A number of Ontario museums have been hit by tsunamis recently. This week, the provincial government abruptly and permanently closed the Ontario Science Centre, citing risks to the stability of concrete used in some of the centre’s roof panels.
The fate of the building, located in a ravine in the city’s inner suburbs, remains uncertain. But the provincial government, led by Premier Doug Ford, has said the museum will move to a new, smaller building as part of the redevelopment of Ontario Place on the shores of Lake Ontario. (Last month, I wrote about the backlash to the government’s decision to actually move the museum to a smaller building.) Cross the Ontario West Island Plaza An Austrian company that plans to build a spa.
The closure of the science center has sparked protests calling for its Reopening and repair also Issues regarding government risk analysis roof.
But more unusually, someone has offered to help restore the building, which has been neglected to the point where visitors have to take a bus to the back door rather than enter via its striking woodland bridge. freeGeoffrey Hinton, one of the pioneers of artificial intelligence and professor emeritus at the University of Toronto Pledged 1 million Canadian dollars Make repairs.
While its fate has never been as uncertain as that of the Ontario Science Centre, four years ago the Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough, Ontario, hit a roadblock in its plans to build a new building. The Canoe Museum wanted to replace the former outboard engine factory and offices that had Since 1998.
At the beginning of 2020, the project looked promising. Global Architecture Competition A building was constructed that will be located at Lift locka ship lift, Trent-Severn Waterway, A system of canals, lakes and rivers connecting Lake Huron and Lake Ontario. It has signed a land lease agreement with Parks Canada and raised most of the $65 million needed for the project.
But later tests found that the land was Industrial solvents The discovery came despite earlier analysis showing the site was clean.
All this happened at the time of the outbreak.
“It was so depressing to suddenly have to close the museum and find out that the location wasn’t feasible,” Carolyn Hyslop, the museum’s executive director, told me as we stood on the new dock, which was naturally filled with canoes. “It was clear that if we didn’t have a place to relocate the program, we would lose everything.”
About $9 million was spent and nothing was achieved.
But later that year, Ms. Hyslop, along with the museum’s director, Jeremy Ward, found a site across from downtown Peterborough, and in May, a year after the building’s original planned opening date, the $45 million, 65,000-square-foot project was ready and fully funded.
As we walked through the new building, Mr. Ward stressed that canoes are not unique to Canada, and the exhibit highlights that. But they are well suited to Canada’s abundant freshwater rivers and lakes. They were an important form of transportation for First Nations people, as were kayaks (which the museum also has in its collection and on display). The first Europeans to move into their traditional lands were also quick to adopt and rely on them.
They are now closely associated with summer recreation in much of the country, especially in areas with lakeside cabins, campgrounds, cabins or log cabins.
“Canadians are the ones who know how to make love in a canoe,” a 1973 magazine article lead So said Pierre Burton. Mr Burton, a writer and broadcaster, later denied making the quip but said he accepted responsibility for it.
A canoe with a built-in phonograph hangs at the entrance to the museum’s exhibition hall.
The old museum was surrounded by dusty parking lots. The new one, in stark contrast, is set in a large bay called the Little Lake, perfect for boating.
One of Mr. Ward’s favorite boats is a Ukumit kayak paddled by Asiwak Alnakuk-Baril, who was part of the team that built the boat. Iqaluit, on the flotilla for the museum’s grand opening. He then carried the wet boat into the building and into the exhibition space.
The new museum features a single, high-ceilinged gallery, unlike the original gallery in the office section of the outboard motor factory, which formed a maze-like space on multiple floors. Floor-to-ceiling windows now reveal the museum’s warehouse, which houses some 665 canoes and kayaks that were hidden away in the former factory.
As before, the exhibit provides a comprehensive look at the canoe, its place in Canada’s First Nations communities, how it brought Europeans to Canada, the many ways it was built, and its recreational and sporting uses. When I visited this month, not all of the exhibits were fully installed.
There is room in the new building to expand the collection. But like all museum directors, Mr. Ward often hears from people who want to donate valuable works, but in most cases the museum neither needs nor wants them.
“I usually respond with, ‘We already have three boats like this in our collection, so you better find an organization or new owner who will enjoy it as much as you do,’ ” he told me, surrounded by a pile of canoes. “While we may not be able to accept it or may not think it’s interesting, you have to understand that to these people, it’s a family member.”
Trans Canada
This section was written by Vjosa Isai, a journalist and researcher based in Toronto.
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Ian Austin was born in Windsor, Ontario, educated in Toronto and now lives in Ottawa. He has been covering Canadian news for The New York Times for 20 years. Follow him on Bluesky @ianausten.bsky.social
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