By Pepper Parr
October 13th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
It has been a long time in getting to this point and the decision to take the plunge and transform the existing Joseph Brant Museum into a 17,000 square foot location was not a unanimous city council decision.
Councillors Jack Dennison and Marianne Meed Ward were not onside for this nor was Councillor John Taylor all that enthusiastic about the plans that were put forward – but all it took was the votes of four of the seven members of council – and that they got – so they moved on to the next step of breaking ground.
Shortly before the spades were put into the ground Burlington MPP Eleanor announced that the province was going to come up with the final million that was needed to see the development as fully funded.
There was some concern about the $1 million actually coming from the province – but city council wanted this project so badly that they went out on a limb, decided which of the reserve accounts they would raid for the funds and hoped the province would come through.
With a budget that seem to have to edge into the 4% increase level each year and the discovery that Burlington transit is going to need a very healthy sum of money – that million as important.
With the immediate financial concerns covered the Museum Staff and the Museum Foundation Board gathered together and watched two indigenous dancers perform ceremonial dances and then took part in a smudging ceremony that was quite something to observe.
The weather held and the hope was expressed that 18 months from now a ribbon cutting ceremony would take place to open the site.
There are dozens of hurdles to overcome between now and then but Friday morning was an occasion to celebrate – the performances would have made Joseph Brant proud.
The original house was the building Joseph Brant died in – the structure on the site is a 1937 replica of the house Mohawk native Joseph Brant, Thayendanegea, built on a 1798 Crown land grant.
A modern addition to the museum will be built into the grassy area under the current museum.
The expansion, a modern addition to the museum will be built into the grassy area under the current museum by contractor Aquicon Construction that will add more than 12,000 square feet to its current size.
The hope and the expectation is that the transformed Joseph Brant Museum will become a cultural destination and a place to host national exhibitions and the collection of artifacts.
During the ground breaking event McMahon said that those who worked so hard to make the ground breaking possible will, at some future distant date, be lauded for the decision they made.
We should make a record of those people in the event that the public finds that lauding is not what gets done. There are a lot of questions to be asked and the requirement for much, much more in the way of transparency and accountability.
There is some pretty fast poker being played here.
The Joseph Brant Museum Transformation will include total square footage of 17,000 square feet in the expanded site. Construction is expected to take 18 months, depending on weather
The total project amount is approved at about $11 million, which includes a contingency fund and allows for cost increases due to a winter construction period. Funding includes:
$3.4 million from the City of Burlington
$4.7 million from the Government of Canada
$1.5 million from the Province of Ontario
$2.5 million from the Joseph Brant Museum Foundation
The museum has 25,000 artifacts and receives a reported 18,000 visitors a year.
Joseph Brant, Thayendanegea, was born in 1742 and died in 1807. In 1798, the Mohawk and British captain was granted 3,450 acres at the head-of-the-lake (Burlington Bay) by King George the third.
Brant’s body was carried by members of the Mohawk tribe from Burlington to Brantford, Ontario where his remains rest in a small white chapel,