Minister Mathieu Lacombe,
I would first like to congratulate you on your appointment as Minister of Culture and Communications. I know, the next few days, the next weeks, even the next few months, will be very busy learning about the many files that are now yours. It is too early to already draw your attention to a file that your collaborators at the ministry have certainly looked into, but I am doing it anyway. I am thinking here of the modernization of the Archives Act, which dates from… 1983.
Imagine, Minister, it was five years before you were born. A lot has happened since that time when Quebec archivists put a lot of effort into getting Quebec to adopt an Archives Act which, by the way, has served as a model in several regions of the world. It has been a model in that it oversees the management of archives from their creation until their disposal, or throughout their permanent preservation if necessary.
She was a model, but unfortunately she is no longer! For example, in 1983, the digital, the “born-digital” information, all this dematerialized data which now underpins the daily activities of administrations, both public and private, were only very little, if not at all, present. in offices. At the time, paper was the most widely used medium. This is no longer the case, which means that archivists in Quebec must manage archives under an undeniably outdated law. And, were it not for your schedule, which I know is overloaded, I could cite many other problems — including the whole issue of accountability — that arises from the application of this outdated law.
For more than ten years, the Association des archivistes du Québec, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec and all stakeholders in the field have been vigorously and tenaciously calling for an essential modernization of the Archives Act. Minister, ask your collaborators, they will tell you that everything is ready, that the proposals for a new law on archives have long been submitted to your ministry. The honor of initiating the process of updating the Archives Act therefore belongs to you. And I hope that you will be the one who will leave your mark by passing an Archives Act that will adequately meet the needs of Quebecers.
In short, Minister, an Archives Act in 2022 must, in contemporary terminology, be based on scientifically recognized concepts to allow any public body, whatever it may be, to create, use and to effectively store all the management information that it receives or generates on any medium whatsoever (in particular on the dematerialized digital medium) as part of its daily activities.
And, in keeping with our motto “I remember”, it must also ensure the constitution of a quality documentary heritage by preserving information that will bear witness for posterity to the activities of the said organization. As was the case beginning in 1983, such a law will not fail to inspire private institutions to take advantage, without being forced to do so, of the appreciable advantages it will bring.
In conclusion, Minister, I wish you good luck in the exercise of your new functions and I thank you in advance for your attention to this matter.