Step 1: Find your Federal and Provincial Representatives

Canada is divided into 308 federal ridings and over 700 provincial electoral districts. Each of these constituencies elects a politician to serve as its representative in parliament. Federally, we elect Members of Parliament (MP); provincially, we elect Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), Members of the National Assembly (MNA), Members of Provincial Parliament (MPP), or Members of the House Assembly (MHA), depending on the province. Through the programme, we are aiming to bring archives in contact with as many of these elected officials as possible. The first step is identifying the politicians representing your archives' constituency. If you have problems identifying your political representatives through these links, please give us a call-we'll be happy to assist you.

Find your Federal Representative
Find Your Provincial Representative

Step 2: Be Prepared

Before organizing the tour itself, review heritage and archives legislation, as well as your elected official's history. What issues has he or she supported in the past? There's no need to be an expert, but you should think through potential questions-those you want to ask, and those that others may ask of you.

Step 3: Request a Meeting

Next up is introductions. The most important thing to remember is to present yourself as a resource. We've put together a sample letter of invitation. This will:
. Help your elected officials get to know your archives and CCA
. Invite them on a tour of your archives
Just fill in the blanks and it's ready to send.

Most politicians have a scheduling assistant who will review your request. Follow up the written invitation with a phone call to the scheduling assistant if you haven't heard back after several weeks.

Step 4: Submit Details

Should your offer for a tour be accepted, confirm the time and location of the tour, and follow up with names, titles, addresses and short biographies of those who will be in attendance. Normally, a delegation of no more than three people should be present. We advise you to appoint a main spokesperson for the tour to deliver key messages to the politician.
Send details

Step 5: Release the Press

This step can be coordinated with the official's press secretary and the CCA Secretariat. Depending on the size of your archives and your community, as well as the size of the media outlets you contact, a visit to your archives by a member of federal or provincial parliament can be a newsworthy event. We've prepared a sample media advisory (to be release before the event) and a sample press release (to be released after the event) for you to adjust and distribute. Coverage, even at the local level, provides great exposure for your archives, CCA, and the politician.

Step 6: Final Preparations

Be sure to inform and advise anyone (staff, associates, etc.) who may be affected by the tour well in advance of the event, as well as the day beforehand.

Step 7: Meet and Tour

Specific instructions are available on the Tour Guidelines section of the site.

Step 8: Write-up

CCA would appreciate a short write-up about the tour (one or two paragraphs, giving us the who, what, when, where, why, how) to include in our monthly newsletter. If your archives/host institution publishes a newsletter, be sure to include the politician's visit and include a copy in your thank-you letter.
Send us your write-up

Step 9: Official Appreciation

Politicians appreciate a thank-you when they take time to meet their constituents. It's a critical, although frequently forgotten, step to building a relationship, and gives you a chance to remind the official of points discussed during the tour. We've prepared a sample thank you letter to guide you-just fill in the blanks, print, and send. Be sure to accompany the letter with copies of the pictures taken during the tour.

Step 10: Keep in touch

You've now successfully introduced yourself and CCA to your political representatives, and laid the foundation for further communications. In the future, don't hesitate to communicate concerns and opportunities to your parliamentarians. Keep an eye on the Maintaining the Relationship section of the website for further guidelines and issue briefs to be sent to your official.

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