Fellow municipal archivists, I wish to draw your attention to a potentially damaging article in the November 2002 edition of Municipal World magazine by Rick O'Connor entitled "Accountability and the New Municipal Act."  On the first page (p. 26) he states that the new act "mandates that both the archivist and auditor shall not be employees of the municipality."  This interpretation is INCORRECT and potentially very damaging to municipal archivists and records managers.

I want to assure the membership that the MAIG executive has formulated a response to this article that will appear in the January 2003 edition of the magazine.  We have also issued a letter to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing requesting an amendment to this section of the act to state clearly that municipal archivists can be appointed.

My thanks go to Tom Belton (Archives Advisor), Michael Moir (City of Toronto Archives) and the MAIG executive for alerting me to this issue and for helping with the response.  Regards,

Brian Masschaele, Chair
AAO Municipal Archives Interest Group.