The Information & Records Management Association of Victoria is a non-profit professional association that has served the Records & Information Management Community on Vancouver Island, BC since April 11, 1984.

April 11, 1984 - First meeting attended by 21 professionals with a passion to share knowledge and experience concerning the management of information. Members included senior employees from provincial government, federal government, private sector companies and consultants, as well as individuals from the archives and librarians communities. By the end of the first year there were 40 members which again doubled by 1993. Membership fees were set at $10.00 per year and were not raised for the first 10 years.

May 1985 - Bylaws were formally structured and passed by the membership at Annual General Meeting. A contest was held to promote suggestions for a logo. The logo was further revised in 1995 and in 1997.

1988 - IRMA became a registered association under the Society Act.

Spring 1997 - IRMA executive developed and approved a records retention schedule to cover all business records of the association including .............................

Spring 1999 - IRMA and ARMA Vancouver Chapter - began networking together to offer a broader choice of education seminars and discussions and a larger audience in hopes of attracting more speakers.

Training - Inside Track to ARCS and ORCS - sponsored by Data Base File Tech June 1996

1984 through 1989 - The role and process of records management with focus on the archival interface; The relationship between records management and the information management process; Tour of Victoria General Hospital Records and Systems; Presentation from TAB Products of Canada related to Computers in Information Management; Tour of Victoria File Tech Storage and Vital Records Protection Facility; Vital Records Protection; Tour of Records Management Branch - BC Archives; Transport Canada Subject File Classification Plan; Cost Benefit Analysis; Hard Copy File Systems; Lifespan and Cycle of Records; National Archives - record inventories and their use; Tour of Provincial Archives; Automated Records Systems; Consumer's perspective to record keeping; Times Colonist presentation - records in a newspaper morgue; Evolution of the Telecommunications Network; Tour of Canada Post sorting plant; Records Management in New Zealand and China; International Marketing and record keeping; Tour - Wang Canada;

Tour - RCMP Victoria Detachment - Police Information Record System; Tour - Canada Coast Guard - Operation of the rescue coordination centre and records; Presentation - planning and inventory - ministry of Forests; Presentation - Sprott Shaw Business College; Stress Management for today's records manager; computers and how they affect information hoarding; Tour of Court Services - Ministry of Attorney General; Creative Problem Solving for records managers; Computerized record scheduling; records management automation; Tour of Royal Jubilee Hospital automated records system; Manual Management; Forms Management; Presentation - Need Crisis and Information Line function and records; Presentation - role of federal government storage facilities; Geographic Information Systems & Automated Mapping Systems.

1990 through 2000 -Tour of Canadian Coast Guard Records Management Information System (RMIS) and manual support system; presentation by National Defense - Disaster Planning & Essential Records; Earthquake Preparedness; Facing Change in an Access to Information Environment; Personal Privacy and Freedom of Information Legislation; Privacy from Ombudsman perspective; Access to Information - technological solutions; History and Philosophy of Freedom of Information and Privacy Association; Video night - Files are my Life; Review of Limitations Act and how it impacts record schedules; Work flow & Business Case Analysis - Critical Success Factors; Tour of FACS Record Centre - Victoria; Electronic document storage and retrieval; Knowledge Management & Libraries; Career Night Discussion; System Security and Architecture; Imaging Technology; Tour - Superannuation - Optical Imaging System; UBC - SLAIS standards for electronic records; Dublin Core and Web Records; Archival Imaging System for Historical Photographs; Tour Pacific Coast Credit Union Hot Site; RIM training and career opportunities throughout BC; End Users Perspective in the Evaluation, Selection and Use of Automated Records Management Systems; Retention Schedules for Electronic Information Systems; Records issues related to Litigation and Document Discovery.

In 1989 Camosun College established a Records Management Certificate program. In 1990 IRMA members passed a motion to sponsor an annual bursary for academic achievement in the new program. IRMA provided a $200 award to the student with the top marks which was presented at the annual awards ceremony by the current association president.

In 1993 the goal was set to build an Endowment Fund and Data Base File Tech committed to underwrite the annual scholarship for 5 years until it could be put into place. In 1995 - Access Records (then known as FACS Record Centre) offered an additional $250 annual committment to help build up the fund. In 1998 IRMA members raised enough money to permanently endow the award and make the fund self-supporting.

In 2000, Brian Dewsbury - Treasurer and Past President Donna Coward met with Paul Mantel - Development Coordinator of Camosun College Foundation. Together we completed an application to the provincial government for a matching grant. The application was approved and the government provided $.........

The bursary was set to be self generating and to be awarded in the amount of $400 per year to perpetuity.