Letter to the Chair of the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board regarding the 2020 revisio

As we stated in our letter to the Minister (attached), we believe CCPERB's new approach makes it impossible for Canadian institutions 1) to increase the diversity of voices and groups represented in archival collections and 2) to collect archives in modern digital formats. [...] In our letter to you dated September 18, 2020, we noted a number of concerns with the draft revised Guide as it pertains to archival monetary appraisal, including the increased dependency on demonstrating comparable sales to determine fair market value and the rejection of other methods of reasoned justification, as well as the explicit exclusion of non-monetary values such as historical value, le. [...] Additionally, in the case of many archives, the donors prefer that they not go to market, and the new guidelines will impinge on a donor’s choice to donate directly to one of our member institutions. [...] It has also come to our attention that several applications that were under consideration prior to the new Guide coming into effect have now been rejected, and that in several cases these decisions reached the donors before the cultural institutions, which has led to frustration on the part of these donors and undermined the credibility of the cultural institutions involved, independent appraisers. [...] 2 We hope to have the opportunity to further discuss these concerns with you and to work together to develop reasonable alternatives in order to ensure that public collections of Canada’s documentary heritage continue to grow.