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Vancouver, British Columbia, June 12, 2025 — The BC Métis Federation (BCMF) is proud to announce that it has been awarded funding from Library and Archives Canada (LAC) as part of the 2025–2026 Documentary Heritage Communities Program (DHCP). BCMF is one of 37 organizations across Canada selected to receive funding for projects that preserve and make Canada’s documentary heritage accessible.
According to LAC, “These projects were chosen because of their significant impact on the preservation and accessibility of documentary heritage and their importance to society as a whole.”
The funding will support BCMF’s BC Métis Research Support Project (MRSP) over a one-year period. This initiative aims to preserve local Métis history, strengthen research networks, and build capacity among community-based researchers across British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest.
Through this funding, MRSP adds capacity for:
- Learning activities that assist local researchers in reinforcing their existing research skills
- Expanding and managing a vast bibliography, inputting archival/historical information into ArcGIS, and contributing to outward-facing information sharing
Without this support, hundreds of documented examples of Métis presence, memory, and contribution in BC and the Pacific Northwest, painstakingly collected over years of archival research, risk being lost or overlooked.
BCMF’s Director of Research, Joe Desjarlais, emphasized the significance of the funding: “The financial support from LAC builds on the existing relationships between BCMF and Library and Archives Canada. It ensures our community-based researchers can continue their work, grounded in the needs and knowledge of local Métis people. Our focus is on empowering individuals to do their own research, on their own behalf. At its heart, this work is about relationships and kinship.”
The BC Métis Research Support Project will play an essential role in reclaiming Métis narratives and strengthening the collective understanding of Métis experiences in British Columbia and beyond.
For more information about the Documentary Heritage Communities Program, go to Library-Archives.Canada.ca
For more information on the BC Métis Research Support Project and the research team, go to MetisInBC.ca.
This Project has been made possible in part by the Documentary Heritage Communities Program offered by Library and Archives Canada / Ce projet a été rendu possible en partie grâce au Programme pour les collectivités du patrimoine documentaire offert par Bibliothèque et Archives Canada.
