The digitization of this finding aid was made possible - in part or entirely - through the Canadian Culture Online Program of Canadian Heritage, the National Archives of Canada and the Canadian Council of Archives.
| Fonds/Collection Number: | F0608 |
| Title: | Anne Golden fonds |
| Dates: | 1969-2011, predominant 1973-2007 |
| Extent: | 0.9 m of textual records 3 USB flash drives (54.8 MB of textual records) 1 CD-ROM (94.3 MB of textual records) |
| Biographical Sketch/ Administrative History: | Anne Golden, researcher, social activist, and administrator, was born in Toronto in 1941. She received a B.A. in history and political science from the University of Toronto in 1963, a M.A. in American history from Columbia University, New York, in 1964, and a Ph.D. in American history from the University of Toronto in 1970. She began teaching American political history at Newark College in 1964 before returning to Canada to teach at the Scarborough and Erindale campuses of the University of Toronto, and later at York University until 1974. Golden became involved in the populist movement to stop construction of the Spadina Expressway, and joined David Crombie's election team as operations co-ordinator during his successful campaign as a reform candidate for Mayor in 1972. These experiences led to a decision to pursue her strong commitment to civic involvement. Golden left her academic career to serve as Research Co-ordinator for the Bureau of Municipal Research from 1973 to 1978, where she wrote several publications on public policy issues. Golden became the Special Advisor to the Leader of the Opposition, Stuart Smith, in 1978, and was appointed Director of Policy Research for the Ontario Liberal Party in 1981. She joined the United Way of Greater Toronto the following year, working as Director of Allocations and Government Relations for four years, and then Director of the agency's annual fundraising campaign. Golden was appointed President of the United Way in 1987. Her tenure was marked by record-breaking fundraising campaigns and an emphasis upon research, particularly on the increase and distribution of poverty in Toronto. Her significant expertise in urban issues led to her appointment as Chair of the Greater Toronto Area Task Force by Ontario Premier Bob Rae in 1995, and Chair of the Homelessness Task Force by Toronto's Mayor Mel Lastman in 1998. Golden's work on these task forces raised her national profile, and in 2001 she was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of The Conference Board of Canada, the nation's leading independent, not-for-profit organization devoted to applied research. Under her leadership, the Conference Board broadened its activities to compare Canada's performance in key social and economic indicators with those in other advanced countries, and it released an annual report card that linked the analysis of social progress with economic forecasting. The organization also embarked upon several multi-year public policy initiatives beginning with The Canada Project in January 2003, which was followed by a network of centres devoted to business innovation, sustainable health care, food in Canada, and the North, as well as leadership training for managers and corporate directors. Golden's influence and accomplishments have been widely recognized through acknowledgement in the media and major awards, such as the Canadian Urban Institute's Urban Leadership Award for City Engagement in 2004, and its Jane Jacobs Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012. Golden has received honorary doctorates from Ryerson Polytechnical University (1997), York University (2000), University of Toronto (2002), Royal Roads University (2005), University of Western Ontario (2008), the University of Calgary (2011), and McMaster University (2011), and an honorary diploma from Loyalist College (2005). She was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 2003. |
| Scope and Content: |
Fonds consists of publications, reports, speeches, and articles created or received by Anne Golden throughout her professional career. Reports written for the Bureau of Municipal Research focus on provincial land use policy and the disappearance of farm land, citizen participation in governance, the need for rental housing, the relationship between governments and news media, the impact of financial restraint upon declining municipal budgets and service delivery, and the response to John Robarts' Royal Commission on Metro Toronto, particularly in terms of governance and the division of responsibilites between regional and local municipalities. The fonds includes newsletters by the Ontario Liberal Party, 1978-1980, a manual and policy documents for the provincial election in 1981, and reports of the task forces on the Greater Toronto Area (1996) and homelessness (1998). Consultants' reports provide insights into the future directions of the United Way of Greater Toronto in 1996, as well as ways to maximize community impact. There is more extensive documentation for The Conference Board of Canada, in particular Anne Golden's tri-annual reports to the Board of Directors from 2001 to 2011 that provide a detailed overview of major initiatives, communications, media relations, marketing, and events, as well as published reports for The Canada Project and How Canada Performs. This material reflects the Conference Board's efforts to combine public policy analysis with economic forecasting, and its emphasis on the future of Canadian cities, factors influencing prosperity, and the importance of investment in research, innovation, education, and physical infrastructure. Anne Golden's speeches are a particularly important source of information on her many initiatives, as she used speaking engagements to educate and lobby for support. Audiences included university convocation ceremonies, the Conference Board's annual general meetings and Honorary Associates dinners, the Couchiching Conference in Orillia, meetings of deputy ministers, politicians, and bureaucrats, conferences of urban planners, economists, and trade associations, and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. These speeches and speaking notes deal with leadership (particularly women in corporate settings), the impact of social media and communications technology on world events, the increasing importance of the Canadian north, the need to boost productivity and innovation to ensure prosperity in Canada, recovery from the global recession of 2008, corporate social responsibility and building public trust in corporations and government, cities in the global economy, housing and homelessness (1998-2001), Canada's competitiveness, managing the Greater Toronto Area in terms of governance, quality of life, and sustainability (1995-1998), and corporate giving trends and fundraising. The fonds also includes a selection of articles and letters to the editor by Anne Golden on public policy issues, 2001-2011, that were published in newspapers and on websites. |
| Restrictions on Access and Use: | Access to President's reports to the tri-annual meetings of The Conference Board of Canada's Board of Directors, 2042-042/002(9) to 2042-042/003(1), is closed until 2017. No restrictions on access to the remainder of the fonds. |
| Finding Aid: | File list is available. |
| URL of Finding Aid: | http://archivesfa.library.yorku.ca/submissions/fonds/ON00370-f0000608.pdf |
| Accruals: | The fonds comprises the following accessions: 2011-042. Further accruals may be expected. |
| 2011-042 |
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| Immediate source of acquisition: | Acquired from Anne Golden in 2011. |
| Provenance Access Points: | Golden, Anne |
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Date of creation: 2011/12/07 Date of last revision: 2012/04/03 |
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