By the 1970s, the Canadian population had grown ever more ethnically diverse. Citizens o f English and French origin had been joined by immigrants from Germany, China, Italy, Japan, and elsewhere. There was a continuing search for a stronger sense o f
Canadian nationalism. Now, this nationalism had to be reconciled with the even greater distinctions between cultures, between provinces, and between languages. As Canada celebrated its national centennial in 1967 and a number o f provincial centennials in the 1970s, there was a recognition o f the country’s multicultural nature. The government took the position that public funding was required to ensure that all races and societies received equal treatment. By the late 1970s, multiculturalism had become a deliberate Canadian policy, with the appointment o f the first Minister for Multiculturalism, the Hon. Joseph-Philippe Guay, in 1977. Academics, for example, were exhorted to write histories that would ‘reflect the diversity o f Canadian aspirations for the Canadian future, not just a single-minded quest for nationhood.’^ In particular, French Canadians considered themselves more than just another ethnic group but a separate nation 'svithin the country. To this end they sought recognition o f their own distinct identity. The Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism offered recommendations for supporting a French culture. Canada was gradually evolving into a ‘mosaic’ o f distinct cultures, as opposed to the ‘melting pot’ o f the United States."^
One particular area o f growth was in universities, which received the majority o f their funding from government sources. Academic studies flourished both in quantity and quality. Books in the traditional areas o f political and economic history were joined by social and cultural studies, by ethnic histories, and by studies o f various minority groups. There was also an expansion in professional education. As a university degree became the norm for younger Canadians, graduate education, particularly graduate professional education, became a more important requirement for employment.
The federal government had been funding social and cultural endeavours since the days o f the Massey Commission in the 1940s and 1950s. In the 1960s and 1970s, it could afford to be generous with its funds; like other western nations, Canada was enjoying a period o f sustained economic growth. But in 1975, though still prosperous, the federal
H.J. Hanhan, ‘Canadian History in the 1970s,’ Canadian Historical Review 58, 1 (March 1977): 3. See for example Roberto Perin, ‘Clio as an Ethnic: The Third Force in Canadian Historiography,’
government experienced the first in a long series o f budget deficits, as it fell into debt to sustain its extensive responsibilities. As the government found its widespread social obligations harder to afford, there were increased calls for the decentralisation o f many public programmes. People in provinces remote from Ottawa were less and less satisfied with centralist control o f economic or social programmes; they searched for stronger local management. Regional identities were not easily overcome. The federal government did not entirely object to this reorientation, as it sought to extricate itself from at least some o f its rising costs. As one local politician noted in 1972:
We need real local government. We need it because there is no other way in which the government can become politically responsive. In no other way can it become an organ of the society rather than a manipulator o f the society.^
This need for local control was considered particularly important in the cultural sphere. There was a new sense that cultural resources were often best managed at the local level. In 1972, for example, the Canadian government proclaimed a national museums policy that emphasised ‘decentralization and democratization.’ This policy meant that Canadian museums would work to distribute the cultural resources o f the country through grants to regional or local institutions and through providing assistance with training and outreach. In this way, the government could stimulate the growth o f local repositories.^
The field o f archives was not exempt from restructuring and decentralisation. In 1974, Michael Swift, the chairman o f the Archives Section o f the Canadian Historical Association, noted that only three provinces and four cities in Canada had developed satisfactory records management programmes.^ There was a need for the local management o f records, both public and private, both to ensure government records were well managed and to preserve private records o f historical value.^ In this atmosphere o f diffusion the number o f repositories in Canada rose from the 60 or so in the 1950s to
5
K.D. Jaffary, ‘The Role of the State in a Technological Society,’ Canadian Public Administration
15, 3 (Fall 1972): 440.
K.M. Haworth, ‘Local Archives: Responsibilities and Challenges for Archivists,’ Archivaria 3 (Winter 1976-77): 31.
M. Swift, ‘Chairman’s Message,’ The Canadian Archivist 2, 5 (1974): 3. See, for example, Haworth, ‘Local Archives.’
nearly 200 in the 1970s, as more regions established their own institutions. Virtually all provinces had initiated archival programmes, and work had begun in the Yukon and Northwest Territories. As well, a range o f community, organisational, and institutional repositories were established.