It is a really, really sad day for the paddling community.

David H. Johnston

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From the myKawartha.com website:
http://www.mykawartha.com/ka/news/pe...tory/1425747p-
1677991c.html

Canoe museum up the creek
By: Lance Anderson

The river of money that kept the Canadian Canoe Museum afloat has all but
dried up.

On Wednesday, the national heritage museum located in the former Outboard
Marine building in Peterborough locked its doors indefinitely. That
development left many holding nothing but a paddle.

The news sprung a rumour that the museum and its exhibits will move to
Ottawa to join the hub of other heritage attractions in the nation's
capital. But Jon Grant , chair of the museum's board of trustees, says he
hasn't been approached formally about such a move, adding he will fight
to keep the exhibits here.

""It should stay in Peterborough for three reasons," he says.

"It's a terrific tourism area, it's the centre of canoe-making
historically and it's the centre of Champlain's exploration routes."

But he admits Peterborough can no longer sustain a museum of this size
and that's the main reason the doors were locked Wednesday at 5 p.m. The
closing also puts a halt to the Outdoor Learning Centre project slated to
open at the Monaghan Road site.

Dr. Don Curtis , the museum's acting chair, says a "cash flow" problem
forced administration to close the doors to the public to help save on
operating costs.

In the meantime, all exhibits will remain in the building and security
measures will be taken.

"We have trouble with the operation dollars," he adds.

"We made good progress up to 2001 in terms of people through the door and
donations but we've had reduced visitors, but that's no excuse."

Museum staff witnessed a 40 per cent drop in visitors this summer -- a
number, says Dr. Curtis, that's hard to recover from.

In order for the museum to re-open and be viable, Mr. Grant says the
federal government must give the Canadian Canoe Museum regular supporting
grants to pay for operating costs.

He adds similar grants are given to other national museums.

MP Peter Adams says he will look into helping the museum get back on its
feet through government funding but he can't make any promises.

He says the government did hand out a $1 million grant in 1996 to kick-
start the operation.

The City of Peterborough even gave the museum tax-free status when it
opened to lower operating costs, says Mayor Sylvia Sutherland .

Since then, the Peterborough attraction has been operating on donations
and admission revenue, not nearly enough to sustain the business, says
Mr. Grant.

He says closing the museum and laying off the six full-time staff members
will help save money to pay off creditors.

Dr. Curtis isn't sure how long the canoe museum will be closed but
maintains it's "temporary."

"It's not closed for good. We need to deal with our operations a
different way than we've done in the past.

"We call it restructuring."

Shedding light on how much it costs to run a museum, Dr. Curtis says for
example, insurance to cover the irreplaceable exhibits is approximately
$60,000 per year.

He says that's on top of employees' salaries.

The organization has been given hundreds of thousands of dollars in
grants over the years but that money is allotted for certain projects.

More than the employees are affected by this closure.

Hundreds of volunteers donated hundreds of hours to make the museum what
it is and the news has shocked most.

"It's sad it had to come to this...I didn't see it coming," says Dick
Persson , a long-time volunteer and owner of a canoe-making company in
Buckhorn.

"But there were money problems all the time because a museum of this
magnitude was operating the way it was."

He adds to lay-off staff and shut down the museum's web site without
hardly any notice was a "drastic move."

Regardless of what happens, Mr. Persson will continue to work to re-open
the museum and keep it in Peterborough.

Dr. Curtis says within two months. the museum's administrators should
have a plan in place.

"The board will work diligently to make it a go," he adds.

"We will come out of this much more responsible."