciences de la réadaptation. Ce que j’aimais le plus dans ce travail était d’apporter mon appui au public et aux professionnels, c’est-à-dire en aidant le public à trouver de l’information sur la santé tout en soutenant les cliniciens dans l’application de pratiques fondées sur des données probantes. Mon rôle aux bibliothèques des palais de justice est semblable, dans le sens que j’aide le public et les membres de la communauté juridique à trouver et à utiliser des renseignements juridiques. Lorsqu’une occasion s’est présentée pour y travailler, j’étais très heureuse d’accepter le poste et d’appliquer mon expérience professionnelle dans de nouvelles fonctions.

    2. En quoi votre adhésion à l’ACBD/CALL vous a-t-elle été utile sur le plan professionnel (p. ex. bourses et subventions, formation continue, réseautage)?

    J’ai eu la merveilleuse occasion d’assister à mon premier congrès de l’ACBD, à Edmonton, plus tôt cette année. Cet événement m’a permis de rencontrer de nombreux professionnels de l’information juridique de diverses régions de la province, y compris d’autres bibliothécaires de palais de justice! Je tiens à remercier tous ceux et celles qui m’ont permis de vivre une expérience très positive. En tant que nouvelle bibliothécaire de droit, j’ai été accueillie à bras ouverts par la communauté de l’ACBD lors des activités brise-glace et du Groupe d’intérêt spécial des nouveaux professionnels au cours desquelles j’ai pu acquérir de nouvelles compétences et établir de nouveaux contacts.

    3. Quelles sont trois choses que vous aimeriez réaliser avant de mourir?

    • Aider à construire une bibliothèque dans un pays en développement.
    • Faire une randonnée pédestre de plusieurs jours sur un autre continent.
    • Partir à la chasse aux aurores boréales.

    4. Quel conseil donneriez-vous à quelqu’un qui cherche à percer dans l’industrie de l’information juridique?

    Invitez un professionnel ou une professionnelle de l’information juridique à prendre un café pour en apprendre davantage sur ses fonctions et la façon dont cette personne a fait sa place dans ce domaine.

    5. Qui est votre professionnel de la bibliothéconomie favori, qu’il soit vivant ou décédé, réel ou fictif?

    M. Morris Lessmore dans le court métrage d’animation The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. Le film me rappelle l’impact que peuvent avoir les livres et les histoires dont il est le conservateur et relate sa vie qu’il consacre à son amour des livres et à la gestion d’une bibliothèque remplie de livres volants. Si vous avez une quinzaine de minutes devant vous, je vous recommande fortement de le regarder!

  • 26 Sep 2019 12:34 PM | Michel-Adrien Sheppard (Administrator)

    Earlier today, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) released its decision in the Keatley Surveying Ltd. v. Teranet Inc. case.

    The case involved the idea of copyright owned by the Crown (essentially, the federal or provincial/territorial governments). Section 12 of the federal Copyright Act states that the Crown has copyright in what it prepares or publishes or where it directs or controls what someone else prepares or publishes.

    According to the plain language Case in Brief summary prepared by the SCC:

    "Ontario has an electronic land registry system. The land registry is a database about all properties in the province. It says who owns (or has other rights to) each one. The database contains many kinds of documents, including plans of survey (...)"

    "The electronic land registry system is run by a company called Teranet, which helped create it. Teranet paid independent surveyors to help build the database and provide plans of survey. A regulation says that all plans added to the land registry become property of the Crown (that is, of the Ontario government). Surveyors bring plans of survey to the land registry office to be included. When they do, Teranet makes copies of the plans available electronically. Teranet does all of this on Ontario’s behalf."

    "Keatley Surveying, a land survey company, launched a class action in 2007 (...) It said the surveyors (not the Crown) had copyright in the plans of survey they had created. It said Teranet was therefore infringing the land surveyors’ copyright by storing and copying plans of survey. It said the Crown should only get copyright in works that it created itself (or where it ordered or controlled creation by someone else). Teranet argued that the Crown should get copyright in everything it published. In 2016, a judge said Ontario owned the copyright and said Keatley Surveying’s class action couldn’t go forward. The Court of Appeal agreed."

    "All the judges at the Supreme Court agreed that Ontario owned the copyright in the plans of survey."

    The Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) had intervener status in the case in front of the SCC.

    This means that representatives of the Association got to argue in front of the Justices at the hearing in March 2019.

    CALL's factum, which was highly critical of s.12 and of Crown copyright, is available on the SCC website.

  • 30 Aug 2019 4:27 PM | Michel-Adrien Sheppard (Administrator)

    Le texte français suit plus bas.

    The Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) is organizing the 2019 Canadian Library Assessment Workshop (CLAW)  in Windsor, Ontario from October 22nd to 24th, 2019.

    The event consists in a series of practical workshops providing attendees with effective methods, tools, and techniques for library assessment.

    The final program and registration are now available.

    Programs and presentations from earlier  CLAW events are available on the CARL website.

    L'Association des bibliothèques de recherche du Canada (ABRC) organise l'Atelier des bibliothèques canadiennes sur l’évaluation 2019 qui aura lieu à Windsor en Ontario du 22 au 24 octobre prochains.

    Cet événement intéressera tous les bibliothécaires universitaires et de recherche qui participent à l’évaluation. Les participants tireront de l’atelier des idées concrètes et pratiques qu’ils pourront mettre en œuvre dans leur bibliothèque.

    Le programme final et les modalités d'inscription sont maintenant disponibles en ligne.

    Le programme de même que les présentations des ateliers antérieurs peuvent être consultés sur le site de l'ABRC.

  • 28 Jul 2019 5:59 PM | Michel-Adrien Sheppard (Administrator)

    CALL partnered with Colin Lachance, manager with legal information vendor vLex, for a series of eleven (11) podcast interviews at the recent annual conference of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries in Edmonton in late May 2019.

    The interviews were conducted with conference speakers, exhibitors, sponsors and organizers, and dealt with their experience at the May 2019 conference, what’s hot in their world, and their thoughts on the future. 

    L'ACBD a coopéré avec Colin Lachance, gestionnaire chez l'éditeur d'information juridique vLex, pour une série de onze (11) entrevues en format podcast enregistrées à la plus récente conférence annuelle de l'association qui a eu lieu à Edmonton à la fin du mois de mai 2019.

    Les entrevues avec des conférenciers, des exposants, des commanditaires et des organisateurs ont traité de leurs expériences à la conférence d'Edmonton, de ce qui retient l'attention dans leur milieu et de leurs réflexions sur l'avenir.

  • 10 Jul 2019 1:43 PM | Michel-Adrien Sheppard (Administrator)

    CALL and TALL (Toronto Association of Law Libraries) recently published a joint 2018 salary survey:

    This present survey was carried out in the autumn of 2018 and the data collected in November 2018.

    The analysis is based on 537 invitees, of whom 222 responded, with an invitee response rate of 41.34%.

    The analysis looked at many data points. Examples include salary crossed with variables such as region, gender, library type, patron size, experience, and job title.

    The average respondent to the survey is a woman who has worked in the profession for 16.5 years, at a firm with a patron population of between 101-200 and earns $78,894 /yr.

  • 28 Jun 2019 3:08 PM | Stef Alexandru (Administrator)

    version française ci-dessous.

    Louise Hamel, Manager, Judicial Library Services | Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General

    1. Tell us a little about your educational background and how you entered the legal information industry.

    I have always wanted to work in libraries since I was a little girl going to the bookmobile. I wore down the staff at our local branch asking when there might be a job and got my first job as a library page just shy of my 12th birthday. I have a Bachelor of Science (psychology and anthropology) and I am definitely not in the profession because I liked English. The attraction and pleasure in going to work each day is about connecting, facilitating and empowering people – to the right resource, finding the answer or discovering something new.

    Since I worked in libraries all through high school and university I wanted to do something different, so I joined CUSO (Canada’s peace corps) and was posted to Nigeria to set up a community college library. I landed into a traditional job but in a unique cultural and exotic location. This was my first professional librarian position and it took all I had learned from colleagues and experiences to date to talk knowledgably about library buildings issues, designing library furnishings, teach a library science course, and work with staff who only spoke Hausa. The College Principal’s task for me was to create a library similar to the Ottawa university library in the 1980s. It was a challenge as there were months without electricity or electricity only in the morning and evening, etc. and a fractured infrastructure where money flow was periodic. For example, I worked 8 months without salary until the government changed. When I left this position, the library building was completed, networks and contracts were in place for library materials and a photocopier was on order.

    2. How has being involved in CALL helped you professionally (e.g. scholarships & grants, continuing education, networking)?

    I came to the legal library profession after a 13-year stint at the Addiction Research Foundation library. I relied heavily on CALL/ACBD colleagues for advice and assistance in developing the legal research skills. I was fortunate that the Great library staff were so generous with their time and support as well as the library staff I joined. The judicial librarian network was always there for me to tap into when I was dealing with issues that straddled the judicial independence fine line.

    I used grants to attend the conferences. I took advantage of continuing education courses to build up the network and knowledge base. Working on committees connected me to legal professionals in the different milieus which is so important for the document delivery role and expanding skills.

    3. What are three things on your bucket list?

    Travel – I have so many places I hope to visit, and I will be crossing one off the list this fall with a trip to India and Oman.

    Learning French so that I can support my children in developing that language skill in their kids. I think learning a second language makes one more tolerant and accepting of diversity.

    Painting – I am going to try both oil and water colour. Don’t look for me at an art show; I am doing it strictly for creative release.

    4. What’s your greatest professional success?

    I was taken by surprise by the Denis Marshall Memorial Award which is a career highlight; however, up until that moment my career is bookended by two amazing professional successes. I was part of the national conference planning committee for the Nigeria Law Association held at the University of Jos in 1982. The committee was comprised of some amazing Canadian colleagues and an American to deliver a conference modeled on Canadian/American style conference with a vendor exhibition. It is quite an experience to plan and to decide on speakers and exhibitors in a country when there is no phone network and no online services! I am ending my career on another high note and feel great professional success in managing a network of judicial libraries and supporting a diverse user group and connecting with a variety of stakeholders. Managing a myriad of relationships has been rewarding. 

    5. What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone looking to break into the legal information industry?

    Continue with the learning – take a coding course, business writing, budgeting and website development course during the first few years of your career. These added skills, if you do not already have them, will round out your skill set that is a passport to all types of jobs. Stay open to new experiences and opportunities.

    Louise HamelDirectrice, Services des bibliothèques juridiques | ministère du Procureur général de l’Ontario

    1. Parlez-nous un peu de vos antécédents scolaires et de la manière dont vous vous êtes intégrée au secteur de l’information juridique.

    Depuis que j’étais une toute petite fille qui se rendait au bibliobus, j’ai toujours rêvé de travailler dans une bibliothèque. Je passais mon temps à demander au personnel de la bibliothèque de mon quartier s’il y avait un emploi pour moi bientôt, et j’ai décroché mon premier travail comme aide de bibliothèque juste avant d’avoir 12 ans. Je détiens un baccalauréat ès sciences (psychologie et anthropologie), et je ne suis vraiment pas dans la profession parce que j’aimais l’anglais. Ce qui m’anime dans mon travail quotidiennement, c’est de pouvoir me rapprocher des gens en les aidant et en leur donnant des outils pour trouver la bonne ressource ou la réponse ou même découvrir quelque chose de nouveau.

    Puisque j’avais travaillé dans des bibliothèques depuis le secondaire jusqu’à l’université, je voulais faire quelque chose de différent après mes études. J’ai donc joint CUSO (le Service universitaire canadien outre-mer) et j’ai été affecté au Nigeria afin de mettre sur pied une bibliothèque dans un collège communautaire. Même si mon travail était plutôt traditionnel, la culture et les lieux étaient uniques et exotiques. Comme il s’agissait de mon premier poste à titre de bibliothécaire professionnelle, j’ai dû recourir à tout ce que j’avais appris au contact de collègues et de mes expériences afin de parler savamment de questions concernant les bâtiments abritant une bibliothèque et la conception de mobilier de bibliothèque, de donner un cours de bibliothéconomie et de travailler avec du personnel qui ne parlait que le haoussa. Le directeur du collège m’avait donné comme mandat de mettre en place une bibliothèque semblable à celle de l’Université d’Ottawa dans les années 1980. Le défi était de taille, car nous pouvions passer des mois sans électricité ou avec un peu de courant le matin et le soir, les infrastructures étaient délabrées et l’argent était plutôt versé de manière sporadique. Par exemple, il m’est arrivé de travailler sans être payée pendant huit mois jusqu’à ce qu’un nouveau gouvernement soit formé. Lorsque j’ai quitté ce poste, la construction de la bibliothèque était terminée, les réseaux et les contrats étaient en place pour les livres de la bibliothèque et un photocopieur avait été commandé.

    2. En quoi votre adhésion à l’ACBD/CALL vous a-t-elle été utile sur le plan professionnel (p. ex. bourses et subventions, formation continue, réseautage)?

    J’ai choisi la profession de bibliothécaire juridique après avoir passé treize ans à la bibliothèque de la Fondation de la recherche sur la toxicomanie. J’ai eu beaucoup d’aide et de conseils de la part de collègues de l’ACBD/CALL afin d’améliorer mes compétences en matière de recherche juridique. J’ai eu la chance de compter sur les employés de la Grande bibliothèque au Barreau de l’Ontario, qui m’ont donné généreusement de leur temps et de leur soutien, de même que sur le personnel de la bibliothèque où je travaille. Le réseau des bibliothécaires de droit a toujours été là pour moi lorsque j’étais aux prises avec des questions chevauchant la ligne mince de l’indépendance judiciaire.

    J’ai utilisé des bourses pour assister aux congrès annuels et j’ai profité des cours de perfectionnement pour bâtir un réseau et élargir mes connaissances. Le fait de siéger à des comités m’a permis de rencontrer des professionnels du droit de différents milieux, dont nous nous devons de connaître pour fournir des services d’information ou de recherche et pour élargir nos compétences. 

    3. Quelles sont trois choses que vous aimeriez réaliser avant de mourir?

    J’aimerais voyager. Il y a beaucoup d’endroits que j’aimerais visiter. D’ailleurs, j’en rayerai deux de ma liste cet automne en visitant l’Inde et le Sultanat d’Oman.

    J’aimerais apprendre le français pour aider mes enfants qui souhaitent que leurs enfants parlent français. Je pense que l’apprentissage d’une deuxième langue rend les gens plus tolérants et plus ouverts à la diversité.

    J’aimerais faire de la peinture et essayer de peindre des huiles et des aquarelles. Toutefois, ne me cherchez pas dans une exposition, car ce loisir ne me servira qu’à libérer mon potentiel créatif.

    4. Quelle est votre plus belle réussite professionnelle?

    J’ai été stupéfaite de recevoir la Bourse commémorative Denis Marshall, qui est un moment fort de ma carrière. Cependant, jusqu’à ce moment-là, ma carrière comptait deux réalisations marquantes. J’ai fait partie du comité de planification du congrès national de la Nigeria Law Association tenu à l’University of Jos en 1982. Le comité, qui était composé de remarquables collègues canadiens et d’un Américain, avait pour mandat d’organiser un congrès de type nord-américain comptant une exposition d’éditeurs et de fournisseurs. Devoir planifier un congrès et choisir les conférenciers et les exposants dans un pays où il n’y avait pas de réseau téléphonique ni de services en ligne fut une expérience très particulière! Je termine également ma carrière en beauté en ayant le sentiment d’avoir réussi sur le plan professionnel en gérant un réseau de bibliothèques juridiques, en offrant du soutien à différents groupes d’utilisateurs et en établissant des liens avec divers intervenants. Pouvoir gérer une multitude de relations est enrichissant.

    5. Quel conseil donneriez-vous à quelqu’un qui cherche à percer dans l’industrie de l’information juridique?

    Continuez d’apprendre en suivant un cours de codage, de rédaction d’affaires, de préparation de budgets et de conception de sites Web au début de votre carrière. Ces compétences supplémentaires, si vous ne les possédez pas déjà, vous permettront d’accroître vos compétences tout en vous ouvrant la porte à tous les types d’emplois. Soyez ouverts aux nouvelles expériences et possibilités.


  • 23 Jun 2019 6:05 PM | Michel-Adrien Sheppard (Administrator)

    Earlier this month, the House of Commons Standing Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology published its report on the Statutory Review of the Copyright Act:

    "Section 92 of the Copyright Act (the Act) provides that the Act must be reviewed every five years by a parliamentary committee. On 13 December 2017, the House of Commons designated its Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology (the Committee) to conduct the review. The Committee held 52 meetings, heard 263 witnesses, collected 192 briefs, and received more than 6,000 emails and other correspondence (...)

    "The fruit of over ten meetings of deliberations, this Committee’s report covers a broad range of topics. They include the protection of traditional and cultural expressions, term extension, computer-generated works, artist’s resale rights, fair dealing, safe harbour provisions, perceptual disability provisions, online piracy, proceedings before the Copyright Board of Canada, and the statutory review process itself. After reporting on a few legal developments of the last seven years, the report addresses these topics in turn under six sections: Statutory Review, Indigenous Matters, Rights, Exceptions, Enforcement, and the Collective Administration of Rights."

    "The report makes 36 recommendations. They include recommendations aiming at reducing the opaqueness of Canadian copyright law, notably by gathering authoritative information on its impact on Canadian creators and creative industries, increasing the transparency of the collective administration of rights, and simplifying the Act. The Committee recommends improving the bargaining power of Canadian creators by granting them a termination right while mitigating the impact of such a right on the commercial exploitation of copyright. It also proposes to sensibly update enforcement mechanisms, starting with statutory damages for rights-holders and collective societies. The recommendations address site-blocking proposals and their potential impact on the form and function of Internet, and assert that online service providers such as Google and Facebook must fully comply with the Act to the benefit of both rights-holders and users. The report also proposes to move forward to protect traditional and cultural expressions, vitally informed by the testimony of Indigenous witnesses."

    On June 11, the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) issued a statement on the report that applauds the Committee's work for its "reasoned analysis and balanced conclusions":

    "The report includes 36 recommendations, many of which reflect the positions put forward by CARL and our member institutions in their briefs and appearances before Committee. Notable highlights for the research library community include: 
    • Amending the fair dealing exception so that allowable purposes are illustrative rather than exhaustive (...);
    • Applying open licences to Canadian Government works (...);
    • Facilitating the use of a work or other subject matter for the purpose of informational analysis (i.e. text and data mining) (...)
    • Opposing the extension of copyright as required as part of the USMCA but, in the event that it is ratified by all parties, recommending both a registration system and a reversion right to counteract some of the disadvantages of term extension (...);
    • Engaging in comprehensive consultations with 'Indigenous groups, experts and others on the protection of traditional arts and cultural expressions in the context of Reconciliation' (...);
    • Prioritizing means for ensuring that works are made available in accessible formats to benefit persons with a perceptual disability (...)"

    On June 14, the Canadian Federation of Libraries Associations was generally positive about the report, with some cautionary words:

    "With regards to fair dealing, CFLA-FCAB appreciates the following: 

    • The recommendation to make the list of fair dealing purposes illustrative rather than exhaustive (Rec. 18).
      The recognition there is insufficient evidence linking the decline in publishers’ revenue to the addition of education for fair dealing.
      The recommendation to extend the timeline for the review of educational fair dealing, (Rec. 17); however, CFLA-FCAB believes it will take more than three years to obtain new and authoritative information and to observe the effects of new legal developments."

      "About Indigenous Knowledge, CFLA-FCAB:
    • Applauds the emphasis on Indigenous Knowledge and the requirement for recognition and protection in Canadian law, both within the Copyright Act and beyond (Rec. 5).
    • Is concerned that Rec. 5 introduces new terms (“traditional arts and cultural expressions”) rather than the terms Traditional Knowledge (TK) and Traditional Cultural Expressions (TCE) that are defined and understood in the global context.
    • Recommends a firm commitment to timelines and adequate resources for the recommended consultation with Indigenous groups, experts and stakeholders.
    • CFLA-FCAB would have preferred the recommendation to first recognize and affirm Indigenous ownership over their own knowledge, and subsequently recommend consultation, including support for the development and implementation of protocols to share and protect Indigenous Knowledge."

     The Librarianship.ca website has compiled a comparison of GLAM Sector Recommendations vs Committee Recommendations. GLAM stands for Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums.

  • 09 Jun 2019 6:13 PM | Michel-Adrien Sheppard (Administrator)

    Last Monday, the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls released its final report at a public ceremony in Gatineau, Quebec.

    One of the supplementary reports explains the legal reasoning behind the Inquiry's declaration that the disproportionate levels of violence suffered by Indigenous women and girls in Canada can be considered a form of "race-based genocide (...)  empowered by colonial structures, evidenced notably by the Indian Act, the Sixties Scoop, residential schools and breaches of human and Indigenous rights, leading directly to the current increased rates of violence, death, and suicide in Indigenous populations".

    Among its findings, the report stated that Indigenous women and girls are 12 times more likely to be murdered or to go missing than members of any other demographic group in Canada.

    After more than 3 years of meetings and gathering testimony, the Inquiry made 231 calls for action to government, institutions and the larger Canadian public to help address endemic levels of violence directed at Indigenous women and girls and what the report calls 2SLGBTQQIA (two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex and asexual) people.

    The website of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has condensed the calls for action for easier understanding.

    On the topic of the inquiry, the Bora Laskin Law Library at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law recently announced a new collection of documents about the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada:

    "This collection of documents brings together reports, press statements, and various other documents that shed light on the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada. This collection was developed by the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action and has been subsequently expanded on by the Bora Laskin Law Library at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. ...

    I.  Civil Society Reports
    II. Government Reports
    III. Secondary Resources
    IV. United Nations Documents
    V.  Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Documents"
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