Auditor general sounds alarm about risk of losing materials that ‘trace the history of this province’

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This article was published 22/02/2024 (566 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Archives of Manitoba is failing to fulfil all of its legislative requirements to protect and preserve records, the province’s auditor general has found.

Tyson Shtykalo’s audit raised concerns about aging and deficient building infrastructure, including a lack of fire-suppression systems in some areas and water leaks in storage spaces, putting archival material at greater risk of being damaged.

“Records held by the archives trace the history of this province,” Shtykalo said in a news release, as his 46-page report was released Thursday. “It’s important that these records are protected and preserved for future generations, and accessible to Manitobans.”

Archives report

He said black dust particles produced by the HVAC system, which needs to be replaced, were another unmitigated risk. The particles were found in shelves and on objects in storage vaults.

Shtykalo found the archives was not capable of acquiring, protecting, preserving and providing access to digital records, which were retained by government departments and agencies.

It also did not have a formal record-keeping policy to help ensure all government departments, agencies and the legislative assembly clearly understand the objectives, roles and responsibilities related to archiving materials.

Other findings from the audit, conducted between April 2020 and August 2022, include:

•  Record-keeping training had low update
•  The archives failed to verify the contents of records put into its care
•  It could improve access to physical records if it surveyed users and expanded its hours beyond weekdays

The archives holds records from the Hudson’s Bay Co. to present day, with more than 50,000 linear metres of mainly written or printed records, one million graphic items such as photos, 134,000 maps and 27,000 hours of audio, film and television recordings.

Shtykalo made 10 recommendations to protect and preserve records, and improve public access to them.

Among them, he recommended the province revitalize buildings and infrastructure, adopt a formal record-keeping policy, find ways to increase staff uptake of training and introduce a digital preservation system.

In response sections of the report, government officials agreed with all 10 recommendations.

Heritage Minister Glen Simard blamed the former Progressive Conservative government for the issues raised by the auditor general. He accused the Tories of “years of neglect.”

“I look forward to working with our valuable staff and our department to improve upon our processes and ensuring that Manitobans’ history is preserved,” he said in a statement.

The Tories did not explain why some of the issues weren’t addressed while they were in office.

“Once again, the NDP would rather point fingers than provide solutions as they have no plan to implement the auditor general’s recommendations and no plan to ensure the Archives of Manitoba withstand the test of time,” PC spokesman Matt Preprost wrote in an email.

Some of the issues existed when the former NDP government, ousted in 2016, was in power.

Shtykalo found a request to start planning for new HVAC equipment at the archives office at 200 Vaughan St. was made as far back as 2001. Meetings were held to discuss replacement in 2022.

“Management stated that funds continued to be spent on repairing equipment that is out of date,” Shtykalo wrote in his report. “The archives has made several requests related to aging and deficient building infrastructure.

“These remain unanswered at the time of our audit, putting the archive’s legislated requirement to protect and preserve records at risk.

Shtykalo released a separate report on the government’s implementation of 59 recommendations made from January 2020 to August 2021.

The recommendations were made in seven reports, including performance audits and investigations.

Report on recommendations

Shtykalo found 32 (54 per cent) of his office’s recommendations had been implemented as of September, and 23 (39 per cent) were in progress.

Officials did not intend to implement four (seven per cent) of the recommendations.

Shtykalo said he is “generally satisfied” with the progress.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca