AGM Banner On May 7th, 2018, The ArQuives’s Annual General Meeting took place at the City of Toronto Archives. This was an opportunity for President Dennis Findlay, Executive Director Raegan Swanson, Secretary Paul Leatherdale, and Treasurer Ed McDonnell to discuss the exciting developments at The ArQuives in the past year, and the even more exciting news ahead. To reflect the diverse and changing community which The ArQuives strives to represent, Dennis Findlay discussed the 5-year strategic plan outlined in this year’s annual report. The ArQuives is looking forward to an Archives that truly reflects its community and its community’s stories. In order to achieve this, The ArQuives will be focusing on improving its public profile, building collections by fostering relationships, growing and maintaining a diverse and vibrant team, improving programming, finding the right space for the Archives, and establishing sustainable and diverse funding. Reagan Swanson commended this year’s The ArQuives volunteers who received Toronto Community Heritage Awards, and noted that in 2017, The ArQuives had the most staff in its history, proving that the Archives is already on the way to building a diverse and vibrant team. Ed McDonnell spoke to the historic James Stewart bequest, which will be mostly restricted to finding new facilities in which to house a growing Archives. This is an exciting development that has made finding the right space for the Archives and establishing diverse funding tangible parts of a strategic plan that is already in motion. Everyone assembled was eager to vote in and welcome the four board members standing for election to a two-year term on The ArQuives Board of Directors: returning members included Secretary Paul Leatherdale and Vice-President Elspeth Brown, and new members included Muna-Udbi (“Udbi”) Abdulkadir Ali and Omar Torres. Cait McKinney and Kabir Ravindra of the name change committee, along with Lee Jacobson Consultants, were excited to present the eagerly awaited news name of The ArQuives, The Arquives. Tom Hooper, currently an instructor at York University, closed the evening with a keynote presentation highlighting the invaluable resources the Archives provides. He indicated that his Ph.D. dissertation would not have been possible without the resources provided by the Archives, and this served as a fitting reminder to all assembled of the exciting future work that will be possible in a new, evolving Arquives. pride flag zoomed in