Devastating news.

I hope more people with close knowledge of the situation will be able to
update the list soon.

If anyone is interested in voicing opposition to this, there is a quick way
to message Harper. Follow this link:  http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/contact.asp

Karlis rightly mentions that Stephen Harper is prioritizing "arctic
sovereignty" - this is one prong of a wider ideological agenda for
interpreting Canada's history to his benefit. A keen article on this topic
was published in the Globe and Mail:   How Stephen Harper is remaking the
Canadian myth<http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/how-stephen-harper-is-remaking-the-canadian-myth/article2419732/?utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_source=Morning%20News%20Update&utm_type=text&utm_content=How%20Stephen%20Harper%20is%20remaking%20the%20Canadian%20myth&utm_campaign=94687706>
Adrian Myers

________________________________________________________________
Adrian Myers   |   Department of Anthropology, Stanford University




On Sat, May 19, 2012 at 8:10 AM, Karlis Karklins <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> Hello HistArchers!
>
> I have some really sad news to report.
>
> The results of Stephen Harper's Conservative government's recently
> announced budget cuts are now clear and historical archaeology in Canada
> has been dealt a mortal blow.
>
> Effective in about four months, all the regional labs will be closed with
> the artifacts being packed and shipped to Ottawa. Unfortunately, there is
> really no place for them there nor the staff to deal with the huge amount
> of material. It is also unclear who will do the packing as lab personnel
> have been sacked. There will certainly be no staff to unpack the material
> which will henceforth not be available to researchers.
>
> Most regions will now have but one archaeologist to deal with all the sites
> in their region.
>
> The once productive Material Culture Research Section in Ottawa
> that churned out hundreds of useful research reports has been completely
> cut with all five remaining researchers being handed their walking papers.
>
> What a loss of research skills and knowledge!
>
> Fortunately, the Underwater Archaeology Section headquartered in
> Ottawa remains untouched as they do much research in the Arctic and Arctic
> Sovereignty is a priority with the Harper government.
>
> The Society for Historical Archaeology and the Canadian Archaeological
> Association are in the process of preparing an official statement
> concerning the travesty outlined above and other organizations and
> individuals have already done so but will this have any effect? Is there
> anything that can be done to save the federal archaeology program in
> Canada?
>
>
> Parks Canada archaeology may be likened to a person who has just undergone
> major intrusive surgery and the vital signs are far from stable. Can
> anything be done to save the patient???
>
> Karlis
>
> PS For an excellent synthesis of the Parks Canada archaeology cuts, see the
> Elfshot blog's Summary of Archaeology Cuts at
> http://elfshotgallery.blogspot.ca/
>