History at risk in Ontario’s Halton region as heritage service shutters: historians

Historians are warning that valuable artifacts in Ontario's Golden Horseshoe could be lost after a recent decision by a regional council to shutter its heritage services.

Historians are warning that valuable artifacts in Ontario’s Golden Horseshoe could be lost after a recent decision by a regional council to shutter its heritage services and rehome nearly 35,000 artifacts.

On July 9, Halton Regional Council voted in closed session to “cease delivering heritage services” by the end of the year and to deaccession its collection that contains around 3,100 photos, 13,000 archival materials and 18,400 objects, including natural artifacts, Indigenous artifacts, farming equipment, artwork, furniture and clothing.

The decision marks a hard pivot from a five-year operational plan endorsed in 2021 that dedicated $8 million for a new museum facility that was never built. The items are currently held in an archive and former museum located in Milton, Ont.

Halton Region spokesperson Isabel Contin says the heritage service is shuttering because Bill 23 — a 2022 law passed by the Ontario government as part of its goal to build 1.5 million new homes by 2031 — resulted in “shifting land use planning responsibilities from the Region to the local municipalities. This includes heritage, but also economic development, agriculture, and forestry.”

Halton Region also encompasses the lakeside town of Oakville, Halton Hills and the city of Burlington.

The former Halton Region Museum, which closed to the public in 2016 and now serves as the Halton Region Heritage Services archive, will remain open until Jan. 1. Contin says the deaccessioning — which refers to the process of removing artifacts from a museum’s collection — will take place “well beyond that date.”

“There’s no hard deadline in place, and that’s intentional. We want to take the time needed to make thoughtful decisions and follow museum sector best practices to keep the items safe and reconnect these items with the public in a meaningful and respectful way,” Contin wrote in an email to The Canadian Press.

In a staff report to council, Halton Region said its preferred approach is to transfer the artifacts to a local institution in another municipality or region.