Archives Project Update
YWCA Metro Vancouver’s archives are stored in approximately 125 boxes, in a temperature-controlled room in the Rare Books and Special Collections department at UBC. These records, dating back to 1897, are open to the public and contain 100-year-old handwritten meeting minutes, program brochures, photo albums, microfilms and more.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action 67-70 called for a focus on museums and archives. With this in mind, we began our Archives Project with the goal to place a gendered lens on YWCA Metro Vancouver’s role in our colonial history, specifically programs and services that were designed to assimilate Indigenous women and girls into settler cultures.
To mobilize this work, we are relying on the guidance of an internal employee Working Group and an external Advisory Council, comprised of Indigenous community members and members of UBC’s Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre.
We are also building relationships with host First Nations and other research groups, informing them of our work and inviting collaboration. Next, we will hire an Indigenous researcher to take the work forward.
Aligned with our Strategic Plan, we are committed to taking action to understand, acknowledge and address our complicity in historic and current colonial practices, and to move forward in a responsible way. The Archives Project is progressing with respect to the profound responsibilities and ethical considerations inherent in it. We are guided by principles of Indigenous data management and sovereignty, ensuring the safety and wellbeing of all involved.
We are grateful to everyone providing support and insight for this project, including our internal Truth and Reconciliation Committee, our working groups, board members, employees, experts and knowledge keepers.
For more information on the Archives Project, contact Amy Juschka at ajuschka@ywcavan.org | 604 895 5810.
Banner photo: View of the YWCA building located at Dunsmuir and Burrard St (between 1910 and 1920), Uno Langmann Family Collection of BC Photographs, Rare Books and Special Collections, University of British Columbia Library - UL_1624_01_0220
