Canada Strong, Knowledge Devalued: Decommissioning the Parks Canada Library

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In November 2025, the federal government released Canada Strong , its somewhat overdue budget. Of the many items mentioned in its nearly 500-pages, one should worry historians; namely, the labelling of Parks Canada’s library services as “lower priority” and targeting them for reduction or closure.[1]

Whatever you might think of ending library services – and I have lots of thoughts about that – explicitly naming it as part of a cost reduction plan is odd. Operating the library costs $300,000 in an Agency whose annual expenditures run close to $1.3 billion. I suspect flying the honey buckets out of the mountain national parks costs more. Not that I want that service reduced, much less eliminated, either!

I was interested in why Parks Canada chose to end its library services and filed an ATIP request in January 2026 asking for the materials related to the decision.[2] I recently received the materials and learned that not only were library services ending, but the library collection was being “decommissioned.”

But there was nothing in the remarkably brief 35-page PDF I received that shed light on the process of decision-making. How did Parks Canada reach this conclusion? Who was consulted? What were the arguments for and against closure? How did the library end up in the federal budget? The only mention of the cessation of library services is this, from a report by Richard Dennis, the Chief Librarian of the Parks Canada National Library:

As part of Budget 2025 and the Comprehensive Expenditure Review it has been determined that Parks Canada will cease the delivery of Library Services.[3]

Ah, the passive voice! No clues about accountability there. “It has been determined…” Determined by whom? And why?

If Parks Canada is ending its library services and “decommissioning” its collection, its materials must be preserved and made available at another public institution. Now is the time for historians to push the organization for answers and convey the importance of preserving the collection and access to it.

Some of them have been digitized and are housed at the Parks Canada History website as discussed in an earlier NiCHE post. But there are many, many more items that are not visible or available to the public that are useful and accessible to Parks staff through an inward-facing version of the catalogue. 

These materials are unique and, in many ways, are even more important to preserve. They include everything from wildlife and vegetation inventories of national parks to visitor surveys, historical reports, early provisional master plans, reports related to the establishment of various types of protected areas by Parks Canada, and interpretive plans and reports dating from the 1960s onwards. There are also town and a range of other types of planning reports that address areas within protected areas and themes within those protected areas.

For me, the crucial materials are the unpublished internal reports, which, as Chief Librarian for Parks Canada Richard Dennis notes, often cannot be found anywhere else either within the Agency or beyond. These reports are just what they sound like; they are those produced by Parks Canada staff or consultants as they do their jobs. 

Without such reports the history of the Agency and its various activities to conserve Canada’s natural and cultural heritage can’t be properly understood by either internal users trying to understand site specific histories or external users such as university-based scholars, land claims researchers, Indigenous organizations, or independent researchers who need to understand for various purposes the Agency’s past activities. These reports are just as fundamental to understanding the Agency’s activities as the documentary records held at Library and Archives Canada and in the filing cabinets and computer servers of the Agency. 

How much material are we talking about? The ATIP material suggests that the Agency doesn’t really know, but there are anywhere between 190,000 to 220,000 items. Ideally, the collection should be kept as a whole and go to Library and Archives Canada. But, as I noted, it’s unclear what might happen. 

The ATIP PDF suggests that some material might – as is usual – be shredded. Other material might be put into storage at Iron Mountain, a global information management company. Neither the criteria for disposal, plans for future access, costing of storage or other alternatives, nor LAC’s capacity to absorb this collection are articulated in the materials received. This makes the decision to close the library appear weakly justified and incompletely documented.  

If you’re concerned about the future of Parks Canada’s library collection, you can write to Julie Dabrusin, Minister of the Environment, Climate Change, and Nature. Copy Richard Dennis, the Chief Librarian for Parks Canada, and your Member of Parliament while you’re at it.[4]

The Honourable Julie Dabrusin
Minister of the Environment, Climate Change, and Nature
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
ministre-minister[at]ec.gc.ca

The other thing that we can do is demonstrate the value of the materials Parks Canada’s Library holds and the Agency’s researchers have produced. If you’ve used reports from Parks Canada’s Library in your work, get in touch with NiCHE! Maybe it can put together a series of short pieces that, together, will show why it’s crucial these materials be preserved and continue to be accessible.

[1] “To meet up to 15 per cent in savings targets over three years, the Parks Canada Agency (PC) will maximize efficiencies while continuing to deliver services to Canadians by refocusing its organisational structure and business unit functions to avoid duplication of work, as well as ceasing or reducing lower priority activities, such as library services.” Canada. Department of Finance. Canada Strong: Budget 2025 (His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, 2025), 297.

[2] My request was as follows: ‘’I request all internal communications about the Parks Canada Library (including briefing notes, emails, presentations, meeting minutes, plans, and reports) related to why the Parks Canada Agency (PCA) library (Cornwall) will be downsized or closed as proposed. Please include records pertaining to disposal of all elements of Parks Canada’s collections located at or managed by the PCA library (Cornwall), including briefing notes, emails, presentations, meeting minutes, plans, user surveys, and reports, and other materials related to the cost of operating the library. With respect to the cost of operating the library, I seek all financial information used in materials related to the closing of the library. In addition, include all communications (including briefing notes, emails, presentations, meeting minutes, plans, user surveys and reports) related to plans for user access to the collection and library services more generally to staff and the public going forward, whether the library remains open or is closed / transferred /absorbed by other internal or external groups. Include materials from the last three years up to and including the date of submission of this request. Finally, please include materials that may include cabinet confidences in the processing of my request.’’

[3] Richard Dennis, “Library Services Cessation and Collection Decommissioning,” nd [ca. December 2025], 2.

[4] Richard Dennis, Chief Librarian, Parks Canada National Library
Parks Canada/Government of Canada
111 Water Street East
Cornwall, Ontario
K6H 6S2 
richard[dot]dennis[at]pc.gc.ca

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Tina Loo

Professor at University of British Columbia
Tina Loo teaches Canadian history and environmental history at the University of British Columbia. She's written on wildlife management and the social and environmental impacts of hydroelectric development. Her current project is an examination of forced relocations in postwar Canada.

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