Proposals to reduce provincial budget deficit represent “existential threat” to heritage sector
Representatives of New Brunswick’s heritage sector are sounding the alarm about the effects proposed provincial budget cuts could have on N.B. heritage sites and museums. New Brunswick’s 2026 budget deficit is projected to exceed $1.3 billion, the largest in the province’s history, leading the government to search for possible cuts. “Clearly from what we’re seeing, heritage and funding to museums is on the chopping block,” said Janet Clouston, the vice president of the Association of Heritage New Brunswick (AHNB) and chair of AHNB’s communication and advocacy committee. “What limited funding we had is most likely being reduced, and it makes it very, very difficult for some of the smaller community museums,” said Clouston. Karen Valanne, the executive director of the Tantramar Heritage Trust, said the government’s announcement of possible cuts on Feb. 2 “just kind of blindsided everybody.” Soon after, AHNB members organized a campaign called “Save Our Museums” to encourage concerned New Brunswickers to write to their MLAs, fill out the input survey, and request that heritage funding remain the same.
The N.B. Government released possible options for reducing the deficit, including selling or closing “underused” publicly-owned buildings, which include “tourism, heritage, and culture facilities with fewer than 5000 annual visitors.” While Sackville’s two museums, the Boultenhouse Heritage Centre and the Campbell Carriage Factory, are owned and operated by the Tantramar Heritage Trust, these cuts could affect many of New Brunswick’s 100+ museums, some of which may not be able to operate as planned. “I think this is seen by the heritage sector as a kind of existential threat,” says Robert Cupido, a professorlecturer in Mt.A’s history department with a background in public history. “In terms of its educational benefits to local communities, that would be a pretty significant loss,” Cupido said.
The two Sackville museums host school groups, guiding troops, church camps, and community events. Cupido said field trips to museums and heritage sites are a “really important source of educational enrichment at every level from primary school up to university,” including in Mt.A history classes. “Every year we make our annual visit to Boultenhouse, and you know, it’s invaluable.” Archives could also be threatened. Cupido said heritage sites and museums are “the keepers of our memories” and “the guardians of the community’s past, through the records that they collect and preserve.” With funding cuts, the future of those records would be uncertain. In a statement to the Argosy, Cupido said “a number of these local heritage organizations have in recent years begun to do really valuable work in recovering and preserving the previously lost and/or suppressed histories of indigenous and Afro-Canadian communities in New Brunswick.”
Another option to reduce the deficit is curtailing government grants, some of which allow museums and heritage sites to hire student interns. Last year, the Tantramar Heritage Trust received around $15,000 in provincial grants to hire two students for the summer, along with other grants through the federal government and internships through Mt.A.“It’s very frustrating because those are our jobs for the summer,” said Emma Doukas, president of the Mt.A History Society. “When you’re applying to Master’s programs and for your Ph.D, they want to see that you have experience in the field, but if these places are getting their funding cut, we won’t be able to work there and get this experience they’re looking for.”
In a Feb. 11 press release, AHNB called the public consultation process “shockingly short.” The survey closed on Feb. 20, less than three weeks after its announcement. Respondents to the survey could share input on other plans to lower the deficit, including reducing the size of the civil service, “identifying efficiencies to streamline operations” in the healthcare sector, which makes up about 31 per cent of the provincial budget, and a wide range of possible changes to N.B.’s provincial and property tax systems. Clouston called the survey “really skewed,” adding that “the questions were coming up, you know, what’s more important to you, healthcare or heritage. That’s quite unfair to ask the public that.” Valanne called the proposed cuts to heritage a “drop in the bucket” compared to the size of the deficit. In their last budget, $16 million was designated for provincial heritage and archaeology, representing just 0.1 per cent of the province’s $14 billion budget. “It makes a huge difference to us,” Valanne says, “but it’s really not going to make a huge difference to their bottom line.”
The extent, and even the existence, of the cuts will be unknown until the budget is tabled on March 17. Though the survey period has ended, AHNB is still campaigning to maintain funding to heritage sites at its current level, and encouraging the public to support their local museums. “It is not too late to get involved,” the organization said in a Feb. 24 press release.