Dr. Frits Pannekoek, the newly-elected President of the Canadian Association of Learned Journals (CALJ), recently addressed a strongly worded letter to Prime Minister Harper and Heritage Minister James Moore, in which, he expressed the deep concern of CALJ members at recent cuts to Library and Archives Canada and the National Archival development programme.
Pannekoek warned that the government threatens to make much of the scholarship done by those who disseminate their work in the Association’s journals impossible to accomplish. Further, he added that the members of CALJ are deeply concerned that cuts to this programme will seriously compromise the work of the scholars whose work is published in their journals, particularly those who rely on the private, non-governmental materials collected in the local and regional archives targeted by these programme cuts.
For Pannekoek and his CALJ members, the archives, staff and programmes at risk in these cuts are essential to ongoing practice of constructing, examining and reflecting upon Canadian history, heritage and identity, a task that is central to the viability and strength of a democratic society and citizenry.
In a unanimous motion passed at their recent Annual General Meeting, CALJ members called on the Government to reconsider budgetary cuts to Library and Archives Canada and the National Archival development programme and encouraged Moore and his department officials to consult more closely with representatives of Canada’s scholarly community.
