The Bibliocracy blog posts the results of a response to an order paper question on the Department of Fisheries and Ocean’s library system with very discouraging news: massive destruction of materials and no information on what was digitized.
The Destruction of the Department of Fisheries Libraries
January 29, 2014
Share this post
6 Comments

Law Bytes
Episode 278: Ben Waldman on Gander Social and the Challenges of Building a Sovereign Social Network
byMichael Geist

August 10, 2026
Michael Geist
Search Results placeholder
Michael Geist on Substack
Recent Posts
Named to Canadian Lawyer’s Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers
Be Careful What You Wish For: Why Asking Google Maps to Defy the U.S. on Lake Ontario Would Undermine Canadian Digital Sovereignty
Big Money, Bigger Design Changes: What the Meta Settlement Means for Canada, Bill C-34, and the Age Verification and Privacy Risks That Remain
Unleashing the Trolls: Ontario Court Opens the Door to Liability for Influencers Who Weaponize Their Audiences
Why Ottawa Will Likely Join the U.S. in Opposing the Quebec Online Streaming Law at the Centre of the Trade Battle

Book Burning – Collective memory loss
Without further details about the digitazatoin process, it is hard to judge. However, were the news true, this forced amnesia does not bode well for knowledge (in a knowledge based economy), science (protection of species), economy (rational decisions making process about fisheries), history in the making and democracy. The very widespread example of the book burning in the early days of nazi Germany leave a very bitter taste in the mouth. Let’s hope the physical destruction of information does not equal actual information loss. Amnesia is not a good thing in this aging society…
With Every Action, The Conservatives….
… make Canada an irrelevent footnote in the annals of history.
Why do we know about Greek and Roman culture and not others? A big factor is the written works which were preserved. Canada deserves libraries, archives, museums, and other institutions which preserve Canadian culture 🙁
And someone considers it vital to prevent such institutions from operating at top capacity.
Would Elizabeth May be onto something useful here?
http://elizabethmaymp.ca/news/publications/island-tides/2014/02/06/shutting-down-our-libraries-broke-the-law/
The government is trying to cover up its responsibility for the cod fishery destruction.