Library and Archives Canada Purges Website Content It Deems ‘Offensive’

Canada's first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, in an undated photo. Library and Archives Canada is reportedly removing its online content deemed "offensive," some of which paints Macdonald in a positive light. (CP Photo/National Archives of Canada)

Canada’s chief archivist has ordered the purge of “offensive” content on thousands of national archives webpages, according to internal documents obtained via a request by Blacklock’s Reporter under the Access to Information Act.

“Much of the content on the Library and Archives Canada website reflects the time at which it was written,” wrote chief archivist Leslie Weir in an email to staff obtained by Blacklock’s.

“We understand much of this outdated historical content no longer reflects today’s context and may be offensive to many.”

In the email, dated June 9, 2021, Weir proposed that a disclaimer be put on “content that may offend people” and called the issue an “urgent situation.”

The Library and Archives Canada (LAC) website has a webpage called “Renewing our web presence,” whose link is displayed at the top of each page of the site. The webpage says a “multi-year project” is underway to review over 7,000 webpages, and it has a section on the removal of content.

“Our current website contains information that was written many years ago,” it says. “Unfortunately, it does not always reflect our diverse and multicultural country, often presenting only one side of Canada’s history. LAC acknowledges that some of its online presence is offensive and continues to correct these issues.”

In the internal emails obtained by Blacklock’s, LAC staff appear confused on how to respond to Weir’s sweeping directive to purge offending content.

“The only direction we received from Leslie was ‘offensive content,’” said one manager.

Another manager asked if there was a definition of “offensive content,” to which a colleague replied, “This is not the way to do this.”

“Leslie has asked for us to remove all ‘offensive’ content from the website,” wrote Rebecca Giesbrecht, acting manager of public services. “We are scrambling today to identify what that might be with a rough set of criteria to work with.”

“Flag anything lacking Indigenous perspectives or that ignores or dismisses the impact of colonialism on First Nations, Inuit and the Métis Nation,” wrote Giesbrecht.

According to Blacklock’s, some of the content that was removed includes essays “celebrating Sir John A. Macdonald,” Canada’s first prime minister, as well as articles on French explorers in which the “Indigenous perspective is missing.”

The outlet also reported that references to the 1885 Northwest Rebellion were rephrased as the “1885 Resistance,” and a web feature on the War of 1812 was “removed entirely.”

“There is a larger conversation around whether we should pull down ALL interpretive content immediately,” a manager wrote in a June 10 staff email. “We have identified many potentially problematic sites and there’s lots of thinking still to do.”

In a March 2 LAC statement on the current Ukraine-Russia conflict, Weir mused about the key role libraries and archives play as an “essential pillar of democracy.”

“It is often said that the first casualty of war is truth,” she wrote.

“Whether for today or tomorrow, a nation’s public record held by institutions like libraries and archives is an essential pillar of democracy, human rights and the rule of law.”