Ottawa, June 25, 2001

Dating from the end of the eighteenth century through the late 1990's, fascinating Canadian images from online collections across the country are a few clicks away through the new Images Canada site imagescanada.ca

Images Canada, a collaborative project among a variety of cultural institutions, hosted by the National Library, provides a single access point for the image collections on the web sites of participating cultural institutions. With over 65 000 images indexed, with more coming soon, the images celebrate Canadian events, people, places and things. Images Canada provides access to the on-line image collections at the Canada Science and Technology Museum, Natural Resources Canada's Earth Sciences Information Centre, Glenbow Library and Archives, the National Library of Canada, and the Toronto Public Library.

According to Roch Carrier, National Librarian, "We wanted to provide a single window through which Canadians could find and enjoy the Canadian images that are being put on-line by libraries, museums and archives across Canada. The site includes photographs, illustrations, caricatures; something for everyone!"

Interesting historical images have stories to tell. As Susan Kooyman, archivist at the Glenbow Archives notes: "One of the vast collection of Glenbow images accessible through Images Canada shows Yellow Horse, a Blackfoot (Siksika) Chief. You can clearly see the details of the Treaty medal he is wearing with pride. The Medal dates from the signing of Treaty 7 at Blackfoot crossing in 1877."

Phase II of the project will involve of a number of new partners adding new collections to the central search service. The Bibliothèque nationale du Québec and the National Archives of Canada are among the institutions that will soon contribute images. Other enhancements planned include photo essays and the development of pre-selected search strategies that will allow users to browse through subject-based selections from the database.

Images Canada provides access to images of the Canadian events, people, places and things that are collectively our heritage.

For more information, please contact: