The AAO’s Professional Development Committee presents
Safe Spaces for BIPOC Records Professionals
The Professional Development Committee is thrilled to present the first in-person safe space sessions at this year’s annual conference! These sessions are safe spaces set aside and reserved for archives workers and records managers from historically excluded groups in our profession to connect with one another in an informal, participant-driven environment. Participants will also have the opportunity to share feedback on the sessions and help shape their future format.
These sessions are open to students, emerging, and established professionals, as well as those working in volunteer and activist roles. Note that this space is only open to Black, Indigenous, and people of colour (BIPOC) identifying archives workers and records managers. Registrants who do not identify as BIPOC will be asked to leave the meeting.
Date: Thursday May 7, 2026, 12:00-12:50pm EDT
Location: University of St. Michael’s College
113 St. Joseph Street, Toronto, ON.
Room location will be emailed upon registration
Registration: FREE (AAO members, student members, and non-members)
Refreshments: Light refreshments will be provided. Participants are welcome to bring their own lunch to enjoy during the session.
This meeting is governed by the AAO’s Code of Conduct as well as a guideline of confidentiality. It is essential that all participants agree to keep confidential the identities of individual participants and any names that may be mentioned during their time together, as well as any attributed specific comments. Agreement about this point is required.
About the moderator:
Dez Nacario (she/her) is the Archivist for the Anglican Diocese of Huron, situated on the ancestral beaver hunting grounds of the Algonquin, Haudenosaunee and Attawandaran peoples; the traditional and unceded lands of the Anishinaabe Peoples, of Walpole Island, Kettle Point and the Thames, the settled people’s Haudenosaunee Confederacy, at the Grand River and the Thames and the Lenni Lenape Delaware people’s of Moraviantown and Muncey. She holds a Master of Libraries and Information Science from Western University and is an active member of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and Professional Development Committee for the AAO, as well as the current Chair of SISARO for the ACA. Dez is passionate about diversifying the GLAM world and creating professional opportunities for individuals from underrepresented communities.
Please contact professionaldevelopment@aao-archivists.ca with your questions and any requests for accommodation.
