A decision by a Federal Court judge last week could have implications for the Living Archives project.
The decision, which can be found in its entirety here, gives Library and Archives Canada 90 days to reconsider its decision to withhold parts of a secret RCMP dossier on Tommy Douglas that was requested by journalist, Jim Bronskill, over 6 years ago.
For more on this, check out the Canadian Press article printed in The Toronto Star and available here.
In his decision, Justice Simon Noel notes that “this case highlights the importance of transferring information to the public domain for the benefit of present and future Canadians as well as our collective knowledge and memory as a country.”
It’s unlikely that this decision will have an immediate impact on the way those who control access to the information about our past will operate, but it sets a significant precedent that recognizes the importance of maintaining and building collective knowledge and memory about the past.
Hat-tip to Baldwin Reichwein for bringing this story to our attention.
Living Archives on Eugenics Blog 