Background
There was concern, post-WW II, about the use of cultural institutions and propaganda to further authoritarian goals, as well as the influence of US culture on Canada. The Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters and Sciences, known as the Massey Commission after its chair, Vincent Massey, was appointed by Prime Minister Louis St-Laurent in April 1949 to investigate the state of arts and culture in Canada. The Commission looked at federal agencies including the National Research Council (NRC), National Film Board (NFB), Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), and National Gallery. It held 16 public meetings, heard from 1,200 witnesses, and reviewed 450 briefs. Two years later, it presented its report which warned against dependence on US culture. It urged federal, provincial, and local support for the arts, and federal funding for universities. It made recommendations that led to the founding of the National Library of Canada (now Library and Archives Canada) in 1953, the creation of the Canada Council for the Arts in 1957, federal aid for universities, the expansion of the NFB, a new home for the National Gallery, and the conservation of Canada’s historic places. A serious omission in the report was the lack of attention to Indigenous arts and culture, and failure to act for decades on the preservation of Indigenous historic sites following the report.
(Stewart, J.D.M. , and Helmut Kallmann. “Massey Commission.” The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. Article published February 07, 2006; Last Edited November 12, 2019.)
The full report Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters and Sciences
Le rapport complet: Commission royale d’enquête sur l’avancement des arts, des lettres et des sciences
Summary
Galleries
The Massey Commission noted that Canadian galleries were essential but underdeveloped, with inadequate buildings, lack of trained staff, and poor conservation and handling of objects, and called for public investment in buildings with proper environmentally controlled space, storage, and conservation facilities, trained professional staff, stable public funding, and national coordination. It recommended the National Gallery coordinate exhibits across Canada, support local and regional galleries, advise the federal government on arts policy, and assist regional galleries in developing professional standards and infrastructure. It stated that galleries are central in developing a “distinct Canadian cultural identity,” and in supporting and developing pride in Canadian artists. It saw galleries as national assets essential to promoting Canada’s artistic reputation internationally, education, citizenship, cultural development, and providing access to art to all Canadians, not just those in larger urban centres.
The Massey report led to the creation in 1957 of the Canada Council which provided operating and project funding to galleries, enabling the hiring of professional staff, installation of exhibits, collections development, and support for Canadian artists, thus reducing reliance on private patrons and volunteers. It supported the role of the National Gallery in national coordination and the setting of professional standards, and regional and municipal galleries began to model their standards for curation and collections care on these standards. This led to galleries increasingly hiring trained curators and conservators, implementing higher standards for environmental control, fireproof storage, and art handling and registration. This enabled them to become eligible for loans and travelling exhibits. The Massey report led to the formation of provincial arts councils, municipal funding for infrastructure, and the growth of public galleries across Canada. It established the principle that federal involvement was legitimate and needed.
Museums
The Massey Commission found that museums were underfunded, underdeveloped, and overcrowded, noting a lack of government policy and public support, adequate space, poor storage conditions, scattered collections, and no national historical museum. The National Museum was mainly responsible for natural history and anthropology. The Massey report emphasized that museums were repositories of national memory and essential public institutions, preserving natural heritage, Indigenous cultures, folk traditions, and military and historic artifacts. The report stated that museums were central to public education and had a role in original scientific research, fieldwork, and scholarly publications. It warned that without satisfactory museums, Canada could risk losing irreplaceable evidence of its history and identity. It called for good museum spaces that allowed for proper exhibits, safe storage and conservation, higher budgets, professional staff, expanding public access, and coordinated planning, strongly supporting a better-resourced Canadian War Museum and a national historical museum.
The Massey report led to a change in thinking about museums in its insistence that museums serve education, scholarship, and nation-building. It recommended clearer national mandates, better facilities, professional staffing, and increased public investment. It laid the foundation for the development of a network of national museums, more federal funding, professionalization of museum work, improved conservation and collection management practices, and the later establishment of the National Museum of Man in 1968 (later the Canadian Museum of Civilization, and now the Canadian Museum of History). The creation of the Canada Council in 1957 supported museum exhibits, research, and staffing. The Massey report reshaped Canadian museum policy by legitimizing federal responsibility for museums.
Libraries
The Massey Commission found that Canada’s library system was under-organized, fragmented, unsafe, inefficient, and did not meet national needs. For example, the Library of Parliament, designed to hold 83,000 volumes, held over 550,000 books. Departmental libraries suffered from duplication and lack of coordination, and there were weak collections of Canadiana. The fact that there was no National Library was found to be a “national disgrace.” The report argued that libraries are core national infrastructure fundamental to education, research, scholarship, informed citizenship, democracy and cultural sovereignty. Libraries preserve Canada’s documentary heritage, especially Canadian works and government publications, and without a National Library, preservation of, and access to, Canadian culture relies on dependence on foreign institutions. The report recommended the creation of a National Library to provide a national union catalogue, reference services, support for acquisitions and interlibrary loans, and serve as a central deposit for infrequently used materials. The first step was a bibliographic centre which would pool resources across Canadian libraries, identify rare holdings, and share resources via microfilm and interlibrary loan, with professional staffing, and a dedicated building. The report emphasized the importance of publisher deposit in the creation of a comprehensive national bibliography, and better coordination among federal and other libraries.
As a result of the Massey report, in 1953, the National Library of Canada, now Library and Archives Canada, was created and served to develop national cataloguing standards, carry out preservation work such as microfilming newspapers, and provide scholarly access to Canadian works. The report led to national bibliographic control, coordinated interlibrary loans, and collection of Canadiana. It legitimized federal responsibility for libraries, placing libraries alongside galleries, museums, and archives in Canadian cultural policy.
Archives
The Massey Commission found that Canada’s archival system was fragmented, unsafe, inefficient, and discomfiting, placing records of enduring value at risk. Public records were scattered, poorly stored, and at risk of loss. For example, public records remained in the custody of government departments, with transfer to the Public Archives being voluntary, and these records were stored throughout Ottawa in basements, attics, and rented storehouses, subject to dangers such as dust, damp, heat, and fire, and lacking classification and retrieval systems. More money was being spent storing inactive records with no enduring value than on the entire Public Archives, and the Archives lacked the authority, space and staff to undertake appraisal and transfer. The report argued that archives are essential national infrastructure, serving as a foundation for understanding Canada’s political, social, and legal development, and serving as guardians of national memory. It argued that departments be required by law to transfer inactive records to the Public Archives on a retention schedule, with records destruction only after expert archival appraisal had taken place, but that this required more storage space, trained archival staff, and facilities for arrangement, description, and preservation work, along with a survey of existing departmental records. It called for leadership by the Dominion Archivist in place of ad-hoc departmental records management, which would ensure cost savings and better access to historical records, including on the part of provinces and territories which needed records of their early histories. The report recognized the economic, administrative, and historical value of archival records, and saw archives as core federal infrastructure.
The Massey report recommended mandatory transfer of inactive records to the Public Archives, stronger appraisal authority, expanded facilities and staffing, and a national records policy. It strengthened the idea that records management and archiving were federal responsibilities, reinforced the role of the Dominion Archivist and legitimized expanded authority over public records. It sped up the professionalization of archival practice, shaped reforms in federal records management, and led to the shift toward mandatory transfer of records and centralized control. It ultimately led to a national documentary heritage institution, now known as Library and Archives Canada which was established in 2004.
Historic sites
The Massey Commission found that the preservation of historic sites lacked coherent national policy, balanced representation, and sufficient consultation and protection. At the time, historic sites were administered federally by the National Parks Service with an advisory role played by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC). There was a disparate distribution of historical markers across the country, while a small number of restoration projects had been undertaken, such as Louisbourg, Fort Anne, Fort Lennox, and Fort Henry. Prehistoric and Indigenous sites were neglected, markers were sometimes at a distance from the actual sites, and there was a lack of policy clarifying how sites were selected, while the HSMBC was criticized for insufficient consultation with provincial governments and historical societies. The Massey report stated that historic sites are cornerstones of national memory and identity which help Canadians understand their history “in a vivid and picturesque manner,” connecting people to their national origins, celebrating regional diversity, and commemorating Indigenous and settler histories. These sites preserve what might otherwise vanish quickly, are vital to education and identity, attract visitors, benefit local economies, and enrich travel experiences. The report urged a policy for identifying, marking, and restoring sites, making clear what falls under federal or provincial jurisdiction. It recommended better coordination with provincial and voluntary bodies, improved accuracy and interpretation for historic markers, and more attention to prehistoric and Indigenous sites, including active protection where needed.
The Massey report led to more consultation with provinces and historical societies, more balanced representation, better interpretation practices, improved restoration standards, expansion of the Parks Canada historic sites program, and a broader definition of historical significance. It reinforced federal responsibility for historic sites and monuments, and strengthened the role of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada as the national advisory body. It strengthened the federal commitment to heritage preservation, including funding, and shaped the national historic sites program.
Voluntary cultural organizations
The Massey Commission found that cultural organizations including arts, museums, galleries, film councils, planning associations, craft guilds, etc., were mostly non-profit, under-resourced, and relied on private donations and volunteer labour. They faced difficulty obtaining charitable tax status, which made it difficult to seek donations, as well as onerous customs procedures, even for temporary, non-commercial loans. The report notes that these voluntary organizations are important for local cultural life, and that they organized exhibits, performances, and educational programs, and brought international culture to Canadians.
The Massey report recommended more regulatory flexibility, improved recognition of charitable status, and simplified import procedures. This established the idea that government should support, not create barriers, for voluntary cultural organizations.