Decolonizing Canadiana Metadata

The Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN) that is responsible for the Canadiana collection of digitized documentary heritage has replaced the subject heading “Indians of North America” with “Indigenous peoples.” This will effect a little under 2,000 records.

"The content, metadata, and resource descriptions in the Canadiana collections contain language that reflects the biases, norms, and perspectives of the time in which they were created. With the guidance of CRKN’s Preservation and Access Committee (PAC), CRKN staff are replacing inappropriate language in the metadata and resource descriptions introduced during legacy cataloguing practices. The first phase of this critical three-phase project is now complete."

The next phase will involve removing the term “Indian” from subject headings indicating individual communities and updating Indigenous names.

The CKRN has worked on this initiative with:

• Indigenous community websites 
• Greater Victoria Public Library 
• Manitoba Archival Information Network 
• First Nations, Métis, and Inuit – Indigenous Ontology (FNMIIO), created by the National Indigenous Knowledge and Language Alliance (NIKLA) and the Canadian Federation of Library Associations (CFLA)
• the X̱wi7x̱wa Library