Northern Ontario museums shut out of funds for summer staff | 24CA News
Four museums within the Temiskaming Shores and Cobalt space have been unsuccessful this 12 months in acquiring funding via the Canada Summer Student Jobs program.
The Bunker Military Museum, the Cobalt Mining Museum, the Haileybury Heritage Museum and the Little Claybelt Homesteaders Museum all have to search out different methods to fund college students for the summer season months.
Nipissing-Timiskaming Liberal MP Anthony Rota states he’s dissatisfied within the final result, and that nationwide standards overshadowed native standards this 12 months.
The museums have historically obtained federal funding for summer season hires.
The museums all state they got no advance warning by the federal authorities that this 12 months they might not obtain moneys.
Bunker Military Museum secretary Marg Harrison mentioned in a phone interview {that a} listing of profitable space employers was supplied by the federal authorities on-line, and most funding for this system has gone to non-public companies.
She mentioned it’s “going to be very difficult” for the Bunker Military Museum however there will likely be one summer season scholar this 12 months.
She famous the Bunker is one of some space museums which have a Catch the Ace fundraiser that helps with museum bills.
The Cobalt Mining Museum has had summer season college students via the federal authorities program for no less than 20 years, curator Peter Greyson mentioned in a phone interview.
“They’re absolutely essential for running the underground tour,” he mentioned.
The museum gives summer season excursions of the Colonial Adit Underground Mine owned by Agnico Eagle Mines. Greyson mentioned the museum is ready to supply the excursions due to the additional summer season employees that guarantee security and perform different jobs wanted to make the excursions profitable.
The underground excursions will proceed this summer season as a result of the museum has accessed extra funding.
“We managed to scrounge around and find ways of doing it this summer, but if this is a permanent arrangement with Canada Summer Jobs, we’re going to have to rethink what we’re doing here,” he mentioned.
Other funding has been accessed via different applications, tapping into reserves and asking for donations, he acknowledged.
“We normally get three summer students from Canada Student Summer Jobs. We also get a couple of summer students from Ontario. We did get the Ontario ones.”
The federal summer season scholar program gives about $5,000 for every scholar, that means $15,000 extra funding is required to fill the positions with out federal help. Coming up with that cash “is not easy to do in a smaller community,” he famous.
Claybelt and Heritage
Little Claybelt Homesteaders Museum vice-president Margaret Villneff mentioned it usually will get funding for no less than two summer season college students via this system. There was one 12 months that that they had funding for 3, however this 12 months there may be none.
She expressed hope that museum secretary-treasurer Elizabeth Pahkala will have the ability to entry funding to rent summer season college students this 12 months.
She envisions many individuals will likely be reaching out to these funding sources.
She mentioned college students help guests who come to the Little Claybelt.
“Some people come in and they’re looking for genealogical answers to their relatives that possibly used to live here. Sometimes we’ve had special projects that (the students) work at in the summer. Sometimes there’s a group of artifacts that need refurbishing or cleaning, or cataloguing.”
Books and footage additionally should be cared for and accurately positioned within the assortment.
“When people come in they will talk to them and show them around and answer their questions, but quite often we have special things out that we want to concentrate on getting properly filed, or research done on them.”
This 12 months, although, “we’re sort of left in the lurch.”
Sarah Johnston of the Haileybury Heritage Museum additionally expressed disappointment within the lack of funding, and the hope that subsequent 12 months funding will likely be out there for space museums.
Rota acknowledged “how significant the funding is to museums” and its significance in serving to museums proceed to function.
“A lot of MPs have expressed disappointment in the outcome,” he mentioned.
The program’s nationwide standards had been for: youth with disabilities; Black and different racialized youth; Indigenous youth; small business and not-for-profit organizations that self-report from teams which might be underrepresented within the labour market; and small business and not-for-profit organizations in environmental sectors.
“There was a lot more emphasis on the local labour market,” Rota mentioned.
He expressed his view that the rules for figuring out profitable employers should be reconsidered for subsequent 12 months to stop an identical impression on museums from reoccurring.
“Our museums make a difference,” he mentioned.
© 2023 The Canadian Press
