Panel Discussion - Looking Back and Looking Forward: Perspectives on the Occasion of the ACA’s 50th Anniversary

Looking Back and Looking Forward: Perspectives on the Occasion of the ACA’s 50th Anniversary 

As the 50th Anniversary of the Association of Canadian Archivists comes to an end, the Professional Development Committee of the ACA invites you to attend a panel discussion with five archivists to reflect on the past and present state of archives in Canada, while considering some of their hopes for our profession. 

The panel will feature Jazmine Aldrich, Donald Johnson, Laura Millar (ACA Fellow), Tom Nesmith (ACA Fellow), and Ciaran Purdome and will be moderated by Mary Grace Kosta. 

The panel will take place on Zoom on December 3rd from 2:30-4:00pm ET. The event is free for ACA members. 

Biographies of Panel Members: 

Jazmine Aldrich is an early career archivist, living and working on the traditional and unceded territory of the Abenaki people and the W8banaki Confederacy. She holds a Master of Information Studies degree from McGill University. Jazmine is Head Archivist of the Eastern Townships Resource Centre in Sherbrooke, Quebec; she has previously worked with other archival organizations in the Townships and with the Archives Association of Ontario. 

Donald Johnson was a co-lead of the Response to the Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Taskforce (TRC-TF). The Taskforce created the Reconciliation Framework addressing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's Call to Action #70. Donald is a member the National Indigenous Knowledge and Language Alliance (NIKLA), the Nēwo-Yōtina Friendship Centre board, and a past member of the board of the Saskatchewan Council for Archives and Archivists (SCAA). Donald Johnson has been with the Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan, first as the Special Media Archivist and today as an Information Management Analyst. Donald is a member of the Lytton First Nation located at the confluence of the Fraser and Thompson rivers in British Columbia. 

Laura Millar has worked as a records, archives, and information management consultant, educator, and writer for over 40 years. She is the author of dozens of publications and presentations, including her award-winning textbook Archives: Principles and Practices (Facet, 2010, 2017; 3rd edition to be published in 2026) and her 2019 book, A Matter of Facts: The Value of Evidence in an Information Age (ALA Neal-Schuman). 

Tom Nesmith began his archival career in 1978 at the then Public Archives of Canada. In 1990, he became the founding professor of the University of Manitoba's archival studies master's program in the Department of History. His scholarly writing on archival concepts has received international recognition and the W. Kaye Lamb and Hugh A. Taylor prizes from Archivaria. He is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba, an ACA Fellow, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. 

Ciaran Purdome (they/them) is the first Digital Archivist at Acadia University, where they have implemented digital preservation and access infrastructure and workflows. Ciaran focuses their professional practice on empowering researchers in accessing collections and teaching critical approaches to archival materials. They hold master's degrees in Archival Studies and Library and Information Studies from the University of British Columbia.