Archives Canada removes ‘outdated’ web page

Canada’s national library, which bills itself as “custodian of our distant past and recent history” has deleted a history of the prime ministers from its website, with archivists having labelled it “outdated and redundant.”

A search on the Library and Archives Canada website now yields an error page, and a news release entitled “spring cleaning” explains that the feature, called First Among Equals, has now been removed, along with a handful of other historical records.

Blacklock’s Reporter, an Ottawa online news outlet, which, along with the Toronto Star, first reported on the deletion, said there was “much fanfare” in 1994 when the web page was launched.

The removal comes as the country grapples with Canada’s history with Indian Residential Schools, a heated debate that has even led to the burning of churches and destruction of statues.

This latest reckoning, which has again tackled the history of figures such as Egerton Ryerson, Hector-Louis Langevin and Sir John A. Macdonald, came in the wake of reports that hundreds of unmarked graves had been discovered at former residential schools.

The Library and Archives Canada page regarding Macdonald made no mention of his role in the creation of the residential school system, the Toronto Star reported last month.

The library also deleted a website dedicated to the War of 1812 and a poetry archive, a news release explained.

The federal institution did not respond to a request from Postmedia News for comment by press time.

John English, a former Liberal member of Parliament and author of biographies of Pierre Elliott Trudeau and Lester B. Pearson, called it “evasive.”

“I understand you have to revise these things but would think it would be a more deliberative process with proper discussion,” English said.

In another section of the website, which explains the process for “renewal,” staff say that some of the content on the website, written years ago “does not always reflect our diverse and multicultural country, often presenting only one side of Canada’s history.