President's Report
Garth Clarke
Welcome news has recently arrived. There has been a one-time extension of federal funding to the Canadian Council of Archives for the 2005-2006 year. The ASA Grants Committee met in early March to adjudicate this province's CCA grant applications and the approved applications have been sent to the CCA for final adjudication.
Both the CCA and Library and Archives Canada continue to work towards a new National Archival Development Program (NADP), which should be in place for next year. The new program will emphasize the preservation of, and access to the nation's documentary heritage, as well as the collection of records from currently under-represented groups, archival capacity building, and increasing public awareness. With this new program, the issue of the equitable allotment of CCA funding comes to the fore. The present allotment scheme is out of date and must be revised. I intend to bring the matter up at the next CCA Round Table in Saskatoon this June.
Our Executive Director, Michael Gourlie, delivered a polished presentation about the ASA to the Alberta Heritage Resource Foundation Board at its February meeting. The presentation was well received by the AHRF members.
Work continues unabated on the Prairie Populism project, and we all look forward to seeing the final product.