PM announces Halifax's Pier 21 as newest national museum

[Spitfire75]

PM announces Halifax's Pier 21 as newest national museum

Site was gateway for 1.5 million immigrants

Canada's newest national museum will be located at Halifax's Pier 21, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Thursday during a visit to Halifax.

The national museum will be dedicated to the recognition and celebration of the contributions of immigrants and new Canadians to this country's cultural history and heritage.

"No country in the world has benefited more than Canada from free and open immigration," Harper said in a release.

The federal government will pump about $15 million for development and operations into Pier 21, which opened as a museum in 1999.

Between 1928 and 1971, 1.5 million people passed through the gates at Pier 21. During the Second World War, 50,000 war brides and their 22,000 children and over 100,000 refugees passed through Pier 21.

After the war, hundreds of thousands more followed as Canada opened its doors to those looking for a new home.

There are four national museums in Canada: the National Gallery of Canada, the Canadian Museum of Civilization, the Canadian Museum of Nature and the National Museum of Science and Technology.

$15 million for Pier 21? Sounds great.

[Dmajackson]

Sounds good to me to

Maybe they'll fix up some of the outside (like the skywalk to the Garrison building).

If they ever find funding for Shed/Pier 22 that would pretty much fix up the rest of the Seaport and make it a real attraction.

[spryscraper]

From what I've heard there are private investors planning to convert pier/shed 22 into offices. That along with the new market should do a lot for the area, it's just a shame how much land is taken up by surface parking.

[Jonovision]

They can certainly do a lot with $15 million.

[kph06]

Originally Posted by Bedford_DJ

Maybe they'll fix up some of the outside (like the skywalk to the Garrison building).

Thats in the works, I was there the a few days before this announcement and the guide said they were renovating that section because to the immigrants, crossing that bridge meant they were accepted to Canada.

[Nouvellecosse]

I actually went into the museum for the first time on Saturday night. It was open late and had free admission due to Nocturne. I actually was just looking to see the rest of the Nocturne exhibits and only went in because I had to pee, but I figured I may as well take the opportunity to look around a bit.

It looks pretty good although maybe a touch sterile. The super modern, semi-minimalism didn't really suit the nature of the subject matter. And it somehow seemed like there was a lot more presentation than there was stuff being presented. Although perhaps I just need to take another look around when I'm less hurried.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by spryscraper

From what I've heard there are private investors planning to convert pier/shed 22 into offices. That along with the new market should do a lot for the area, it's just a shame how much land is taken up by surface parking.

The surface parking is the thing that really struck me about the area. It's probably the largest area of contiguous surface parking on the peninsula.