Your article, Catholic Church Reluctant To Release Residential Schools Records (April 6) greatly oversimplified the concerns of Catholic archivists, and painted an incomplete picture of the position of the archives of other denominations.
The privacy concerns raised on behalf of the Catholic entities involved are very real and are of paramount concern to archivists across Canada.
Restricting access based on privacy grounds is not stonewalling to protect perpetrators of crimes, rather it is based on Canadian legislation intended to protect everyone, in particular the innocent children named in the documents.
A dialogue among denominational and church archives and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission must be opened so that the concerns of both are met.
president, Association of Canadian Archivists