As the Niagara-on-the-Lake Museum treads along the path of its $10-million expansion plans, the federal government has pledged $100,000 to aid in its growth.
Niagara MPs Vance Badeway and Chris Bittle, for Niagara Centre and St. Catharines, respectivley, made the announcement Sept. 3 on the front yard of the historical repository, with museum staff and board members, municipal officers and members of the public in attendance.
This is part of the federal government’s plan to allot $1.3 million total to regional organizations through its Tourism Growth Program.
The money will be used to create the new exhibits, says curator Sarah Kaufman, with an added goal of enhancing Indigenous and Black history education in the region so, “we can better tell these under-told stories of Canada in new and engaging ways,” she said.
The museum is in the midst of a $10-million expansion and renovation project, looking to add space to, and upgrade, its property.
Made up of three separte buildings, its central and oldest — the former Niagara High School on Castlereagh Street — will be 150 years old next year.
“(This funding) coincides with the museum’s plans to expand its facilities in the near future and to continue collecting and to be accessible for all Canadians to visit and volunteer, and so that we have a new programming space for experiential learning,” said Kaufman.
Tim Johnson sits on the museum’s board of directors and is a member of the Six Nations Indigenous community.
He is excited to see the museum delve even further into the Indigenous history of the entire Niagara region.
“This area is so rich with history, and what’s been overlooked for a long time is the Indigenous presence and their involvement in that history and in shaping that history,” said Johnson.
As he spoke, he was reminded of an archeological dig that provided evidence that elements of this country’s First Peoples were here in Niagara for millennia prior to the arrival of European settlers.
“That particular archeological finding was near Hamilton where they found the blood remains of an elephant, or a wooly mammoth, on a spear point,” he said, adding that the finding was dated back 13,000 years.
Johnson didn’t stop there with his history lesson, taking the time to share another interesting piece of knowledge that many who reside in one of the most popular tourism destinations in the world might not know.
There is geologic evidence showing that Niagara Falls, the group of waterfalls in the Niagara Gorge, began 12,500 years ago.
“So, that means it is very likely Indigenous Peoples witnessed the birth of Niagara Falls and have been here the whole time, right through its erosion to its present location.”
