Ministry of Tourism
St. Lawrence Parks Commission
Visitor experience at Upper Canada Village tarnished by destructive changes
When Upper Canada Village opens May 16, visitors will pay an extra dollar to get
in, but will get a much-diminished experience of Canada’s pre-Confederation past
for the $18.95 price of admission.
The St. Lawrence Parks Commission has made disturbing changes to
this award-winning and much-loved living history museum, located on the banks of
the St. Lawrence River, near Morrisburg, Ontario.
And the Commission has made these changes with the help of a $13
million grant from the Ontario government.
 The
Commission has eliminated close to 50 per cent of its costumed interpretive
staff, including traditional trades and crafts people who had worked at Upper
Canada Village for many seasons.
The Commission has also introduced some modern, money-making
elements to the Village that are intrusive and out-of-place.
The cuts to interpretive staff, along with the growing
commercialization of the site, will have a hugely negative impact on the visitor
experience.
There will be fewer demonstrations of traditional trades and
crafts. Heritage buildings will be off limits on a rotating basis to visitors
for a few hours each day.
The Village’s unique collection of 30,000 pre-Confederation
artifacts, many of them donated by local families, will be at risk to theft and
vandalism because heritage homes will no longer be staffed for periods of time
during the day.
Read more information about the changes.
Visitors come to Upper Canada Village in order to experience the
sights, sounds and smells of 19th century Ontario village life.
Many form an attachment to the site when they are introduced to
it as school children that they carry for life. They bring visitors to the
Village from around the world. They bring their grandchildren.
Read more about what people
are saying about the changes.
Upper Canada Village was opened in 1961 to honour Canada’s
pre-Confederation past and to educate visitors about how our ancestors lived
back then.
More than one million visitors have gone through its gates since
1961, including tens of thousands of school children and tourists from around
the world.
Current and former employees of Upper Canada Village ask: if we
don’t respect our past, how can learn for the future?
The St. Lawrence Parks Commission is an agency of the Government
of Ontario. The Commission reports to the Ministry of Tourism.
E-mail your concerns
about the changes to Tourism Minister Monique Smith and her Parliamentary
Assistant, Jim Brownell. |
