In Committee Room 3 at 2 p.m., the lights dimmed as officials unveiled Library and Archives Canada’s 2026–27 Departmental Plan. A single figure anchored the discussion: $11.1 million in reductions this fiscal year alone.

The cuts mark the first wave of a three‑year squeeze that rises to $22.1 million by 2028–29, part of Ottawa’s Comprehensive Expenditure Review. Fifty‑six permanent positions will disappear, with roughly 161 jobs lost in total. Programs are being discontinued, executive ranks trimmed, and Access to Information services scaled back. The national repository that safeguards everything from government files to private collections now faces the challenge of renewal under austerity.

Yet preparation for Ādisōke, the new shared facility with the Ottawa Public Library, presses ahead. Expected to draw 1.7 million visitors annually, it will merge exhibition space and digital access in a single gateway to Canadian memory. Staff describe it as both a test and a symbol—the country’s premier heritage institution opening its doors wider just as resources tighten.

Digitization remains the lifeline. Four agreements with the Department of National Defence will yield 30 million images in 2026–27, including the complete run of Second World War service records. Other treasures, from the Jacob M. Lowy Collection to genealogical archives, will move into Ādisōke under new radio‑frequency tracking.

“LAC is uniquely suited in this moment to support Canadian democratic values,” wrote Minister Marc Miller. Librarian and Archivist Leslie Weir added that Canadians still expect a “modern and dynamic source of enduring knowledge.”

The plan’s tension is clear: preserve a nation’s identity while absorbing millions in cuts. Whether efficiency can substitute for capacity will determine how fully Canadians can continue to find themselves in the records that define them.