A rally is planned this weekend at one of three heritage sites closed for good by the provincial government, with a member of the family saying it’s been “gutting.”
Announced last week, the province said it was shutting down three museums and closing most of Nova Scotia’s visitor information centres, saying it needs to change with the way people travel.
One of those sites impacted was the Fisherman’s Life Museum, a heritage home that has been in Greg Puncher’s family for generations. His grandmother was one of 13 daughters raised at the homestead, which was turned into a museum in the 1960s to showcase the life of rural fishing families on the eastern shore.
Puncher was shocked by last week’s sudden shuttering of the museum. However, what’s more disturbing, he said, is the lack of transparency and how staff were informed about the closure.
“They were taken to a basement in Porters Lake, and they were informed that they no longer had jobs,” says Puncher. “As I said, and it was a quote that I was given word by word, that they ‘No longer had value to Nova Scotians.’”
CityNews reached out to comment to the Culture, Tourism and Heritage Office of Acadian Affairs and Francophonie for comment on the closures, but has not heard back.
He says staff were then locked out of the museum, raising concerns about the well-being of donated artifacts and documents, such as family portraits, hand-stitched quilts, genealogical records and more.
Puncher says there is a lot of concern from the multiple families about how the closing of the building will transpire. He notes that over the weekend, there were rumours that the power and water could be turned off, which would do damage to the artifacts inside the home.
The Fisherman’s Life Museum is just one of 12 museums now closing in Nova Scotia, as the province announced plans to close nine other museums this week.
According to a release from the Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia, other museums on the chopping block now include:
- Cossit House, Sydney
- Lawrence House, Maitland
- McCulloch House, Pictou
- Perkins House, Liverpool
- Prescott House, Port Williams (closed Feb. 19)
- Ross-Thomson House, Shelburne
- Shand House, Windsor
- Barrington Woolen Mill, Barrington
- Sutherland Steam Mill, Tatamagouche (closed Feb. 19)
- Wile Carding Mill, Bridgewater
- Fisherman’s Life Museum, Jeddore Oyster Pond (closed Feb. 19)
- North Hills Museum, Granville Ferry
Provincial budget cuts ‘devastating’
This comes as the Nova Scotia government detailed its 2026 budget on Monday, which showcases a $1.2 billion deficit and significant cuts to public services, as the province struggles with slowing population growth and a stagnating economy.
“We knew this budget was going to be rough; we were bracing for that for sure, but this is utterly devastating,” Emma Lang, executive director of Heritage Trust Nova Scotia, told The Todd Veinotte Show.
What is most distressing to Lang, and the communities where the buildings stand, is how important they are to people’s stories of culture and history. She said that not only do they represent a time period, but they also showcase a wide range of moments in the province’s history. It’s one thing to look at a photo, but it’s another to walk through the museums and really put people in ancestors’ shoes, she explained.
“From our organization’s perspective, we’re really concerned about what happens to these buildings now,” Lang said. “They need people to love them. They need regular maintenance.”
It is Puncher’s belief that with provincial grants drying up, the Nova Scotia government is going to push for communities to take over the sites, but without reliance of funding from upper tier governments.
Community members are gathering on Saturday at 1 p.m. outside the Fisherman’s Life Museum for a rally, which aims to celebrate the home’s history and call on the province to clarify the status of the building and the lack of transparency behind the museum closings.
With files from CityNews’ Natasha O’Neill and The Canadian Press.
