Funding will always be seen as one of the biggest concerns for museums, especially smaller community museums. While museums and heritage organizations have relied heavily on government support in the past, this is increasingly not the case today. At the federal level there is an astounding lack of an overarching vision for museums in Canada.
Our country's current national museum policy was established in 1972. It was last reviewed in 1990. The focus and concentration is on the national museums and institutions of larger scale. It is now time for Canada's new government to renew its commitment to museums, which are generators for our tourism and social sectors.
The museums assistance program, or MAP, was also created in 1972, with $7 million for grants to fund projects in non-federal museums. At that time there were 500 museums. Based on inflation, this investment would be equivalent to over $38 million today. MAP's current allocation is $6.5 million, for more than 2,600 museums.
Although this is a very valued program for preservation, conservation, and exhibits, clearly the vast majority will not receive any federal assistance.
We strongly recommend the development of a new national museum strategy and a complete review of the suite of heritage programs at the Department of Canadian Heritage and other appropriate departments in order to modernize and allow the appropriate level of investment of new funds.
At this time, we also believe that special focus needs to put be on creating the right conditions for Canadians to donate more robustly to their museums and heritage organizations, enabling them to increase their revenues and their long-term stability.
Aboriginal leadership in the museum community has increased over the last years, but indigenous participation in the broader museum community is still under-represented. As an important first step, we recommend the establishment of a new council of museums and indigenous people to review the progress achieved since 1992 in the landmark study on museums and first peoples, which was called “Turning the Page”, and to address the recommendations identified in the truth and reconciliation report as well as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.