Call to Action: Help Save PADP
Nova Scotia’s archival community needs your help
As many of you know, the recently tabled 2026-27 Nova Scotia Provincial Budget, Defending Nova Scotia, included significant cuts across the arts, culture, and heritage sectors. While the majority of these reductions – totalling $130 Million – fall within the Department of Communities, Culture, Tourism and Heritage (CCTH), one program critical to archives in Nova Scotia, falls outside of that department.
The Provincial Archival Development Program (PADP) – a modest but foundational $50,000 funding program administered by the Nova Scotia Archives – falls under the Department of Service Nova Scotia.
Why PADP Matters
We are very grateful that CCTH has maintained the CNSA’s annual operating grant. At the same time, we are deeply concerned by the decision within Service Nova Scotia to eliminate PADP.
PADP is the only funding program in Nova Scotia specifically tailored to the needs of archives.
For an overview of projects funded through this program over the past several years, please see the compiled PADP Adjudication Reports since 2018, prepared by the Chair of PADP Adjudication, CNSA’s Vice President.
PADP’s elimination, combined with the recent discontinuation of the federal Documentary Heritage Communities Program (DHCP), leaves our province’s 100+ archival institutions with very few options for funding archival projects. This is a serious loss for the archival community and for the documentary heritage these institutions preserve on behalf of the public.
How You Can Help
We believe it is important that the provincial government hears from archivists, heritage workers, researchers, and community members – near and far – about the value of archives to communities and the potential impact of PADP’s elimination.
We encourage you to write to the Minister of Service Nova Scotia and/or your MLA to express your concern and request that they restore PADP. To make this easier, we have created a customizable template letter.
- Download the Template Letter here
- Personalize it: Add information about your organization and PADP-funded project(s), if applicable. Whether you’re a CNSA member, an archival colleague, or a researcher, your voice brings important perspective on the unique role of archives in Nova Scotia, and the funding programs that help sustain them.
- Email you letter to:
- Minister Jill Balser (SNS-Min@novascotia.ca) and Deputy Minister Joanne Munro (Joanne.Munro@novascotia.ca)
- CC your MLA – find the contact info for your MLA HERE
Please help us show the Government of Nova Scotia that our documentary heritage not ‘discretionary’ – it is essential to communities, institutions, and the collective memory of this province.