Good morning, everyone.
I am Vice-President of Operations for Eastern Canada at Parks Canada. That means operations in Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes. It is a great pleasure to speak to you today. Thank you for the opportunity to do so.
My colleague Andrew Campbell was pleased to provide background recently on Parks Canada to the committee and to share with you the key strategies and programs of our centennial celebrations. I think it is worth noting once more the three key strategies of our centennial, since they have proven to be highly effective and will be used again as we are planning Parks Canada’s road to 2017.
These strategies are, first of all, to leave a legacy of lasting improvements, including renewed infrastructure and built heritage; to expand our impact and to use a multiplying effect by engaging partners in the media, among our stakeholders, and across the federal family; and finally, to engage all Canadians, including our employees across the country.
It would also appear that these strategies could be applicable to the celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday. With this in mind, I will not repeat any further information, but I would like to focus your committee’s request for details on the Lachine Canal, The Fur Trade at Lachine, and the Fort Chambly national historic sites, as well as your request to share other past experiences of Parks Canada celebrations.
I will begin by discussing our experiences with the 400th anniversary of Québec City celebration.
Preparations for the celebrations surrounding Quebec City's 400th anniversary started as early as 2001 at the Parks Canada Agency. In 2005, the federal government announced a $104 million investment earmarked for the anniversary in Quebec City, including $24 million from Parks Canada to build Espace 400e in the Old Port. Espace 400e would become the focal point of the festivities for the 400th anniversary of Quebec City.
On the whole, the anniversary was acclaimed as an enormous success in terms of crowds and public appreciation. 2008 was a record year in terms of economic and media spin-off. It was estimated that 8 million people attended the 290 activities. Aside from the economic spin-off, it should be noted that the lasting effect was to develop new products. As well, a wide variety of partners became involved in the events. These partners provided a financial top-up, and their offer had a multiplier effect in terms of marketing.
The 400th anniversary had a mixed impact on tourism in other Quebec regions. Some tourism operators blamed the slow start to the summer tourist season in 2008 to tourists going to Quebec City instead of Quebec's other regions. Others, however, claimed that foreign travellers visiting Quebec City also took the opportunity to visit other parts of the province, such as the Eastern Townships.
Looking ahead now, you asked my colleague Andrew Campbell about the 2017 celebration plans and opportunities for Parks Canada in the greater Montreal area. You specifically requested details for, as I mentioned earlier, the Lachine Canal, The Fur Trade at Lachine, and the Fort Chambly national historic sites, and opportunities to leverage Parks Canada assets in those areas.
Located in Montérégie, Fort Chambly attracts over 100,000 visitors every year. It is one of Parks Canada’s most visited and well-known sites in Quebec. With the Lachine Canal, it is well positioned to make a significant contribution to the federal tourism strategy. With the help of both public and private regional partners, last year Fort Chambly changed its approach to the visitor experience. The new concept involves offering a menu of experience opportunities, targeting different types of travellers, and taking an approach that is now off the beaten path.
Here are some of the changes we are considering: Fort Chambly rooms will be refurbished in order to facilitate our offering of culinary experiences and interactive or virtual activities; the inner courtyard may be altered to put on musical productions; the fort's exterior walls could be used to screen films in the evening; and finally, the exterior park and adjacent buildings could be refurbished to become an area for cultural gatherings and activities during the 150th anniversary celebrations.
As we upgrade the visitor experience at Fort Chambly, a new priority clientele for Parks Canada—it's a new audience that we are targeting over the next 10 years, that is, young families and adults from the city—will be more interested in learning about their heritage. As well, we will set the stage for private and public partners to present a wide variety of cultural and community activities, making Fort Chambly a new gathering place for communities and partners to have a chance to experience Canada's heritage.
The Lachine Canal and The Fur Trade at Lachine national historic sites have both played an important role in the history and development of Canada, and Montreal particularly. The Lachine Canal received national designation for a variety of themes: it served as a hub between the heart of the continent and the Atlantic Ocean in the 19th and 20th centuries; it was a precursor of the transportation revolution in Canada in the early 19th century; it played a pivotal role in the industrial and commercial development of Montreal, namely through the production of hydro power; finally, it served as a corridor for industry in the different stages of Canada's industrialization. The Fur Trade at Lachine national historic site commemorates the legendary history of the fur trade that started in Montreal.
The Lachine Canal receives over one million visitors a year, most of them Montrealers. It is a key Parks Canada site in Quebec and it helps us connect effectively with young, urban and new Canadians. After receiving $100 million in joint funding, the Lachine Canal was reopened to boating in 2002 after being closed to navigation for many decades. This reopening has led to over $1.5 billion in private investment, basically helping attract even more Canadians and Montrealers to the shores of the Lachine Canal. Additionally, with its $10 million investment in the Lachine Canal in 2009-10, Canada’s economic action plan helped to rehabilitate and set up some of the elements of the corridor with interpretation tools, meeting areas, street furniture, and repair of the bicycle and foot paths along the shores of the canal.
The City of Montreal has expressed an interest in renewing the partnership with Parks Canada and to continue the development of the Lachine Canal for 2017. Also, 2017 is the 375th anniversary of the founding of Montreal, and Gérald Tremblay, Montreal's mayor, has already stated that he wants to complete the redevelopment of the Lachine Canal and make it one of Montreal's six key legacies. Parks Canada is currently working with the City of Montreal on these projects.
If we look at opportunities, there are two sectors that present opportunities. In the southwest, we could work at developing the Peel sector to make that area a community and cultural gathering place; improve access to the canal, especially to and from the local neighbourhoods that are growing increasingly around the canal in that area; and build a canal square that would become Parks Canada's showcase as well as the Government of Canada's showcase in Montreal.
In the Lachine sector, we could do two things: within the Borough of Lachine, we could develop facilities that provide access to the water and aquatic activities to the many communities in that area; and stabilize the heritage assets there, the old canal walls.
Meanwhile the development of private housing projects is encouraging public partners to prepare and implement a development plan for public areas around the Lachine Canal, representing for us an additional opportunity for partnership with the private sector.
2012-2017 is a period of significant anniversaries of importance to Canada's history, culminating in Canada's 150th in 2017. During this time, Parks Canada will align its activities and resources to best support and benefit from the overall Government of Canada agenda for commemorations and celebrations during this momentous period.
For Parks Canada, highlights of this period will include: enhanced programs and numerous special events in Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada during 2012-2014 to commemorate the War of 1812; significant capital improvements at Fort George and Fort Mississauga and a Parks Canada presence at Toronto's Fort York; a nationally televised six-part docudrama series on the war, with the first episode launching this spring, and supported by other national awareness-building activities; the 300th anniversary of Louisbourg in 2013; the centennial of historic commemoration in Canada in 2014; the bicentennial of the birth of John A. Macdonald, and showcasing historic sites related to prime ministers, in 2015; and preparing for and celebrating Canada's 150th anniversary in 2016 and 2017.
Parks Canada will utilize opportunities presented by these key events to advance the goals of the Government of Canada and the agency. This will be done in a way that helps optimize awareness of Parks Canada places and increases visitation to them, as well as contributing to the objectives of the federal tourism strategy.
The goal of the Government of Canada's commemorations and celebrations is for Canadians to become increasingly aware and informed about their heritage. We endeavour to present how significant events in history led to Canada becoming an independent country from coast to coast to coast with the unique values and attributes that we cherish as Canadians today.
As Canada's plans for our 150th birthday take shape, Parks Canada will be doing its utmost to add the benefit of our experience to ensure this great occasion is truly memorable and engaging for all Canadians.
Thank you for listening. It would be a great pleasure to answer your questions.
Thank you.