Canadian archives statistics show how quickly archival work is moving from physical custody toward large-scale digital preservation and online access. They also show the continuing importance of local collections: Alberta’s provincial holdings include government records, photographs, maps, audiovisual material and more than 100,000 vital-statistics records. The figures below cover national results reported by Library and Archives Canada (LAC), along with current collection and access information from the Provincial Archives of Alberta.
Contents
- National acquisition and processing
- Preservation, storage and digitization
- How people use Canadian archives
- Access-to-information demand
- Alberta archival holdings
- Genealogy access rules and service details
- Indigenous archival programs
National acquisition and processing
Library and Archives Canada reported that 13.14% of Canadian federal institutions transferred records annually to LAC in fiscal 2024–25. This is a participation measure for that fiscal year, rather than a count of all institutions or all records held nationally. Departmental Results Report 2024–2025
Digital publishing was a prominent part of the same year’s acquisition work. The percentage increase in published titles transferred to LAC in digital format was 40.4% in fiscal 2024–25. Nearly 40 publishers adopted LAC’s high-volume digital-publication workflow, while more than 400 publishers, self-publishers and associations submitted digital publications to LAC for the first time. LAC added more than 8,000 new e-books to its collections during the year. These measures describe activity in one reporting period; they do not represent the total number of digital titles published in Canada.
Private archives were also represented in the national collection. LAC collected material from 96% of its targeted private-archives acquisition areas in fiscal 2024–25. Specific acquisitions included 123 Telefilm Canada-funded feature films, more than 1,000 books from Frank Newfeld’s collection and 250 books from Lebanese-Canadian poet John Astor’s collection. Departmental Results Report 2024–2025
These numbers point to several different kinds of archival growth: transfers from public institutions, deposits from publishers, private-collection acquisitions and audiovisual collecting. A percentage such as 96% describes coverage of targeted acquisition areas, while counts such as 123 films or more than 8,000 e-books describe particular additions. They should not be combined into a single measure of the size of Canada’s archives.
Preservation, storage and digitization
LAC preserved 2,037 terabytes of born-digital, digitized and migrated content during fiscal 2024–25. At the end of that fiscal year, it held 17,371 terabytes of preserved digital material. The first figure is annual preservation activity; the second is an end-of-year stock of preserved digital material. Departmental Results Report 2024–2025
LAC also added 10 million images to its digital collections in fiscal 2024–25. Physical custody remains part of the preservation picture: LAC’s six custodial facilities house Canada’s national collections. Two of those six facilities were assessed as being in poor or critical condition in fiscal 2024–25, and two additional facilities required targeted investments for fire-protection and electrical-system deficiencies. Departmental Results Report 2024–2025
The previous annual report provides useful context. LAC preserved 15,334 terabytes of digital material in fiscal 2023–24 and digitized 5.7 million collection images for access. Its Government of Canada Web Archive public-access layer made 3.1 billion documents available in fiscal 2023–24. The different reporting measures matter: preserved terabytes, digitized images and web-archive documents count different kinds of content and are not interchangeable. Departmental Results Report 2023–2024
| Measure | Period | Reported result |
|---|---|---|
| Preserved digital material | 2023–24 | 15,334 TB |
| Preserved digital material | 2024–25 year-end | 17,371 TB |
| Collection images digitized for access | 2023–24 | 5.7 million |
| Images added to digital collections | 2024–25 | 10 million |
The table compares reported measures, but it should not be read as a growth calculation. The reports use different descriptions and time frames, and the available figures do not establish that every item in one measure is counted in the other.
How people use Canadian archives
Online discovery and direct service both matter to archival access. LAC recorded 2.9 million unique visitors to its website and online applications in fiscal 2024–25. Through its national service points, it recorded 50,606 onsite and remote service transactions. LAC also processed 66% of total access-to-information and privacy, or ATIP, requests in that fiscal year. Departmental Results Report 2024–2025
Public programming extended beyond reading-room transactions. LAC exhibitions and events attracted 161,992 participants in fiscal 2024–25, and LAC loaned 88 collection items for exhibitions. Among contribution-program recipients, 91% of Documentary Heritage Communities Program recipients had fully achieved expected results, while 100% of Listen, Hear Our Voices contribution-program recipients had fully achieved expected results in the same fiscal year. These percentages describe program-result assessments, not the percentage of all Canadian archives meeting a standard. Departmental Results Report 2024–2025
Earlier online engagement figures show the range of formats used to connect people with records. In fiscal 2023–24, LAC’s English Discover blog articles attracted 250,259 visitors and its French Discover blog articles attracted 70,572 visitors. The 30 Flickr albums produced in that fiscal year received almost 1.6 million views. Those are platform-specific measures for that reporting period, not unique people across all LAC services. Departmental Results Report 2023–2024
Access-to-information demand
LAC received 4,297 formal access-to-information requests in fiscal 2023–24 and completed 4,000 formal requests. The received requests included 3,251 concerning personnel files, 1,026 concerning Government of Canada archival records and 20 concerning LAC’s own operational records. These categories describe the requests reported by LAC and should not be treated as a complete census of every kind of archival research.
For Government of Canada archival records specifically, LAC completed 1,035 formal requests in fiscal 2023–24. It carried 3,410 formal requests forward into fiscal 2024–25. The received and completed totals refer to different workflow events and should not be compared as if they measured the same group of files. Library and Archives Canada Annual Report on the Access to Information Act: 2023–2024
The route used by requesters was also recorded. LAC received 2,752 requests through the federal ATIP Online portal in fiscal 2023–24 and received 1,570 informal requests. It provided 802 ATIP re-release packages to clients and posted 866 ATIP summaries on the Open Government Portal. Formal, informal, re-release and summary counts represent separate parts of the information-access system. Library and Archives Canada Annual Report on the Access to Information Act: 2023–2024
Alberta archival holdings
For readers researching Alberta, the Provincial Archives of Alberta provides a more geographically focused view of archival scale. Its current collection information lists 62,808 metres of government textual records and 6,486 metres of private textual records. It also lists 161,497 maps, plans and drawings; 2,463,412 photographs; and 90,588 audiovisual objects, including film, video and audio recordings. About Us | Provincial Archives of Alberta
The resource library holds 18,170 books. The reference library includes approximately 1,500 published local and community histories. Because these holdings are counted in different units, metres of textual records cannot be added directly to photographs, books or audiovisual objects to produce one meaningful total. About Us | Provincial Archives of Alberta; Search Your Genealogy | Provincial Archives of Alberta
Genealogical research is supported by more than 100,000 vital-statistics records covering births, marriages and deaths. The collection page describes this as a 100,000-plus figure, so it is best understood as an approximate lower-bound description rather than an exact current item count. Search Your Genealogy | Provincial Archives of Alberta
Genealogy access rules and service details
Alberta’s access thresholds are measured from the relevant life event. Birth records become archival-access records at 120 years or older, measured from the date of birth. Marriage records become archival-access records at 75 years or older, measured from the date of marriage. Death records become archival-access records at 50 years or older, measured from the date of death, while stillbirth records become archival-access records at 75 years or older, measured from the date of stillbirth. Search Your Genealogy | Provincial Archives of Alberta
| Record type | Archival-access threshold | Measurement point |
|---|---|---|
| Birth | 120 years or older | Date of birth |
| Marriage | 75 years or older | Date of marriage |
| Death | 50 years or older | Date of death |
| Stillbirth | 75 years or older | Date of stillbirth |
The Provincial Archives of Alberta provides birth registrations dating from 1870 to 1906 through its birth indexes. That is index coverage for the stated period, not a claim that every birth in Alberta during those years appears in the index. Search Your Genealogy | Provincial Archives of Alberta
The reading room is open Tuesday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The archives does not retrieve archival material from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. or from 3:30 p.m. onward. The current public contact number listed by the Provincial Archives of Alberta is 780-427-1750. These are current service details from the cited archive pages and may change when the institution updates its information. About Us | Provincial Archives of Alberta
Indigenous archival programs
LAC’s reported figures include dedicated work on Indigenous-related records and community archival capacity. The Listen, Hear Our Voices initiative received more than 64 applications in 2022. LAC supported 23 projects totaling $1.5 million in fiscal 2022–23. Since 2017, it contributed $4.7 million to 75 Listen, Hear Our Voices projects across Canada through 2023. Departmental Results Report 2022–2023
Digitization results for fiscal 2022–23 included 56 rare books in Indigenous languages, 1,700 Indigenous-related photographs and 143,000 Indigenous-related textual documents. The We Are Here initiative digitized 284,101 Indigenous-related documents in fiscal 2022–23 and had a target of 450,000 digitized Indigenous-related documents by 2024. The target is identified as a target, not as a completed result. Departmental Results Report 2022–2023
The 2022 federal budget provided $25 million for identifying, describing and digitizing Indian Day School records. The project covers 6 million pages, with funding scheduled to be paid over three years. These are project scope and funding-plan figures; they do not state that all 6 million pages had been digitized by the end of the cited reporting period. Departmental Results Report 2022–2023