The Advocate's Archive: Walter Rudnicki and the Fight for Indigenous Rights in Canada, 1955–2010

This article explores the significant contribution that Walter Rudnicki (1925-2010) made to the pursuit of social justice for Indigenous people in Canada through his use of archival records.Rudnicki took on the role of archivist by acquiring, organizing, disseminating, and keeping records that document government-Indigenous relations.Totalling 90.25 metres in extent, the Walter Rudnicki Fonds at the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections is an impressive private collection amassed in order to make injustice visible.As a federal public servant working to develop innovative policies with Indigenous people between the 1950s and 1970s, Rudnicki had bitter personal experience with the ways that the Government of Canada's practices regarding document creation and access to records thwarted Indigenous aims.Thereafter, he stressed that accessing and archiving records must play an indispensable role in protecting Indigenous peoples' interests.He spent the rest of his life creating and employing an archive that would be used in advocacy for Indigenous rights. ArticlesIn 2011, dozens of people gathered along the South Saskatchewan River for a special ceremony paying tribute to individuals who played significant roles in the pursuit of Mtis rights in Canada.A monument was erected to honour "Mtis Heroes" and "Friends of the Mtis," plaque headings under which names would be added for years to come. 1 The two names selected for the inaugural ceremony were Gabriel Dumont and Walter Rudnicki.The former was a celebrated leader who fought for Mtis recognition in the late 19th century, and the latter a wellknown supporter of Mtis causes.As a civil servant, private consultant, and advocate, Rudnicki took up the role of archivist by collecting and disseminating information that illustrated the history of government-Indigenous relations.He produced an immense personal archival collection that foregrounds the voices of Mtis, First Nations, and Inuit communities, groups, and organizations.This article explores Rudnicki's role in the Indigenous rights movement in Canada through his acquisition and use of both archival and contemporary records.For five decades, Rudnicki located, copied, and created records that ranged from reports to surveys to political cartoons; leaked and received leaked documents; and collected and contextualized grey literature.The approximately 90 metres of records in the Walter Rudnicki Fonds at the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections (UMA) is the result. 2 With increased frequency, archivists all over the world are exploring the intersections of social justice and archives.Canadian archival scholars Terry Cook and Joan Schwartz conducted an early study of the power of records and archives. 3By conceiving of archives as socially constructed institutions, the authors dispel the common myth of archives and the archival profession as neutral, innocent, and objective. 4 Instead, they assert archives as places of action.Archivists play a key role in determining what is remembered and what is forgotten through their ongoing work of accession, appraisal, description, preservation, access, and use.As one of the archivists most famously associated with the subject of 1

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