Library and Archives Canada 2024–25 Departmental Plan
On this page
- From the Minister
- From the Librarian and Archivist of Canada
- Plans to deliver on core responsibilities and internal services
- Planned spending and human resources
- Corporate information
- Supplementary information tables
- Federal tax expenditures
- Definitions
From the Minister

The Honourable Pascale St-Onge
Minister of Canadian Heritage
The organizations in the Canadian Heritage portfolio work in a variety of sectors to help the government build a better society. In the coming year, they will draw on their expertise and creativity to advance key priorities in inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility, reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and greening to address the climate change crisis.
In 2024–25, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) will continue to place the user at the centre of its activities to improve access to the rich stories and experiences in its collections. It will continue its work to provide services that are more responsive to users’ needs, including its access to information and privacy services.
LAC will continue to support the government’s commitment to reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, reducing inequalities and developing green, welcoming and accessible infrastructure as reiterated in its Sustainable Development Strategy. Over the next two years, it will begin to review and implement a new version of its Indigenous Heritage Action Plan in collaboration with Indigenous communities. Ādisōke, the future shared facility of LAC and the Ottawa Public Library, will continue to take shape and will soon become a world-class destination where people and communities can come together to discover and understand the countless stories and tales that unite us.
As Minister of Canadian Heritage, I am pleased to present the Departmental Plan 2024–25 prepared by LAC. It outlines how this organization plans to fulfil its mandate and help move Canadian society forward.
The Honourable Pascale St-Onge
From the Librarian and Archivist of Canada

Leslie Weir
Librarian and Archivist of Canada
Since my arrival at LAC, we have set ambitious goals at the start of every fiscal year. Every time, I have been amazed at our many achievements by year’s end. In the coming fiscal year, we will continue the path set forth by our Vision 2030 strategic plan while putting users at the centre of our concerns.
An unwavering commitment to reconciliation and building respectful relationships with First Nations, Inuit and the Métis Nation remain priorities for LAC. We are committed to advancing several Indigenous initiatives, such as the digitization of six million records from federal Indian Day Schools.
Another priority is to improve our Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) services. Our ATIP Action Plan has already led to considerable progress. We will continue to work to reduce backlog, to renew our policies and to engage with external partners to provide timely access to the records.
The construction of our joint facility with the Ottawa Public Library, Ādisōke, is well underway and the transformation of our services is progressing. We are continuing our efforts to improve and integrate our online and in-person services to better meet our users’ expectations and attract new audiences. To do this, we will have to stay at the forefront of the digital landscape. We intend to review various strategies to improve our skills and adopt faster and safer technologies.
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility (EDIA) are at the heart of all these priorities. Developing an EDIA organizational strategy and creating a Centre of Excellence will inform our next steps for all LAC services, collections management and staff.
With such a comprehensive plan, LAC is on track to achieve many more successes. I hope you enjoy learning about the plans and priorities of our institution.
Leslie Weir
Plans to deliver on core responsibilities and internal services
Core responsibilities and internal services:
Acquiring and preserving documentary heritage
Description
- LAC acquires documentary heritage of historical value and preserves it for current and future generations, as mandated in the Library and Archives of Canada Act.
- Its collections are made up of documentary heritage preserved in a variety of media and formats.
- LAC advises the Government of Canada (GC) and its institutions on the management of information and ensures that records of historical value are transferred to its collections.
- Through legal deposit, all materials submitted by Canadian publishers become part of its collections.
- Other records of national significance are acquired to document Canadian society, including sampling of Internet content.
- LAC uses state-of-the-art techniques and infrastructure to restore the collections and provide optimal conditions for long-term preservation. LAC also builds its capacity and expertise to ensure the availability of digital records.
Quality of life impacts
This key responsibility contributes to the “society” domain of the Quality of Life Framework for Canada, in particular to a “sense of pride/belonging to Canada” and to “positive perceptions of diversity” as a result of acquiring documentary heritage of historical value to document Canadian society. It also contributes to the domain of “good governance,” including “confidence in institutions,” by transferring archival GC records to its collection, and to “Indigenous self-determination” by acquiring historical records relating to Indigenous peoples.
Results and targets
The following tables show, for each departmental result related to Acquiring and preserving documentary heritage, the indicators, the results from the three most recently reported fiscal years, the targets and target dates approved in 2024–25.
Table 1: Indicators, results and targets for departmental result
LAC acquires a collection that is representative of Canada
Indicator |
[2020–2021] result |
[2021–2022] result |
[2022–2023] result |
Target |
Date to achieve |
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Indicator 1: Percentage of federal institutions transferring records annually |
5% |
9% |
10% |
10% |
March 31, 2025 |
|
Indicator 2: Percentage increase of published titles transferred to LAC in a digital format |
N/AFootnote1 |
N/A |
N/A |
25% |
March 31, 2025 |
|
Indicator 3: Percentage of targeted acquisition areas covered by an acquisition agreement |
76% |
76% |
92% |
75% |
March 31, 2025 |
|
Table 1 footnotes
|
Table 2: Indicators, results and targets for departmental result
Documentary heritage acquired by LAC is processed in a timely manner to make it searchable
Indicator |
[2020–2021] result |
[2021–2022] result |
[2022–2023] result |
Target |
Date to achieve |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Indicator 4: Percentage of government records processed in keeping with service standards |
39% |
40% |
39% |
60% |
March 31, 2025 |
Indicator 5: Percentage of published heritage processed in keeping with service standards |
98% |
91% |
83% |
83% |
March 31, 2025 |
Indicator 6: Percentage of private archives processed in keeping with service standards |
30% |
55% |
81% |
75% |
March 31, 2025 |
Table 3: Indicators, results and targets for departmental result
LAC’s collection is preserved within standards for current and future generations
Indicator |
[2020–2021] result |
[2021–2022] result |
[2022–2023] result |
Target |
Date to achieve |
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Indicator 7: Percentage of facilities that provide an environment that meets standards for the preservation of the analog collection |
N/AFootnote2 |
N/A |
65% |
75% |
March 31, 2025 |
|
Indicator 8: Total number of terabytes (Tb) of digital material preserved in LAC’s collection (including born digital, digitized and migrated content) |
7,848 Tb |
9,001 Tb |
13,060 Tb |
15,500 Tb |
March 31, 2025 |
|
Table 2 footnotes
|
The financial, human resources and performance information for LAC’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.
Plans to achieve results
In its role as Canada’s memory, LAC acquires, describes, preserves and values collective national heritage, which is a source of discovery, of identity and social understanding, of sharing and of transmission to present and future generations.
Acquiring and preserving collections that are representative of Canada
For more than 150 years, LAC has made sure to acquire, describe and preserve publications, archives, works of art and data so that national collections reflect the diverse voices of Canadian society in the past and present. In a joint effort with publishers, donors and federal departments and agencies, LAC will rely on strategic approaches to facilitate the transfer of publications and archival materials, both analog and digital, that are representative of Canada. These approaches integrate the principles of equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility, principles that the organizational strategy currently under development seeks to integrate into every area of the institution's activities.
In keeping with its private archives acquisition orientation, LAC will proactively seek analog and digital documents concerning people or groups that have been marginalized in Canadian society in the past and that are underrepresented in its collections, such as women in the military.
To foster the acquisition of GC archival records and to ensure that they are more quickly accessible to the Canadian population, LAC will continue to analyze and update its processes and its services to federal institutions.
In terms of published heritage, it will build on its new acquisition strategy, which will explore opportunities to better leverage the Legal Deposit of Publications Regulations and rely digital acquisition services. This new strategy will guide outreach and collaboration with publishers from underrepresented groups (e.g. Indigenous peoples, multicultural communities, Francophone culture, women, sexual diversity and gender expression and regional diversity).
As part of its preservation activities, LAC will advance the development of its collection storage framework. This framework will inform the Real Property Portfolio Strategy by contributing to the planning of space requirements and to the management of analog collections to ensure their sustainability and integrity. In addition, LAC plans to create a processing plan to assess the status of the various Indigenous treaties in its collections to determine the required conservation work.
Acquiring and making documentary heritage discoverable in a timely manner
New services will be provided to Canadian publishers, such as the submission of digital publications via the Digital Asset Management System and the new option to import metadata provided by publishers. These improvements to the legal deposit program will allow users to discover the transferred publications faster.
LAC will continue to deploy descriptive metadata that will represent Indigenous peoples and contexts in an accurate and respectful manner. While respecting the cataloguing standards that ensure consistency and discoverability, LAC will continue to review the descriptions of its collections in consultation with the Indigenous Advisory Circle and to update the vocabulary used so that it is respectful, culturally appropriate and historically accurate. The new content, like the millions of pages related to the federal Indian Day School system, will be described based on these principles to foster trust with Indigenous peoples and help users easily find what they are looking for.
LAC will also undertake a review of its modern treaty negotiation principles and conduct a discussion on the sovereignty and the political and legal implications of Indigenous data. This work will support reconciliation efforts and foster broader discussions about data sovereignty in general.
Renewing the Archival Information System
LAC’s archival collections are catalogued in MIKAN, a web-based application developed in-house in 2003. Since this application is approaching the end of its life, LAC is working to acquire a new archival information system that is better suited to the needs of users of its archival specialists. This will result in an improved, modern and sustainable system.
Supporting and raising awareness among communities and partners
LAC will seek to proactively develop new relationships to expand its network of potential partners and engage with new communities. It will also continue to support the development of a national network of print collections by participating in North: The Canadian Shared Print Network and the National Indigenous Knowledge and Language Alliance.
Promoting the disposition program will continue to help federal departments and agencies manage their records effectively throughout their life cycle. LAC will ensure that they are aware of the tools at their disposal, including the Operational Metadata Standard. It will also provide them with revised procedures to further assist them in the timely and effective preparation and transfer of their archival material to LAC.
LAC will continue to represent Canada on international standards committees. It will develop an annual engagement strategy to foster engagement and collaboration with Canadian publishing and music associations, universities, and library organizations.
Leslie Weir was elected President-elect (2023–25) and President (2025–27) of the International Federation of Library Associations and Libraries (IFLA). This entry into office will allow LAC to continue to convey the Canadian values of tolerance, diversity and inclusion within this international community.
Key risks
In terms of the results related to its primary responsibility, if LAC fails to find additional storage space solutions and to carry out the necessary work to maintain its aging facilities, there is a risk that LAC will not be able to acquire more material, that existing collections will not be preserved according to standards and that they may deteriorate or be lost.
To mitigate this risk, LAC will build on the collection storage framework in accordance with preservation standards (currently under development) and its Real Property Portfolio Strategy. This Strategy will guide the planning of space requirements and the necessary renovations of aging special purpose buildings. Finally, the ongoing re-evaluation initiatives of government records are also helping to mitigate these risks.
Snapshot of planned resources in 2024–25
- Planned spending: $74,892,748
- Planned full-time resources: 407
Related government priorities
Gender-based analysis plus
LAC applies Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus) to all of its initiatives, including the one on the description and digitization of records on Indian Day Schools, which has mobilized several LAC sectors since 2022–23. GBA Plus has shown that this initiative aligns with the six pillars of the GC’s Gender Results Framework and that Indigenous communities far from urban centres will be positively affected. Digitization helps remove geographic barriers that could impede access to physical records stored at LAC facilities in Winnipeg and Gatineau.
For further information concerning GBA Plus at LAC, please consult the GBA Plus supplementary information table.
United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals
As custodian of the national collections for current and future generations, LAC supports the 2022–26 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy and the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda by including users, partners and First Nations, Inuit and Métis Nation communities in its descriptive activities regarding existing collections, and by supporting them in their initiatives to digitize and preserve their documentary heritage. This principle of collaboration, which is fundamental to LAC’s five-year action plan for Indigenous heritage helps in achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10 which is to advance reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and to take measures to reduce inequalities.
More information on LAC’s contributions to Canada’s Federal Implementation Plan on the 2030 Agenda and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy can be found in our 2024–27 Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy.
Program inventory
Acquiring and preserving documentary heritage is supported by the following programs:
- Program 1: Acquisition and processing of government records
- Program 2: Acquisition and processing of published heritage
- Program 3: Acquisition and processing of private archives
- Program 4: Preservation
Supporting information on planned expenditures, human resources, and results related to LAC’s program inventory is available on GC Infobase.
Summary of changes made to reporting framework since last year
No changes were made to the departmental results framework.
Providing access to documentary heritage
Description
- LAC provides access to its collections while respecting legal, policy and contractual obligations.
- Using cutting-edge technologies, LAC enables Canadians to access and consult its collections and enrich their knowledge of Canada’s documentary heritage.
- LAC makes digital content available through its website and social media to improve access to its collections.
- LAC provides online services and in-person services at its four points of service. It uses innovative strategies such as crowdsourcing (Co-Lab) and the Digi-Lab to complement the digital content of its collections.
- LAC also promotes Canadian heritage by creating exhibitions that enable the public to discover its collections in cultural sites throughout Canada.
- Through the Documentary Heritage Communities Program, LAC supports memory organizations by increasing their capacity to preserve and make their collections accessible.
Quality of life impacts
This key responsibility contributes to the “society” domain of the Quality of Life Framework for Canada, in particular to a “satisfaction with time use” by way of the services offered by LAC and the way collections are rendered accessible, and to a “sense of pride/belonging to Canada” and to “positive perceptions of diversity” through all the activities mentioned the description of the key responsibility.
This key responsibility also contributes to the “good governance” domain, in particular to “confidence in institutions,” to “Indigenous self-determination,” and to “resolution of serious legal problems,” by giving access to collections and access to information and privacy.
Results and targets
The following tables show, for each departmental result related to Providing access to documentary heritage, the indicators, the results from the three most recently reported fiscal years, the targets and target dates approved in 2024–25.
Table 4: Indicators, results and targets for departmental result
Canadians increasingly access Canada’s documentary heritage
Indicator |
[2020–2021] result |
[2021–2022] result |
[2022–2023] result |
Target |
Date to achieve |
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Indicator 9: Number of images digitized for access |
2.2M images |
2.4M images |
3.5M images |
6.5M imagesFootnote3 |
March 31, 2025 |
|
Indicator 10: Number of unique visitors to LAC’s website and on-line applications |
2.7M unique visitors |
2.8M unique visitors |
2.2M unique visitors |
3M unique visitors |
March 31, 2025 |
|
Indicator 11: Number of service transactions onsite and remotely performed from LAC’s service points in Ottawa, Halifax, Winnipeg and Vancouver |
36 662 transactions |
50 517 transactions |
63 012 transactions |
60 000 transactions |
March 31, 2025 |
|
Table 4 footnotes
|
Table 5: Indicators, results and targets for departmental result
LAC contributes to the advancement of Canada as a free and democratic society by providing access to records
Indicator |
[2020–2021] result |
[2021–2022] result |
[2022–2023] result |
Target |
Date to achieve |
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Indicator 12: Percentage of ATIP requests processed in comparison with the total requests |
N/AFootnote4 |
N/A |
N/A |
70% |
March 31, 2025 |
|
Table 5 footnotes
|
Table 6: Indicators, results and targets for departmental result
Canadians are more aware of their documentary heritage
Indicator |
[2020–2021] result |
[2021–2022] result |
[2022–2023] result |
Target |
Date to achieve |
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Indicator 13: Number of participants that attended exhibitions and events delivered by LAC or in collaboration with other organizations |
13 705 participants |
177 527 participants |
165 741 participants |
150 000 participants |
March 31, 2025 |
|
Indicator 14: Number of collection items sent out on loans for exhibitions |
20 items |
51 items |
75 items |
75 items |
March 31, 2025 |
|
Indicator 15: Percentage of Documentary Heritage Communities Program recipients that have fully achieved their expected results |
96% |
91% |
85% |
90% |
March 31, 2025 |
|
Indicator 16: Percentage of Listen, Hear Our Voices Program recipients that have fully achieved their expected results |
N/A |
N/AFootnote5 |
100% |
90%Footnote6 |
March 31, 2025 |
|
Table 6 footnotes
|
The financial, human resources and performance information for the LAC’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.
Plans to achieve results
In 2024–25 and beyond, LAC will improve its services, both online and in-person, across the country. It will work to provide more user-friendly and enhanced access to its collections and will seek to reach new audiences.
Canadians increasingly access their documentary heritage
Placing user needs at the centre of its concerns, LAC will continue to refine the way results are displayed in the Collection Search tool, an integrated search interface, to promote a more intuitive content-finding experience. It will also continue to integrate existing databases, such as public opinion research reports, theses and the Virtual Gramophone. New tools and research aids based on topics relevant to users (both beginners and experts) will also be published on the website.
To increase access to collections by making them available online, LAC will build on its digitization strategy. The strategy aims to coordinate and focus efforts to digitize analog resources of national importance, including government records, books, journals, periodicals, newspapers, etc. In 2024–25, LAC plans to digitize over six million pages, notably in support of responding to ATIP requests and the project to digitize records related to the federal Indian Day School system, as part of the Horizontal initiative: Implementing the Federal Framework to Address the Legacy of Residential Schools.
LAC reaffirms its commitment to reconciliation and will continue to update its Indigenous Heritage Action Plan in collaboration with the Indigenous Advisory Circle. These joint efforts will guide work to foster discovery, understanding and dialogue around records concerning First Nations, Inuit and Métis Nation. Collection materials are rich mediums for sharing the realities and stories of these peoples, facilitating the search for genealogical information, supporting communities in rediscovering their cultures and languages, and serving as a source of information in litigation, claims, agreements, investigations and commissions. Moreover, with over 455,000 images scanned during phase 2, We Are Here: Sharing Stories initiative surpassed its goal. In 2024–25, digitization will continue with the addition of 50,000 new images.
LAC will also continue to develop its new public service models and work to integrate online and in-person services to ensure seamless service delivery for users in preparation for the opening of Ādisōke, its future point of service in Ottawa.
Ādisōke: Planning the opening
Ādisōke will continue to be built in 2024–25. By becoming its largest public point of service, Ādisōke will give LAC new visibility and access to an even larger clientele. In order to be ready for its opening in 2026, several LAC teams will continue their planning work to ensure that the design, spaces, supplies and equipment meet the needs of users and staff, lay the foundation for the moving plan to the new building, and implement a variety of strategies and plans related to partnerships, visitor experience, interpretation, services, public programming, etc.
LAC will also begin to design Ādisōke’s first ever exhibition, finalize its first three-year exhibition plan and develop the online approach that will be adopted for its new building.
Contributing to a free and democratic society by providing access to records
In 2024–25, LAC will continue to implement the ATIP Action Plan undertaken in 2023. It will continue its efforts to reduce the backlog of outstanding requests and decrease the number of complaints received by the Information Commissioner. It will also continue to make progress in meeting its legal obligations to respond to new requests in a timely manner. New software solutions will be implemented to reduce processing time, and previously released sets of archival records will be released to spare Canadians from having to request them. LAC will also introduce new policies and procedures to transform its working methods, including reducing the number of consultations with other federal departments and agencies.
To provide the public with better access to ATIP requests, LAC will continue to support GC approaches to declassifying records, increase its block review activities to proactively open more than 2 million pages of records so that an ATIP request for them is no longer required and will aim to digitize more than 1.5 million images.
In addition, LAC plans to implement, by the end of fiscal year 2024–25, an integrated plan for the scanning operations taking place at its Winnipeg point of service. This plan will improve LAC’s reprography service and thereby the organization’s ability to respond more quickly and effectively to user requests.
Ensuring Canadians are more aware of their documentary heritage
In 2024–25, public programming activities aimed at raising awareness and visibility of valuable national collections will focus on planning the inaugural exhibition of Ādisōke, scheduled for 2026. LAC will also develop a master interpretive plan that will guide it in implementing pilot programs and engagement activities for targeted audiences and demographic groups, such as families and teachers.
A partnerships strategy will be finalized to foster sustainable and diversified collaborative relationships towards a common goal: access to collections. For example, LAC will work on topics such as artificial intelligence with academic partners or on genealogy services with companies working in that field.
LAC will continue to support local and regional communities in their efforts to share their documentary heritage through its contribution programs, such as the Documentary Heritage Communities Program and Listen, Hear Our Voices.
Finally, LAC will continue to implement its Action Plan to support Crown judicial issues. The objectives of this plan are to make other government departments and agencies aware of LAC’s mandate and to work with central agencies to engage LAC in a timely manner in litigation involving the collections.
Key risks
With respect to the intended outcomes related to its second responsibility, if LAC does not efficiently improve and maintain its services and digital systems, it may not be able to give access to its collections.
To mitigate this risk, LAC is following best practices in tool design to continuously improve the user experience by drawing on the feedback of its users. LAC is also continuing to develop research support and collections access services, notably for First Nations, Inuit and the Métis Nation. Finally, the continued implementation of the ATIP Action Plan will improve its access to government records services.
Snapshot of planned resources in 2024–25
- Planned spending: $81,766,696
- Planned full-time resources: 273
Related government priorities
Gender-based analysis plus
GBA Plus at LAC includes responses to requests made to LAC ATIP through the Litigation Response function from equity-seeking communities. This function has both direct and indirect positive impacts on the communities by addressing the growing demand for historical records to support settlements of past harms and discrimination, and by furthering the reconciliation process between the GC and Indigenous peoples. This function is aligned with the six pillars of the GC’s Gender Results Framework in accordance with the principle of intersectionality. By the same token, it also supports the Accessible Canada Act (S.C. 2019, c. 10).
For further information concerning GBA Plus at LAC, please consult the GBA Plus supplementary information table.
United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals
Ādisōke is an example of a collaborative project that reflects LAC’s commitment to building infrastructure that is sustainable, socially integrated and accessible to everyone. An approach of collaboration, civic involvement, and partnership with the Anishinābe Algonquin Nation allowed considerations such as greenhouse gas reduction, environmental preservation for future generations, reconciliation, urban planning, transportation, accessibility, quality of life and social connection to be incorporated. The facility opening in 2026 targets the level of LEED® certification and a “net-zero carbon” standard. This project highlights LAC’s contribution to achieving SDG 12 and 13, which aim to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns and to take action on climate change and its impacts.
Further information on LAC’s contributions to Canada’s Federal Implementation Plan for the 2030 Agenda and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy can be found in our Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy 2023–27.
Program inventory
Providing access to documentary heritage is supported by the following programs:
- Program 5: Public services
- Program 6: Access to information and privacy
- Program 7: Outreach and support to communities
Supporting information on planned expenditures, human resources, and results related to LAC’s program inventory is available on GC Infobase.
Summary of changes made to reporting framework since last year
No changes were made to the departmental results framework.
Internal services
Description
Internal services are the services that are provided within a department so that it can meet its corporate obligations and deliver its programs. There are 10 categories of internal services:
- management and oversight services
- communications services
- legal services
- human resources management and security services
- financial management services
- information management services
- information technology services
- real property management services
- materiel management services
- acquisition management services
Plans to achieve results
Internal Services will support programs in delivering on their mandates and corporate priorities for the next three fiscal years. They will continue to work to maintain and improve systems and infrastructure; to ensure LAC’s workforce develops its expertise, including in the areas of digital technologies, digital library science and digital archival science; and to implement a hybrid, modern, inclusive, respectful and safe workplace.
Delivering quality digital services
Information technology, data management and digital activities support the achievement of LAC’s strategic direction towards improving work methods and services. LAC will continue to improve its systems by progressively integrating new products and services into its cloud environment.
The implementation of the data strategy and action plan up to 2026 aims to better use data to inform decision-making. In this vein, LAC will develop training on data literacy to update or deepen the knowledge of its staff. The development of a common understanding and language will help increase the ability of all employees to draw useful information from data to guide service transformation and improvement.
Continuing to integrate equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility into our principles and practices
LAC will continue to work on developing and implementing its departmental strategy on EDIA. In addition, LAC will continue its efforts to establish its Centre of Excellence, which will promote the integration of EDIA practices and principles into the management of its services and collections.
LAC will also continue to develop its Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan in people management to foster a welcoming and inclusive work environment for its staff. It will incorporate, among other things, recommendations to follow up on the results of the study of its employment systems.
As part of its ongoing reconciliation efforts, LAC will continue to raise awareness of the issues facing Indigenous peoples and their First Nations, Inuit and Métis Nation colleagues through learning opportunities.
Continuing to support the government in achieving its sustainable development goals
LAC plans to finalize the optimization of some of the Preservation Centre’s vaults in March 2024. In addition to providing better storage conditions, these renovations will allow LAC to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 and 80% by 2050.
Consistent with its new Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy 2023–27, LAC will ensure that its procurement and materiel management framework will henceforth incorporate sustainable development considerations by March 31, 2025. LAC will also continue to renew its car fleet with zero-emission vehicles.
Continuing to optimize LAC’s real property portfolio
Like the government, LAC is taking a holistic and progressive approach in which real property is considered a strategic and innovation platform to implement its programs for citizens. To this end, LAC’s Real Property Portfolio Strategy is essential. It guides LAC in its responsibility to manage its special-purpose buildings and in its responsibility to plan space needs to ensure its ability to acquire, preserve and provide access to an ever-increasing documentary heritage. In 2024–25, LAC will undertake major renovation projects in two aging buildings: at its Winnipeg point of service to support LAC’s ATIP efforts, and at its Renfrew Collection Storage Centre.
Snapshot of planned resources in 2024-25
- Planned spending: $43,147,246
- Planned full-time resources: 293
Related government priorities
Table 7: Planning for contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses
The following table shows how the department plans to achieve awarding at least 5% of the total value of contracts to Indigenous businesses annually.
LAC plans to support the Government of Canada’s commitment that a mandatory minimum target of 5% of the total value of contracts is awarded to Indigenous Businesses annually by achieving the minimum targets set out below. LAC plans to achieve these minimum targets using a combination of voluntary set asides for planned office furniture and information technology (IT) hardware expenditures related to LAC’s workplace initiative, and IT professional services expenditures related to LAC’s IT projects. LAC’s standard practice is to invite a minimum of one Indigenous supplier to bid on all professional services requests for proposal to provide ongoing opportunities to Indigenous Businesses. This initiative creates more opportunities for Indigenous businesses with an objective of surpassing predicted numbers by enabling more incidental contracts.
LAC plans to explore other strategies to maintain or increase the value of contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses as a proportion of the total value of contracts LAC awards each year.
5% reporting field |
2022–23 actual result |
2023–24 forecasted result |
2024–25 planned result |
---|---|---|---|
Total percentage of contracts with Indigenous businesses |
14.69% |
5% |
5% |
Planned spending and human resources
This section provides an overview of LAC’s planned spending and human resources for the next three fiscal years and compares planned spending for 2024–25 with actual spending from previous years.
Spending
Table 8: Actual spending summary for core responsibilities and internal services ($ dollars)
The following table shows information on spending for each of LAC’s core responsibilities and for its internal services for the previous three fiscal years. Amounts for the current fiscal year are forecasted based on spending to date.
Core responsibilities and internal services |
[2021–2022] actual expenditures |
[2022–2023] actual expenditures |
[2023–2024] forecast spending |
---|---|---|---|
1. Acquiring and preserving documentary heritage |
66,553,586 |
107,998,456 |
95,688,712 |
2. Providing access to documentary heritage |
30,336,866 |
49,897,974 |
90,505,539 |
Subtotal |
96,890,452 |
157,896,430 |
186,194,251 |
Internal services |
34,912,820 |
42,604,485 |
46,559,840 |
Total |
131,803,272 |
200,500,915 |
232,754,091 |
Explanation of table 8
Overall, most of the changes in actual and planned spending are due to appropriation adjustments and the following initiatives:
- Acquisition, processing, preservation and accessibility of the private records of the Right Honourable Stephen Harper (2017–18 to 2021–22);
- Implementation of the Federal Pathway to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People, announced in Budget 2021 (2021–22 to 2024–25);
- Access to information and litigation support function to address recommendations made in the Office of the Information Commissioner’s investigation report (2022–23 to 2027–28);
- Implementation of the Federal Framework to Address the Legacy of Residential Schools, announced in Budget 2022 (2022–23 to 2024–25);
- The real property portfolio, including the Preservation Storage Facility completed in 2022 in Gatineau, Quebec (actual spending in 2022–23 includes an anticipated substantial completion payment of $36.1 million for this construction project); and
- The partnership between LAC and the OPL for the Ādisōke project.
Table 9: Budgetary planning summary for core responsibilities and internal services (dollars)
The following table shows information on spending for each of LAC’s core responsibilities and for its internal services for the upcoming three fiscal years.
Core responsibilities and internal services |
[2024–2025] budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates) |
[2024–2025] planned spending |
[2025–2026] planned spending |
[2026–2027] planned spending |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. Acquiring and preserving documentary heritage |
74,892,748 |
74,892,748 |
68,540,189 |
66,818,190 |
2. Providing access to documentary heritage |
81,766,696 |
81,766,696 |
71,157,597 |
43,125,796 |
Subtotal |
156,659,444 |
156,659,444 |
139,697,786 |
109,943,986 |
Internal services |
43,147,246 |
43,147,246 |
40,672,881 |
40,161,445 |
Total |
199,806,690 |
199,806,690 |
180,370,667 |
150,105,431 |
Explanation of table 9
Overall, most of the planned budget variations are due to appropriation adjustments and the following initiatives:
- Implementation the Federal Pathway to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People, announced in Budget 2021 (2021–22 to 2024–25);
- Access to information and litigation support function to address recommendations made in the Office of the Information Commissioner’s investigation report (2022–23 to 2027–28);
- Implementation of the Federal Framework to Address the Legacy of Residential Schools, announced in Budget 2022 (2022–23 to 2024–25);
- The real property portfolio, including the Preservation Storage Facility completed in 2022 in Gatineau, Quebec;
- The partnership between LAC and the OPL for the Ādisōke project; and
- The Refocusing Government Spending exercise announced in Budget 2023.
Funding
The following graph presents planned spending (voted and statutory expenditures) over time.

Text version of figure 1
2021–22 |
2022–23 |
2023–24 |
2024–25 |
2025–26 |
2026–27 |
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Statutory |
10,723,849 |
11,849,625 |
15,515,776 |
12,603,208 |
11,387,144 |
10,965,975 |
Voted |
121,079,423 |
188,651,290 |
217,238,316 |
187,203,482 |
168,983,523 |
139,139,456 |
Total |
131,803,272 |
200,500,915 |
232,754,092 |
199,806,690 |
180,370,667 |
150,105,431 |
Explanation of figure 1
Overall, most of the planned budget variations are due to appropriation adjustments and the following initiatives:
- Acquisition, processing, preservation and accessibility of the private records of the Right Honourable Stephen Harper (2017–18 to 2021–22);
- Implementation of the Federal Pathway to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People, announced in Budget 2021 (2021–22 to 2024–25);
- Implementation of the Federal Framework to Address the Legacy of Residential Schools, announced in Budget 2022 (2022–23 to 2024–25);
- ATIP and litigation support function to address recommendations made in the Office of the Information Commissioner’s investigation report (2022–23 to 2027–28);
- The real property portfolio, including the Preservation Storage Facility completed in 2022 in Gatineau, Quebec (the financial profile for 2022–23 includes an anticipated substantial completion payment of $36.1 million for this construction project);
- The partnership between LAC and the OPL for the Ādisōke project; and
- The Refocusing Government Spending exercise announced in Budget 2023.
Estimates by vote
Information on LAC’s organizational appropriations is available in the 2024–25 Main Estimates.
Future-oriented condensed statement of operations
The future-oriented condensed statement of operations provides an overview of LAC’s operations for 2023–24 to 2024–25.
The forecast and planned amounts in this statement of operations were prepared on an accrual basis. The forecast and planned amounts presented in other sections of the Departmental Plan were prepared on an expenditure basis. Amounts may therefore differ.
A more detailed future-oriented statement of operations and associated notes, including a reconciliation of the net cost of operations with the requested authorities, are available on LAC’s website.
Table 10: Future-oriented condensed statement of operations for the year ending March 31, 2025 (dollars)
Financial information |
[2023–2024] forecast results |
[2024–2025] planned results |
Difference ([2024–2025] planned results minus [2023–2024] forecast results) |
---|---|---|---|
Total expenses |
211,448,960 |
180,485,424 |
(30,963,536) |
Total revenues |
1,992,978 |
3,715,000 |
1,722,022 |
Net cost of operations before government funding and transfers |
209,455,982 |
176,770,424 |
(32,685,558) |
Explanation of table 10
The $32.7 million decrease in net operating cost was primarily due to the following:
- $17.6 million decrease in temporary funding for access to information and litigation support;
- $16.1 million decrease related to the financial profile of the real property portfolio;
- $5.9 million decrease related to operating budget carry forward;
- $2.6 million decrease related to statutory adjustments;
- $1.9 million decrease related to the Refocusing Government Spending exercise announced in Budget 2023;
- $0.9 million decrease due to temporary funding for the implementation of the Federal Pathway to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People;
- $0.6 million decrease in temporary funding related to a transfer from the Department of National Defence for the implementation of the settlement agreement of the LGBT Purge Class action lawsuit;
- $0.5 million decrease related to salary adjustments following ratification of collective agreements;
- $10.8 million increase related to the partnership between LAC and the OPL for the Ādisōke project;
- $2.3 million increase related to the implementation of the Federal Framework to Address the Legacy of Residential Schools, announced in Budget 2022; and
- $0.3 million net increase primarily related to the expected change in non-budgetary expenditures, such as the value of services provided without charge by other government departments and the acquisition/depreciation of tangible assets.
Human resources
Table 11: Actual human resources for core responsibilities and internal services
The following table shows a summary of human resources, in full-time equivalents (FTEs), for LAC’s core responsibilities and for its internal services for the previous three fiscal years. Human resources for the current fiscal year are forecasted based on year to date.
Core responsibilities and internal services |
[2021–2022] actual FTEs |
[2022–2023] actual FTEs |
[2023–2024] forecasted FTEs |
---|---|---|---|
1. Acquiring and preserving documentary heritage |
360 |
338 |
404 |
2. Providing access to documentary heritage |
242 |
310 |
475 |
Subtotal |
602 |
648 |
879 |
Internal services |
251 |
272 |
295 |
Total |
853 |
920 |
1 174 |
Explanation of table 11
The net change in full-time equivalents between fiscal years is mainly due to changes in resources related to the following initiatives:
- Acquisition, processing, preservation and accessibility of the private records of the Right Honourable Stephen Harper (2017–18 to 2021–22);
- Implementation of the Federal Pathway to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People, announced in Budget 2021 (2021–22 to 2024–25);
- Implementation of the Federal Framework to Address the Legacy of Residential Schools, announced in Budget 2022 (2022–23 to 2024–25);
- Access to information and litigation support function to address recommendations made in the Office of the Information Commissioner’s investigation report (2022–23 to 2027–28); and
- The real property portfolio, specifically for moving the collections to the Preservation Storage Facility completed in 2022 in Gatineau, Quebec.
Table 12: Human resources planning summary for core responsibilities and internal services
The following table shows information on human resources, in full-time equivalents (FTEs), for each of LAC’s core responsibilities and for its internal services planned for 2024–25 and future years.
Core responsibilities and internal services |
[2024–2025] planned fulltime equivalents |
[2025–2026] planned fulltime equivalents |
[2026–2027] planned fulltime equivalents |
---|---|---|---|
1. Acquiring and preserving documentary heritage |
407 |
320 |
315 |
2. Providing access to documentary heritage |
273 |
275 |
250 |
Subtotal |
680 |
595 |
565 |
Internal services |
293 |
278 |
273 |
Total |
973 |
873 |
838 |
Explanation of table 12
The net change in planned full-time equivalents between fiscal years is mainly due to changes in resources related to the following initiatives:
- Implementation of the Federal Pathway to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People, announced in Budget 2021 (2021–22 to 2024–25);
- Implementation of the Federal Framework to Address the Legacy of Residential Schools, announced in Budget 2022 (2022–23 to 2024–25);
- Access to information and litigation support function to address recommendations made in the Office of the Information Commissioner’s investigation report (2022–23 to 2027–28); and
- The partnership between LAC and the OPL for the Ādisōke project, specifically for preparing the move of collections planned for 2025–26.
Corporate information
Organizational profile
Appropriate minister:
The Honourable Pascale St-Onge, Minister of Canadian Heritage
Institutional head:
Leslie Weir, Librarian and Archivist of Canada
Ministerial portfolio:
Department of Canadian Heritage
Enabling instrument(s):
Year of incorporation / commencement:
2004
Acronym:
LAC
Organizational contact information
Mailing address:
550 de la Cité Boulevard
Gatineau, Quebec J8T 0A7
Canada
Telephone:
613-996-5115 or 1-866-578-7777 (toll-free in Canada and the United States)
TTY:
613-992-6969 ou 1-866-299-1699 (toll-free in Canada)
Fax:
613-995-6274
Email:
Website:
Supplementary information tables
The following supplementary information tables are available on LAC’s website:
Information on LAC’s departmental sustainable development strategy can be found on LAC’s website.
Federal tax expenditures
LAC’s Departmental Plan does not include information on tax expenditures.
Tax expenditures are the responsibility of the Minister of Finance. The Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for government wide tax expenditures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures.
This report provides detailed information on tax expenditures, including objectives, historical background and references to related federal spending programs, as well as evaluations, research papers and gender-based analysis plus.
Definitions
List of terms
- appropriation (crédit)
- Any authority of Parliament to pay money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
- budgetary expenditures (dépenses budgétaires)
- Operating and capital expenditures; transfer payments to other levels of government, organizations or individuals; and payments to Crown corporations.
- core responsibility (responsabilité essentielle)
- An enduring function or role performed by a department. The intentions of the department with respect to a core responsibility are reflected in one or more related departmental results that the department seeks to contribute to or influence.
- Departmental Plan (plan ministériel)
- A document that sets out a department’s priorities, programs, expected results and associated resource requirements, covering a threeyear period beginning with the year indicated in the title of the report. Departmental Plans are tabled in Parliament each spring.
- departmental result (résultat ministériel)
- A change that a department seeks to influence. A departmental result is often outside departments’ immediate control, but it should be influenced by program-level outcomes.
- departmental result indicator (indicateur de résultat ministériel)
- A factor or variable that provides a valid and reliable means to measure or describe progress on a departmental result.
- departmental results framework (cadre ministériel des résultats)
- A framework that consists of the department’s core responsibilities, departmental results and departmental result indicators.
- Departmental Results Report (rapport sur les résultats ministériels)
- A report on a department’s actual performance in a fiscal year against its plans, priorities and expected results set out in its Departmental Plan for that year. Departmental Results Reports are usually tabled in Parliament each fall.
- fulltime equivalent (équivalent temps plein)
- A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full personyear charge against a departmental budget. Fulltime equivalents are calculated as a ratio of assigned hours of work to scheduled hours of work. Scheduled hours of work are set out in collective agreements.
- gender-based analysis plus (GBA Plus) (analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS Plus])
- An analytical tool used to support the development of responsive and inclusive policies, programs and other initiatives. GBA Plus is a process for understanding who is impacted by the issue or opportunity being addressed by the initiative; identifying how the initiative could be tailored to meet diverse needs of the people most impacted; and anticipating and mitigating any barriers to accessing or benefitting from the initiative. GBA Plus is an intersectional analysis that goes beyond biological (sex) and socio-cultural (gender) differences to consider other factors, such as age, disability, education, ethnicity, economic status, geography, language, race, religion, and sexual orientation.
- government-wide priorities (priorités pangouvernementales)
- For the purpose of the 2024–25 Departmental Plan, government-wide priorities are the high-level themes outlining the government’s agenda in the 2021 Speech from the Throne: building a healthier today and tomorrow; growing a more resilient economy; bolder climate action; fighter harder for safer communities; standing up for diversity and inclusion; moving faster on the path to reconciliation and fighting for a secure, just, and equitable world.
- horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)
- An initiative in which two or more federal organizations are given funding to pursue a shared outcome, often linked to a government priority.
- Indigenous business
- As defined on the Indigenous Services Canada website in accordance with the Government of Canada’s commitment that a mandatory minimum target of 5% of the total value of contracts is awarded to Indigenous businesses annually.
- non budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires)
- Net outlays and receipts related to loans, investments and advances, which change the composition of the financial assets of the Government of Canada.
- performance (rendement)
- What an organization did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the organization intended to achieve, and how well lessons learned have been identified.
- plan (plan)
- The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how an organization intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally, a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead up to the expected result.
- planned spending (dépenses prévues)
-
For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, planned spending refers to those amounts presented in the Main Estimates.
A department is expected to be aware of the authorities that it has sought and received. The determination of planned spending is a departmental responsibility, and departments must be able to defend the expenditure and accrual numbers presented in their Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports.
- program (programme)
- Individual or groups of services, activities or combinations thereof that are managed together within a department and that focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.
- program inventory (répertoire des programmes)
- An inventory of a department’s programs that describes how resources are organized to carry out the department’s core responsibilities and achieve its planned results.
- result (résultat)
- An external consequence attributed, in part, to an organization, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single organization, policy, program or initiative; instead, they are within the area of the organization’s influence.
- statutory expenditures (dépenses législatives)
- Expenditures that Parliament has approved through legislation other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they may be made.
- target (cible)
- A measurable performance or success level that an organization, program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative.
- voted expenditures (dépenses votées)
- Expenditures that Parliament approves annually through an Appropriation Act. The vote wording becomes the governing conditions under which these expenditures may be made.
Page details
- Date modified: