Background

Erica Hernández-Read has been an archivist with the Northern BC Archives and Special Collections at the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) since 2006. She earned both her B.A. in Anthropology and her Master’s degree in Archival Studies from UBC and has spent the last 20 years working in the fields of archives and artifact collections management and advocating for a participatory and community-archiving approach to knowledge building. Ms. Hernández-Read is co-Chair of the Response to the Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Taskforce of the Steering Committee on Canada’s Archives, and is a member of the Indigitization Program Steering Committee.

Current Role and Responsibilities

As the only Steering Committee member located at UNBC in Prince George, Erica supports the program mandate by building and maintaining a collegial network of Indigenous heritage professionals within BC’s northern interior. Erica assists with grant program advertisement, provides refresher training to previous grant recipients on audio cassette digitization, is available for on-site visits to help develop community project scope, and provides assistance in the grant writing process. As well, since 2017, Sarah Dupont and Erica have also facilitated a condensed 3-day Indigitization Training session at the UNBC campus in Prince George so as to provide training options for provincial grant recipients.