Ottawa 3-5 June (Part 2)

I also met with Sarah Pollard, the Research Officer in the Multicultural Initiatives office of Libraries and Archives Canada (LAC) while I was in Ottawa. Our conversation was fascinating and very wide-ranging. LAC is considered a portfolio of Canadian Heritage, which is responsible for national policies and programmes that promote Canadian content, foster cultural participation, active citizenship and participation in Canada’s civic life, and strengthen connections among Canadians.

Multicultural Initiatives is the office that coordinates multicultural and multilingual services, programmes and collections within LAC and facilitates cooperation at the national and international level. The office acts as champion for multiculturalism and builds networks to ensure that LAC represents and serves the geographic, linguistic and cultural diversity of all Canadians.

In the last few years, after LAC was formed from a merger of the national archives and national library in 2004, they have been working on understanding what diversity means and acting as a voice at a conceptual, planning and strategic level to bridge the gap between rhetoric and reality in this area. This work is ongoing both within the institution and also externally. In 2006 they completed an external community consultation to facilitate better understanding of the needs and interests of cultural communities and service providers and to use the findings as a guide in developing LAC to better serve all Canadians.