Digitization Project

The General Council Archives, United Church of Canada is currently undertaking a large digitization project focused on digitizing records related to hospital, mission, and day schools in an effort to provide greater access to these records for Indigenous communities and researchers.

The digitization project is the third of a three phased research project to identify and make accessible these important records. The project grew out of the response of Truth and Reconciliation (TRC) Calls to Action (2015), with the express purpose of supporting requests for information from day school survivors.

Please read the blog post, Digitization of Colonizing Institutions Records, for more information about the process.

The Archives has prepared a project overview poster which was presented at the National Indigenous Spiritual Gathering in Alberta, Edmonton in 2023.

Timeline

The third phase of three project proposal, which expanded the scope of the project beyond day schools to include hospitals and missions, was approved in December 2021 by The United Church of Canada.

The full project is set to conclude in 2025.

One of the main tasks that will be present throughout all phases of the project is the reviewing and flagging records that will be shipped out for digitization and adding information to help staff identify records when requests come from Indigenous communities and researchers.

Progress updates will be added every few months to keep everyone apprised of the project’s achievements and goals.

Archival Textual

86,186 pages reviewed

Periodicals

14,885 pages reviewed

Digitized

14,765 pages digitized