Approvals: SRSC 2011 August 17; Heritage Committee [date]
The Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre, a joint initiative of the Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association (CSAA) and Algoma University (AU), has a 30-year track record of transferring and managing the third party resources (e.g., records, special collections and artifacts) of Residential School Survivors, Staff, their families and related organizations. The Centre has also worked successfully with Survivors and First Nations, Inuit, Métis and Church organizations in the area of healing, sharing, and learning in relation to the Indian and Inuit Residential Schools and Day Schools legacies. The present model for the Centre is to work with Survivors and former Staff, their families, communities and organizations, as well as the former clergy, teachers and staff of the Indian and Inuit Residential Schools and Day Schools. The Centre gathers or duplicates records and artifacts in its possession or in the possession of its partners, to conserve them, describe them and make them accessible and available to everyone.
1. The Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre will acquire or duplicate, conserve, make available and administrate records and artifacts of or concerning Survivors and related organizations that are engaged in sharing, healing and learning in relation to the Indian and Inuit Residential Schools and Day Schools legacies.
a. The Centre will focus on records in any format that have healing, sharing, learning, legal, evidentiary, educational, and research values.
b. The Centre will develop its collections in a manner respectful of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis knowledge systems and traditions and consistent with professional practices governing records, special collections and artifacts in Canada. The contexts of the records, special collections and artifacts held in trust for future generations by the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre shall be maintained and made available to world in the manner in which the record creator(s) understood and used them. This is particularly true of records held in trust jointly by the Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association and Algoma University.
The scope and program concentrates on two main categories of records, special collections and artifacts:
1. Private records, special collections and artifacts, in any format, of Survivors, groups and related organizations that are engaged in sharing, healing and learning in relation to Residential Schools and Indian Day Schools legacies.
2. The records, special collections and artifacts created, accumulated, or used by the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre, Shingwauk Project, Shingwauk Residential Schools Gatherings, Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association, and the National Residential Schools Survivors Society as part of their functions and activities, which have archival value and are preserved for their sharing, healing, and learning; legal, evidential, educational, or research values.
1. The Copyright of the records shall belong to the donor, unless these rights have previously been transferred to another person or corporate body.
a. Copyright may also be assigned to the Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association and Algoma University and administrated by the Shingwauk Residential School Centre.
2. Typically, the Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association and Algoma University shall jointly hold the physical ownership of donated records; no records shall be accepted “on deposit”.
3. In exceptional circumstances, on request and with the agreement of the Centre and the Donor, the Centre will digitally acquire, preserve and make accessible records over which partnering individuals or organizations wish to retain physical control.
4. Records of institutions and corporate bodies that have archive facilities or are legally obligated to be responsible for their records will not be acquired by the Centre, except under exceptional circumstances.
1. “Exceptional Circumstances” will be determined by the staff of the Centre, with the concurrence of representatives of the Centre’s Heritage Advisory Committee.
1. The Centre will use discretion and care to identify safety and conservation concerns that proposed donations may present to staff members, visitors, and the other collections.
a. This is mostly in regards to artifacts: the main concern is examining any textile, metals, organic and inorganic production. These items could contain pests (insects), pollutants (mould), or inherent vices (e.g. nitrate negative glass plates).
b. In extreme cases, should “dangerous” or materially unstable items be offered, the Centre may seek alternative means (i.e. non-physical) of acquiring those items (e.g. digitizing the items in some capacity) without accepting ownership and the risk and cost that goes with it).
For more information on the disposition of collections, see the SRSC's De-accessioning and Disposal Policy