Canadian War Museum
The Canadian War Museum is a national museum on the country's military history in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The museum serves as both an educational facility on Canadian military history and a place of remembrance. The museum building is situated south of the Ottawa River in LeBreton Flats. The museum houses a number of exhibitions and memorials, in addition to a cafeteria, theatre, curatorial and conservation spaces, as well as storage space. The building also houses the Military History Research Centre, the museum's library and archives.
The Canadian War Museum was formally established in 1942, although portions of the museum's collections originate from a military museum that operated from 1880 to 1896. The museum was operated by the Public Archives of Canada until 1967, when the National Museums of Canada Corporation was formed to manage several national institutions, including the war museum. In the same year, the war museum was relocated from its original building to the former Public Archives of Canada building. Management of the museum was later assumed by the Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation in 1990. Plans to expand the museum during the mid-1990s resulted in the construction of a new building at LeBreton Flats. Designed by Moriyama & Teshima Architects and Griffiths Rankin Cook Architects, the new Canadian War Museum building was opened to the public in 2005.
The museum's collection contains more than 500,000 items related to military history, including more than 13,000 works of military art. In addition to its permanent exhibition, the museum has hosted and organized a number of travelling exhibitions relating to Canadian military history.
History
Background
The collections of the Canadian War Museum originated from the collections of the Cartier Square Military Museum, established through a general order on 5 November 1880. Established with the intention to be a museum of national interest, the institution sought to preserve historical records and materials relating to the Canadian Militia, and any of its colonial predecessors. A proposal to establish a library operated by the museum was made in 1882, although these plans never came to fruition. As the museum continued to solicit donations for its collection the museum quickly outgrew its space in the drill hall, and appeals for a new facility were made by 1886. The museum was closed in 1896, to make room for a new shipment of Lee-Enfield rifles and space training.The militia office originally intended for the museum to be relocated, storing its collections in an old military warehouse below Parliament Hill. In July 1901, the Department of Militia and Defence negotiated a lease to house the museum in a building in Ottawa. However, little effort was put into reopening the museum, with the department opting to not renew the building's lease in 1905. On 26 January 1907, the Militia Council was informed by Eugène Fiset, the quartermaster-general of the Canadian Militia, that there was "no interest being taken by the officers of the garrison" to reopen the museum, and recommend to not reopening it.
The collection from the Cartier Square Military Museum remained at the warehouse until Dominion Archivist, Arthur Doughty, requested the transference of the items to the archives to display some of them. The militia approved the request, and transferred 105 items to the Dominion Archives between 1910 and 1919; although in doing so, the militia believed the archives had assumed responsibility for establishing any future military museum. By the 1910s, the militia began to redirect potential donors of military artifacts to the Dominion Archives.
These artifacts, in addition to captured German weapons from the First World War, were exhibited for the first time in a travelling exhibition in 1916. In December 1918, the Commission on War Records and Trophies was established to distribute German war trophies and war-related materials to memorials across Canada. However, the Commission retained several pieces at the Dominion Archives with the hope they would eventually be exhibited in a national museum. In 1924, the War Trophy Building was built adjacent to the original Dominion Archives building to house the military collection. In 1935, Doughty struck a deal with General Andrew McNaughton, the Chief of General Staff, for the militia to support the establishment of the museum. A War Trophies Review Board was established between the archives and militia, charged with selecting the best items to preserve for a future museum.
Establishment
The Canadian War Museum was formally opened at the War Trophies Building in January 1942; initially operated by the Dominion Archives, and partially funded by the Department of National Defence. In 1958, management of the Canadian War Museum was assumed by the National Museum of Canada.The museum relocated to the original Dominion Archives building, adjacent to the War Trophies building in June 1967; after the Public Archives of Canada moved its operations to a new facility. However, the museum continued to use the War Trophies building as a storage facility. In the same year, management of the war museum was assumed by the National Museums of Canada Corporation; a crown corporation which managed several national institutions, including the war museum.
In 1983 the museum relocated its storage facilities from the War Trophies building to Vimy House; with the former building demolished to make way for the National Gallery of Canada's new building. In 1990, the Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation was formed through The Museum Act, and assumed management of several national museums of Canada, including the war museum.
By the 1990s, the museum's staff had voiced that the space in the building was inadequate, with some areas of the building deemed environmentally hazardous for the exhibition of certain artifacts. In 1991, the government established the Task Force on Military History Museum Collections in Canada, whose final report called for more resources to be given to the museum, referring to its shape in the original Dominion Archives building as "embarrassing," and a "national disgrace." Although the Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation invested C$1.7 million for new exhibit designs as a result of the report; funds remained limited for expansion, with the federal government implementing a number of austerity measures during the mid-1990s. A museum supporter's group, the "Friends of the Canadian War Museum" was established in 1995 to assist the museum in fundraising efforts.
Between 1996 and 1997, the museum considered opening a large Holocaust exhibition within the museum. In addition to the exhibition, the architectural expansion plans released in November 1997 included enhanced exhibit spaces, a theatre, and a memorial chamber. However, the proposed exhibit was opposed by Canadian veterans, who felt a sense of neglect by the museum, and believed an exhibition on the Holocaust would further marginalize them; in addition to some historians who believed the museum was an inappropriate space for such an exhibition. Following events commemorating the 50th anniversary of the end of the Second World War passed, public debate over the museum's future intensified; with the Senate Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs convening a hearing in February 1998 to determine the future of the exhibition and the museum itself. Following the Senate Subcommittee hearings, the chair of the Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation, Adrienne Clarkson announced the museum would abandon its plans for a Holocaust exhibition, although proceed with its plans to expand the museum.
Barney Danson was appointed to the board of trustees and the war museum advisory committee in 1998. This led to an increase in the museum's research capacity and towards the establishment of the Centre of Military History. Danson later secured for the museum the acquisition of property near CFB Rockcliffe.
21st century
In March 2000, the Government of Canada formally announced plans to build a new museum building at CFB Rockcliffe. However, in 2001, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien intervened to have the proposed location changed to LeBreton Flats, a formerly industrial area of the city. LeBreton Flats was initially rejected as a site for the new museum building during the planning stages of the project as the site was contaminated. However, Chrétien proposed to decontaminate the site, with the museum serving as the centrepiece for the area's revitalization efforts. In 2001, a design submitted by Moriyama & Teshima Architects and Griffiths Rankin Cook Architects was selected for the design of the new building. Groundbreaking for the new building took place in November 2002, followed by a major decontamination effort of the property by the National Capital Commission.By 2004 the museum began to move its larger artifacts from its exhibits, as well as its storage facility into the new building. By the end of 2004, the museum closed its storage facility in Vimy House and closed its facility in the original Dominion Archives building in January 2005. The new building was opened on 8 May 2005, coinciding with the 60th anniversary of Victory in Europe day. On the same day the new building was opened to the public, Canada Post issued a 50¢ stamp to commemorate the opening of the new museum. The total cost to build a new building for the museum, and the exhibitions was approximately C$135 million.
Shortly after its opening of the new building, the museum became the centre of controversy over its interpretation of the Combined Bomber Offensive during World War II, in which some 20,000 Canadians participated. Much of the controversy stemmed from two assertions made on a museum label, that the bombing offensive was largely ineffective until later in the war, and that its morality and value of strategic bombings remained contested. Complaints from Canadian veterans prompted another Senate Subcommittee to be launched. Museum staff eventually removed the offending museum label, replacing it with another label with text three times in length that "glossed over the salient facts;" although the offending images remained.