He also served as Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Manitoba from 2001 to 2004. Prior to joining the faculty of the university, he was an archivist at the National Archives of Canada from 1978 to 1990. Among many publishing and editing activities, he was editor of Archivaria, editor and contributor to Canadian Archival Studies and the Rediscovery of Provenance (1993), a joint publication of the Association of Canadian Archivists and the Society of American Archivists, and a recipient of the W. Kaye Lamb Prize. He obtained undergraduate and master's degrees in history at Queen's University and a doctorate in history at Carleton University. He is a Fellow of the Association of Canadian Archivists.