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Message from the Archivist of Ontario
A strong, modern Archives is essential to preserve Ontario’s past and bring it alive for current and future generations. Over the last seven years, the Archives of Ontario has focused on improving access to our collections for an ever-expanding audience in a variety of innovative ways. We have given priority to enhancing our website – which received over 60 million hits in 2006 – to make the Archives more readily accessible to a broader audience, while implementing new systems and processes to better serve our customers.
We have also seen our efforts to acquire a purpose-built facility for the Archives of Ontario come to fruition. The move to our new, state-of-the-art facility in 2009 will greatly enhance our ability to manage and preserve our collections and make them accessible to our customers.
We have become a key partner in the education of Ontarians by providing resources for students and teachers in Ontario schools. At the same time, we have greatly expanded our outreach activities by developing a series of unique partnerships with a broad range of organizations, such as the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Parks Canada, and the Ontario Black History Society.
Our role in fostering transparency and accountability in government was reflected in the passage of the Archives and Recordkeeping Act, 2006. The Act provides a strong legislative framework to ensure that the public records of Ontario are managed, kept and preserved in a useable form for the benefit of present and future generations. The Archives will have a key role to play in communicating the new Act’s requirements to ministries and public bodies and helping them to meet their legislated responsibilities.
The next three years will be both challenging and exciting, as we oversee the construction of our new facility and prepare our collections for the move in 2009. At the same time, we will continue to develop and implement innovative strategies to serve our customers better and make our records accessible to an ever-expanding audience. We will also work with our partners within government to ensure that reliable electronic records will be generated and maintained for future generations of Archives users.
I look forward to working with our dedicated and professional staff to achieve the strategic objectives identified in this plan.
Miriam McTiernan
Archivist of Ontario
