At risk - history and collections of Ottawa
February 13, 2004
The City of Ottawa announced drastic cuts to heritage this week in its draft budget for People Services.
The Ontario Museum Association (OMA) has serious concerns that the continuing decrease in public investment in heritage and the lack of adequate operational funding support is causing irreparable damage to our province’s and nation’s heritage. As cities across the province are now experiencing the full impact of amalgamation, the OMA deplores that the previous leadership role our nation’s capital offered in cultural and heritage planning is being abandoned.
Under the new Municipal Act of Ontario, culture and heritage are identified as the responsibility of municipalities and cannot be relinquished. The following cuts were put forward:
- Closure of 4 city museums--Billings Estate, Pinhey’s Point, Cumberland Heritage Village, Gloucester
- Elimination of all heritage funding for the following museums--Bytown, Diefenbunker, Goulbourn, Nepean, Osgoode, Watson’s Mill
- Elimination of arts and heritage planning and development
- Elimination of Heritage Programs: May is Museum Month/International Museum Day, Doors Open, Heritage Day/Month
- Elimination of heritage funding to 9 historical service organizations and project funding to 15 heritage community groups
- Termination of 17 person years associated with city museums and heritage events
(To review the full document, go to www.city.ottawa.on.ca/inside_govt/budget/budget_2004/draft_highlights_en.pdf)
Museums contribute to the economic and social vitality of our cities. Ontario’s heritage sector, museums and public art galleries contributes $480 million dollars to the province’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). There are 18 million annual visits to a museum or heritage site in Ontario with more than 100,000 school visits per year. There are 13,500 volunteers at work in Ontario’s museums and more than 14,000 jobs are generated by the museum sector.
Our heritage, museums and collections are held in public trust by the City of Ottawa and other cities across Ontario. Donors entrust their families’ history to museums with the assurance that their cultural treasures will be preserved.
The City of Ottawa announcement follows the Auditor-General’s concern expressed recently regarding the loss of our heritage to future generations "Once a piece of our history is lost, it’s lost forever," said Sheila Fraser.
The Ontario Museum Association encourages communities to get involved in the Ottawa budget review process and in Ontario’s Town Hall pre-budget consultations www.townhallontario.gov.on.ca. The OMA believes it is the responsibility of the provincial and federal governments to explore long-term solutions with municipalities to create sustainable museums and cultural institutions. The Association is actively monitoring the situation and invites member feedback.
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