Museums across Canada say they're still waiting for the federal government to recognize their desperate plight despite a promise to develop a new, improved museums policy in the wake of a nearly $5 million cut to the Museums Assistance Program.
The program provides funding on a yearly basis to museums for special projects or activities. In September 2006, the Harper government announced it was cutting the program's budget by $4.62 million over the next two fiscal years to make the program "as efficient and effective as possible."
But museum directors and associations say the cuts only made a bad situation worse.
Monique Brandt, executive director of the Association of Manitoba Museums, said many of their members were forced to cancel exhibits when the funding cutbacks were announced. She said many museums that were promised funding in June 2006 had already started their projects when they heard about the cuts. Brandt says even though all the money promised did show up eventually, it was "extremely late" - too late, in many circumstances, for the projects to be finished.
"All of a sudden you're in a situation where you're going, 'the people who worked on the exhibit need to be paid, the people who supply to us need to be paid, and the money that the federal government has promised to us hasn't come," she said.
The Museums Assistance Program also includes funding for summer jobs and internships for young Canadians.
Gerry Osmond, executive director of the Alberta Museums Association, said that although a lot of museums that were initially denied funding for summer workers did eventually receive that money, it was too late for many of them.
"The problem now is timing," said Osmond. "It's so late in the season, and trying to find summer students, particularly here in Alberta, is a nightmare."
John McAvity, executive director of the Canadian Museums Association, says these complaints aren't unique. "This cutback takes the Museums Assistance Program down to its lowest level ever, and yet the needs of the museums continue," he said. "There continues to be growth in the museums sector with little to no new money to support it."
But Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda says the Conservative government has been a proponent of Canadian museums since day one. In the 16 months since they came to power she says the Tories have given $41 million to the nationally funded museums in Ottawa, $100 million to a new human rights museum in Winnipeg and $5 million to Young Canada Works. In comparison, a $5 million cut over two years seems paltry, she said.
"We certainly are looking at what's most meaningful to the museums and where there is the greatest need," she said.
But museum directors say this isn't enough.
"For the smaller museums across the country, most of their energies go into just maintaining themselves, keeping the door open, heating the building." said Ron Scott, director of the Sam Waller Museum in The Pas, Man.
As a result, their collections management suffers and they are unable to develop new exhibits and programming, he added.
Brandt says that the criteria museums must meet when applying for federal assistance are far too stringent, and they exclude the vast majority of museums in Manitoba. This is because museums must be open year-round with at least one full-time employee to qualify, she said.
She added that the application process is far too complicated, and museums shouldn't have to apply every year for funding when long-term operating funds are what they really need.
Both Osmond and McAvity called for an arm's-length body to distribute funding in a less bureaucratic and politicized way.
"The rules around the funding program have become so tight, so onerous that it has become very difficult for museums to spend the money, let alone apply for it," said McAvity.
But Oda said museums should consider how much the government has done for them before they complain.
"There's more to supporting our cultural institutions than just announcing large dollar figures. It's making sure that the tax dollars are going to where they will most help museums," she said, adding that the government has provided a tax incentive for charitable donations that has generated at least $20 million for the museum community.
